Page 99 of Locked In Ice

He shook his head.He seemed to do that a lot.“You don’t love me.”

She unhooked her seatbelt and leaned over the seat.Her lips pressed softly to his.“I love you, Lane Lawson.”

“You’re…profiling me.”

Ophelia laughed.“Stop being adorable.We have a killer to catch.”She eased back.

His hand flew up and curled under her chin.“Don’t play with me.”Ragged.

He made her ache.“I can be patient.”

His fingers stroked her.

“Icanbe just your friend.”Was that true?It would hurt her.Wreck her on the inside, but when you loved someone, you had to do what was best for them.“I can be your partner.Things do not have to change.”She forced her tone to stay light.“I didn’t get to tell Joseph how I felt.I swore I would never hold back if I was lucky enough to love again.”And she recognized the feeling because she had been fortunate enough to love before, even though she’d been so young.But Lane…

Lane’s life had been hard.Filled with pain and uncertainty.Could he love?Yes.She believed he loved his sister.And with time…

If Ophelia was patient enough…

He might be able to love me.

Or he might not.So she could just be his friend.His partner.His—

“Everything,” Lane rasped.He leaned forward and kissed her.But this kiss was different for them.For him.Tender and soft.So gentle that she wanted to sink into him.A kiss that held so much promise.

He took her breath.Gave her his.

And when he pulled back, she stared at him, dazed.“Lane?”

“You are mine, Ophelia.I told you that already.”

But there was a difference between a feverishminein the heat of the moment and—and—

“My world.My everything.My Ophelia.”

Her heart raced faster.Lane was telling her that he loved her.In the parking lot of the medical examiner’s office.“My timing was bad.”She had to lick her lips and taste him again.She also had to pull in a deep, fortifying breath.“But yours is worse.”Couldn’t he have spilled this news during the drive?Had he needed to wait until they were close to the dead bodies?

Lane smiled at her.

A real, honest-to-God smile that lit his eyes and made him so handsome and sexy that she could have turned into a puddle right then.“There it is,” she realized.The Lane she’d been looking for.The man who hid behind the darkness.

Her Lane.

“Couldn’t wait to meet you,” she said.Then she kissed him again.Slow.Careful.Deep.

“Baby.”A growl.“I am going to break a bed with you later.”

Oh, such a fun promise.

“But if you don’t stop right now, we will be fucking in the parking lot.”

She laughed.“I love it when you talk dirty.”But Ophelia pulled away from him.Her laughter died as she glanced toward the building that waited.Fear wanted to bubble and seethe inside of her.When you had something important to lose, you did fear more.

But she wasn’t going to lose Lane.He wasn’t going to lose her.

They were going to find the killer.They were going to win.

First, though, time to see a man about some bodies.

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