To Save His Mate(21)

“Oh, don’t mind her,” Madison cut in. “She’s just mad because nobody at the hospital will give her any updates on the guys.”

“We tried to explain to her that sleeping with a guy doesn’t make you privileged to his private information,” Renee offered.

It would seem that this group was rather diversified. There was Renee, the straight talker, Madison, the generally pleasant one, and Angel, the resident slut who slept with any male model who was willing.

“Actually, I’ll bet little Angel over there is just pissed that you got the jump on that hot piece of male yumminess before she could.” Madison just laughed when Angel sent a scathing glare her way. “Oh, you’re working on hooking up with Jose right now anyway.”

Now, this was interesting. So Angel had been intimate with both of the victims? She made a mental note to have Murphy check into any possible romantic involvement with the prior murder victims.

“Well, as nice as this little sabotage has been, I’m heading to bed. I’ll see you ladies bright and early,” Lacy called as she closed the door behind her amidst grumbles and gripes.

With Murphy’s warning about the killer possibly being in the house with her, Lacy flipped the lock on the knob and checked the windows, too.

Satisfied that she was as secure as possible, she quickly changed into her nightshirt and crawled into bed, tucking her nine-millimeter under her pillow. If only, she could fall asleep.

The kiss on the porch was supposed to convince the other models that there was something going on between her and Ethan, but the raw passion that ignited out there had nothing to do with creating a cover story. No, as far as Lacy was concerned, that was nothing short of explosive chemistry.

And she liked it.

A lot.

Thank goodness, Jose had walked out when he had, because—Lacy was sad to admit—she had completely forgotten where she was. When Ethan’s lips had touched hers, everything else had just disappeared, the only thing remaining being the two of them.

Lacy was sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she’d never experienced anything like that before, but she was even more certain she never would again, at least, not with anyone other than Ethan.

Thoughts of him were hard to dispel—they were certainly more pleasant than what she should be thinking about—but Lacy forced herself to recap what she knew so far.

There were two victims, both male, and both potentially involved with Angel at some point. That would mean her partner, Bruce, had done the dirty with the resident slut, as Renee called her.

Lacy sincerely hoped he remembered to bag the goods. Just because there’s a pretty, well-kept exterior doesn’t mean the person wasn’t harboring all sorts of crotch-rotting diseases. A shudder passed through her, and she quickly steered her thoughts elsewhere. It had been a long day, and tomorrow would likely be the same. Sending up a little prayer that no attacks came, Lacy finally allowed herself to drift off to sleep.





Chapter Nine





It was Thursday, all had remained quiet on the shoot site, and Ethan found he was genuinely looking forward to playing poker with Adam and Jose that night. He and Jose had exchanged some friendly smack-talk over the upcoming game, and Ethan had to admit, he liked the guy.

For the last few days, Ethan and Lacy had been virtually inseparable. Logan claimed their chemistry was likely to set the pages on fire once the pictures went to print, and Ethan couldn’t agree more.

He couldn’t believe how much he’d grown to care for her in such a short amount of time. Within a week, he’d begun to crave her. He could feel whenever she was nearby, and his wolf insisted on seeking her out every time.

Figuring out if she felt anything for him, other than lust, was proving to be damn difficult. Lacy was so focused on the case, that a lot of their time “together” was actually spent brainstorming potential suspects at the shoot.

For some reason, she seemed to be stuck on Angel, but Ethan couldn’t see it. The petite model simply didn’t fit the bill.

Angel was small. She looked as if a good breeze could topple her, and Lacy thought she was a murderer? Most killers were extremely arrogant, so sure that they were smarter than everyone else, but Angel was as insecure as they came.

Actually, her insecurities were probably what had her hopping from one bed to another with the male models. But, regardless of whether it was insecurity or she just had the morals of an alley cat, Ethan still couldn’t bring himself to see her as a killer.

Angel was still trying to check on the two models who were still hospitalized—though nobody would give her any information—so she was obviously capable of having feelings for the men she bedded.