Page 51 of Stalked at Rescue Ridge

“Don’t be. You did nothing wrong.” He just held her, thinking how right she felt in his arms.

“Thank you.” Those two words spoken so softly broke what little was left of his fight. Like it or not, Bree shattered the casing around his heart and bathed his darkness in light. With her, he started to believe he could have a life, areallife with a family of his own.

Would she want the same after his accusations? Would she trust him after he’d been clear about not wanting a family of his own? His home life had done a number on him.

In his opinion, parenthood would be the worst thing he could do to a child. No one deserved to be stuck with him. Even now, he could look into his baby sister’s eyes and see the hurt he’d put there beyond the number Beaumont had done to her. Kade couldn’t be what others wanted orneededhim to be.

Kade would always want to be somewhere else. He would always be just a little bit self-destructive. And he would never be able to live with himself if he put that kind of hurt in someone else’s eyes again.

“Coffee?”

Bree walked into the room the next morning, wearing only Kade’s black T-shirt. Pink was still his favorite color on her, but she looked good in anything. He’d managed to distance himself from his self-destructive thoughts for the time being.

“Yes, of course,” she said.

“Right.” She could finally have caffeine. He walked over to her and kissed her. “There’s milk in the fridge.”

“Did you buy that for me to put in my coffee?” Her smile could light the world in a blackout.

“Yep.” He moved to the fridge, pulled out the quart, and held it up.

One of those genuine smiles he loved about her peeked out. “I missed caffeine.”

“I’m sorry about making you kiss me while I have coffee breath,” he said, one corner of his mouth curving.

“Are you kidding me right now? You tasting like coffee is the highlight of my morning.” She walked over to him and pushed up to her tiptoes.

Kade set the carton on the counter and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her body flush with his.

He sighed against her mouth. “I immediately texted Travis last night, letting him know what you remembered. “

“That was a good idea.” She gave him a quick kiss before picking up the white carton and pouring a glass. “I’ll be here, drinking coffee. And eating…” She walked to the fridge and opened the door. “Blueberry parfait. I still can’t believe you remembered.”

“How could I forget when you made those sexy-as-hell noises while you ate it.” He moved to the kitchen table where he’d left his phone. Still no message from the deputy. “Maybe we should give Travis a call now that you’re awake.”

Travis picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Kade. What’s up?”

“Are you up?”

“No. It’s cool.” Travis yawned. Based on his groggy tone, he’d been asleep. Kade felt bad for disturbing his friend.

Rinty sauntered in and walked straight to Bree without giving Kade much of a second glance.Traitor.

“I texted last night but didn’t hear back. Bree thought of something important to the case. She remembers seeing a half-moon tattoo on the guy’s ankle.” He watched her out of the corner of his eye to make sure she was okay. It couldn’t be easy talking about any of this or hearing any of the details rehashed. One of the many traits Kade admired about Bree was her strength. But she was human.

And his friend had gone radio silent.

“Travis…?” His friend’s quiet set Kade’s radar on high alert. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“I need to make sure I heard you right. Are you saying Bree saw a half-moon tattoo on the ankle of the man who assaulted her? The man who wore tan work shoes. Correct?”

“Yes.” Kade waited for a response but a heavy sigh came across the line.

“Federal agents have gotten involved in the case since my contact in San Antonio and I linked it to those others in the state. The Feds cautioned us that we could be dealing with someone in law enforcement based on the profile of the killer and the other crime scenes.” He paused and cleared his throat. “My boss has an ankle tattoo of a half-moon—I’ve seen it myself—which under normal circumstances I might chalk up to coincidence, but Carr’s gone missing.”

“Dammit.” Kade had never trusted the sheriff. There’d always been something off about the man.Thiswas unthinkable. Kade locked gazes with Bree.

“My contact in San Antonio gave me the idea to check Carr’s vacation days against the dates of the prior murders.” Travis blew out a sharp breath. “They match up, Kade.”

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