Down and Dirty(48)

“Do you scuba dive?” she asked.

No response.

“Shane?”

She turned to look at him and realized he was dead asleep. His deep, even breaths—almost like a soft snore—had her grinning. They could talk tomorrow. She’d grill him about his date with Courtney and see if maybe he’d consider putting a hold on his MeetMyMate.com membership until they had a chance to explore this thing between them.

Thing? It’s love, you idiot.

The unbidden thought sent her pulse racing with terror, and she waited for the need to flee. But it never came. Was it possible that she’d found a man who was worth risking it for? A man who knew exactly who she was and who wasn’t intimidated by it? There was no way to know for sure, but for the first time in her life, she found herself wanting to see if this could go somewhere. If they could stick. She tucked in tighter, making herself the little spoon. Tomorrow, she would make Lacey proud and open up to a man for the first time in her life.

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, visions of Shane in her head.





Chapter Eleven

Light streamed through the window, and Shane cursed under his breath at a persistent buzzing noise.

“Are you going to get that?” Cat’s muffled voice came from beneath a mountain of blankets, and he grinned. She was curled into a ball and almost invisible, with only a few rusty curls poking out from the top of her makeshift fort.

“Yeah, I was dead to the world. Didn’t even realize it was my phone.” He lifted the covers and gave her bare bottom a pat before rolling off the bed. He’d barely taken a step when he tripped over the mound of clothes littering the beige carpet. “Don’t you have a closet for this stuff?”

“Doesn’t all fit.”

He pushed the pile aside with his foot and glanced at the clock. Almost 9:00 a.m. The last time he’d slept that late had been in college. By the time he found his jeans and dug his phone out of his pocket, the call had gone to voice mail. Good. With Cat still warm and sleepy, maybe he could—

The phone buzzed in his hand and he bit back a curse. He peered down at the number. Galen. He spared a glance at Cat and held up a finger. His buddy was on board with the idea of them dating, but he probably didn’t need to know that Shane had spent the night.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Galen.” His friend’s voice sounded strange, and Shane tensed instantly.

“What’s going on, man?”

“Lacey and I are on our way to New York City for the weekend, but Rafe asked me to give you a call when I told him you were in town.” If Galen’s tone had been strained before, it was even more so now. “Shit, man, there’s a child missing in Caseville. Grace Abbott, four years old. The Abbotts have a cottage on Elmer Lake. They need volunteers, like now.”

Shane’s stomach clenched. Kids missing near lakes were always scary.

“They went to bed last night, kids tucked in and all was well,” Galen continued. “This morning, they woke around seven-thirty when they felt a draft coming from under their bedroom door. Gracie was gone and the front door was wide open. The PD is already on the scene, and Rafe is putting together a search party. He asked if you could make it over there to help.”

Shane stalked to the window and shoved the curtains aside. Fat flakes of snow fell to the already-covered ground. Fuck. He speared a hand through his hair and started running scenarios in his head. They went from bad to unthinkable, depending on how small the child was, what she’d been wearing, and what the temperature was when she left the house. Had someone taken her? Had she seen something out her window and gone to explore? Maybe she’d managed to find shelter somewhere and was huddled up with a stuffed animal or her favorite blanket. He refused to even think about the lake.

Shane juggled the phone and dragged his jeans on. “Are there signs of an abduction?”

“Shane? What’s going on?” Cat sat up on the bed, her face drained of color.

He covered the receiver and explained quickly. “There’s a missing girl in Caseville. I’m going to join the search party to help find her.” He turned his attention back to Galen on the telephone.

“They said that kidnapping looks unlikely at this point. Only one tiny set of prints in the snow leading from the house into the woods. Unfortunately, they get sporadic from there once the canopy of evergreens shields large sections of the forest floor.”

“Okay, give Rafe a call back and tell him I’ll be there ASAP.”

Cat stood, wrapping a sheet around her and started for the bathroom. “I’m coming, too. I want to help.”