He wanted to find love again too.
I snaked my arm across Cole’s waist and hugged him tight, breathing in the smell of his skin. “I’m glad you like to cuddle.”
“I don’t.”
I shot off his chest as my chin fell open. “What?”
“I don’t like to cuddle. Never have, not even with my mom when I was a kid.” He smiled at my wide eyes, then tugged me back down. “But I do like to cuddle with you.”
I collapsed back onto his chest. “Tonight has been . . . informative. Is there anything else I should know besides the gum smacking and cuddling?”
“I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thanks, Detective.” I patted his stomach, then began playing with the hairs on his chest. “How was your day?”
“Long,” he sighed, drawing circles on my hip. “But good.”
Cole had been working so hard lately. He’d get up just as early as I would and head into work while I went to the restaurant to bake before six. He was swamped with the drug task force and the other cases he had on his plate. But in these recent months, I’d avoided asking him about Jamie’s murder case.
I didn’t want him to think I didn’t have faith in his investigative skills. I didn’t want him to think I had false hope. But I was curious. I’d spent years getting updates from Detective Simmons—albeit the same update—every month. And though I trusted Cole to tell me if he’d learned anything, tonight, curiosity beat out patience.
“Have you, um, made any progress on the murder case?” I tensed as I waited for his response.
Cole’s hand on my hip froze. “There isn’t much I can share, but we’re doing our best. And we are working on it.”
“Okay.” His limited update was enough. “I’ve been thinking about something for a couple of weeks. I was wondering if you could do me a favor. A police kind of favor.”
“Okay,” he drawled.
“I want you to find the daughter of the woman that was killed with Jamie. The cashier.”
“Poppy—”
I lifted my head and cut him off. “I just want to know if she’s okay. I don’t need details or anything like that. Just a yes or no that she’s okay.”
His hand came to my face. “Why?”
I shrugged. “I’ve thought about her from time to time over the years. I’ve wondered where she was and how she dealt with the loss of her mother. I guess finishing Jamie’s list, letting go and getting on with my life has made me wonder if she’s found some closure too. I don’t have any power to find the man who killed them and make him pay, but I can at least make sure that her life hasn’t been ruined. Would you help me check on her?”
His thumb stroked my cheek. “In a heartbeat.”
“You two kiss like teenagers.”
I scowled at Molly from behind the office desk. “We do not.”
“Really?” She leaned a hip against the doorframe. “Then why are you always putting on lip balm? Your lips are chapped because you’re always making out with your hot cop boyfriend. Not that I blame you. If he were mine, I’d kiss him all the time too.”
Cole had just left the restaurant after coming here for lunch, and just like he always did when he visited, he’d given me a long kiss when he’d arrived and another before he’d left. And twice in between, just because.
Okay, maybe we were as bad as teenagers.
“My lips are chapped because of the weather,” I lied. “It’s dry this time of year.” I looked down at the paperwork on my desk and rubbed my lips together. They were still puffy from Cole’s kiss. “Though, he is a great kisser.”
Cole and I had been together for two months now, and things between us were as hot as ever. We did kiss all the time. And the sex? We were going at it like rock stars. In fact, he’d fucked me right here in this office after I’d closed down the restaurant last night. Not that I’d be sharing that little detail with Molly.
“What are you working on?” Molly stepped farther into the office, taking the chair across the desk.
Our positions were switched from our normal office conversations. Usually she was the one sitting on this side of the desk, working on payroll or bookkeeping, while I was in the guest chair.
“I was just looking at those new income projections you put together.”
She smiled. “Things are going so well. Better than I’d ever expected.”
Sales at The Maysen Jar were just as high now as they’d been when we’d opened. In the five months I’d been in business, I’d learned a lot. I was better at ordering bulk supplies without getting too much or too little. I had refined the menu so it only included items that sold consistently. And much to Molly’s delight, I’d learned to delegate and trust my small staff to run the place when I wasn’t around. My days off weren’t limited to once a month but once a week, and I’d figured out an evening schedule that let me spend quality time with Cole and Nazboo.
Molly pulled the draft schedule from the desk and glanced over the chart. “I think I’m going to ask Helen to come in and work on Saturday with me. She’s looking for more hours to save up for the holidays.”
“You’re sure you don’t mind working this weekend?” Molly normally took Saturday and Sunday off to spend time with the kids, but Cole and I had plans next weekend to do another list item, so she was covering the restaurant.
“Not at all. You haven’t taken off a whole weekend since your Glacier trip. You deserve the break. Besides, since Finn has the kids this weekend, I’ll be bored out of my
