Instead, the words that fell from his lips were, “I think I’m falling in love with you.”
She smiled. “According to Grace, I was supposed to ask you to have sex with me several days ago.”
He almost laughed. “Sex? Just sex?”
“I wasn’t supposed to ask rudely or crudely, of course. Grace was firm about that. And Ron believed I should’ve told you that you had a great body and you shouldn’t let it go to waste.”
“And what did you think?”
“I didn’t know what to say.”
He kissed her again. Kissed her slow and long and deep, and allowed his hands to run down the contours of her back and splay over her buttocks, drawing her even harder against him. He felt her touch, her fingers over his back, felt the passion in the kiss she returned. Their path was charted; he wanted to taste her forever, and he wanted her clothes off and both of them naked together. While he savored the one sensation, he imagined the next and then...
His phone rang.
No.
He had to answer it. Mo knew that. She’d already backed away from him and was straightening her nightgown, watching him.
It was Logan, calling to say that they’d gotten the workforce from the Haunted Mausoleum down to the station. He didn’t know how long they could keep them there.
“I’m on my way.”
Aidan ended the call and looked at Mo.
“I have to go,” he said huskily, and he was sure he’d never regretted anything so much in his whole life.
She smiled—and he knew he was falling in love with her.
“You’re not going without me,” she told him. “You shouldn’t drive without coffee, anyway! If you make some, I’ll be down in five, I swear it.”
She took off for the stairs and paused just once. “Um, can we hold on to that thought—the one we were just having?
“Yes,” Aidan promised. “Oh, yes.”
Rollo barked.
“Okay, Rollo. You can come to the station with us,” he said.
He was glad that he felt so comfortable walking into her kitchen. He knew how to make coffee there. This was— What? The third time? He thought about what Richard had said.
It was like coming home—when he hadn’t even realized he’d been away.
*
Logan Raintree was at the station when Mo and Aidan arrived; he was the first to meet them at reception. He didn’t seem surprised to see Mo and he greeted her cordially—and Rollo, too.
“Everyone who was working last night is here,” Logan told Aidan. “And so far not one has complained about being called in. A number of them have been crying. They lost an employer they all cared about.”
Lieutenant Purbeck came out to the reception area. “Mahoney.” He nodded at Aidan. “Glad you’re here. Van Camp’s been talking to people, but I’m down one officer. Agent Raintree here assigned Voorhaven to do guard duty with the little boy, J. J. Appleby,” he said, glancing at Logan.
“J.J. really likes Jimmy,” Logan explained. “And we feel J.J. and Debbie need to be protected until we get to the bottom of this.”
If they got to the bottom of it.
The unspoken words seemed to linger in the air. No one said them.
No one here would accept them or would even willingly acknowledge that possibility. Mo knew that without a doubt.
Purbeck smiled at her. “You doing okay, Mo?”
She nodded.
“Thank you again. You and Rollo. You were there last night, too, right?”
“I was,” Mo said. It still bothered her terribly.
Why hadn’t she heard—or sensed—anything wrong?
“And you saw nothing?”
“Nothing at all,” she said with disgust. “I thought the night was so routine, it was almost ridiculous. I walked around and around.”
“Too bad Rollo wasn’t playing a ghost dog,” Purbeck noted. “Anyway, Aidan, I’m stepping out of my office. You can do your interviews there. Mo? You want to hang with me? I’ll get you some typically bad coffee.”
She started to tell him that, sure, that would be nice.
But Aidan said, “I’d prefer to have her sit in with me. She knows all the players, and she knows the place. She’ll be able to tell if what she hears is the truth. It might make a difference. We’re not interrogating these people, we’re hoping to get something from them.”
“As you like,” Purbeck agreed.
“I’ll start sending them through,” Logan said.
“Great. But, Lieutenant Purbeck, can we begin in the conference room? I’d like to throw them all together first,” Aidan said.
Within ten minutes, everyone had gathered in the conference room. Those who hadn’t yet greeted one another with hugs of commiseration did so. Everyone crowded around to pet Rollo, too. Hug him, actually. The dog must have seemed like a bastion of strength and normalcy to them. Grace, Ron and Phil came over to Mo and hugged her especially tight. Then they all found places to sit.
“So,” Aidan said, from his position at the head of the table. “We all know what happened last night. And I am so very sorry for your loss. I met Sondra Burke briefly, and she was lovely.”