“Look, we’re on our way to get fresh clothes for Karlton. Once she’s suited up we’ll join you in the field.”
“No, there’s nothing out here. Your wererat trailed them to the edge of the woods and then nothing. We think they either flew or had a car waiting.”
“So the brilliant idea to use wereanimals to track the killers isn’t so brilliant.”
Nicky moved closer to me. I kept the side of my body to the front of his. He leaned over and laid his face against the top of my head, resting against my hair as if it were a pillow.
“It was a good idea, Anita, and when we get a fresher crime scene we’ll try again.”
“You’re right, they’ll kill again.”
“They will,” he agreed.
“I hate the idea of having to wait for another crime scene before we catch a break. It’s like we want someone else to be killed.”
Nicky moved his head to lay a kiss against my hair.
“We’ll meet you back at the motel while you’re getting Karlton’s clothes. You need to get rooms for the rest of your deputies.”
I leaned my forehead against Nicky’s chest. “How’s Bobby Lee doing?” I asked, because I knew he was the one who’d shapeshifted to try to scent out the bad guys.
“He’s passed out in the back of the car.”
“So he’s already shape shifted back to human form,” I said. Nicky put his arm across my back, trying to draw me in against his body again.
“Yes.”
I was out of hands to keep our bodies apart, so I turned my shoulder into his chest. His arm tried to turn me so that the fronts of our bodies would touch. I turned my body more firmly sideways to him. “He’ll be unconscious for at least four hours,” I said.
“Six to eight hours,” Edward said.
“Nope, Bobby Lee is a more powerful shapeshifter than that. He’ll be four hours or less and then he’ll wake.”
“Good to know.”
“Some of the other people with us don’t have to pass out at all when they change form.” I was cuddling with one of them right that minute.
“That makes them very strong shapeshifters.”
“Yep,” I said. I let myself put my arm around Nicky’s waist, and he tried to draw us into a complete hug, but I kept my body sideways, so that though we were hugging and the strong warmth of him wrapped around me, it wasn’t as distracting as it could have been.
“You travel with some very big dogs, Anita.”
“I’m a big-dog sort of person,” I said. I looked up into Nicky’s face. He kissed me on the forehead, lips so gentle.
“What are you doing, Anita?”
“Talking to you.”
“Your voice keeps changing, going soft.”
Nicky kissed my eyebrow, ever so gently. “I’m not whispering, Edward.”
“I didn’t say you were whispering. I said your voice keeps going soft, gentle. I didn’t think Lisandro or Nicky had that effect on you.”
“Lisandro doesn’t,” I said. Nicky kissed my eyelid, brushed his lips back and forth over my eyelashes. I raised my face up to him. He kissed my cheek, his breath hot against my skin.
“If Nicky distracts you this much, then you need to be careful, Anita.”
“I’ll be careful,” I said, and it was almost a whisper, because Nicky’s lips were just above mine.
“We’ll see you at the motel, Anita,” Edward said.
“See you,” I whispered and hit the button so that when Nicky’s lips touched mine I wasn’t on the phone anymore. He kissed me. He kissed me gently at first, and then his arm tightened around me and I turned in his arms, against his body. We stopped holding hands and I finally let myself melt into his arms, his body, and his kiss. He kissed me hard and thoroughly, with lips, tongue, and finally teeth. He bit my lower lip, lightly. It drew a small sound from me, so that he bit a little harder, drawing my lip out and away.
I had to say, “Enough.”
He let go of my lip, drawing back so he could see my face. He laughed when he looked down at me. “We forgot your lipstick.”
I blinked at him, and realized he had red lipstick across his lips, and his smile showed lipstick on his teeth. I shook my head smiling, and reached up to touch his lips, trying to rub the scarlet off his mouth.
He laughed a low chuckle. “Yours is worse.” He put his thumb under my lower lip and rubbed at the lipstick I couldn’t see.
“I don’t usually forget the lipstick,” I said, but I was laughing.
“You did miss me,” he said, and he looked entirely too pleased. Lisandro called out, “We can’t keep him back forever.”