22- Fighting a smile
He tried Kim, who typically showed up to work around eight. But she didn’t answer her phone either.
At this point, his heart was racing. He tried not to think about Bryce having paid a visit to his house.
The alarm would have gone off, he told himself. Unless, of course, Bryce— or someone he’d sent—had tricked Kim or Terri. Pretended to be a delivery driver or something.
Logan’s mouth went dry, and his clammy palms slipped on the steering wheel. He urged the car forward, taking it a few more dangerous miles past the speed limit. While he drove, he tried both phones again. Still nothing.
Every expletive he knew left his lips. If only he lived on the kind of street where he could call a neighbor to check on his house. But his neighborhood wasn’t small-town, white picket fence Americana. People built their walls high and minded their own business.
He could check the home’s security feed on his phone, but he hadn’t actually ever tapped in on that device and the fiddling to figure it out would require precious time that he didn’t have. Not even a minute could be wasted, because that could turn out to be the minute that Terri needed him.
By the time he finally reached the house, he could have sworn his heart was about to burst from anxiety. Jamming the code into the keypad, he tore rubber up the driveway. Instead of parking in the garage like he usually did, he stopped the car in front of the main entrance.
In two seconds flat, he was out of the car and in the foyer.
“Terri? Kim?” The house rang with an eerie quiet.
Gulping, he took a slow step toward the kitchen. Maybe shouting wasn’t the best idea. He’d be broadcasting his location to anyone who might have broken into the house.
His hands curling into fists ready for a fight, he surveyed the kitchen. Veggies were lined on the counter, some pantry groceries behind them. It looked like Kim had unpacked her morning haul but not gotten any further.
Heart climbing up his throat, he quietly stepped across the kitchen. Reaching the breakfast table in the corner, he noticed the back sliding door was unlocked.
Logan reached for his phone but found his pocket empty. He’d left it in the car. There’d be no calling the police unless he abandoned his hunt for the women.
A splash caught his attention. Stepping up to the sliding door, he saw a head bobbing in the swimming pool. As he stood transfixed at the door, Terri breast stroked the width of the pool. Instead of using the ladder, she planted her hands on the ground and hauled herself from the water.
A tiny, red bikini made his stomach flop and heat shoot through his body. Padding from the pool, water dripping from her hair, she grabbed a towel from one of the chairs. It was then that she caught his eye.
Logan cleared his throat and stepped through the door, ashamed at being caught watching her. Not that he was watching watching her. He’d only been there for a moment.
Or two.
“You didn’t answer your phone,” he said.
Terri dropped the towel back on the chair. He kind of wished she wouldn’t. He’d been distracted enough already.
“It’s upstairs,” she said.
He folded his arms across his chest. Now that he’d found her safe and sound, fear had transformed into anger.
“I thought something had happened to you. Remember the whole reason behind you staying here? It’s to keep you safe.”
Yep. That was the whole reason. The only reason. It had nothing— absolutely nothing—to do with him wanting to keep her close for personal satisfaction.
Terri planted a hand on her hip, the look on her face forecasting an oncoming hurricane.
“And that means that when you say ‘jump’ I say ‘how high?’”
“No, it means—"
She cut in, having barely paused to take a breath. “You know, you expecting that I answer my phone to you immediately feels a lot like you… what’s the term?” She pressed a finger to her chin, pretending to think. “Oh, yeah. Like you think you owe me.”
She finished with a scowl that managed to be both infuriating and sexy as hell.
Logan took a deep breath. This fight could go on forever. She definitely had the stamina for it. Which meant that he needed to go ahead and end it.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I was concerned.”
Her hand dropped from her hip. For a second, she looked at a loss for words. Then, “Oh.”
“Where’s Kim? You met her, right?”
“Yeah. She had to run back to the grocery store. Said she forgot to get coffee filters.”
“Good.” He raked his fingers through his hair, wondering if he’d overreacted.
“I’m sorry I didn’t answer my phone.” Terri wrapped the towel around herself and went to the edge of the pool, where she settled with her feet in the water.
“I might have…” He shrugged. “I was worried.”
“Where did you go?”
He moseyed closer to her, hands in his pockets. Like often seemed the case when he was around her, he didn’t know what to do with his hands. It felt like they needed to be on something—or on someone.
“I went into town to see if I could get any info on Bryce.”
She frowned. “What kind of info?”
“Anything at all that might help us. All I found out is that he’s currently in Chicago.”
“Why didn’t you ask me to come with?”
He hesitated. The option hadn’t even occurred to him.
“I want to be in on this, Logan. It’s my case, too.”
“Are we detectives now?” He’d meant for it to be a joke, but she didn’t so much as smile.
“I would have gone.”
“It’s probably not best for us to be prancing around Chicago right now. If Bryce doesn’t know we’re together, then that’s one point for our side.”
“Yeah,” she said glumly.
“Have you talked to your brother?”
“He’s in meetings till eleven, and then we have a date to talk on the phone. I’m going to ask him to meet me in person today, and then I’ll tell him everything.”
Goosebumps erupted across Logan’s skin. “Okay,” he said, a simple answer for a complicated situation.
He started to turn for inside, but her voice stopped him.
“It’s sweet that you were concerned.”
He lowered his head, fighting a smile. “Yeah, well… I can’t lose my investigative partner, you know.”
She was quiet. He turned around to gauge her reaction, but right as he did, she dove into the pool with a loud splash.