Only Her (A K2 Team Novel)(66)

Intensify? As if they weren’t already intense. Riley leaned back against the sofa. “How can she possibly get all that from what little we know?” She glanced at Cody to see that he stared at the page—his lips compressed into a thin line—and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. He didn’t like that last line either.

“I was curious about that, too, and asked the boss.” He closed the lid to the laptop. “He called her while I was there and put her on the speaker. She said a few things. One, that a woman is more likely to play games whereas a man is more likely to cut right to the chase. The poisoning of the animals was an attempt to make you look bad, which is what she means by playing games.”

“Okay, that makes sense, I guess.” This whole thing made her stomach sick.

“She stressed that even though her profile is based on years of experience and training that she could be wrong. That we shouldn’t rule out any possibility until we have more to go on.”

How had her life come to this? She loved animals. All animals, be they cats, dogs, bunnies, or even the brown mouse little Lindsey loved with her nine-year-old heart, and brought in every time it sneezed.

Riley squeezed her eyes shut. Her life’s work was to keep her patients healthy, giving their humans as much time with their furry friends as possible. What she really wanted was to crawl into bed and pull a pillow over her head. Was it her fault she’d pushed someone already unbalanced over the edge?

She tried to think of a middle-age woman who had brought in a dog or cat—or hell, maybe even a rabbit or hedgehog . . . how was she supposed to know? “It makes me sick to think I did something to start all this.”

“Come here, darlin’.” He put his arm around her and tugged her to his side.

Snuggled up next to Cody, she rested her head on his shoulder, wishing they’d met under different circumstances. No crazy person after her, and no nightmares for him because of something that happened in Afghanistan.

“Tomorrow, you need to start going back through your files, see if there’s anything in them that strikes you as odd or fitting to what the profiler said.” He rested his chin on top of her head.

“I know, but I don’t want to talk about this tonight. How did your appointment go this afternoon?” It was intimate, the way they were nestled together, and for one night, she didn’t want to think about poisoned pets.

“Tell you what. Let’s go out, have a nice dinner, and I’ll tell you about my appointment later, after we get back.” He nuzzled his nose against her hair. “You smell so good.”

“I was just thinking the same thing about you.” And he did smell great, the hint of soap from his shower, and the spicy aftershave scent that she could breathe in forever.

He chuckled. “Guess we could just sit here all night then, smelling each other.”

“We could, but I have other plans for you.” When he stroked his fingers over the skin on her neck, she shivered from the pleasure.

“Do you now?”

“Oh yes.” She lifted her hand to her shoulder, lacing her fingers through his. “I’m going to feed you, then you’re going to play for me and tell me about your appointment. After that, I’m going to reward you for talking about things I know you have no wish to.”

“Mmm, sounds a little like bribery to me.”

Cody had no desire to talk about Afghanistan, or flashbacks, or nightmares, or his messed up head. But Tom had told him this afternoon that one of the first things he needed to start doing was to share what was going on inside his mind with those close to him. Share. He hated that word. According to Tom, however, the longer he held everything in, trying to go it alone, the longer it would take to clean up the mess in his head.

Cody had laughed at that. “Clean up the mess in my head? Is that the kind of medical terminology they taught you in med school?” It was true, though. His head was definitely messy. And he wanted more than anything to clean it up, so he’d take Tom’s advice and talk. He already had talked to Kincaid when he’d stopped by K2 after his appointment. It hadn’t been as hard as he’d expected.

“Call it bribery if you want, but whatever works. I don’t want to go out tonight, though.” She turned her face and brought his hand to her lips, kissing his fingers. “I’ve already got dinner planned.”

“Works for me, darlin’.” He hadn’t particularly wanted to go out either, but had felt like he should make the offer since her condition for getting her into his bed was that they date, which they’d yet to do. “Since you have everything planned, you’re the boss tonight.”