Chapter Eight

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Caroline stepped from the shower and immediately looked out the window of the guest suite bathroom.

In the past sixteen or so hours since she’d arrived at Nash’s, she’d been doing a lot of checking out the windows. A lot of listening, too, for any sounds of someone breaching Nash’s elaborate security system.

But nothing so far.

It’d been a quiet night after what had been the day from hell. At the moment, it was a quiet morning, too, since there were no signs of Bodie or Jordana. Then again, Nash had assured her that they wouldn’t be able to get close to the house without Oz letting him know.

Since no alarms had gone off during the night, Caroline hoped that meant Nash had gotten some sleep in his room across from hers. If he had, then that made one of them at least who’d managed to sleep. She certainly hadn’t, but again, she hadn’t expected it.

Because that long day from hell had stayed with her.

Throughout the night, all those images and sounds had come rushing at her. Images of her bloody bedroom and those pictures. The stench and heat of the fire. The blasts from the bullets. All attempts to either rattle or kill her. And the incendiary device used to ignite the fire had come close to doing that since only minutes earlier, Nash, Ruby, and she had been in the house.

Caroline pushed that thought aside, something she’d been doing all night, but, of course, the reminder of that would return. It didn’t stand a chance of starting to fade until Bodie was caught.

Which might happen today.

She had to cling to that hope. Cling hard. Had to also put her faith in her mother’s team of operatives and the cops. They would find Bodie and Jordana, and the threat would end.

Bolstered a little by that hope, temporarily anyway, Caroline dressed in the clothes that Nash had arranged to be delivered by one of his co-workers. It wasn’t a surprise that the underwear, jeans, and top fit her as if they were her own.

Probably thanks to Ruby’s input.

Caroline would need to thank her mother for that later. Thank Ruby, too, for not putting up a fuss about her staying with Nash. Her mom probably thought seeing Nash would be like adding salt to a wound. It wasn’t. More like balm to that particular wound.

Soothing, warm balm.

Along with an amazing kisser.

She doubted though that Nash would consider that kiss as a form of comfort. Or a wise move. And he’d be right about that last part.

The kiss hadn’t been a particularly smart move since it was a distraction they didn’t need. However, Nash and she seemed to be on a sexual collision course, fueled by an attraction that’d been there since she’d first laid eyes on him. It hadn’t been love at first sight, but it had certainly been a powerful lust that didn’t seem to want to be denied.

She made her way down the hall and found Nash exactly where she’d expected him to be. In his work area. Even though it was just past seven, he’d likely been at it for hours. Maybe even all night.

“There’s coffee,” Nash said, motioning toward the kitchen counter. He was reading something on his screen, obviously something that had snared his attention since he only glanced at her. “And I made some eggs and bacon. The plate’s in the microwave.”

“Thanks.” No way could she eat, not with her stomach so unsettled, but she needed the caffeine to ease her throbbing headache.

“I didn’t see Jordana or Bodie when I looked at the window,” she remarked as she poured herself some coffee.

“No,” he agreed. “No one’s seen either of them.”

Now, he swiveled his chair around to face her. And they both muttered some profanity.

“You didn’t sleep,” he said, just as she said, “Seriously? How the heck can you look this good with little to no sleep?”

The silence came, settling around them, and the corner of Nash’s mouth lifted into a smile. “Your, uh, observation was more flattering than mine.”

“You mean because your observation alluded to the fact that my eyes are bloodshot and I look like hell?”

“You could never look like hell,” he countered.

Ah, the right thing to say. It made her want to kiss him. Then again, many things made her want to do that. But she saw something that stopped her.

A report on Jordana.

It was the one that Nash had no doubt been reading when she walked in, and she could immediately see why he’d been so engrossed with it.

“Jordana withdrew nearly a quarter of a million from her trust fund yesterday,” Caroline read aloud. “And she owns two guns.”

Nash made a sound of agreement and shifted back to the screen. “Guns she knows how to use. She’s taken extensive firearms training.”

“Not exactly the norm for someone in her social circle,” Caroline muttered. “Then again, neither is marrying a convicted felon.”

“No,” he agreed. “And Bodie isn’t Jordana’s only venture into the criminal world. She calls herself an investigative journalist, a crusader who fights injustice of those wrongfully convicted.”

Caroline sighed, and without thinking—definitely without thinking—she lifted her top to show the scars on her stomach and chest. All eight of them were well healed now but still clearly visible as were the other three scars on her thighs.

Nash swallowed hard, and that’s when the regret kicked in for her. She yanked the top back down.

“Sorry,” she muttered just as he muttered, “I’m sorry.”

So, once again, they were on the same wavelength. But this time, there was no smile. No heat in his eyes. Heat that she’d seen just for her. Now, there was bone-deep sympathy. The grief of what’d happened to her and what she’d lost of herself in the attack.

“No need for you to apologize,” she managed. “Before yesterday, the scars weren’t my number one thought.”

Caroline paused and shifted the conversation to a better direction. “And the scars still aren’t. No way for me to develop selective amnesia about Bodie’s escape, but you’re sort of sharing top billing in my head right now. FYI, your part of the top billing is good. I’m just glad you didn’t apologize for that kiss,” she spelled out to him.

“I was going to,” he admitted. Now, he smiled just a little. “For what it’s worth. You share top billing in my head, too.”

He stood, went to her and eased her into his arms. Heck, this wasn’t a got-to-have-you-now kind of embrace. It was because of those scars. Because it’d brought up the past for him, too. She had to remember that she wasn’t the only one who’d been cut during the attack. She’d taken the physical brunt of it, yes, but they’d both been dealt a whopping mental blow.

She eased back a little to assure him of…well, anything that needed assurance, but their gazes locked. Just locked. And they stood there staring at each other.

Caroline drew in her breath, taking in his breath, too, since they were so close. So close that she caught his scent, too. It wasn’t a scent found in a soap or a bottle. It was unique to Nash, and it stirred her.

Mercy, it did.

She moved toward him just as he moved toward her, and their mouths met, not for a comfort kiss. Nope. This was one of those got-to-have-you-now deals.

And the taste, the heat, the intensity roared through her.

He moved his mouth over hers as if he’d had tons of practice doing just this with her, and when he made the kiss French, this kicked up the urgency. Kicked up that aching need that was already spreading from her mouth to her center.

She’d never considered a single kiss to be scalding hot foreplay, but this one was exactly that. A prelude that her body insisted could lead to even more scalding, hotter sex.

It didn’t though.

Nash stepped back, and with his breath gusting, their gazes connected again. Her breathing wasn’t so steady either, and certain parts of her were already whining about the kiss not continuing.

“Uh,” she managed but had no idea how to finish that.

“Uh,” he repeated, and he somehow worked up a smile even though she was pretty sure his body was burning as much as hers. “I think that proves just how much you’re in my head, and I wish I could do something about that. More kissing, some touching,” he added, surprising her with the admission. “I’d like to do both things with you. But there’s this investigation, this hunt for Bodie. And I need to keep you safe. That has to take priority over kissing you.”

“Are you sure about that?” she joked.

He smiled. Then, he sighed. “I’m sure.” And Nash repeated it as if to convince himself before motioning to the report on the screen. “I’ll read this and do my best to keep my hands off you.”

So, he’d sneaked in an apology of sorts after all.

She added her own pseudo-apology by helping him get back that focus with a work-related question. “Anything else in that report I should know?” she asked. And this time, no matter what he said, she wouldn’t be hiking up her top to show him those scars.

“Jordana has a history of helping felons,” Nash explained, putting air quotes around helping. “So, Bodie wasn’t her only venture into the criminal world. Sometimes, she pays legal fees for an inmate or uses her father’s name to pressure prison officials into giving inmates certain privileges, like conjugal visits.”

“Conjugal,” she repeated, though it came out more like a hoarse whisper. “She had sex with Bodie?”

He nodded, and judging from the sudden tight set of his mouth, he was just as disgusted with that as she was. Caroline hadn’t known that Bodie was a monster when she’d invited him into her life, but Jordana did. Of course, the woman thought he was innocent.

“So, how does Jordana’s father feel about…all of this?” Caroline settled for saying.

“Serious disapproval. Serious,” he emphasized. “Right before Bodie and she said I do, he tried to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital and declared mentally incompetent. Jordana fought it. Won. And then she seemed to have mended fences with her father for the whole ordeal. I think what really happened was that Leland decided to back off and keep his hatred of Bodie under wraps so he could work behind the scenes and put an end to the marriage.”

Caroline gave that some thought. “Do you think Leland actually set up Bodie’s escape?”

“It’s possible,” Nash was quick to admit. “Leland has the means and motive, and he could have hired someone on the inside to set it up. Maybe he hoped Bodie would be gunned down at the prison or shortly thereafter.” He paused a moment. “I seriously doubt he wanted Bodie to hook up with his daughter.”

“No,” she muttered, and Caroline had to shove aside something that flashed through her mind. That Bodie and Jordana had already hooked up.

And that Bodie had murdered her.

Caroline cleared her throat and had a huge gulp of coffee. “Where’s Eddie?” she asked since she figured Nash had gotten an update on the man as well. Plus, this would get them off the topic of Jordana for a while.

Nash blew out a long, frustrated breath. “Not in jail where he belongs. His lawyer was able to convince the cops that he wasn’t aiding and abetting Bodie, that he was merely trying to find him so he could talk him into surrendering. However, both Eddie and Leland will be interviewed by Detective Malley within the hour, and Malley’s offered to let us watch the feed live.”

“Oh, I want to watch,” Caroline said. “I’m guessing Eddie has the money for a good lawyer?”

“Not at all. He’s flat broke because his rich parents disowned him years ago, but someone paid top dollar for his lawyer. Ruby’s looking into who did that.”

Info like that might come in handy if it turned out Eddie was indeed helping Bodie.

“There was an update on the incendiary devices used on your house,” Nash went on a moment later. “The bomb squad thinks accelerant pods were set around the perimeter of the back of your house. They were on timers. And there was a second one outside your workshop.”

Well, damn it. That caused her heart to jump to her throat. “Did my workshop catch on fire?”

He shook his head. “The fire department disabled it.”

That was something at least. All her work and equipment hadn’t been destroyed like her house.

“The CSIs, who all survived the fire by the way, have also managed to find bits and pieces of what was left in your bedroom,” he continued a moment later. “Everything will be examined.”

His phone rang, cutting off whatever else he’d been about to say.

“Nash,” Oz’s voice said, pouring through the speaker on his computer. “Video call from Ruby. Should I put it through?”

“Absolutely.” And Nash sat up straighter in his chair as her mother appeared on the large screen mounted on the wall.

“Nash,” Ruby greeted. “Caroline. Any trouble there?”

“No,” they said in unison.

“Good.” She paused, looking at Caroline as if she had something else to say, but then she shifted her attention to her own laptop screen. “I just got some updates that I wanted to let you know about. As expected, Leland is pulling out all the stops to find Jordana, but so far, his team of PIs has come up with nothing. However, he told the cops that Bodie might kill Jordana so he can inherit her estate.”

Nash cursed. “She didn’t do a prenup?”

“Nope. And she’s worth millions. Millions minus the two hundred thousand she withdrew yesterday,” her mother tacked onto that. “If Jordana dies and if Bodie isn’t convicted of her murder, then he’ll become a very rich man.”

“So, that might be the reason Bodie escaped,” Nash muttered.

“Yes, and all the stuff that went on at Caroline’s could have been a ruse. Something to cover up his real intentions of offing his wife and inheriting her estate.” Ruby paused. “Though that would still leave Bodie with a big problem of having to go back to jail. Even if he wasn’t convicted of Jordana’s murder, he’d still have to face charges of escape and assaulting the nurse.”

“Maybe he’s planning on getting out of the country,” Caroline suggested. “He could do that with the money Jordana’s already withdrawn, and then he could try to tap into the rest later on.”

Ruby made a sound of agreement and brought up something else on her laptop screen. A picture. But the angle was wrong for Caroline to make out who was in it. She hoped it wasn’t another photo like those left in her bedroom.

“Another update,” her mother said. “I’ve had some people scouring social media, traffic cams, and such for anything related to the investigation, and this popped up. It was taken at a party about six months ago and posted on social media. It’s grainy because the photo wasn’t focused on the couple but some other people. Still, facial recognition was able to pick it up, so I’m sending it to your screen now.”

Seconds later, the image appeared, and, yes, it was indeed grainy. But Caroline had no trouble figuring out who the man and woman were.

“Crap,” she spat.

“That was my reaction, too,” her mother said. “And now, the question is, why was Jordana kissing Eddie Mulcrone less than a month before she married Bodie?”