Cover Shot (A Headlines in High Heels Mystery Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

Even if they had offered a guess—which they have not—I couldn’t give it to you. Not today.”
    Why the hell not? I bit my tongue to keep the words from tumbling out, shaking my head. “You know you’re just making me more curious.”
    “I’m aware of the dangers of that. Frankly, I’m hoping your internet friend will keep you busy for a few days.”
    “Possibly.”
    “I’ll remember to thank him if we have to arrest him.”
    I handed the server my MasterCard, then took Aaron back to the high-rise to get his car. Watching his broad shoulders disappear across the parking lot, my brain flipped into hyperdrive. No time of death. No cause of death. No name.
    Whatever was going on up there, it wasn’t your run-of-the-mill murder.
    I stepped out of the car and surveyed the building in the deepening twilight. The front right corner of the next-to-top floor blazed with ten times more light than any other unit, beams streaming out the windows like used car lot beacons.
    A glance at the door told me Jeff had been replaced by an older man with stooped shoulders and a rumpled uniform. Flirting likely wouldn’t get me anywhere. I climbed back behind the wheel and jotted down the floor and location of the investigation scene.
    First up: find the condo’s owner. All I needed was a place to begin.

3.
      
    Complications

      
    My headlights bounced off a silver Lincoln logo when I turned into my driveway, and my heart flipped clean over before it began hammering.
    I dabbed on some lip gloss and ran a hand through my hair before I hustled to the door, pushing it open to find the sexiest man I’d ever personally touched sitting at my little bistro table. One candle, two glasses of wine, and a vase holding a long-stemmed rose dotted the tabletop.
    My face split into a grin. “I could get used to coming home to this on random Tuesday nights.”
    Joey stood and pulled me into his arms. “And I could get used to doing this whenever I feel like it.” His dark eyes glittered in the candlelight as he lowered his lips to mine.
    Butter-soft cotton slid under my fingertips as I ran my hands up his chest and over his broad shoulders, muscle hard under the fabric. His lips were gentle over mine, moving slowly as one hand crept up to cup the side of my face. He pulled back a millimeter, his fingertips skating sparks across my cheekbone. “How was your day? You said it’s been slow, so I thought it was a good time for a surprise.”
    I stretched up on tiptoe and kissed him again, flicking the tip of my tongue at the crease of his lips and smiling when his arm tightened around my waist. “Any time is a good time for this sort of surprise,” I breathed when I pulled away.
    “Noted.” He flashed a smile and turned, handing me a glass of wine. “I’m still learning the rules. I haven’t done anything like this in a pretty long time.”
    “That’s nice to know.” I moved to take the chair across from his, but he sat down and pulled me into his lap before I got it away from the table.
    “What’s nice to know?”
    “That you’re not…” I sipped my wine, fumbling for words that wouldn’t sound insulting.
    “Not some sort of man-whore?” He chuckled and I felt my cheeks heat.
    “I didn’t mean it that way.”
    “You did a little bit.”
    I sipped more wine and studied him over the rim of my glass. Thick, jet black hair, olive skin, a strong jaw and straight nose—he was a beautiful man. No way there was a shortage of women throwing themselves at his…pick an appendage. He was sweet, sexy, and still more than a little mysterious—hence my uncertainty. We’d been seeing each other pretty often (and sharing a bed on a regular basis) for months. But I knew next to nothing about his life. And for all that my livelihood was questions, I was terrified to ask him the simplest ones.
    He bounced a knee under me. “You okay?”
    “Just thinking.”
    “Care to share?”
    I put my empty glass on the table, feeling a bit tipsy