Page 43 of Murder in Calusa Cove
“Any chance it drifted in from the Glades?” Dawson asked, though he sounded unconvinced.
Chloe shook her head. “Not a chance. Not the way it’s settled. This was positioned. Presented.”
Hayes stepped closer, peering over her shoulder as she lifted the lid carefully.
Inside, nestled against white velvet, was a single gold ring—a man’s wedding band. Scratched, a little tarnished, and engraved on the inside.
Chloe held it up to the light. Her voice was barely above a whisper, “It says To L.R.—Forever.”
Hayes stared at it, a sick twist tightening in his gut. “He’s leaving us breadcrumbs.”
Chloe nodded once, solemn. “He’s not hiding anymore.”
Buddy appeared behind them just in time to hear it. He didn’t ask questions. Just looked at the box and the ring, and then at Chloe. “We need to figure out who L.R. is. Fast.”
Hayes didn’t say it out loud, but the thought was already spinning in his head. This wasn’t just a trophy. It was a promise. A reminder that the killer was still out there. Still watching.
And now—he was playing for keeps.
It was pushing two in the morning by the time Hayes and Chloe returned to his place. He’d thought he was tired earlier, but now the exhaustion sat deep—like it had settled in his bones and planned to stay.
He sank onto the mattress and pulled her close, kissing her temple. Guilt plagued his heart for how he’d pushed her away earlier. She hadn’t deserved that. It hadn’t been about her, and now that another body had been discovered, she needed his support. His affection. Maybe even his love.
Love. Did he even know what that was?
That emotion had always come with conditions. In the faith he’d grown up in, he’d been taught that God loved him, but he had to prove his love of God worthy. His parents loved him, but it wasn’t as if he truly felt their unwavering love. It was always him having to give something to get it. Even now, that love between him and his folks was strained, even unnatural, simply because he wasn’t the son God wanted him to be. It didn’t matter that things were better, that the lines of communication had been opened. There was a vast divide between him and his parents, and he didn’t know how to close it.
Hayes remained lost in thought for a moment, analyzing the weight of his deeds, the resonance of his emotions. His mind threw images at him—images of a past he had so fiercely resisted and a future that gnawed at the edges of impossibility.
He’d believed with all that he was that he’d loved Adaline. She’d been his first kiss, and he’d thought she’d be his first and only everything. Back then, while he hadn’t believed in the church—or even God—he’d still wanted to believe in love.
He’d tried with Tiana, but to her, love had meant marriage and babies. He hadn’t been unwilling to have that kind of future, but he also hadn’t been ready. His past had still been too close and raw to allow him to completely open his heart to a woman, especially one who’d constantly said things like, If you love me, you’ll marry me.
Another condition.
Betsy had been different. The only complication had been Fedora. She had been both the reason he’d stayed—and left. However, he hadn’t cared—or loved—Betsy enough to be the kind of man they both needed.
All these things had tainted him. Changed him. But Chloe brought him into the present, and now he saw something different. Something he’d never seen before, and he wasn’t sure where to file those thoughts and feelings. He wasn’t even sure they were real.
Only, they were like nothing he’d ever experienced.
With a sigh, he pushed those thoughts aside, burdened by an intensity that seemed to break down the last barriers of his resistance. He pulled Chloe closer, and her eyes widened in surprise before softening into an inviting pool of warmth and desire.
Her fingers crept up along his chest to his neck, sending shivers down his spine. An electric current surged between them, and he felt the intoxicating pull. Faint whispers of yearning traced their way across her lips as her breath fell hot and heavy against his ear, whispering things words could hardly encapsulate.
His lips found hers in a passionate surrender made up of breaths stolen away in a dance as old as time itself. He wanted her and not just in this moment. That scared him.
His fingers traced her curves as if they were drafting poetry onto her skin—a sonnet dedicated to their shared longing.
The moonlight seeped through the gaps in the curtains, throwing a soft glow over her body. Her skin was a canvas of delicacy and rawness, a tantalizing palette that awakened his senses to intoxicating heights.
Hayes found his hands buried in her wild cascade of hair, twining the strands between his fingers as if they were fine spun gold. He could hear the heightened rhythm of her heartbeat matching his own, their bodies melting into one another as heat radiated from them, warming up the cold night air.
Her lips were soft, meeting his with a sweet urgency that left him dizzy with desire. The sweet taste of her intoxicated him like no liquor ever had. He was drunk on Chloe and the heady elixir of their shared passion.
Her sighs of delight were like music to his ears, making him more determined to make this night unforgettable. To make it last. He felt alive. It was as if he were running into danger—into the burning building—only, it was his heart that was on fire.
“Chloe, tell me what you want.”
