Read Online Veiled Intentions by Delores Fossen - Free Book Online Page B

climbed into bed. “Hard to make someone feel even remotely important when you’re never around. He got fed up and left me for a kindergarten teacher.”
    Still no response.
    â€œHow about you?” she asked.
    â€œNo one current.” He came out of the bathroom, and she made a point of looking away. She’d already overdosed on his great bod. No need for more. “The last woman in my life was a kindergarten teacher who left me for an accountant.”
    Okay. So that broke the ice that had already been thawing between them. She laughed. Then bit her lip so she wouldn’t laugh again.
    She aimed her finger at him. “Let’s get something straight. I don’t want to like you, Rico.”
    He leaned over as if to kiss her good-night, letting his mouth come very close to hers. Breath met breath. And then he turned off the light. “I agree completely.”
    She lay there silently cursing him. But not for long. His head had hardly hit the pillow on the floor before the phone rang. Since it was supposed to be her apartment, Katelyn rolled to the side of the bed and answered it.
    â€œIt’s me,” she heard her brother say.
    â€œGarrett, just the man I wanted to talk to.”
    Joe must have felt the same because he pressed the speaker function on the phone. Probably because he wanted to hear anything official. But the official part would have to wait.
    â€œThanks for the expert packing job,” she tossed out at Garrett. “You do know this’ll cost you in slow painful ways you can’t even imagine?”
    â€œI’m trembling in my Doc Martens.” But the sarcasm wasn’t nearly strong enough, and it didn’t come close to masking his concern. “I’ll drop by in the morning, pretending to deliver breakfast. Anything I can bring you?”
    â€œYou mean other than Starbucks and some real clothes?” Katelyn inquired cautiously, feeling him out.
    â€œYeah. Other than that.”
    Heck. He was placating her.
    Never a good sign.
    â€œWhat about you, Rico? You need anything?” Garrett asked.
    Mercy. He’d moved from placating to being nice.
    â€œNo, thanks,” Joe let him know. “I’ve got some things in the trunk of my car.”
    Garrett paused. Never a good sign, either. “So the plan is for you two to pick up Katelyn’s car in the morning and then not come up for air again until it’stime to announce your engagement at Perfect Match on Thursday?”
    â€œGreat summary.” But Katelyn had reached her threshold for beating around the bush. “Spill it, Garrett. What’s wrong?”
    â€œI’m not sure, exactly.” Yet another hesitation. “Someone’s digging through the fake files we created for your covers.”
    â€œWe expected that,” Joe pointed out. He sat up in his sleeping bag, leaning back against the side of the mattress.
    â€œYeah, but I didn’t expect them to go at it this way. It’s sloppy. Damn sloppy. And that slop leads right to Merrick. It makes me uncomfortable.”
    Katelyn knew exactly how he felt. Merrick might be a killer, but from all accounts he was smart. If the cyber trail led to him, then it was probably because someone wanted them to think Merrick had done it.
    Bruce Donovan, maybe?
    Of course, there was also the angle that by being sloppy, Merrick was giving himself a very convincing out.
    â€œIf he’s that smart,” Katelyn mumbled. “We’re in serious trouble.”
    â€œYeah,” Garrett agreed.
    Joe glanced at her. He had that did-I-miss-something? look. At least she thought that’s what that glance was about until he shrugged. “I don’t care how smart Merrick is. If he’s making these sloppy searches to cover the fact he’s the sniper, we’ll still stop him.”
    Well, they were all on the same page. Interesting. Most outsiders, including fellow cops, had trouble following