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  “Geez, where the hell were—”

  “Shhh…” Griffin felt his pulse kick as he crossed the five-by-five room, sidestepping a mop bucket, and red biohazard bag, and silenced his latest obsession with a long, slow kiss.

  She tasted like vanilla and mint, the combination reminding him of Christmas morning. The blood funneled between his legs as he gripped the back of Kimi’s head, fisting her hair in his hand.

  “Did you…” she whispered between kisses.

  “Yes,” he whispered back, fumbling with her black, leather belt.

  Kimi pulled away, her eyes sparkling, “So, I’m going? Sadie said I could come to Crypts Cavern with you guys?”

  “Yep.” He made his way down to her neck, smelling the sweet floral scent that had kept him up at night since Kimi Haas joined the team at KT Crime Labs. He’d never forget seeing her for the first time, crossing the white marble lobby, the morning sun streaking through her black hair, long, and as soft as silk. She wore a white blouse, with the sleeves rolled up just enough to get a peek at a small flower tattoo on her forearm, and a black pencil skirt showcasing tanned legs and curves that were something straight out of a music video—back when hot chicks were still the main feature.

  Kimi Haas was young, smart, sizzling-hot, with just enough attitude to add fuzzy cuffs and a leather whip to his insta-fantasy as they’d met eyes for the first time.

  A fantasy he’d made happen not forty-eight hours later after inviting her to happy hour—he’d always thought KT should have a welcoming committee, after all. Since that bed-breaking evening, Griffin and Kimi had taken their sexcapades beyond the bedroom, into the office, her car, his car, and most recently the janitor’s closet. Being with—make that inside—Kimi Haas had become his reason for living, breathing, and shaving parts of him he’d previously never thought a razor should be within three feet of.

  Kimi was exciting, uninhibited, and one-hundred percent non-committal.

  His perfect woman.

  She kicked off her black six-inch heels as her pants fell down to her ankles.

  Griffin groaned as his hand trailed her hot-pink panties. “You know I love pink.”

  After sliding off his shirt, she grinned, “You know I like a man in a wrinkled, button-down short-sleeve shirt with a stained breast pocket.”

  “It’s in the trash. You’ll never see it again,” he muttered as he cupped her over her panties, his thumb running along her inner lips, his fingertips pressing into the bottom of her candy apple ass. “Better yet, let’s take it outside and run it over with my truck.”

  “I’d rather take a ride on this first,” she said with a smirk as she grabbed his balls so hard one flew up and caught in his throat.

  He smirked. Damn he loved this woman.

  “Get this fucking thing off.” He fumbled with one of the million teeny-tiny silver buttons that ran down her blouse.

  “Just pull it over my fucking head… but watch my makeup.”

  “I’ll watch your makeup slide all over my dick.”

  She tipped her head back and laughed. “God, we’re corny. Get your pants off.”

  With him wearing only a pair of black socks pulled up to his shins, and her, only two toe rings on her feet, Griffin pressed his lips to her plump, red mouth, as she wrapped a hand around his erection, and began sliding back and forth.

  “I have a meeting in five minutes.” She muttered.

  “I only need two.”

  Kimi grinned through his kisses. “Oh, be still my heart…”

  He cocked a brow, “Not for me… for you.”

  Eyes locked on hers, he got down on his knees, propped one of her legs up on a metal rack, then slipped underneath her. He looked up at her eyes, flaring with heat.

  “One minute, you can time me.”

  She glanced at the clock ticking on the wall. “Go.”

  With his pride on the line, Griffin slid his hands up her leg, then cupped her ass as he kissed her inner thigh.

  “Forty-eight seconds…”

  His tongue slid to her inner lips, barely tracing the sensitive skin with the tip of his tongue, before pressing into her.

  “Oh, Griff…” Her breath had picked up, the heat radiating from her tanned skin.

  Slowly circling her clit—his favorite spot—he inserted a finger… then two.

  A soft groan escaped her mouth, hardening him like a steel rod.

  She was hot, tight, her wetness sliding around his fingers as he pressed harder, licking over her, faster and faster.

  “Shit… baby….”

  Baby. It had become his favorite word in the English dictionary because it meant she was close.

  He slid in another finger, sending her squirming and gripping the walls. A can marked with a skull and crossbones began tipping back and forth, but he didn’t give a shit. He’d take a shower of acid just to watch this woman come.

  Five, four, three, two…

  “I’m going to—”

  Her whisper trailed off as her warm release rushed over his fingertips.

  He savored the moment, the taste, then pulled away.

  Her sleepy eyes twinkled. “Cutting it pretty close.”

  He stood, trailing his wet fingers over her stomach. “You complaining? Because we’ve got another four minutes—”

  She flung her arms around his neck. “Fuck me. Shut up, and fuck me.”

  The words were like a shot of speed to his system. He gripped her waist and slammed her back against the wall as she wrapped her legs around him.

  He crushed his lips onto hers and speared into her. Her fingernails digging into his back as he pulled out and pushed back in. No preamble, no patience, no mercy.

  Back and forth, her warm wetness tightening with each thrust, sending tingles flying over the sheen of sweat coating his skin. Her hands trailed down to his ass, grabbed, and pushed him in deeper. He grit his teeth, pounding her so hard her head banged against the concrete wall.

  His head began to spin, something clattered to the ground—hopefully not the skull and crossbones spray—and before he could release the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, he exploded himself inside her, another small piece of his heart stolen.

  Chapter 5

  Sadie glanced nervously at the camper in the rearview mirror as she passed the Welcome to Berry Springs sign.

  Almost there.

  She’d towed campers many times before, but as they’d neared the Ozark Mountains, the roads became curvy and the shoulders had shrunk by a good six inches—which was ironic.

  Somewhere over the course of the ninety-minute drive, small-talk had dwindled and Kimi had become emerged in whatever game was the latest craze on her cell phone in the back seat. The incessant ding, ding, ding making Sadie want to drive, drive, drive into oncoming traffic. The background noise had a different effect on Griffin, luring him into a hypnotic sleep in the passenger seat. Guy sure seemed abnormally tired the last few months.

  And that was just fine with her. Sadie had rolled her window down, allowing the crisp, autumn air to sweep through her hair, little by little releasing some of the stress of her epically shitty morning. She’d spent most of the morning hiding in her office. The few people that she did come into contact with stared like she’d sprouted snakes from her head. Although, Medusa probably got more sympathy. What Sadie got was a bunch of gossiping women chomping at the bit to giggle, speculate about her firing, and add to the humiliating experience of a break-up gone public. And some, she had no doubt, were plotting how to woo the newly single trust fund baby. Good luck with that hot mess.

  Then, after a mind-numbingly boring lunch seminar, Sadie ran to her house, took a quick shower to wash all traces of triple-chocolate mocha from her skin, then changed into clean pants, hiking boots, and a KT Crime Labs T-shirt. After grabbing her overnight bag, she locked up her apartment, more than ready to get out of town.

  Maybe her boss was right—a little time out of the office was exactly what she needed.<
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  Maybe her day would turn around.

  Sadie checked the GPS as they rolled into town, then turned onto Main Street—the main drag that split the center of the small, country town.

  Small, and country it was.

  Sadie had heard about Berry Springs—a nature-lover’s tourist destination, known for its hiking, camping, fishing and just about anything else one could do outdoors—but had never been. She rolled to a stop at the town’s only stoplight and looked around.

  Jacked-up pickups, a handful of Suburus, and even a few ATVs speckled the parking spots along the town’s square, which appeared to be the hub of Berry Springs. Colorful mums, pumpkins, and hay bales decorated the store fronts, and Sadie noticed a few ghosts swaying above a jack-o’-lantern in the window of a jewelry store. A family on horseback made their way across the sidewalk as if it were a normal form of transportation. Four elderly men in flannel shirts and cowboy hats sat in rocking chairs outside of Tad’s Tool Shop, no doubt waiting for their wives to leave Bonnie’s Bouffant, a hair salon across the street. A Happy Fall Y’all sign decorated the front of Fanny’s Farm and Feed, which was next door to a charming restaurant named Donny’s Diner, where blue-checkered curtains hung from windows that spelled out the daily specials. Today, get your homemade pumpkin pie and bottomless coffee for only $1.99. A heck of a deal in any Southerner’s book. Red booths peeked from the window where a gray-haired woman in a white apron and a bun on top of her head laughed hysterically, before leaning in for a whisper.

  Sadie watched a man open a door for a group of women, tipping his cowboy hat in greeting.

  It was as if she’d stepped back in time, to the small, black-and-white town of Mayberry.

  The light turned green, and after taking notice of the county coroner’s office, she followed the narrow two-lane road out of town, and into miles and miles of dense forests and soaring mountains bright with autumn’s colors. It was beautiful scenery, and she might have enjoyed the drive if it weren’t for the camper attached to the back of her SUV. Every sharp turn, every steep descent made the knots in her shoulders squeeze like a pretzel. Rocky cliffs hugged one side of the road, the other, steep drop-offs that made her stomach dip.

  She looked in the rearview mirror at the camper for the hundredth time, its tires hugging the center line.

  God help anyone coming from the opposite direction.

  After white-knuckling a few more hairpin corners, she followed the directions onto a narrow dirt road at the base of a mountain.

  “Where the hell are we?” Griffin sat up, rubbing his eyes.

  “Morning.” Sadie glanced at the GPS as her SUV bottomed out—for the third time—on the pitted road. After making sure the camper was still attached, she replied, “The Ozark Mountains.”

  Griffin gripped the oh-shit handle above his window as they hit another bump. “Yeah, but where?”

  “I think we’ve officially crossed into no-man’s land, or mountains, I should say.” She was pretty sure Griffin was going to have to physically remove her hands from the steering wheel once they reached their destination.

  “What time are we supposed to meet the sheriff?”

  “Three. According to the GPS, we’ve got a few more miles on this road, but I think we’ll make it on time.”

  Griffin looked in the backseat. “Whoa…”

  Sadie glanced at Kimi in the rearview mirror, her head resting against the headrest, a green ring circling her mouth.

  She braked as Griffin undid his seatbelt and turned around. “You okay?” He asked Kimi.

  “I feel like I’ve been on the Gravitron.”

  “If you were on the Gravitron, you’d be vomiting cotton candy, funnel cakes, and cherry Slurpees all over your Keds.”

  “Oh God, don’t talk about funnel cakes,” she groaned, gripping her stomach.

  “Speaking from experience?” Sadie grinned.

  “Maybe… maybe two experiences.”

  Sadie rolled down all the windows and made a mental note that their new-hire got motion sickness. “You need to puke?” She asked.

  “No, just get us there.”

  “Okay, but if you do need to, I can pull over, or, better yet, puke in Griffin’s bag.”

  “Nice, boss,” he muttered.

  Sadie slowed at a fork in the road. “Which way?”

  After tossing Kimi a bottle of water, Griffin sat back in his seat and looked at the GPS. “Left.” He glanced at his phone. “Dammit.”

  “What?”

  “No freakin’ reception.”

  She sighed and shook her head. Of course there were no luxuries like cell phone reception in these mountains.

  “We’ll have the wifi hot spot in the camper, and the SAT cell.”

  “Thank God for modern technology.”

  Sadie thought of the gossip columns and how someone’s personal life could be splashed online for the entire world to read in under one minute. At that moment, she didn’t know how grateful she was.

  “Thank God for Dramamine,” Kimi muttered from the backseat.

  “You recognize the area, Kimi?” Sadie asked, trying to guide Kimi’s mind away from regurgitation.

  “I’ve never been this far into the mountains.”

  “You lived in Berry Springs for a bit, though, right?”

  Griffin shot her a look. She narrowed her eyes and shot back. The kid was defensive and protective over Kimi. Perhaps his mama hadn’t taught him about sticking his pen in the company ink.

  “Just about a year in high school. It’s a typical southern town with your cowboys and cowgirls. Small… a bit suffocating, to be honest.”

  “Well, hopefully we won’t need to go into town for anything.”

  “I kinda wanted to go to Donny’s Diner while I was here,” Griffin said. “Great food… and I always prefer to eat with the living.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kimi leaned forward, her black hair whipping around her face, a little color back in her cheeks now.

  Griffin glanced in the backseat. “You haven’t heard the legends about Crypts Cavern?”

  “Indulge us,” Sadie said with a grin.

  “Okay, well, let’s just say it didn’t get its name for no reason.” As if on cue, a dark cloud slid over the late afternoon sun, casting shadows across the dirt road. “So, the legend goes, sometime in the mid-to-late 1700’s, during the French and Indian War, a tribe of Indians led by a warrior named Atohi, took refuge in the cave, hiding in its tunnels and rooms. The cave is huge, but super treacherous. I don’t even think they let people in it now. Anyway, the legend is that while in hiding, Atohi trained his tribe to fight, using sticks and rocks he’d collect in the woods while he’d sneak out in the middle of the night. Day and night they trained, with little food, only eating the fish they’d catch inside the cave’s lake. No light, except to build a fire to cook food at night. They trained in pitch-blackness, starving, scared. They started arguing, going nuts, and a few snapped, killing each other, tossing the bodies into the lake for the blind fish the size of pigs to eat. The story goes that the isolation and darkness took over Atohi, and he began killing anyone who challenged him. With nothing but a hatchet, he’d hack them to pieces in front of everyone else.”

  “Did you say a lake?” Kimi asked, as if that were the most disturbing part of the story.

  “Oh, yeah. An underground water system runs through the cave.”

  “And blind fish the size of pigs?” Sadie didn’t bother hiding the skepticism in her voice.

  “That’s right. There’s a lot of fish in the water, and they’re blind—never seen natural light, so their eyes never developed. And some fish will grow as big as their environment allows, especially if there’s enough food and they never leave.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “I like my ghost stories… and haven’t you seen my aquarium at home?”

  “You’re such a dork,” Kimi muttered.

  Griffin turned and winked at Kimi,
then continued, “Anyway, as the British soldiers made their way into the mountains, they found the cave and not knowing that Atohi and his tribe were hiding inside, they made their way in. Atohi funneled the soldiers into a narrow corridor, and using the darkness to their advantage, the tribe killed them off one by one. You’ve heard of the Battle of Thermopylae? Greek mythology? You know, the movie 300, where Leonidas and his men held off an army of thousands of Persians? It was kind of like that. The English had them outnumbered and outmatched with their guns, but because of the narrow passageway, numbers meant nothing. Atohi and his tribe were rumored to have killed hundreds of soldiers.”

  “And by hundreds, you probably mean five.”

  “Or none at all,” Kimi said, rolling her eyes.

  Sadie laughed.

  “And by the way, Leonidas died in the end of that movie.”

  “Well you two naysayers haven’t let me finish. So, after killing these hundreds of men, the tribe threw their bodies in the lake in the cave, but kept their guns, food, clothes and provisions. This went on for days as more soldiers came to look for the ones that never returned. Atohi would hide in the shadows and pick them off one by one. The British eventually thought the cave was haunted and assembled a small army to take it by storm. Well… it was a dark, stoooormy night…” Griffin lowered his voice and wiggled his fingers in the air, “…and the rains came, storm after storm, inches of rain pounding the mountains. As Atohi and his tribe waited for their final battle, the waters in the cave rose, trapping them inside. The tribe traveled as far back into the cave as they could, seeking higher ground, only to perish in the black waters of the cave’s bottomless lake, where their souls are said to remain locked in the cave forever.”

  “Oh my God.” Kimi slapped a hand over her eyes and shook her head.

  “Let me guess… that’s how the name Crypt Cavern came about.” Sadie edged the SUV around a log in the middle of the road.

  “Exactly. But I’m not done…”

  “No more…” Kimi muttered.

  Sadie chuckled as Griffin continued, “Okay, so sometime in the early 1900’s, it’s rumored that a descendant of Atohi, took his family to the same cave to tell them the story of their heritage. Well, the story goes that once inside the cave, the father started hearing voices and seeing the souls of his forefathers, haunting and taunting him in the darkness. It’s said that the father claimed the spirits told him to kill his family, and with a hatchet and the help of Atohi, the father hacked his wife, two daughters and three young boys to death, limb by limb, then threw their bodies into the lake, before sending the hatchet through his own forehead and disappearing into the lake.”