Free Kiss From a Rose by Michel Prince Page B

to grow up.”
    “So you’re in the settle down, have a few kids and go to the Dells part of your life now?”
    “I’m not big on water parks, but the rest is what I’m looking for. And you, why do you have Kurt dropping mysterious strangers at your feet?”
    “He thinks I need a protector.”
    “And you don’t?”
    “Need a protector or think I need one?”
    “Think you need one.”
    “I’m still alive. Feed myself a few times a day without much hassle.” Jenna took a bite of her patty. “Even shower without being told.”
    “Bills paid?” A knot formed in his stomach as an all too familiar dread made his voice crack.
    “Have yet to be evicted and my student loans are current. Kurt didn’t give you my info so you could pull up my police record did he?”
    “No, he knows how much I like serial killers.”
    “You’ll never catch me. I used the bones of my victims as building materials.”
    “I see you’ve planned things out.”
    “Gotta be ten steps ahead. Thank God for all those profiling shows.”
    “Am I your normal victim?”
    “Nope, I hunt rabbits,” she held her index finger and thumb about an inch apart. “Little ones that hang around the precinct.”
    Marcus let out a small laugh, uncrossed his legs, and rested his forearms on his knees. Looking up at Jenna’s perfect pink lips curled into a smirk, he could only think one thing— there had to be a catch.
    ****
    There had to be a catch. Marcus was hot, funny, and not put off by Jenna’s strange sense of humor.
    “Besides wanting to be on top of the cop totem pole, why homicide?”
    “I’m really good at one liners that can only be done over a corpse.” Jenna shook her head and smiled. “Truthfully, it’s about closure, things shouldn’t be left open to fester. I’ve seen the pain in families when they don’t know why their baby had to die. Or their mother, father whoever it was.”
    “Personal experience?”
    “Not exactly. A kid in my school was killed, the body found in a tube slide. He had a brother in my grade and sister a few years younger. We never knew what happened and for three years my mother was on full lockdown mode with my siblings and me. If they would have known why, I think we all could have lived normal lives. Instead, until we moved to a new neighborhood, I was scared of my shadow.”
    “Because your mom didn’t want to lose you?”
    “Right, and—”
    “Excuse me.” A beautiful woman’s velvet voice cut off Marcus’ story like an errant teenager merging in traffic. “Are you Marcus?”
    “Uh, yeah?”
    “You look just like the picture Kurt sent me. I’m Jenna. Jenna McMillian.”
    Jenna Turner’s heart dropped to her gut as Marcus looked at her, then back to the other Jenna, and back again.
    “What’s your last name?”
    “Turner. Kurt Turner’s my brother.”
    “Who’s Kurt Turner?” Jenna McMillian asked as her perfectly manicured finger tucked her luxurious dark hair behind her ear.
    “Wow, this is awkward,” Marcus said as he stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
    “It doesn’t need to be. It was nice meeting you, Marcus, but I have to get to work.”
    Jenna gathered her belongings and practically ran across the street to the safety of her desk. Of course her brother couldn’t give her a tall, dark, and handsome man with a sense of humor and a smile that made the frozen part of her melt.
    Rushing into her office she flung her sketchpad in the corner and plopped into her rolling office chair.
    “Something up?” her assistant, Brenda, asked while dropping off a tube with a blueprint inside.
    “Have you ever just met a guy and knew instantly you never wanted him to…”
    “Dress again?”
    “I’m not talking about stripping some guy down for a night of carnal pleasure.”
    Oh, who was she kidding! All Jenna could think about was handcuffing herself to Marcus until both of them were on the brink of dehydration from a night of hot passionate love. Of course Jenna had