LITMIR.BIZ

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passed the family room along the way and spotted two women on the sleeper sofa. Heaven knew how many of them were scattered throughout the house by now. Or how long they would be there. But in a couple of hours he could start bugging Clay about getting Z.T.’s place cleared so the women could return to it. It had only been a day since they’d discovered the body, but maybe Clay could work extra fast on this.

      By the time Garrett got to his office, he’d nearly finished the pizza, but he clamped the remainder between his teeth so he’d have a free hand to grab some files from his desk drawer. He opened the door.

      And froze.

      There was enough moonlight coming through the window that he had no trouble seeing the woman lying on his desk. She was curled up in a fetal position and was using a book for a pillow.

      What the hell?

      It was Nicky.

      She lifted her head. In the same motion, she gasped, grabbed a pen and jabbed it at him the way a person would wield a knife. She missed, but a strange garbled sound left her mouth. Maybe trying to choke back a scream.

      “Garrett?” Nicky said on a rise of breath. “You scared the bejeebers out of me.”

      He didn’t know what a bejeebers was, but she’d given him a scare of sorts, too, because he sure as hell hadn’t expected anyone to be sleeping in his office, let alone on his desk.

      “Sorry,” she added. “I’m still on edge.” No doubt because of the body that’d been found.

      Groaning and wincing, Nicky climbed off the desk, got to her feet and turned on the reading light. Her gaze met his, and she looked at him funny. Only then did he remember he had what was left of a pizza slice sticking out of his mouth.

      Garrett yanked away the pizza so he could talk. “Why are you on my desk?”

      “Because the sofa was too small, and I kept falling off.” She made it seem as if that answered his question. It didn’t.

      “There wasn’t a bed?” he pressed.

      She shook her head and pushed her hands through her hair to move it off her face. He’d seen her face before, of course. Had seen most of her entire body actually. But there was something, well, intimate about having a sleepy-eyed woman just a few inches away.

      One who smelled like sex.

      That was probably his imagination though.

      “Why are you here?” she asked.

      “I need some files.” And he went to his desk drawer to get those. To do that, he had to walk right past her, and that’s when he noticed what she was wearing. Pj’s. Specifically, his pj’s.

      “Oh,” Nicky said, following his gaze. “My luggage seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I didn’t have any clean clothes, and your mom checked Sophie’s room for some, but your sister’s already moved her things to Clay’s. She got these for me instead. She said you don’t ever use them, that you usually sleep in your boxers.”

      Well, Nicky had gotten in his pants after all. Which was a stupid thought, of course. Something a teenage boy would think, but that seemed to be the way his mind was going right now. That meant it was time to get out of there.

      Garrett finished off the last bite of pizza, grabbed the files and was ready to leave. But Nicky stopped him.

      “Uh, can I ask you a question?” She didn’t wait for him to agree, though. “Are you and your ex-wife on good terms these days?”

      Garrett was certain he looked surprised. Because he was. “No. We’re not on any kind of terms because I haven’t spoken to her in months.” And he’d like to keep it that way. “You know about the video that ended up all over the internet?”

      Nicky nodded, glanced away. He’d been positive that she knew, and that was why her question was even more puzzling.

      “Why would you want to know about my ex?” he asked.

      She lifted her shoulder. “I was just wondering. I remember her from high school, of course. She moved to Wrangler’s Creek our senior year.”

      This was still confusing. “But you weren’t friends. Were you?” Because if they were, this was the first he was hearing about it. Then again, that not hearing about things was going around.

      “No,” she quickly agreed. “She knew about what had happened between us and didn’t especially want me around. Over the years though, I’ve run into her from time to time, and she’s been friendly enough.”

      Again, first time hearing this. Meredith had certainly never mentioned it.

      “Anyway,” Nicky went on, “no one around here has said anything about Meredith, and I didn’t know if you’d been able to work past what’d happened or not.”

      He hadn’t worked past it, but there was no way he’d tell Nicky that. He was about to press her again as to why she had a sudden interest in his ex, but maybe this was part of some kind of therapy. A shared experience sort of thing. Except there was really nothing to share. Meredith was alive, and Nicky’s husband wasn’t.

      Her husband, Patrick.

      Yeah, he’d looked it up on the internet. There hadn’t been an obituary, but there’d been a mention of him on social media from someone he’d done business with. It was one of those requests for prayers and hugs.

      According to what Garrett could glean from that, Patrick had been a lawyer at the same firm where Nicky worked. He’d died from cancer and been gone almost eighteen months now. Not an eternity, but maybe the pain wasn’t still as fresh and raw for Nicky. Of course, the flipside to that was Kaylee had been so young that she wouldn’t even remember her father. That had to be eating away at Nicky, too.

      Garrett knew plenty about grief. It was a hungry bitch. And if he could figure out a way to beat it, he would have already done it.

      “I’m sorry,” Garrett said before he even knew he was going to say it.

      She nodded but seemed ready to ask him to explain that. If she hadn’t also looked like sex, he might have hung around and added more. He headed out, but he nearly smacked right into Loretta.

      “Good morning, Garrett,” she said. “It’s so good to see you again.”

      Loretta didn’t look anything like sex, but she did seem wide awake. Awake, smiling and also wearing his pj’s.

      “Loretta’s luggage got misplaced, too,” Nicky volunteered.

      Well, at least he wouldn’t encounter anyone else wearing his limited nightwear because he had only two sets of pajamas.

      Garrett mumbled a “good morning” and hurried out. Staying longer and looking at Nicky would only cause this tug in his belly to tug even harder. He wasn’t overly concerned about belly tugs per se, but if that tug lowered to that idiot part of him behind his zipper, he’d be in big trouble.

       CHAPTER SIX

      NICKY WAITED ON hold for Clay McKinnon while she watched out the window. Kaylee and Gina were in the backyard, playing fetch with a golden retriever, and Kaylee was having a blast. Nicky couldn’t say the same for herself, though. That’s because her daughter and Gina weren’t the only ones in her line of sight.

      So was Garrett.

      He was in the barn about twenty yards away, and while he wasn’t exactly nearby, Garrett had a way of grabbing her attention.

      Damn him.

      He was wearing those snug jeans again and looking very much like the hot cowboy he was. A cowboy in charge since he seemed to be doling out orders to several of the hands. Judging from their body language, they were listening but weren’t liking what they were hearing.

      Nicky

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