“Here,” Heath answered grimly, gripping his chin. “Bloody hell. So both of us need to stay here for her protection, it seems.”
“If you want to go investigate, I could call some buddies—”
“I can’t leave her side,” the Brit insisted. “Her father paid me to stay with her. I made a solemn vow that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her on my watch.”
Knowing what he knew about Heath now, Axel supposed the guy’s insistence had something to do with his wife’s murder. He couldn’t fault the Brit for that. “Totally get it. That means we’re cornered here. Nifty.”
“Indeed. With no new leads to follow.” Heath sighed.
Well, not exactly . . . Axel weighed how much he could trust Heath versus his need to solve this case. Figuring out who had killed Julia Mullins and might want Mystery dead trumped everything.
“I got something fresh about an hour ago.”
That perked the Brit up. “Really? Enlighten me.”
Axel set his pervertables down on the counter and whipped out his phone again, then brought up the picture Joaquin had sent him. “Julia Mullins at the place of her death, less than an hour prior. She wasn’t alone.”
Powell peered at the picture. “Who is the man with her?”
“No idea.”
“He doesn’t look familiar to me, either.”
That wasn’t great news. It also wasn’t unexpected. “I definitely plan to ask Aunt Gail in the morning if she knows who her sister might have been close to back then. But . . .” Axel grimaced. “I’m torn about showing it to Mystery. She might have information.”
“She also might start a one-woman crusade to catch her mother’s killer.”
“Exactly.”
Heath shrugged. “Well, I think we show her. Then we’ll have to contain Mystery and do our best to solve this murder before the killer comes looking for her.”
And she deserved the truth. Axel agreed. “I don’t see any other plan.”
“I don’t, either. Damn it all.” He rubbed at his dark eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “I’m fucking exhausted.”
“We all are. Go to bed. We’ll tackle this after we’ve all slept.” Axel reached for his makeshift sex toys.
“You’re not going to leave her be tonight?”
Axel shook his head. “If I thought that was best for her, I would. She needs reassurance that I want her above all else. It’s the truth, so it shouldn’t be hard to persuade her. Then I’ll make sure she gets a good night’s sleep. I have a feeling it’s going to be a rough day tomorrow. You taking the parlor down here or the guest room upstairs, across the hall?”
Powell raised a dark brow. “Where will you be?”
“Right beside her.” At least he would be if all went according to plan.
The bodyguard dragged in a breath. “I’ll stay downstairs and keep watch. God knows the last thing I want to hear again is her screaming for you.”
“Does that bother you because you’re in love with her?”
“We’ll talk later.” Heath headed for the exit without answering, then turned to glance at the implements in Axel’s hands. “Be careful of the wooden spoon. It can leave nasty welts.”
“You know that from personal experience?” Somehow, that didn’t surprise Axel much.
The other man didn’t answer, just left in near silence, despite the fact that the hardwood floor creaked with nearly every step.
Once he’d gone and shut the double doors down the hall, Axel headed out of the kitchen, all but tiptoeing up the narrow stairs. Despite its dubious “character,” the old house was homey. He liked it here. When he’d been a kid growing up in a run-down double-wide with three brothers and an alcoholic father, he’d imagined that home looked a lot like this. He loved his place now, and was damn proud of it. But it had never felt like a place to stay forever. It had never felt like a place to share love. And now he was getting sappy as fuck.
With a stupid smile, he reached the top of the stairs, passing a big, decorative cross on the wall flanked by pictures of well-known televangelists Oral Roberts, Jerry Falwell, Peter Grace, and a few others Axel couldn’t identify. Mystery’s aunt clearly believed in her preachers.
Turning away with a shrug, he cracked open the first door on the right. Mystery knelt there, waiting, head bowed, naked and pale in the moonlight.
As he set the cutting board and other goodies on the nearby dresser, his breath caught. “Princess . . .”
“Axel.”
He crouched down to her and lifted her chin. She blinked, her eyes opening, focusing on him. They stared at each other in silence. Mystery reached into his chest and tugged on his heart. The uncertainty in her hazel eyes got to him, the yearning for love, the crash of desire all struck resonating notes inside him.
“You’re so beautiful.”
“I’m not.” She tried to drop her gaze.
He gripped her chin, refusing to let her. “You are, and I won’t hear arguments otherwise. Understand?”
A little smile tipped the corners of her lips. “Yes, Axel.”
“Hmm, when you go submissive that sweet voice of yours wraps around my cock.” He held out a hand to her. “Stand.”
Mystery allowed him to help her to her feet and looked around the room, a bit lost, like she wasn’t sure what to do next.
“Relax,” he instructed. “I’ll let you know what I want. You tell me if you can’t handle something. Easy breezy. Just us being us together in whatever way feels good, yeah?”
She nodded and released a breath, along with visible stress. “Yeah.”
“Good. Bend over the side of the bed for me. Stretch your arms up, head to one side. Plant your feet apart.”
She moved slowly, as if she tried to picture the pose in her head. After a long moment, she arranged herself exactly as he’d instructed, then looked to him for reassurance.
Axel gave it readily. “That’s it. What’s your safe word?”
“Red.”
“Good.” He bent over the bed, getting down to eye level with her. “This punishment is as much for you as it is for me. I need to know that you understand that running from me without communicating isn’t acceptable. If something bothers you, we talk. Vice versa. I also need to make it crystal clear that as long as you’re in danger, you don’t leave half your protection to lick your wounds.”
“I know it was stupid,” she admitted. “I was upset. I jumped to conclusions—”
“Understandable, given what your mom went through. I’m not punishing you for thinking it or wondering or worrying. I need to be clear about that. This is all about you leaving without talking to me. We could have cleared this up with a conversation. Now it’s going to take a whole lot more.”
Mystery nodded. “I’m sorry. By the time Heath cut the lights and we left out the back, I was having second thoughts. Once we got outside and the door locked behind us, it was too late.”
Axel stroked her soft curls. “I’m glad to know you were already reconsidering before you’d even gone. Want to tell me why you didn’t call me or answer your phone during the drive? Even your dad tried to call.”
She winced. “Shit. Oh, he’s going to be worried. And mad.”
“He wasn’t the only one. You’d better get used to having another overprotective male in your life.”
“Yeah . . . I think I left my phone back at Dominion. Damn it.”
And Axel doubted Heath would have been in a hurry to lend her his phone so she could call the competition. Shithead. “I’ll find out in a few hours.”
“Thanks.” She obviously sensed the end of the conversation and stiffened.
He petted her back, fingers gliding down her spine. “Deep breath. In.” He waited until she complied. “Out. Good . . . Close your eyes.”
Mystery did exactly as he bid, her lashes fluttering shut. “Now?”