Page 53 of My Temptation

I needed to rein it in.

If not for the team and the success of the case we were working, then for myself.

And my own fucking sanity.

16

ETHAN

Five days.

Five days of absolutely nothing. We’d walked the entirety of the lake at least twice and even participated in activities but never saw Samson. He just wasn’t here, or if he was, he was a master of disguise, which didn’t make sense. He had no idea we were looking for him, or at least we didn’t think he knew, so why would he bother disguising himself? Kyle finally found a bank account out of the country, but the US address listed was a PO Box. The only evidence that we were even on the right track was that the PO Box was here in Devil’s Lake.

But none of that helped us find him.

And it was pissing me off.

It was even starting to bother Mila. Every minute we weren’t outside searching the area, she was on her laptop looking for breadcrumbs. We just needed something to go on, but time was running out, and I had a bad feeling we were about to head home with nothing.

Staring out the doors to the balcony, I saw people milling around and enjoying the pool, but my mind was on this case. When I heard the hotel room door open, I turned and watched Mila breeze in, wearing the smallest denim shorts I’d ever seen. And I grew up in Florida, so I’d seen tiny shorts. She’d been wearing this shit all week, calling it her April wardrobe, but she seemed comfortable in it, so it made me wonder how much of it was actually Mila’s preference too. The problem was I knew how soft her skin felt now and how good she smelled when I got too close. After the incident at the pool, I’d been keeping my distance, at least physically, from her. Her behavior that day was for our potential audience, and I hoped like hell that she believed mine was too. Distance was my salvation while we were on this case, and I was working damn hard to keep it.

“Talked to Jenny and Carl,” she announced before tossing her purse onto the dresser. “They told me about an adults-only party tonight on the other side of the lake. She said they went to it last time, and it was their favorite night of the week because there was live music and dancing.”

“Didn’t they have that already?”

She laughed and put her hands on her hips. “That’s what I said to Jenny, but she assured me tonight was a little different because they feature local bands, so many of the locals show up. She said talking to the locals last year gave her ideas for this year. Outside of the normal festival activities.”

I tilted my head. “Like what?”

“No idea. She seemed hush-hush about that, and so was Carl.”

“Does Carl ever talk?”

She laughed again and dropped her arms to her sides. “It’s rare, but he does.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we go tonight, and I’ll try to pry more information out of Jenny when she’s drinking.”

“I agree. We need something, or we’re going home with no leads for Striker. Hell, at this point, we can’t even put Samson in Devil’s Lake.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want my first real assignment with Elite to go down this way. There has to be something here. We’re just missing it somehow. If Jenny can give me more ideas about where the locals hang out, I'm hoping we can find him that way.”

“When do we leave?”

“She said it starts at eight.” Mila pulled her phone from her back pocket. I wasn’t sure how that phone even fit in her pocket, considering how tight the shorts were, but it did. “And it’s six thirty now. Let’s get ready, grab something to eat, and head out. I don’t think it’ll matter if we’re a little early.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’m going to grab a shower and get the sunscreen off me from earlier.” She turned toward the bathroom but spun back around. “Oh, and she said the adults going to this dress like they’re going to a nightclub, or at least they did last year.”

“I don’t go to nightclubs,” I admitted. “What does that mean?”

“You’ve never been to a nightclub? And you’re from Miami, which is loaded with them?”

“Nope,” I replied. “Been to a few bars, but nightclubs just never felt like my scene. Plus, I left Miami when I was eighteen and only returned to visit my sister and Riley. The only place we went was Disney World.”

She smiled. “You’re a really great brother and uncle, Ethan.”

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