Killian leaned against the doorjamb of the kitchen, arms crossed, and watched as Cedar moved around it. Cooper and Max followed her now. They’d defected, but he couldn’t blame them. She was wearing one of his tees again. He was going to make that a requirement, the hem riding up, showing the curve of her ass. Her hair was up in the knot she perpetually wore. She was making breakfast for dinner. Coffee was brewing. The sight caused a tightness in his chest. Thinking about the rattlesnake attack and how he could have lost her. Fuck.
She turned, bacon in hand, to bribe his dogs when she saw him. She was wearing her glasses, black frames that pulled your attention to her big green eyes. She grinned, knowing she’d been caught.
“They like bacon,” she said and shrugged.
“Who doesn’t?”
She fed them before she poured him a mug of coffee and walked it over to him. He took it, cupped her chin and kissed her, tasting both her and bacon. He wanted to toss her over his shoulder and go back to what they’d spent the last two hours doing, but Sebastian was on his way over.
“Love the look, Baby,” he said, his hand moving to her thigh, his fingers traveling over her skin. She reached out to him for balance, her fingers digging into his arm. Her eyes went dark; she moaned when he ran his fingers over her pussy. “But Sebastian is on his way over.”
Took her a second, because she was thinking about taking up where they left off, too. Her eyes opened, lust clouded them. “What?”
He kissed her. “Sebastian is on his way over.”
She glanced at the clock. “Why?”
He moved, taking her with him, set his mug down, reached over to the stove and pulled the pan off the heat and turned the burner off. Grabbing her hips, he lifted her onto the counter and settled between her legs. Wanted her surrounded by him when he forced her to relive the snake attack.
“He needs to talk to you about that day.” She knew what day when she paled. “Just a few questions. And I’ll be right here.”
Trust shined back at him, making his heart pound, that she gave him that before she whispered, “Okay.”
He kissed her again, longer and deeper. Then dropped her on her feet and smacked her ass. “Now get some clothes on.”
“Bossy,” she said, but moved to the door. “Finish the toast?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, watching her go, then turned to his dogs. “We did good.”
An hour later and after feeding Sebastian, which Killian didn’t understand why, but Cedar insisted, he got to the reason for his visit.
“I need to know about that day, Cedar. Whatever you can remember.”
Killian pulled her chair closer, dropped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him. Silence followed and then she jerked up. “I forgot,” she said, standing, and then walked across the kitchen for her phone. “I can’t believe I forgot,” she said, settling back down, while going through the photo gallery on her phone. “I’d let the boys out, but they didn’t come back like they usually do, so after about fifteen minutes, I went to find them. Saw them, called them, but they didn’t come. Then I saw what had caught their interest.” She said, pushing her phone in front of Killian, not Sebastian. He bit back the grin, but that was his girl. Then he saw what she’d gotten a picture of. “This was on your property?” Killian demanded.
“Yeah.”
He pushed the phone in front of Sebastian. They knew now where the rest of the bear was. “Jesus,” Sebastian hissed.
“What am I missing?” she asked.
“I’ll fill you in later,” Killian said. “What else do you remember?”
“There was a squirrel. It looked like its neck had been snapped. You’d mentioned poachers, and that’s what it looked like…bait. I didn’t realize I was in the path of the rattlesnake, that’s when Cooper jumped in front of it.”
Tears filled her eyes. Killian pulled her closer, looked over at Cooper. He could have lost them both. He didn’t dwell. Sebastian was up and pacing.
“So, we’re right that they’re using Cedar’s property to poach, baiting and waiting, harvesting the parts but leaving the body and the heart and stomach in places that were sure to be found. Why? If they’ve been doing this as long as I think, why get sloppy?”
“The heart and stomach?” Cedar asked.
“Found in a dumpster behind the market,” Killian offered.
“The market next to the trading post?” she asked.
Killian knew when someone was onto something. “Yeah, why?”
“When did you find it?”
“After your attack,” Sebastian said, sitting down now.
“I don’t mean to point fingers, but… I saw Monica and some man at the trading post a few days before that. She was outside, got in my face about Cooper and Max and why I had them. The guy had been inside, but then joined her and hurried her off. I might have watched too many crime shows, but her and that gun and then being there,” Cedar said, playing with the rim of her mug.
Killian thought back to the day he’d gone to see Monica. The smell coming from her double-wide and how nervous the guy had been. Why the fuck hadn’t he put it together. He grabbed Cedar and kissed
