Until then we’ll just be careful.”

“I wish I could be the one to find him. I want to kick his ass myself.”

Bri grinned, loving the way Caroline’s eyes sparkled with righteous anger. For all her sweet softness, Caroline was tough and strong. More than her, sometimes. A lot more than her. “If I get the chance, I’ll kick his ass for you.”

Caroline cuddled closer, fitting her head below Bri’s chin. “You think you will? Find him?”

“Carter and I will be questioning a lot of people today, about another case. I’ll be asking about Everly too. It won’t take long to track him down.”

“Good. Because I really like Rica, and I don’t mind staying here for a night or two.” She kissed Bri’s neck and then sucked lightly until Bri squirmed. “But being company really cramps my style. I had big plans for you this morning.”

“Yeah?” Bri twisted to check the kitchen through the glass doors behind them. It was empty. She found Caroline’s hand and drew it to her fly. “Want to demonstrate?”

“Can you be quiet?” Caroline murmured as she pulled on Bri’s belt.

“Babe,” Bri said hoarsely, lifting her hips. “You oughta know by now. I can be anything you want.”

v

• 184 •

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“So what do we do now?” Ash murmured when Allie stirred in her arms. They’d fallen asleep together on the couch, and judging from the light outside, it was late morning. She still wore her shirt and nothing else. Allie was naked. Despite the stiffness and pain in her injured shoulder, and considering she hadn’t had much to eat or hardly any sleep for a couple of days, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this good. This right. She was terrified to walk out the door, terrified that when she did, the rightness would disappear and she’d never get it back again.

“You know this was a bad idea,” Allie said softly.

“Why?” Ash asked, her breath catching in her throat.

“Breakup sex is always a bad idea. Great while it’s happening but then it just confuses everything.”

“Is that what this is?”

“This is way past breakup sex.” Allie leaned up on her elbow, her thigh resting over Ash’s. Her breasts swayed gently and Ash’s stomach tightened.

“Maybe it’s something else,” Ash whispered.

“Like what? You left, remember? You said you didn’t want to get involved with someone so much younger. You told me I wasn’t ready for a serious relationship.”

“I remember.”

“So we’re over. We’ve been over for a long time.” Allie smiled wryly and cast her eyes over their joined bodies. “Except for this part, I guess. Or maybe this is really all there ever was.”

“No. It was more than just this.” Ash needed Allie to know that.

No matter what happened, she needed her to know that there had always been more than just this. That’s why she’d come that morning, not expecting anything at all. Just needing her to know. “We were always about more than this, baby.”

“Really?” Allie asked, sorrow in her eyes. “Then explain to me what happened, Ash, because I just don’t get it.”

“I was scared,” Ash said softly. “I knew I was falling for you in a big way, and I panicked.”

“What?” Allie couldn’t believe she was just hearing this now.

They’d argued. She’d cried. Ash had stonewalled. She’d sworn at Ash, railed at her, practically begged her for a chance to prove her wrong—

all to no avail. Finally—to preserve her pride and her dignity—she’d

• 185 •

RAdCLY fFe

done exactly what Ash had insisted she do. She’d let Ash walk away, she’d dated other women, she’d slept with other women. She tried to convince herself that she hadn’t been in love with Ash. If Ash had once said that it’d been about her fears, and not about Allie’s age or Allie’s lack of experience or something Allie was lacking, then everything might have been different. “What are you saying?”

“I wanted you so much that I was afraid. Afraid that if I fell in love with you I wouldn’t make it if you left me.”

Allie sat up abruptly, furious and confused. “You broke up with me—you broke my fucking heart—because you cared about me too much? Is that what you’re trying to tell me now?”

“Something like that.”

“You need to go.” Allie jumped up, snatched her tank top off the floor, and pulled it over her head. Her panties were nowhere to be found, but at least now she didn’t feel so vulnerable. She just felt mad.

Raging mad, and she needed to stay that way—especially now, when Ash looked so fragile, so damn wounded. At least when she was angry at Ash, she could bear the pain of losing her. Ash’s confession had flayed her heart open, and if she lost her anger, she’d be left with nothing but tears. “You fucking coward. How could you have done this?”

Ash sat up and reached for her pants. She pulled them on and found her boots and socks. “It wasn’t about you. It never was.” She finished dressing and finally met Allie’s eyes. “It was always me.”

“That doesn’t help me right now,” Allie whispered.

“I know.” Ash feathered her fingers over Allie’s cheek and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I love you, Allie. And I’m so sorry.”

Ash walked to the door and Allie let her go. When she was sure she was alone, she sat on the sofa, rested her hand on the spot that was still warm from Ash’s body, and cried.

v

He slept well, despite his missed opportunity the night before. He hadn’t expected her to be awake, and definitely not so feisty. Most prey ran. They never confronted the hunter. She’d taken him by surprise when she’d appeared, a small shadowy figure through the glass. He’d barely had time to back into the shadows so she couldn’t see his face.

He heard her scream, but she stood her ground. The suddenness of her

• 186 •

RetuRning tides

confronting him, the shock, had been so exciting he’d almost been satisfied with that. Almost. But it hadn’t been her face or her scream he’d returned to over and over in his mind, lying in his rented room with his hard, throbbing cock in his hand. It had been the sensation of the blade severing tissue, the sound of life escaping on a wheeze, the convulsion of death that felt so much like coming. He knew the next time he hunted down his prey, he’d experience it all.

So he was feeling confident, invincible, as he strolled casually to the coffee shop after awakening around noon. The midday crowds were thin, and after a few blocks he became aware of more officers on foot and in patrol cars then he’d noticed before. He slowed and moved closer to the buildings, studying the activity, ready to duck up one of the side streets if he needed to. Then he saw the two officers standing in the doorway of the bar he’d been in the night before, talking to someone who was probably the manager. One of them had a photo in her hand.

He recognized her and she would recognize him, if she saw him.

Quickly he slipped down a narrow passageway between two buildings, unnoticed. He almost laughed out loud. He’d always been so much better than her. Stronger. More clever. He’d remind her of that, before very long. When he took what belonged to him. When he took the woman she thought was hers and reminded her just how wrong she was.

v

Carter got into the passenger side of the cruiser and said to Bri,

“So what do you think?”

“I think Agent Lloyd was looking for someone last night,” Bri said carefully, thinking this might be a test. “So far we can put him at the Governor Bradford, the Gifford House, and the Atlantic House.

Chronologically, it looks like his last stop was Good Times—that was only half an hour before the estimated time of death.”

“The timeline works, I agree,” Carter said as Bri drove down Commercial Street. “So what do we do with this information?”

“We go back tonight and talk to the night bartender and the regulars.

Find out who else was there. Ask if anything unusual happened.”

Bri shot Carter a glance. “Maybe someone noticed Lloyd leave with someone or right after someone?”

• 187 •

RAdCLY fFe

Carter nodded her approval. “Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, let’s start on the B-and-Bs. We still don’t know where he was sta—”

The radio crackled to life.

“All units. Code five at Bayberry and Pilgrim Heights. Approach with caution, code two.”

“Felony fugitive,” Bri exclaimed. “Everly!”

“That’s right around the corner from my house!” Carter hit the lights but not the siren to avoid alerting the suspect to their arrival.

“Go. Go!”

• 188 •

RetuRning tides

chapteR twenty-One

Allie zipped her jeans, pulled on a sleeveless dark blue tee, and debated flip-flops versus running shoes. She opted for running shoes because she was going to work. She might be on sick leave, but she could be “sick” at the station. Reese hadn’t actually told her to stay home. So she’d have to sit at her desk. That was a lot more appealing than what she was doing now—staring at the walls and replaying every word that Ash had said, being alternately angry and hurt. Trying not to replay every moment of making love with her—burning one second, shivering the next, switching from hot to cold so fast her skin ached.

Even the idea of paperwork was looking good. If she sat around here thinking about Ash, or trying not to think about her—

Her police scanner blared, “All units. Code five at Bayberry and Pilgrim Heights. Approach with caution, code two.”

Allie shoved her badge into her back pocket, grabbed her weapon in one hand and her keys in the other, and raced out the door. “All Units” as far as she was concerned meant every able-bodied officer.

She was not going to let the scumbag who’d almost raped Bri get away. She backed out of her parking space in a hail of gravel and sped toward Bradford. She made the turn right behind a cruiser and followed close on its tail as its flashing light bar cleared the road ahead of them.