Last First Kiss (15 page)

She got out of the shower and rubbed the towel between her legs, letting its roughness catch on her clit. She
murmured
, not realizing just how good it felt. She passed it over her folds again, all the time wishing it was Wade’s hands, maybe even the top of his shaft. She let the towel drop to the ground and now replaced it with
her hand
, separating
her legs
as her index and middle fingers worked her swollen
and aching
nub.

Sophie murmured Wade’s name as she worked faster, now holding the door frame to steady herself as her climax drew close. She called out his name one more time and placed her forehead on the door jamb. Taking a deep breath, she fell to the floor, enjoying the simple release but at the same time wishing that Wade had brought about her orgasm.

What
would it be like to make love with him? It wouldn’t be too difficult
to talk him into them having sex
, she knew that. However,
she wouldn’t do that to Cathy despite the fact that she didn’t really like her. Was it because she was Wade
’s
girlfriend
,
or was there something about her that didn’t quite seem right?

Sophie stood, still shaky on her legs. She had to face him sometime because she couldn’t sp
end the rest of the afternoon
in her
old
room.

She hadn’t even got around to unpacking all of the contents of h
er suitcase yet.
She placed it on the bed and unzipped it, pulling out a pair of white jeans and a light blue t-shirt.
Sophie shook both of them before slipping them on. She checked
that
her hair looked okay and headed
downstairs to find her grandmother and Wade sitting on the couch both drinking lemonade.

“There you are. I was beginning to think you’d fallen asleep,” said her grandmother.

“N
o, decided to take a shower to get the chlorine smell off my skin.”

“
Help yourself to some lemonade,” said Grans.

Wade poured her a glass and handed it to he
r. Their fingers brushed slightly
. Sophie decided to sit in the chair opposite the couch so she
could
keep
her distance from Wade.

Wade leaned back, resting his head
on the top of the couch and spread
his le
gs apart
.
He looked very comfortable and relaxed as he glanced over at her.
Sophie took a quick sip of her drink, eyeing him over the rim of the glass.  Maybe she should have sat beside him because all she could focus on was the nice bulge at the top of his thighs. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t
seem to look at anything else in the room.
She remembered his erection pushing into her belly less than an hour ago. And then her fingers gliding over her clit imaging they belonged to Wade and not her.

She took another sip before cradling
the glass between her hands.

“So Michael Ambrose
actually
stayed here?” Wade asked her grandmother.

“Yes. He checked in for two nights.”

“I’d like to see the registration if I can.”

“
Yes, I’ll
find
that for you,” said her grandmother.

“Was he on his own?” asked Wade.

“Yes, as far as I know. I mean he didn’t check in with anyone e
lse or dined alone.”

“I heard about your altercation with him,” said Wade.

“
I think word got around town pretty quickly. Had I known he’d end up with a knife in his back I wouldn’t have been so free with my threats.”

“So what was it about?”
asked Wade.

“Earlier tha
t afternoon he sent Julie to fetch
me because he told her he needed to discuss business with me.”

“I thought maybe
he was a salesman of some sort
,
so I
invited him into the office where he
quickl
y
offered me half a million dollars for Mountainview and the
surrounding
land. I told him it wasn’t for sale and never would be because it had been in our family for three generations and would one day belong to my granddaughter.”

Grans turned to Sophie and smiled.

“He said he wasn’t the type
of man who too
k no for an answer. I
told him I wasn’t the kind of lady who changed her mind
,
and he just left. I thought I’d see
n
and heard the last of him. However, that evening I walke
d through the dining room to check
everything was running smoothly
,
and to chat with the guest
s
,
when I saw him sitting eating a steak.”

“And you spoke with him again?” asked Wade.

“Yes, I didn’t want to see
m
unfriendly. So I asked him how he’d enjoyed his stay and the meal. And that’s when he said
it was
all very nice
,
but here’s what I’ll be doing when I buy this place. I suppose I was tired
,
in a bad mood
,
and I told him it would be over my dead body.”

“And how did he react?” asked Wade.

“
He shot up from his seat and
said that can
definitely
be arranged
,
old lady.”

“Oh Grans,” said Sophie
,
putting her hand out to her grandmother.

“It
didn’t scare me
,
but then
he threatened
Sophie
.
Not
by name but he said if you no longer have a gr
anddaughter then there
shouldn’t be any problem with you worrying about leaving it to
an heir
. With that, well, anyone threatens my family. I told him to get out of my B and B before I killed him
,
and if I ever saw him again I’d stick one of
my kitchen knives
in him.”

Her grandmother put her hand to her mouth and started to cry. “Oh dear, what did I do, what did
I say? It looks like I c
arried out my threat
,
doesn’t it?”

Wade sco
oted
up the couch and hugged Grans while Sophie rushed to her side and set her head down on her shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay, Grans, really it is. Wade and I will sort this out for you.”

“So everyone heard him threaten you and Sophie?” asked Wade.

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“Do you have the names of people who were staying here at the time, mayb
e even dining here that night?”

“Yes
. Most of them were from out of town.”

“You feel up to look
ing through that list
for me right now?” asked Wade.

Her grandmother nodded, sending a tear bouncing off her skirt.

“Sophie
,
you want to help Emily sort through all that
,
and I’ll make some notes and start checking on everyone.”

****

Wade sat at the chair in the office as Emily and Sophie looked over the printout of guests who’d stayed at Mountainview the time Michael Ambrose had been there.

Sophie handed it to Wade. “Looks like he listed
Boulder
,
Colorado
as his home address.”

Wade skimmed through it noting most of t
he other guests were from either
South Dakota
or
Montana
.

“Tomorrow I’ll run these
name
s
through the databases and then visit the hotel w
h
ere he was found. I’m assuming he was staying there after he left Mountainview.”

“So how did someone get one of Grans’s knives?” asked Sophie.

Wade shrug
ged his shoulders
. “By taking one of the knives shows
it was
premeditated
and that they planned to use Emily as the patsy
…
which tells me one thing.”

“Which is?” asked Sophie.

“That Ambrose’s real killer probably overheard
her threatening him that night
,
which means we’re looking for someone who dined at Mountainview or was in earshot of the exchange.”

“So
you
think it was someone who was
either
staying or dining here
,
and they sneaked into the kitchen and took the knife without Grans or
anyone else seeing them do it?” asked Sophie.

“I’d say that’s a safe
enough bet. And I’m thinking it’s someone that Ambrose had also pissed off. Emily, you know anywhere els
e around here that Ambrose went and offered mon
ey to buy their land or propert
y
?
Maybe he tried to make the
m an offer
,
and li
ke you they told him what they’d do to him
but actually carried through on
their threat.”

Emily shook her head. “I don’t know for sure
,
but that would mean someone from
Greenville
framed me. I hate to think someone dislikes me that much
they’d go to that extreme
.”

“You’d be surprised at what people do when murder’s involved
,” said Wade putting the printout in his folder. “You mind if I get Pops to help me out with this?”

“Not at all,” sa
id Emily. “I’d
pay him for his time.”

Wade shook his head. “He’s
got nothing better to do now he’s retired. It’ll keep him out of trouble
,
too.”

Wade
winked at Emily and
closed the folder.

“And what if you and Bob can’t turn up any e
vidence or find the real killer?
I’ll go to jail
,
won’t I?”

“Emily, I wouldn’t let that happen. S
ophie would kill me if I did. And I’m guessing
everyone in
Greenville
probably would
,
too.”

Emily sandwiched Wade’s hand between both of hers and
squeezed it. “Now enough with business and
this
doom and gloom
talk. L
e
t’s go and enjoy our meal.”

The ex
-
cop in Wade made him all business when he was working on a case
,
but now it w
as back to all things social. He
couldn’t help but watch Sophie as he walked behind her and Emily on the way to the kitchen.
White jeans…
I’ve
never seen anyone around
Greenville
o
r even
Cheyenne
wear white ones quite like
that
,
and they
are
smokin’ hot.
Well, at least they were on Sophie. She’d always caught his eye
,
but now she was a very sexy young woman. He’d guess guys in
Seattle
were falling all over her.

He’d hardly been able to keep his eyes off her chest when she’d sat opposite him. Her nipples and outline of her breasts had been evident through the t-shirt. He smiled remembering when she was about twelve or thirteen and he’d asked her to go riding with him
,
and she’d told him she couldn’t.

“I have to go into town with Grans because she’s buying me my first bra.”

He’d burst out laughing.

“And what’s so funny about that?”

“You don’t have anything to put
in one
.”

“I do
,
to
o
.”

“Then show me.”

“I’m not supposed to.”

“Come on, we’re friends
. W
e use
d
to bath together when
we
were kids.”

“Okay, but not out here
. In
the barn, okay
?”