She caught her breath. Had he been reading her mind? She sliced her hand through the water like a shark’s fin. “No. You’d already started your journey to recovery when we met.”
“Ah, but it’s a rocky journey filled with potholes and backtracking. Alcoholics are never really fixed, are we?”
“The minute I met you, I knew you’d be successful. I didn’t think you’d need saving.” The bubbles across her chest melted into the water, putting her closer to exposure. Did she care? What if she got in deep with Sam, and he left again? He had a daughter who had to take priority.
Could she have a fling with him while he was here? While they were in each other’s confidence? Could she forget him once he left?
Sam dipped his hand in the water and swirled it dangerously close to her hip. “You’re losing your bubbles, and this hasn’t been very relaxing for you—digging up old stuff. Drink your wine with no guilt. Stop thinking about your dad, stop thinking about my problems.”
“Stop thinking about my own?” She touched her glass to his and took a sip of wine, slipping farther beneath the lukewarm water. She reached out a hand and ran it down his bare chest to the waistband of the sweats. “There’s plenty of room in here.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “You know I want that more than anything. I want you more than anything.”
“But?”
“I want you to be sure. You hardly rolled out the red carpet when you saw me.”
She lifted one eyebrow. “Consider the circumstances. I had just dumped some bones in a shallow grave.”
“It was more than that.” The tips of his fingers played along the peaks of the bubbles. “I hurt you. I lied to you. I broke your trust.”
“I’m the one who told you to go away and be with your daughter.”
“Because...”
Chip’s barking interrupted him, and she was almost relieved. She didn’t want to go down this road with him again. Either she could trust him or she couldn’t...or it wouldn’t matter either way.
She heaved a sigh. “Chip must’ve gone outside again. I hope he’s not even more wet, or worse, muddy.”
“I’ll take care of Chip. Finish your wine and your bath.” He pushed up from the side of the tub. “You should take some ibuprofen.”
Chip’s claws tapped across the tile floor, and he appeared at the bathroom door with something dangling from his mouth.
“What is that, Chip? Sam, what does he have?”
His tail upright and wagging, Chip advanced into the bathroom, his trophy clutched in his jaws.
Sam jumped back from the dog. “It’s a snake.”
Chip dropped the snake on the floor, and Jolene rose from the tub, her mouth hanging open. “It’s not just a snake. It’s a snake with an arrow through its head.”
“What the hell?” Sam prodded the reptile with a bare toe. “At least it’s dead. Who would kill a snake like that?”
Goose bumps raced across her bare flesh. “Someone sending a warning to another Yaqui.”
Chapter Seven
Sam felt the hair on the back of his neck quiver. Someone out there was serious.
“Get it out of here, Sam.”
He glanced at Jolene standing in the tub, water sluicing from her skin and bubbles clinging to strategic areas of her naked body.
Chip whined and pawed at the dead snake, so Sam gave him his due and patted his head. “Good dog. Good boy.”
“Never mind Chip. Get that thing out of my bathroom.”
“I got it.” He stepped over the mess on the floor and took Jolene’s slippery arm. “Sit back down. You’re getting chilled.”
“I think that’s more from the snake than the air hitting my body.” She glanced down, and a pink flush rushed from her chest to her cheeks, as if realizing for the first time she was standing naked in front of him.
She plopped back down in the water, creating waves that edged over the side of the tub.
“What does it mean? The dead snake?”
Crossing her arms on the edge of the tub, she hunched forward. “The legend of the snake people tells us that snakes can take the form of humans so to kill a snake, unless it’s in self-defense, is evil. The arrow through the snake’s head is a warning to all who see it that evil walks among us.”
“So, someone delivering that dead snake to you is a message that you’re dealing with some shady characters.”
“Something like that. It’s not a good sign any way you look at it.” She slid back into the tub.
“I’m going to get a plastic bag and pick that thing up with a paper towel—just in case there are fingerprints. If this is a warning, then we need to know who’s behind it.”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” She scooped up water in her hands and dumped it on her chest. “Nobody but a Yaqui is going to understand the significance of a snake with an arrow through its head. It was Wade.”
“Then it’s time to confront him.” Sam hooked two fingers in Chip’s collar and pulled him out of the bathroom before the dog could destroy the evidence.
Sam pulled open a kitchen drawer and grabbed a plastic bag. He ripped a sheet of paper towel from the roll and returned to the bathroom where Jolene was standing in a draining tub, a towel wrapped around her body.
He crouched next to the snake and picked it up by the arrow lodged in its head. He dropped the whole thing in the bag. “I’m gonna have prints run on that arrow, and then we’ll have him.”
“If he left prints.” Jolene stepped out of the tub, avoiding the spot where Chip had dropped the snake. “This is ridiculous. If my cousin thinks he can get away with tampering with my brakes and leaving this warning, he’s forgotten who I am.”
“That’s strange.” Sam twisted the handle of the bag, tying it in a
