Page 111 of Not That Complicated

Adam was swagger and confidence and always in control. Seeing him uncomfortable was so unusual. It made me feel tender toward him, like the phone sex had, like I wanted to—

I made a move toward him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned for the kitchen. Had he seen me move, or...?

“Listen,” he said. “I’ve got work. I’m late, in fact. I’d better head out.” He grabbed his keys and wallet and motorcycle helmet from the kitchen counter.

“Oh,” I said, following him to the front door again. “Did you—mmph.”

He held my jaw, kissed me softly, drew back and stared at my face like he was going to be quizzed on it later.

I gave him a tentative smile. We were going to be all right. Right?

Maybe not. He released the tender hold on my face, slapped me on the arse, whisked out the door, and roared off on his motorcycle.

And that was the last I saw or heard of him.

CHAPTER THIRTY

The most disturbing thing aboutreturning home after it had been ransacked by a forensics team and had a second body carried out, was how quickly I got over it.

I didn’t know if that was thanks to the epic night of sex with Adam which had realigned my reality and put things into perspective, or if Fraser showing up and making claims about it had made me realise how much I loved my little house, despite its quirks.

Or maybe I was just a pro. You know. At having dead bodies discovered in my house. And at being disappointed in men. Like Fraser.

And like Adam, who, seriously? It had been aweek?

And like Detective Liam Nash, who was disappointing me right now.

“Nothing?” I demanded. “You’ve got no clue whatsoever?”

Liam sighed in resignation.

“How can you have nothing?” I said.

“You know why, Ray. You know how old those bodies are. How can you expect me to have anything?” he countered.

I cocked a hip. “You’re a detective? It’s your job?”

I’d been on Zoom with Paulina when the doorbell went. Needless to say, I’d ignored it, until I glanced out of the window and saw Liam’s familiar car parked outside my house.

When I’d groaned and told her it was the fuzz at the door, she blew me a kiss, told me to go and to call her back when I was done. I’d been telling her about Adam, and she wasn’t going to let me off.

I made it to the front steps before Liam had climbed back into his car.

He must have run down the drive to get there so fast.

“Hi!” I shouted when he was half in, half out of the car. “Liam!”

“Oh, good,” he said. “You’re in after all. I thought I’d missed you.”

“Yeah, you wish,” I said as he stomped back up to the house. I waved him in. “What have you got for me?”

His nostrils flared. “Is there any chance I can convince you to treat me as an officer of the law rather than a friend when I’m on duty?” He said it without much hope.

I scoffed.

“Didn’t think so.” He followed me to the kitchen without any fuss when I told him I’d picked up a box of donuts that morning and tapped out after two, meaning there were four left, lounging around and waiting to be eaten.

He stared at the donuts, his expression flashing through hunger, suspicion and amusement. It was quite the face journey for such a rugged man, who usually looked like he was carved out of granite.

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