All the Missing Pieces

by Catherine Cowles

She didn’t let that make her bitter.

curtain parted just a few inches. But those inches would be burned into my brain for the rest of time. The curve of Ridley’s waist, leading to her hip. Smooth golden skin I wanted to trace with my tongue. She turned slightly, exposing the hint of the underswell of her breast. A single flickering glimpse and I was sunk. Everything in me responded. Wanted nothing more than to yank that curtain back and step in with her. There was just one problem. Ridley hated me. And with good reason. I was so fucked.

“People are the worst.” “Sometimes,” I admitted, scratching behind Tater’s ears. “But they can also be the best.”

“Just because she’s looking into Emmie’s case doesn’t make her the enemy.” “Doesn’t it?” I asked.

“That’s a good woman you sent running out the door. Now you need to go make it right.”

“Chicken!” Sam called after me. “Now don’t use that word as an insult; it’s not fair to our feathered friends,” Celia scolded.

horrible time. Emerson was such a hard worker. National Honor Society, varsity tennis even when she was a freshman, but more than that, she was incredibly kind.”

“You can stay at my place, Chaos.”

Colt didn’t look away for a single moment. “You can stay with me.”

“Who. The. Hell. Did. This. To. You?”

Then a hand slid into mine. It was large, the skin rough. A hand that belonged to a man who had lived life and not shied away from it.

He was close. So close that scent of bergamot and cloves swirled around me, teasing and tempting. I found myself wanting to lean in, to close that distance between us and finally know what it felt like to have his lips pressed to mine. To know what he tasted like.

“Sleep, Chaos. No one’s going to hurt you here.”

“Damn, Chaos. You can cook.” Why did that feel like the best praise in the world?

My hands fisted so tightly, it would be a miracle if I didn’t dislocate a knuckle. “He. Spoke. To. You?”

“And he’s going to pay for everything he’s done.”

“I’m sorry, Chaos.”

Damn it. I was a sucker for a woman who appreciated a good sunset. Even more for a woman who had a taste for my whiskey.

there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop her unless I put her in a jail cell. Even then I wasn’t sure the bars would hold her.

“Chaos, you look like a lot of things, but an idiot isn’t one of them.”

“We aren’t taking chances. Not with you. Not ever.”

Fuck me.

“Enemies with benefits?”

“I’d like to get to know her. Not because of who she is to this case but because of who she is to you,” Ridley said softly.

“I will sic Tater on you in the middle of the night.”

“Consults with the FBI. I verified it with them. But I don’t like making that public knowledge. For his protection.” “I’m. Not. The. Public,” I growled.

“Overbearing alpha males who are too good with their tongues,”

“Should’ve told you before now. You look beautiful. A kind of beauty that would make any man stop in his tracks. But it’s only matched by your fierceness.” Those brown eyes sparked gold. “Show no mercy, Chaos.”

“You’re Ridley Sawyer, taser of douchebags and tamer of ornery brothers. You can do anything.”

“I don’t know what it says about my dedication to the feminist cause that I like when you manhandle me,”

“Think I loved you from the moment you told me the cat had fucking AC in that van.”