Harlequin Intrigue April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2, Carol Ericson [good book recommendations TXT] 📗

her smile. The puppy had been wound up an hour ago, jumping over the seat in Jax’s SUV where she’d been shut inside, barking and trying to get someone to let her out. As soon as Keara had given in—and given herself a welcome distraction while federal agents combed through her office, looking for evidence—she’d nudged repeatedly at Keara, like she was mad it had taken so long. Then she’d lain down at Keara’s feet and promptly fallen asleep.

She’d been asleep for most of the ride from Keara’s house toward the Royal Desparre Hotel, too. But apparently saying Patches’s name woke her instantly.

“Can’t argue with that, can you?” Jax asked, giving her a tense smile as he pulled into the hotel parking lot.

As he put the SUV in Park and shifted to face her, focusing those compelling deep brown eyes entirely on her, Keara resisted the urge to fidget. She was a police chief. She didn’t fidget.

“Jax, look, I don’t mean to be rude, but let’s be honest here. You’re not law enforcement. You can’t protect me.”

He shrugged, only a brief flicker of offense in his eyes. “Well, then it’s a good thing this hotel is full of FBI agents, isn’t it?”

“Then what’s the point of me staying with you instead of just getting my own room?”

Woof! Woof! Woof! Patches seemed to argue from the backseat.

“If I’m right, then this guy has gotten away with it for at least seven years, Keara,” Jax said, sounding tired as he retread the argument they’d already had at her house.

It was an argument he’d won, since she was here, with her bag packed with her uniform for tomorrow and her work laptop. She’d left her personal vehicle in front of her house, hoping it would seem occupied if the killer decided to return.

Still, the idea that she was leaving the house empty, making it easy for him to go back through it if he wanted, made her antsy. She’d finally agreed to come with Jax when he suggested that if she didn’t want to stay with him, she should bunk with one of her officers. The idea of staying with Jax was making her nervous, the attraction between them palpable in the air. But asking one of her officers to lend her their couch felt too close to admitting she wasn’t up for being their leader. And that was something she’d never do.

“You know I’m armed,” she said once more as he opened the door and started to climb out. “Maybe you don’t know this—I’m a damn good shot.”

He leaned down, met her gaze with his own less patient one. “Your husband carried a gun, too, right? And this could be the same asshole who killed him, only now he’s got seven more years of practice.”

Jax held her gaze for a long moment, surely seeing the horror and grief rush across her face at the low blow. Then he stood and shut the door behind him, before opening up the back for Patches.

His dog stared at Keara for a long moment, offered up a woof! then climbed out, too.

Keara sat motionless in the SUV, imagining the beautiful sunny day she’d found Juan dead in their backyard. He’d been caught completely by surprise, even when the killer had slipped up right behind him to slit his throat.

Swallowing back the surge of tears that threatened, Keara reached into the back to grab her overnight bag. Then she followed Jax silently into the hotel.

JAX OPENED HIS eyes to find Keara staring at him.

She immediately redirected her gaze, sipping a cup of coffee he’d somehow slept through her brewing. She’d gotten dressed while he was sleeping, too, changing out of the joggers and long T-shirt she’d put on before climbing into the second bed. Now she was wearing her uniform, with the four-star emblem on her collar designating her role as chief of police.

He tore his gaze away from her still-loose hair and makeup-free face to check on Patches. When his dog had realized Keara was staying last night, she’d run in circles for a minute, then leaped onto the bed with Keara and slept at her feet.

His dog was still at the end of the bed, her front paws dangling off the edge. When she saw him looking at her, her tail thumped the bed.

He grinned. He couldn’t believe someone had tossed her out. It was hard not to smile when you saw her. “Hi, Patches.”

Throwing off his covers, Jax climbed out of bed and asked, “How did you sleep, Keara?”

He’d zonked out. He wasn’t sure how, with the woman he was falling for only a few feet away from him, but it had been a long, stressful day. Apparently, it had caught up to him.

But right now he felt refreshed, reenergized and determined. And the woman he was falling for was still only a few feet away.

Her eyes widened as he stepped closer and she set her coffee down, her mouth moving like she was getting ready to speak.

When he stepped closer still, into her personal space, she surprised him by looping her arms around his neck. “I slept fine. Not quite as well as I did on my couch, though.” He could feel her heart rate pick up as she stared at him, giving him a small, sassy grin.

He flashed back to the feel of her spooned against him on her couch and couldn’t help but smile back. He wanted to stay in this moment, savor the feeling of being with Keara as if they were a long-established couple and not a pair of colleagues who’d barely known each other more than a week. But her lips were too close to him, her gaze broadcasting a mix of uncertainty and desire.

As he slowly bent his head closer, one of her hands slid into his hair and the other stroked along the back of his neck, making all of the nerve endings there fire to life. He pressed his lips softly to hers as