Page 61 of Unlikely Guardian

Lilly gave that question some thought, and she didn’t like where that thought was leading. This sexual encounter hadn’t solved anything. In fact, it’d done the opposite. It’d made her realize just how empty her life would be without him.

Yes, empty.

Jason made her happy, and as silly and cliché as it sounded, he completed her. She understood that now. Understood what was truly at stake here. Not just Megan. Not just Jason. Her future with both of them was at stake.

Before Lilly could even begin to think about spilling what was in her heart, there was a tap at the door. “Jason?” It was Detective O’Reilly. “Did Lilly tell you that the other officer is here to assist with security?”

“She told me.” Jason lifted an eyebrow. Lilly lifted hers, as well. “What about the suspects? Have they been located?”

“Not yet.”

That sent Jason to the door. He opened it with a fierce jerk. “None of them?”

Lilly had to hand it to Detective O’Reilly. He looked as if he wanted to take a huge step back, but he held his ground. “Wayne Sandling and Raymond Klein aren’t at their residences. Erica Fontaine isn’t at her hotel. And there’s still no luck finding Ms. Davies, dead or alive.”

Jason obviously didn’t care for that information. “What’s the latest from the lieutenant?”

“I just got off the phone with him,” O’Reilly said. “He needs you to come down to headquarters and fill out your report about discharging your weapon.”

Lilly groaned and shook her head. “Can’t that wait?”

“I don’t want it to wait.” Jason reached for his jacket. “Now that the other officer is here, I’ll do the report and then see if I can find our suspects.”

Lilly went to Jason, blocking his path toward the door. “I thought I’d talked you out of doing this.”

In fact, that was what she’d done for the first half hour after they’d arrived back at the house. However, Lilly wasn’t under any misconception that she’d been able to convince him to stay put. His staying probably had less to do with her convincing than it did with the fact that his departure would have left Megan and her alone at the house with just one cop—O’Reilly. Now that the other officer was in place, that was no longer an issue.

“I’m going to find them,” Jason insisted.

Her hands went to her hips. “Excuse me, but how do you plan to do that?”

“I’d like to know that, too,” Detective O’Reilly added. But his comment only earned him one of Jason’s prizewinning glares.

“I don’t know how just yet, but I can’t sit here and do nothing.” Jason made a vague motion toward the outside. “I want to find them, and I want them to tell me everything they know about any of this.”

A dozens arguments came to Lilly’s mind. Good arguments, too. But she didn’t get to voice any of them. Jason pressed a kiss to her mouth and moved her aside. O’Reilly didn’t hold his ground this time. He stepped out of the doorway so Jason could leave.

“I have to do this,” Jason said as his goodbye.

And because Lilly knew she couldn’t stop him, she just stood there and watched him walk away.

“Oh, God,” she whispered as a prayer.

The fear and dread were immediate. A sickening feeling that knotted her stomach. The taste was suddenly bitter in her mouth. Because Lilly had a feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

That was her first thought.

Quickly followed by another that was equally unnerving.

She hoped she got the chance to tell Jason something that she’d just realized.

She was in love with him.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Have I mentioned that this is probably a huge waste of my time and yours?” Jason heard Sgt. Garrett O’Malley say.

The question didn’t stop Jason. He simply gave his phone headset an adjustment so he could respond, and he kept on driving through the upscale neighborhood that Wayne Sandling called home. “Yeah. But a possible waste of time is better than nothing.”

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