Shallow Grave-J Collins 3 by Lori G. Armstrong Read Free Book Online Page B

we’d wait and see
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    what happened. And look what happened. My husband is dead.”
    My brain had gotten stuck on the word bones.
    “Can you come out here? And I’ll tell you everything before we go talk to the sheriff ? You seemed to know him.”
    “I worked for him for three years,” I said absentmindedly, thinking about bones and who she’d meant by the rest of us .
    June made that chuckle-cough-growl sound again.
    “Well, your partner is a might easier on the eyes than Richards. Don’t blame you for switchin’ jobs.”
    A natural reaction to Kevin. Sometimes I forgot he was such a head-turner. I didn’t see his face anymore as much as his soul. “June, I’m not sure about this.” Might be selfi sh, but I did not want to spend my one day off with June Everett.
    “It don’t have to be today. Don’t even have to be tomorrow. I gotta go to the funeral home later this afternoon. Probably won’t be fi t for company until Monday at least.”
    I didn’t understand why she’d mourn a man who beat her, still I didn’t envy her the task of picking out a casket. Selecting hymns. Writing an obituary. Choos-ing his burial clothes. Before I’d thought it through, I said, “You’re not going alone, are you?”
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    “Nah. My brother Jeff said he’d go with me. He ain’t exactly thrilled ’cause he thought Lang coulda treated me better . . . well, I know Lang wasn’t perfect. We had our problems.”
    “Like?” fell from my mouth before I could stop it.
    “Usual guy-type stuff . Same as every man I know—
    he had a thing for titty bars and porn. Stayed out too late and lied about where he’d been. Drank too much.
    But in some ways, he was the most honest man I’d ever known. He didn’t hold back nothin’.”
    Including his fl ying fi sts.
    Uncomfortable silence. “Guess that’s a little too much information. Shit, someone’s at the door. See you guys Monday afternoon.” And she hung up.
    Her phone call left me so frazzled I contemplated switching from coff ee to tequila. But when I saw the towering stack of folders on the corner of my desk, I knew there’d be no numbing nip in my future.
    Kevin strolled in. “You want to get a quick bite before the lunch crowd hits?”
    “Where you thinking?”
    “Tally’s.”
    Tally’s is an institution in downtown Rapid City
    —an old-fashioned café with a menu chockfull of home-made comfort foods. Kevin and I had eaten there a lot in the last few months.
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    “Tally’s sounds great.” I stood. “I can fi ll you in on my phone call from June Everett.”
    He groaned and helped me put on my leather coat.
    “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
    “Probably not.”
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    Even dog-tired, I shot awake when he slipped into my bed.
    Glad I’d slept naked.
    He layered his smooth, hard body to mine from calves to thighs. Warm lips brushed my bare shoulder, sending a spine-tingling shiver through me. He draped his arm over my waist and spread his large hand fl at on my belly to pull me fl ush against him.
    I attempted to roll over to steep myself in his scent.
    His heat. To make sure he really was here and not just another damn dream. He tightened his hold, keeping me close, but keeping me in place.
    “I didn’t mean to wake you.” He nuzzled the back of my head. “Go back to sleep.”
    I scooted into him and fl oated away.
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    M M M
    Callused fi ngertips danced up the outside of my thigh.
    Insistent kisses tracked the curve of my neck.
    I sighed. Shivered. Stretched. Opened my eyes.
    Ribbons of pale pink light streamed through the blinds.
    And those clever, clever fi ngers moved higher.
    My blood heated.
    I turned my head and caught his mouth with mine.
    Kissed him until his soft, slow breathing became hard and fast.
    We rolled. He ended up on top.
    Impatient, he swept the pillows to the fl oor.
    I kicked away the quilt, the sheet, the blankets and everything else.
    He clasped our hands together and slid them across the fl annel sheets and up