Page 81 of What Started In Deception

She rolled her eyes as she followed his lead, finding her rhythm, then grinned as he did.

He let loose a loud whoop as a tractor-trailer drove by, shaking the vehicle. “You’ve got moves, Lyd.”

She laughed as he turned her in a circle. “I can’t believe I’m doing this! On the interstate!”

He pulled them back together, moving his hips with hers, keeping the dance going until the song started to wind down.

She laughed as he did. “You’re nuts!”

He nodded as he grinned. “Could be.” Then he surprised her by pulling her into a hug, holding her tight.

She returned his embrace, closing her eyes as she rested her head against his shoulder, feeling immediately soothed as she breathed him in.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said next to her ear, keeping her close for several more moments before he eased away far enough to hold her gaze through their lenses. “We’re going to make it okay.”

She nodded.

“You and me. We’re in this together.”

She nodded again, believing him as he continued to stare into her eyes.

He tucked the loose strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. “Do you want me to drive?”

She shook her head. “It’s still my turn. Plus, I know where I’m going.”

“Google knows how to get there, too.”

She shook her head again. “I’ve got it.”

“Okay, then. Should we get back on the road?”

She smiled. “Sure.” But she stopped him with her hand on his arm before he could move. “After I thank you for the dance party.”

He grinned. “We can dance anytime you want.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

They both got in, and she got up to speed, smiling at him again as their gazes met a few minutes later as she took them over the border to Massachusetts.

Ty looked out his window, staring at the mighty Atlantic as Lydia drove down the coastal road in Shoalmans Bay. The congested summer traffic moved slowly on the narrow two lanes as he studied massive homes peeking out from privacy walls and tall bushes.

“Here we are,” she said as she flipped on her blinker and slowed, turning right down a long driveway, where a stunning home suddenly appeared through the trees on a gorgeous, manicured lawn.

He whistled through his teeth, taking it all in—the dozens upon dozens of black-shuttered windows on the white-trimmed, pale-gray three-story structure, where the five stone chimneys were a work of art all their own.

Then Lydia took the left that branched toward the attached five-car garage instead of the entrance to the main house, pulling farther around, where he realized that the surprises kept coming as he stared at the large pool and pool house surrounded by walking gardens and endless ocean views everywhere he looked.

He’d seen several pictures of the Monroe Estate during the research phase of the investigation, but they’d done the gorgeous spot little justice. “Damn, Lyd, how do you leave this place every summer?”

She grinned as she put the Kia in park. “So, you like it, then?”

He raised his brow as he looked at her. “I feel like we just pulled up to one hell of a resort.”

She laughed as she shook her head. “It’s just home.”

He studied her in a new light, amazed that she was so down-to-earth and lived relatively simply back in Oliver Heights when the Monroes’ wealth was so plainly staggering. “What’s it like to have all this?”

She shrugged as her eyes tracked around the property in her light-tinted lenses. “It’s hard to answer that question because I’ve always had it. I don’t know anything different.”