Free Colby (Season Two: The Ninth Inning #6) by Lindsay Paige, Mary Smith Page A

my hands planted firmly on her hips. She breaks the kiss with a soft laugh.
    “What?” I murmur, allowing myself to kiss along her jaw.
    “I just feel like...like I’m a teenager making out with my first boyfriend.”
    “That bad, huh?” I tease, kissing below her ear and smiling when she laughs again.
    “That good , Colby,” she corrects. A low, short sigh escapes her when I trail the tip of my tongue over her collarbone. “We should probably talk about...something, I don’t know.” She cups my face and makes me look at her.
    “Unless you have a specific topic, you should just kiss me again.” I give her five seconds to say something, but I already know she doesn’t have anything on her mind to talk about. I’d bet that for a brief moment she had one of her This-Is-Moving-Too-Fast thoughts and that’s why she said it. Kissing isn’t moving fast, especially not at the rate we’re currently going. It’s as if that thought stirs something within me, and I kiss her hard.
    Before, our kiss was slow and content. Now, it’s frenzied. Ariella lets her hands roam, my muscles tensing beneath her touch. A loud ringing disturbs us just as her hands splay over my abs. She pulls away with a muttered curse.
    “Just when I was getting to the best part.” She puts a little pressure on my abs before reaching for her phone on the coffee table. “Craft,” she answers. Her smile turns into frown as she listens. “Okay. I’ll be right there.” She hangs up and sighs. “Work. I have to go; I’m sorry, Colby.” Ariella is already removing herself from my lap.
    “It’s all right.” I stand. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow and we’ll see each other soon.”
    She nods. “Sounds good. I’m sorry our night was cut short.”
    “Don’t worry about that.” I kiss her softly before leaving. Who knew there would ever be a day where I was thankful for online dating? So, thank you, dating website, for bringing me Ariella Craft.

 
     
    THE GIRL ACROSS from me can’t be a day over nineteen. Even though she has a long-sleeve shirt and sweatpants she’s still shaking. It’s almost eighty degrees out, and I know she’s nervous and probably coming down from something.
    “Ce-Ce, you called our tip line and told us who shot Hotty.”
    “What’s the point of calling it if you’re going to drag me from my house where the whole block can see you take me?” She shakes harder. I could have told she didn’t call the tip line, but our main line, but I omit that part.
    “Ce-Ce, it’s not like that, we just need a little bit more information.” I keep my voice calm and try to easily reason with her.
    “If I tell you then I’ll be a snitch.” Tears began to form in her eyes.
    “It’s going to be okay. All you have to do it talk to me.” I reach out and take her hand. Mostly, we don’t touch our informants, witnesses, or suspects, but right now, I think she needs comfort and encouragement.
    It works.
    After a moment of silence, Ce-Ce begins to tell me everything she knows. Hotty, the young boy who was killed the other night, was a month shy of his eighteenth birthday, and wasn’t supposed to be out that night. Ce-Ce tells me who she thought had been mad at Hotty because of a turf issue.
    Once she finishes telling me everything and signs her statement, we send her on her way. I say a small prayer nothing happens to her until we find the guy she named. Dice. I drop my file on the desk and rest my head in my hands. When I open them, a large cup of coffee is in front of me and Duke is smiling.
    “You did good, Craft.”
    “Thanks, I think.”
    “You don’t think you did well?”
    “I got the name, and now, it’s time to find the guy and the evidence to tie him to Hotty’s murder.”
    “We’ll get it. I know we will.”
    I nod and go back through my notes and try to type it all up and figure out my next step. A few times my mind drifts to Colby. I try to contain my smile because I’m in the middle of a serious