“Ack!” Slinging away the paper, she tried to back away, got the hem of her long dress caught under her foot, and fell off the stool.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
At Riley’s yell, Cody dropped the cat food, splattering it on the floor. Somehow, he made it around the counter, catching her before she hit the floor.
“Is it your head? Are you having a relapse?”
She shuddered. “Spiders.”
“Huh?” Still holding her in his arms, he followed her gaze. “What the hell?” Taking her to the sofa, he set her down, then returned to the kitchen. Merlin jumped up on the counter and swatted at a dead spider. There were dozens of the things, different sizes, different kinds, all dead. The fuck?
He picked up Merlin and set him on the floor. “Those aren’t toys for you.” The other two cats were busy eating their dinner from the spilled can. “Go grab some grub before they eat it all.” He gave the cat’s butt a push. Sally and Pretty Girl were still in a corner of the kitchen where he’d put them, their ears perked up, and their eyes locked on the food spilled on the floor. “You’ll get yours soon,” he told them.
“Where’s your plastic baggies?” he called to Riley.
“In the pantry, bottom shelf. Who would send me dead spiders? That’s just creepy.”
The same person who tried to run you over and hit you on the head with a rock? She was still in denial if she had to ask. And whoever it was, they were messing with the wrong woman, and were going to be very sorry when he found them. Baggie in hand, he grabbed a paper towel, using it to lift the sheet of paper. The letters had been cut out of a magazine and taped on like something out of a bad B movie.
Next time they won’t be dead
Using the paper towel, he slid the spiders to the end of the counter, letting them fall into the baggie, then added the sheet of paper and the envelope. Once sealed, he put it on top of the refrigerator before going to the living room and sitting next to Riley.
“Are you calling Mike?” she asked when he put his phone to his ear.
“No, my boss, Logan Kincaid.”
“I think we should call Mike or that detective.”
He held up a finger. “I’ll tell you why I’m calling the boss first in a minute.” When he got Kincaid’s voice mail, he left a message, asking for a return call. After setting his phone on the coffee table, he slipped an arm around her, and tugged her close. “The first thing you need to know is that whoever this is, they’re not playing a practical joke on you. They mean business. The second is that K2 has more resources than any police department could ever hope for, which is why we’re bringing them in on this. After I talk to Kincaid, we’ll give your cop a call.”
“Mike’s not my cop.” She burrowed into him, and he felt a shiver pass through her. “Ugh. Spiders. Hate the things.”
“Yeah, me, too.” He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “Did you have a nice afternoon with Maria?” he asked, hoping to get her mind off the spiders.
“Oh.” She lifted her face from where it was buried against his neck, pulled her long dress up to her thighs, and straddled him. “I almost forgot. Maria said to tell you to check your e-mail.”
“Probably sent the list of possible cars.” He reached for his phone, latching onto the excuse to keep from doing what he really wanted, and somehow managing to keep his eyes off her bare legs.
“Cars?”
“Yeah, here you go.” Turning the screen so she could see it, he scrolled down. “Looks like there’s around twenty possibilities in Escambia County.” While she skimmed the list, his eyes gravitated to the long, satiny legs hugging his thighs. If he touched them, he wouldn’t stop, so he forced his gaze back to her face.
“This really is all connected, isn’t it? The poisons, the car, the spiders?” The last was accompanied by a shudder.
’Bout damn time it sunk into her pretty head. “Yeah, so we need to figure out who’s targeting you and why.”
“You know what?” She took the phone out of his hand and placed it back on the coffee table. “Let’s talk about this tomorrow.”
With that, she lowered her mouth to his, and when her tongue made a slow slide across the seam of his lips, he decided tomorrow was a perfect day to discuss cars and poisons and spiders. When he tried to take control of the kiss, she clamped her teeth down on his bottom lip, and lust took a straight path to his groin.
“Riley.” He’d already noticed that she liked being in control, and he wondered if that had anything to do with bouncing from foster home to foster home, always at the mercy of others. Whatever the reason, he was more than happy to let her take over, curious to see what she had in mind.