Free His Garden of Bones (Skye Cree Book 4) by Vickie McKeehan

in almost a week.” He captured her around the waist, began to nibble her ear while taking her by the hand, leading her upstairs.
    The drizzle had cleared and slivers of afternoon sunlight drifted through the bedroom windows in a buoyant display of wintry triumph.
    The room’s tasteful décor—mahogany and lace—came together to usher in a big dose of lived-in comfort. Unlike the furniture at the loft, they’d selected pieces that gave the farmhouse its homey feel, that sense of “crawl in between the sheets and stay awhile.”  The design was a reminder they’d blended old with new, modern with traditional and made it all come together to offer the perfect laidback sanctuary away from the hustle of the city.
    Josh hit the remote for the stereo. Bono’s voice sailed out in a soulful rendition of I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You .
    “I missed you,” he declared before covering her mouth in an eager kiss.
    Warmth ratcheted up. This is what she’d missed.
    “I didn’t even have time to spruce up for you. I still have the street smell on me from before. If you’d called to let me know…”
    The wolf inside him sniffed at her throat and hair. “There’s no way you could smell any better to me than you do right this minute. You give off an aura that says home to me.”
    Love and pleasure brimmed from the inside out. She grabbed at his pants, began the process of getting him out of them. Clothing peeled over hips and along arms as tops and bottoms flew to the floor.
    In a show of haste and hunger, he fastened his mouth to hers. They circled to the bed, naked bodies filled with heat and want.
    With a seductive bent she strained against him while his hands roamed over smooth skin. Little fires ignited, moved through every cell like bolts of electricity. When he ran the tip of his tongue over one breast, then took it into his mouth, she all but floated in flight.
    As the tune changed to Bach, as the first trumpets blared in unison, as violin strings soared, his fingers glided lower, seeking the moist heat.
    His touch brought sensations shivering through her, slamming together in a rippling force of pleasure.
    He tasted, savored, and gave more. In answer, she arched up, twisted and bucked till she took him into her. Locked together, they sailed through spirals going up and up toward that one lofty goal. Layer by satiny layer, the little tremors built until finally leveling off to aftershocks. They glided over feathery clouds, dropped down to earth again as sunlight washed over the bed.
    Naked bodies still entwined, they lay winded and sweaty.
    He buried his face in her hair until he could move. Once he rolled off, they lay nestled in each other’s arms. Wrapped up, she ran a hand across his bare chest. “It feels right having you back home.”
    Josh burst out a laugh and kissed her forehead. “I sure hope so.” He grabbed hold of her chin, met her eyes. “If I didn’t know you better I’d think you actually missed me this trip.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean? I confess that this big house seemed too quiet while you were gone, too empty without you here to bug me, and what do I get in return? A hard time about it just because...”
    He covered her mouth for a long kiss putting a stop to the objection. When he pulled back, he looked into her eyes. “Mind telling me why this trip was so different than all the others?”
    She puffed out a breath. “I don’t know, it just…maybe my unease increased when Harry brought me in on the first two victims and now the third. I’ve seen some terrible things over the years but…the mutilation to those bodies was beyond anything I’d encountered before. Then…”
    “He shows up here. I get it.”
    She burrowed closer into his body. “In the old days I would’ve found a way to deal with this kind of brutality by myself.”
    “There’s no need for that now.”
    “Maybe so, but it takes a self-realization to get there, to come as far as I have. I’ve