He rolled off her body and nestled his front against her side, draping one heavy leg over her hip. “You’ve gotten demanding over the years.”
Pinching his chin, she said, “My resolve went right out the window the minute I saw you in those sweats this afternoon.”
“What resolve was that?” He sucked her thumb into his mouth while he cupped her mound.
“You’re doing it again.” But she didn’t pull away. She wriggled in even closer to him so that his fingers dipped between her legs.
He scraped his nails against the flesh of her inner thighs. “I can always stop.”
“Don’t you dare.” She climbed on top of him, straddling his hips.
The light from her phone, charging on her nightstand, drew her gaze. “Oh, God. It looks like I have texts. I hope Wade didn’t wake up Gran to tell her about Melody. Her nerves don’t need that.”
He patted her bottom. “Go ahead and look. I’m going to hit the bathroom.”
Reluctantly, she slid from his body, and then a twinge of guilt needled her brain. Her cousin had died tonight and here she was rolling in the sheets with Sam.
As Sam clambered from the bed and staggered to the bathroom door, the sheets twisted around his ankles, Jolene curled her legs beneath her and snatched her phone from the charger. Drawing her brows together, she tapped the first text and blood pounded against her temples.
“Sam! Sam!” She brought the phone close to her face, the words from the text swimming in front of her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” He came charging out of the bathroom, his hair wild, his eyes wide.
She held out her phone to face him. “I got a message from Melody.”
Chapter Eleven
Sam rushed toward the bed, tripping on the sheets and kicking them out of the way, adrenaline pumping through his system.
He dropped onto the bed and grabbed the phone from her. “What do you mean? From Melody or her phone? What does it say?”
“It’s nonsense. The text says El Gringo Viejo.”
Sam’s blood ran cold in his veins as he stared at the phone’s display, unable to see the text. And now he had to see this text.
He handed the phone back to Jolene. “You must’ve clicked off the text when you gave the phone to me. Get it back. When was it sent? Did she send it or did the person who took her phone send it?”
Jolene covered her mouth. “I don’t know. I didn’t look.”
She swept her thumb across the screen. “The text was sent two minutes after midnight. What time did we get to the Sundowner?”
“We were there around midnight. She’d already left, gotten a ride from someone. You’d called her by that time, but she didn’t answer. The next time you tried calling, your phone had died. She must’ve sent you that text when your phone was dead.”
Jolene threw the phone into the jumbled bed covers. “If my phone hadn’t died, we might’ve been able to help her.”
“Maybe not, Jolene.” Sam retrieved the phone to make sure she’d read the text correctly. “She wasn’t asking for help, was she?”
“No, but at least she’d contacted me.”
He read the words on the display disbelievingly. “You’re right. She texted El Gringo Viejo.”
“What the hell does that mean? Old white guy?” She dug her hands into her hair. “Do you think that’s who killed her? Some old white guy? Why would she text that in Spanish?”
“Jolene—” Sam cupped the phone between his hands “—El Gringo Viejo is a drug supplier in Mexico.”
“What?” She collapsed against the headboard and rubbed the back of her head after banging it. “Why would Melody text that? What does that even mean? How would she know this man?”
“She must’ve known something about him, something about his dealings on this side of the border.” Sam scratched his chin. “I don’t get why his name is even coming up. Last month, we were able to finally identify him. Turns out, he’s a guy named Ted Jessup. We got his prints and everything, found out he’d been holing up in Rocky Point.”
“Rocky Point?”
His eyes must’ve been wandering, as she dragged a pillow into her lap to cover up all the good naked parts.
“I’d hardly call that holing up. Rocky Point is a tourist destination.”
“The point is, nobody knew what he was doing there. He was just another rich gringo with a villa in the cliffs overlooking the sea. Then a couple of people made him, and the FBI was able to descend on his place—but he’d already escaped.”
“He must be back in business.” She flicked her fingers at him. “Could you put some clothes on? All this is distracting as hell.”
He crawled over her legs to reach over the side of the bed and swipe up his sweats.
She wiggled her toes beneath the weight of him. “That’s not helping.”
He plumped a pillow against the headboard and flopped down next to her, pulling up the sweats. “Is that better?”
Glancing at the soft material covering his crotch and visible lump there, she said, “Marginally.”
“I can’t help it.” He plucked at the sweats to hide his erection. “You’re still naked.”
“Is that all it takes to set you off? A naked woman with a pillow in her lap?” She crawled to the foot of the bed to retrieve her underwear, and he reclined against the pillow to enjoy the view.
“Is this a test?” He swept his hand over the curve of her derriere, her skin like silk beneath his fingertips. “Because you’re flashing me, and no man in his right mind could resist that.”
“Can we get back to the subject at hand?” She snatched up her panties and wriggled into them, clutching the pillow to her chest. “Why would Melody text me this man’s moniker? She was warning us about looking into the casino project. Do you think this El Gringo Viejo could have anything to do with it?”
“Come back up here.” He patted the mattress next to him. “I promise I’ll keep my hands
