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It hadn’t been fair. He deserved to feel a little better.
And he sure as hell wasn’t supposed to have insane urges about the she-devil. Urges like running his hands through that thick mane of hair to see if it was as soft as it looked. Or nestling his face in its softness to see if it smelled like the warm, musky scent that kept wafting toward him when she flipped her head. Or pushing inside her while she wrapped those exquisite legs around his waist while crying out his name.
Might as well commit him now.
It was close to eight when they reached the address Bryce gave them, the sun just starting to drop below the mountains. There wasn’t much activity on the street—a few Pacific Islanders stood on the corner watching them suspiciously as they passed. A few more guys sat on the corner, the small, torn bags next to them telling him they were likely homeless.
“I’m going to drive around the block first. Tell me if you see Darcy’s car.”
A few minutes later they were back in front of the building.
“It’s not here.” Meredith said. “Maybe she did go on a road trip with some friends,” she added, her tone hopeful, as they got out.
He looked up at a sign near the street. He nodded toward it. It warned no parking between seven and nine a.m. “If her car was still parked here this morning, it would have been towed.” A thought occurred to him. “You didn’t happen to have a security system in her car, like OnStar or something? They could track it if you did.”
“No. Darcy found this old Volkswagen bug. Vintage. It was a wreck when she got it, but she put a lot of her savings into getting it fixed up.” Her lips twisted into a slight smile as she remembered, softening her features. Something she definitely should do more often. Or not—hell, what was he thinking? “I wanted to buy her a new car, but she was pretty insistent. She could be stubborn when she wanted to be.”
He tried the doors to the building, but there was a thick chain holding them closed. The windows wore about eight layers of dirt and grime, offering him a limited view inside. About all he could make out was a dark, open space. He walked around the back, trying all the windows until he found one that gave, then lifted himself up and climbed through.
“You’re not leaving me out here,” Meredith’s high-pitched voice said with alarm. She started to pull herself up to follow him, and he turned to watch her progress.
She was surprisingly strong.
It only took another thirty seconds for her to appear in the opening, her skirt hiked high up on her hips. He probably shouldn’t stare as she tried to catch her breath, but…hell. She had amazing legs. He caught a glimpse of dark, lacy panties before she swung her legs down and jumped to the floor to join him.
“Impressive.”
“Yoga,” she said, mistaking his intent, and shimmied the skirt back down over her hips. “And don’t think I didn’t notice you staring at my ass. You could have offered a hand, you know.”
“It was way more fun to enjoy the view.”
She slapped the dust from her hands along the side of her skirt. “So why are we in here anyhow? It’s deserted.”
“First, we don’t have any direct confirmation that Darcy left the place, do we? Bryce said she wasn’t around when he got back. For all we know she could be still here. Or she could’ve left something.” A rustling to his left caught his attention, and he put his hand out to tell her to wait.
They stood quietly for a moment in the large, darkened warehouse, waiting for the sound to occur again. Nothing. He headed in the direction where he’d heard the sound, Meredith right behind him, stopping after a step to slip her heels off before continuing barefoot.#p#分页标题#e#
Near the back of the building was a room, the door shut. He crept over and pressed his ear to the door, listening. He motioned Meredith to stand behind him and then tested the door. Unlocked.
He pushed the door open and waited to see if someone—or something—rocketed his way. Nothing.
It someone had been here, they’d cleared out pretty fast. In the corner by an open window was a blanket that appeared to have been used for a bed and several empty cans of soup. He went over and bent down. The blanket was still warm.
“Do you think it was Darcy?”
He looked around. “Nah. I’d say the person who set up here is a permanent squatter. But they might know something.”
He stepped over to the dirt-covered window and peered out. Whoever the person was, he or she was bound to return eventually.
They walked through the place again, looking for anything that would be of interest. But other than trash and empty cups confirming a couple hundred kids had partied here recently, just as Bryce had described, they found nothing. No sign of Darcy.