Harbors. He couldnât remember the last time heâd slept, eaten, or showered, and the desire for all three suddenly overwhelmed him.
Reggie climbed into the cab more slowly than heâd gotten out of it. He was favoring his injury more than Owen had ever seen. When he sat, he did so with his haunches against Owenâs. Reggie only did that when he was overtired, stressed, or ill.
The tap on his window made Owen jump so high he banged his bad leg on the steering wheel. Becca stood on the other side of the glass.
âI need a ride.â
He was so tempted to put the truck in gear he actually reached for the shift.
âDonât you dare.â Becca yanked open the door.
Damn. If heâd put the vehicle in gear the door would have locked automatically.
âAlways go with your instinct,â he murmured. One of the very first rules in bomb detection.
âIâm not letting go until you agree to give me a ride.â She glanced toward the house. âAnd if you donât want to be stuck here answering questions you donât know the answers to, weâd better move before Deb gets done talking to the station.â
âThen move.â He indicated the passenger side.
She ran around the front, shooed Reggie, whoâd come over to greet her, back to the middle, and hopped in. Owen put the truck into gear, and they lurched toward the trees. Just in time too. In the rearview mirror, Chief Deb emerged from the house. At the sight of his taillights, she kicked the porch railing and it fell into the overgrown flower bed.
âThanks,â Becca said. âI figured youâd drive off the instant I let go of your door and leave me behind.â
He would have if heâd thought of it. But he wasnât thinking very clearly or very fast on so little sleep.
âHowâd you get out here?â he asked.
âWogged.â
Owen blinked.
âThatâs what my brothers call my pathetic attempts at jogging. Faster than a walk, slower than a jog makesââ
âWog,â he finished. Heâd always liked her brothers, though not half as much as heâd liked her.
Owen cast a sideways glance in Beccaâs direction, then had to lean forward to actually see her since Reggieâs big fat head was in the way. The dog stared at Becca too, mouth open, tongue lolling. Couldnât blame him. She was stunning.
Her hair was long, thick, and fire red. Sheâd braided it; she always did. Otherwise the heavy mass got into everythingâher eyes, her face, her food, his mouth.
Owen swallowed and dragged his eyes back to the road. He should never have kissed her. Though, to be fair, she had kissed him. It didnât make the taste of her that still lingered on his tongue, nor the memory of how different things wereâhow different he wasâany easier to bear.
âYouââ he began, and his voice broke. He cleared his throat, tried again. âYou always jog in the forest in the dark?â
âNo. I wog.â
The dirt path had some deep ruts, the result of years of snow and ice and mud with no grading to even it out. The trees and bushes had encroached from the sides, narrowing the trail until branches scraped the truck. He was going to wind up paying for a new paint job by the time he returned it.
âIsnât that a little dangerous?â
âIn Three Harbors?â
âIf you were joggingââ
She lifted her eyebrows.
âExcuse me, wogging, in Three Harbors I wouldnât be worried.â
âYouâre worried?â
He glanced at her; Reggie tried to lick him in the nose. âYou saw my house. Thereâs something weird going on here.â
âI didnât know that when I left, and I doubt it has anything to do with me.â She held up a hand. âOr you either. Itâs one of those things. Sick, weird, freaky, horrible, all of the above. But in the end, probably stupid kids behaving
Renee Rose
Sarah Lovett
Tim Smith
Ann-marie MacDonald
Unknown
Rhiannon Paille
Karen Erickson
Morgan O'Neill
D.C. Akers
John Saul