Page 46 of Marked For Revenge

And only then did Harley let go.

Chapter Fourteen

Ava woke with a jolt and it took her a moment to realize she wasn’t alone. That Harley was holding her.

And he was naked.

She was naked as well, and it took her another moment to realize this wasn’t some dream from the past. It was the real deal. A hot, naked cowboy. Hot, amazing sex, and it’d obviously worn her out enough that she was able to fall asleep. That was somewhat of a miracle, considering the events of the past few days.

He wasn’t asleep though. She looked over at him to see that he was not only wide awake but that he was still taking care of her. He’d draped the quilt over her, had her snuggled in his arms, and was almost certainly keeping watch. Guarding her. He’d moved his holster and gun to the nightstand where it’d be in easy reach.

That was a jolting reminder of the danger.

And that led to reminders of what had happened between them.

Ava didn’t groan, but she knew this was the time of reckoning. Now that her body was sated and the pleasure buzz was fading, she needed to deal with what this all meant. Quickly deal with it and then get back to work.

“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.

“About an hour. Not long enough.” He leaned in and kissed her, igniting the pleasure buzz again and making her want to sink right back into him. She absolutely couldn’t do that though.

“I have to find my phone and check for updates from Theo,” she insisted. Her phone hadn’t rung or dinged with a text, Ava was certain she would have heard that, but it was possible Theo or someone else had sent an important email.

Harley reached over onto the side of the bed and produced her phone. His, too. “I’ve been checking,” he assured her. “Nothing’s come in.”

She glanced at the time on her phone and did groan now. It was already past 6:00 p.m., and while she’d clearly needed the rest, that would no doubt mess up any chance of her getting a good night’s sleep. Then again, the killer had already ruined that possibility. She hadn’t slept well since the murders had started.

“It’ll be dark soon,” Harley pointed out. “The bomb squad will still be on scene but will have to shut down for the night. It might be morning before anyone can get to the body to verify that it’s Lionel Henderson.”

Ava had suspected as much. “But they’re sure it’s a body?” she asked. “I mean, there’s no chance the person was just unconscious? Or another mannequin?”

“No chance,” Harley verified. “When I spoke to Theo earlier, while you were in the shower, he said he’d gotten an initial report that there’d been massive damage in the spot where the body had been.”

In other words, if the person had been alive, he would have died in the blasts. She doubted, though, that the killer would have left the explosives expert alive and waiting to be blown up. No. The killer couldn’t have risked Lionel being able to tell them anything about who’d hired him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She was pretty sure that not-so-simple question involved both her and the baby. “We’re fine,” she assured him, not addressing the other part of that simple question. The part about how she was dealing emotionally with what had just happened between them.

“Good,” he said, obviously willing to accept her answer. He brushed a soft kiss on her mouth that still managed to pack a lot of heat. “We’ll talk once things have settled down.”

That was about the best offer he could have made. Harley wasn’t going to pressure her into trying to figure out what any of this meant, which also meant they were on the same mental page. Then again, the danger had a way of putting everything else on hold.

After yet another of those heat-packing kisses, he caused her to mentally groan when he moved away and sat up. “You should probably eat something, and I need to grab a shower. After that, we could keep going through the PI reports to see if there’s anything in them to link us to the killer.”

It was another good offer, and Ava knew he was right about her needing to eat. Just because they had a killer to catch, it didn’t mean she could neglect anything to do with the baby.

She got the cheap thrill of seeing a naked Harley head to the shower. Mercy, the man was built, and just seeing him fired up more than it should.

“Eat and work,” she muttered, reminding her body that it had already had all it was going to get of Harley tonight.

While Harley showered, Ava dressed and, bringing both her phone and gun with her, she made her way into the kitchen. She checked out the windows, looking for any signs of trouble, but both her front and back yards were empty. Added to that, two of her neighbors who’d been out walking their dogs had stopped to chat on the sidewalk just across the street. Since everyone in Silver Creek knew about the murders, one of them would have alerted her had they seen anything suspicious.

Well, they would if they actually saw it.

She thought of the mannequin’s head that the killer had managed to put on her back porch. Way too close for comfort, but it was still light out right now, so that added a small level of safety. However, as Harley had pointed out, it’d be dark soon and the killer might make his next move. That was the reason Ava moved away from the window.

The soup and grilled cheese that Harley had made were now stone-cold, but since she didn’t want to cook anything else, she heated them up, poured herself another glass of milk and carried her plate to the table so she could boot up her laptop. She hadn’t even managed to open the file on the PI reports when Harley came in.

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