Page 107 of Reading Between the Lines
“Good.”
Our mouths collided in a brutal kiss. He threaded his fingers through my hair and cradled the back of my head, whimpering like I’d never heard him do.
Our kiss broke, and he whispered, “I can’t get enough of you.”
“I love you, D.”
He pulled me back into a kiss instead of sharing his feelings again. I rocked my erection against his and sparks filled my brain.
Diem stopped kissing long enough to spit in his hand, then he brought it between us and wrapped his fingers around both our lengths, working us quickly to orgasm.
Despite the mess, Diem drew me down until I lay on his chest. His heart pounded hard enough that I felt it thump inside me.
I closed my eyes, surrounded by everything Diem. His taste, his scent, his touch.
He stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head. I felt his love, even if he couldn’t say it again. We lay like that for another hour, snoozing off and on, simply enjoying the connection. For once, Diem didn’t give the impression he felt awkward. In fact, it was the most comfortable and relaxed he’d ever been.
27
Diem
The waitress dropped off our food and bustled away. Port Hope didn’t boast many options for breakfast diners, so Tallus and I ended up at the same place we’d eaten all week. We planted ourselves at an out-of-the-way booth to chat, but our ears stayed perked to other patrons’ chatter, curious if news of a cabin fire had spread through town.
So far, we’d heard nothing.
“I don’t get it.” I set the iPad down after reading the blurb for the book Tallus had shown me on Amazon. My proclamations of love and our subsequent evening made it hard to focus. My skin felt too small every time I caught Tallus’s eye.
He’d recounted how he’d accidentally seen information about a murder investigation back at the police station on the day we’d gone to ask about Weston’s case, but the connection between it and the book baffled me.
“They’re the same.”
“There are similarities, but I wouldn’t call them the same.”
“Don’t be like that. Admit I’m right. It’s too coincidental. I don’t think these books are fiction. That blurb might not cover much, but I’ve read a few reviews where readers gave thorough synopses, and it made my skin crawl.”
“You said you barely saw anything at the police station.”
“I saw enough.” He took the iPad and clicked around. “Right here. Listen. This reviewer says the body of a young woman is discovered in Skull King Swamp, and Detectives Angler and Raven quickly determine it’s the work of their slippery serial killer.”
I blinked and shook my head. “And how does that match what you saw?”
“The woman at the police station was found in a Skull-something Marsh. Hang on. There’s more.” He scrutinized the write-up. “I read before that every case in the series portrays the killer using a different MO, which is why the detectives struggle to catch him.”
Tallus stabbed a finger on a block of text. “Ah ha! Found it. The victim in this book was strangled and missing all her fingernails, exactly like the one at the police station. See? And she was found in a marsh.”
“A swamp.”
“Same difference.”
I scuffed a hand over my jaw, scratching the overgrown stubble. “What city does this book take place in again?”
Tallus frowned and studied the iPad, clicking around. “I… don’t know. I think it’s fictitious, but even the swamp name is almost exactly the same as what I saw on the whiteboard at the station. The police found that woman in Skull-something Marsh. I couldn’t read it. But this one is Skull King Swamp. That’s almost identical. Hang on.”
I smeared peanut butter on a piece of wheat toast and handed it to Tallus as he performed another search. His brain was toobusy to eat, but the man loved peanut butter and got a blissed-out look in his eyes whenever he ate it.
He unconsciously accepted the toast and nibbled it as he worked.
“Found it.”
