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I swallowed hard when she closed her eyes, my pulse still racing. "Dakota..."
Her eyes fluttered open, locking onto mine, her breath still shaky from the kiss. I could feel her body trembling slightly against mine, but she didn’t pull away. She just stared up at me, her hands still braced against me through the too-long sleeves of my jacket like she was afraid I’d disappear if she let go.
I wanted to kiss her again. I wanted to kiss her more than anything. But I couldn’t. Not yet.
"I should... I should probably get Austin back to the B&B," I murmured, my voice rougher than I intended. “I need to tell Colt about what we learned today, too.”
Something between disappointment and understanding crossed her face, but she nodded slowly. "Yeah... okay."
She was still so close, her body so warm against mine that I didn’t want to let her go. But I needed time to clear my head, to process what had just happened, because this was more than I’d bargained for.
Leaning in, I pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, lingering there for a moment longer than I probably should have. The warmth of her skin, despite the chill in the air, combined with the sweet smell of her hair, sent a ripple through me, and I felt the weight of this moment settle deep in my chest.
When I pulled back, I caught her eyes again, and I offered her a small smile—one that I hoped told her everything I couldn’t say out loud right now. Everything I wasn’t ready to admit, even to myself.
"This isn’t over," I promised in a hoarse whisper, my voice barely audible.
She smiled up at me, but there was something in her eyes—something that told me she knew this was just the beginning, even if neither of us was ready to say it out loud yet.
By the time Austin and I slipped into the room at the B&B, I’d had to extricate myself from no less than six awkward conversations with the residents of Charlotte Oaks. The whispers had already started circulating—of coursethey had—and not only had they heard about Dakota and me being together, but now, thanks to my inability to keep things strictly professional, I’d gone and made it something more real than I even expected it to be.
I sighed heavily as I tossed my keys on the dresser.Disconcertingdidn’t even begin to cover it.
“Is it true you and Dakota were making out in the corn maze?” Colt’s voice shot through the air the second we walked through the door, no greeting, no buildup—just straight to the point, as usual.
I gaped at him, completely unprepared. “Uh…”
“It’s true,” Austin confirmed, strolling right past me with a wide grin. “How’d you find out already?”
Colt leaned back in his chair, smirking. “I went downstairs to get some coffee and overheard some old guy telling Martha while she was cleaning up from dinner. Word travels fast in this town, man.”
“Lovely,” I muttered, rubbing a hand over my face. The entire population of Charlotte Oaks had probably been briefed about my personal life within the hour.
Austin’s stomach growled. “Is there still food? I’m starving.”
Colt nodded toward the hallway. “Yeah, there’s leftovers in the kitchen. Help yourself.”
I chuckled, despite everything. “Go on down,” I told Austin, waving him off. “I gotta talk to Colt about the case, anyway.”
Austin shot me a grin on his way out the door. “And about Dakota,” he added, pulling the door shut behind him before I could muster up a comeback.
I huffed and shook my head, turning to face Colt. “First thing’s first: we learned some weird stuff about the case today.” I walked over to the writing desk and dropped into the chair, only to bite back a pained groan as my backside made abrupt contact with the wooden seat. I winced, shifting in the chair, my wound still far too raw for comfort.
One of these days, I’ll remember not to sit down so hard.
Colt’s eyebrows lifted in amusement, but he didn’t comment on it—thankfully. “You know what’s weird?” he said instead.“The fact that you’re sayingweon a case, and you’re talking about someone other than you and me.”
I shot him a look. “Yeah, tell me about it.”
“What did you find out?”
I leaned back carefully, gathering my thoughts. “Dakota took me to a guy named Shifty’s place. Right away, he said the treasure belonged to someone named Syd Wharton.”
Colt perked up at the mention of the name and immediately pulled out his laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard. The dim glow of the screen lit up his face as he began typing.
“Syd Wharton, huh?” he muttered. “Keep talking.”
I crossed my arms, watching Colt work as I filled him in. “According to Shifty, Syd and his partner went after the treasure together, but the partner bailed last minute and then tried to kill Syd for it once he found it. Syd gave the treasure to Roy for safekeeping a long time ago, but then he disappeared right around the time of Roy’s funeral.”
