Cold Pursuit - Carla Neggers [93]
Kyle had recommended that Thomas inform local and state authorities of his concerns, especially with bad weather coming in—and the talk he’d heard about Devin. The Whittakers had heard the talk, too, which helped. But that was all Kyle’s doing. He’d been setting up Devin even before Alex Bruni’s death.
The planner.
But then he’d given Melanie a nod that told her he wanted to speak with her in private.
Kyle unbuckled his belt and ripped it off his pants. “Jo Harper and Elijah Cameron are a problem.”
“Then deal with them,” Melanie said.
He dropped the belt onto a chair. “Did Nora or Devin ever see us together?”
“No. Impossible.” She shook her head, as much to reassure herself. “We’re safe.”
“What about your would-be client who came to a bad end?”
“We’ve been through that, Kyle. There’s no way to connect him to me. You’d never have taken me on as a partner if there had been. Nora and Devin don’t know anything. They’re just looking for something to break Thomas and me apart.”
“You should never have invited Nora’s scrutiny by getting involved with her father.”
“Spilled milk, Kyle.”
She felt a sudden chill. She’d never liked the cold—she certainly hadn’t wanted to hike up that stupid mountain in April. Kyle had insisted. They’d been instructed to make Drew’s death look like an accident, an old man who’d miscalculated the elements and went to sleep in the snow.
Kyle unbuttoned his pants. She didn’t know, really, if he wanted a quick round of sex or just wanted to go to bed. “Why did we kill Drew Cameron?” she asked in a low voice.
“You’re asking for trouble with that kind of question. We do a job. We don’t get to know who wanted it done or why.” He stepped out of his pants and folded them onto the chair. “You’re caught up in a fantasy. You think you’re two different people, but you’re not. Your life this past year was for real. You can’t erase it. You did what you did.”
“I’m not in denial. I’m moving on.”
“I never should have let you get involved in my business. It was a mistake.”
“You needed a partner. Even with what I got paid, you earned far more these past eight months than you would have on your own. Don’t you have hopes and dreams, Kyle?”
“Yeah. Living through this mess we’re in up here.”
But Melanie could see he had a level of calm that indicated he believed he had a solid plan. “You’ll miss me when we’ve gotten through this mess.”
“No, I won’t, Melanie.”
He continued to stare at her. She shivered, not with the cold—with fear, with excitement. “What?”
“We have to get this right or we’ll be on the list for one of our colleagues. We’ll be a liability.”
“Drew and Bruni got too close to our people, didn’t they?”
“I know as much as you do. You have to stop, Melanie. Just stop.”
He pulled off his shirt and laid it neatly on top of his pants, then took off his socks. There was nothing erotic about his movements.
“If you got an assignment to kill me,” Melanie said, “you’d tell me, wouldn’t you?”
His eyes were slits on her. “Would you tell me?”
“I just want to be Mrs. Thomas Asher.”
He stood in front of her and took her hand, pressed it against his crotch. “Do you?”
“Yes.” But she cupped him, stroked him. “I do.”
“Then help me make sure his daughter doesn’t get off that mountain. We have to deal with Elijah Cameron and Jo Harper. You’re a rookie compared to them. You have no idea.” Kyle shook his head, even as he thrust himself against her hand. “You’ve never gone up against real professionals.”
“They just want to find two kids in over their heads and get them safely down off the mountain.”
“I searched Harper’s cabins last night. If the feds are onto us and sent her up here undercover, she’s doing a good job hiding it.”
“If she’d caught you—”
“She didn’t.” He lowered his boxers and threaded his fingers into her hair. “I couldn’t get into Elijah Cameron’s place. No time. But he suspects his father had help dying up on that mountain.”
“He can suspect all he wants. It won’t do him any good.”