Page 27 of Stone Cold Savage

“You really think we’re going to find your Jane Doe in these files?” She asked while following suit.

“I sure as hell hope so. We haven’t been lucky enough to find anything in electronic files yet. It’s got to be here, or…”

“Or, nobody missed her and filed a report.” Kenzie finished his thought. “You are prepared for that, right?”

“I’m prepared for just about anything at this rate.” Coy snorted. “I’m ready for answers. I’ll take anything at this point. We just need that one little break to get this thing going.”

“So, you can leave again, or…”

Coy leaned his hip against the table she was sitting on and faced her, their proximity so close he could nearly hear her pulse race when he looked at her, “So my family is safe. So, you’re safe.”

“Me?” she questioned with surprise, turning her body to face him.

“I have a bad feeling Kenz. A really bad feeling. Everything important to me is right here, in this town, and someone is trying to take it away from me. Including you.”

She sheepishly grinned, “Including me, huh? I appreciate the concern, but I do think I’m the safest of the group. I’m the sheriff. Coming after me, to get to you, would be foolish and the wrong way to go.”

“If that lawyer we went to see the other day is who we think he is –– in deep with the wrong side –– then you have as much to worry about as the rest of us do. I’m serious, Kenz. Don’t take any of this lightly.”

Kenzie studied his expression and noted the pain and pleading that rested there. She cradled his face and looked him in the eye, “I don’t. I understand, Coy. We’re all being safe, and we’re going to get to the bottom of this soon.”

He rested his forehead against hers in a vulnerable moment, “Not soon enough. I’m as patient as they come when working any other case, but this one… it feels like I’ve been holding my breath for days, and my lungs are burning, the world is spinning, and the weight on my shoulders…”

Kenzie gently pulled away so she could look him in the eye, still cradling his face in her hands, her thumbs gently sweeping his chiseled cheekbones, “It’s not all on you, Coy. You don’t have to carry this alone. There’s an army behind you, and we’re all here to take care of each other, and that includes you. I know you think you brought this here, but my gut says you didn’t. My intuition is strong, too, and it tells me this problem landed here a long, long time ago, and it’s just now coming to a head, and you need to be protected from it as much as the rest of us. You don’t have to be the hero, Coy, or anyone’s savior but your own.”

“Kenz…” he whispered.

“I mean it. The only one holding you hostage and suffocating you right now, burying you with the weight of the world, is you. Let that go. Let yourself breathe. Let yourself live, Coy. Nothing before you arrived here was your fault, and nothing since… You’re not the bad guy. You never have been.”

Coy stared deep into her gaze, braising her soul with that single look that caused her breath to catch. There was something electric between them, a chemistry that never died and was suddenly reborn with a familiar craving and desire. Kenzie’s hands snaked around his neck, and she pulled him closer.

“Kenz…”

“Shh.” She leaned in, “Stop thinking. Just… let it go.”

“And if I can’t?”

“Then you’ll never get to be happy again, Coy. It’s your choice. You can live in pain or choose to be happy.” She said, and her voice dropped to a breathy whisper, “And I hope you choose happy.”

Coy took her mouth fast and hard and kissed her like the taste of her was the air he needed to breathe. His body turned to hers as he stepped between her legs and slid her to the edge of the table so her body was pressed against his. His hands gripped her waist and roamed up her back and down her sides, feeling her body, learning it all over again. She was different now. Curves where there weren’t any before, soft where she wasn’t before, muscles flexing beneath his graze that were tense and crying for release. He’d known Kenzie his entire life, but not this version. This version was equally scarred, branded by life, and beautifully made into the perfect soul that was exactly what his heart needed.

As her fingers ran through his hair and gripped handfuls, a surge of heat coursed through him, thrilling him as he felt something for the first time in as long as he could remember. It wasn’t lust or desire. No, this was different. It was an awakening of something entirely new and different. It was as if he'd woken from a long slumber, and the world was suddenly… new. Was this happy, he wondered. Was it wrong that he liked it here and wanted this moment to continue on because the shell of the life he’d been living was far more dark, isolating, and cold, full of ghosts and nightmares? If this was happy, he hoped it was also a new beginning where the past stayed where it belonged, and he could forge on, never losing this sense of whatever it was flooding through him.

Kenzie quickly pulled away, and it was as if the light dimmed when she did.

Breathing heavily, she rested her head against his and whispered, “Cameras.”

Coy snorted, “Of course, there are cameras in here. Not a single one in the entire town, but here.”

“Yeah, well, you’re lucky I just remembered. That could’ve been a little more embarrassing than it already was.” She giggled.

“I can have it erased,” Coy said, stepping back and looking at her. “Thank you.”

“It’s just a kiss, Stone.” She blushed.

“No, thank you for the rest. I-I don’t know how to let go entirely or how to simply choose happiness when reminders of my past and why I don’t deserve it are all around me, but…”

“I’ll help you. Never forget the past, Coy. There’s lessons and purpose in it, but I’ll help you give it a place where it can rest, and you can move forward.” She said, “If… that’s what you want?”

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