Spontaneous by Brenda Jackson Page B

there was probably a lot of picture-taking. Chev is going to track down some of the partygoers to see if he can gather photos. I’ll let you know what we find out.”
    Duan ended the call and flipped off the phone as he reentered the hotel room. He glanced over at Kim. She returned his gaze with troubled eyes. It was obvious something was wrong.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    She shrugged her shoulders. “Yes, I guess. I just finished talking to Mom and she sounded so happy and excited.” She laughed bitterly and a fiery look appeared in her eyes. “It pisses me off that the man that has brought so much joy to her life could end up being a damn murderer.”
    Duan knew how she felt, but he also knew they needed to play the game well with Villarosas, which meant perfecting their acting abilities. “Forget the personal now, Kim. Put a lid on the anger. We need toconcentrate on nailing this guy if he’s guilty, and the only way we can do that is to find out everything there is to know. We’ve come this far and the last thing we need is to have my cover blown. Villarosas has to believe he has us snowed, especially you. You can’t in any way let him know you suspect something. The questions you ask him should be the same ones you would ask any man about to marry your mother. And you want to make him feel comfortable in telling you anything you want to know.”
    He reached out and traced the line of her jaw with his fingertips. “Can you do that, Kim? If you can’t, I’ll understand. No questions asked. No explanation required. But a lot is at stake and—”
    “I can do it, Duan,” she said with clear certainty and unwavering confidence. “And I will do it. If he isn’t what Mom thinks he is, then I need to help expose him. We’re not doing this just for my mother. I have to remember the families of those other two women who don’t know if they’re alive somewhere or really dead. I have to do it for them, too.”
    He smiled and cupped her jaw before lowering his mouth down to hers. The moment their lips touched, a fiery heat exploded within his gut and he slid his tongue inside her mouth, tangled with hers, and laved the insides from corner to corner. And when she wrapped her arms around his neck he dropped his hand from her jaw and slid it around her waist.
    Her body melted into his and he could only continue to kiss this woman who affected him like no other. The woman responsible for making him want things he never wanted before. The woman who made it possible for him to consider all the possibilities, but only with her.
    She was one and done. If he could not have her, then he would not have anyone, because he was convinced she was his other half, the one that made him whole. He was letting his emotions come into play and get the best of him, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it.
    Reluctantly, he pulled his mouth away and pressed his forehead against hers. There was so much passion between them. How could that be possible?
    He took a step back. “I was just talking to Landon and he indicated that Chevis is in Orlando following up a possible lead. The report you read indicated that the night before Mandy Villarosas, wife number one, disappeared there was a party at the club—a high-school reunion.”
    Kim nodded. “Yes, I recall reading that in the report.”
    “As with most reunions, there’re always people taking a lot of pictures at random. We’re contacting a few of the attendees to see if someone got a shot of this man—the person Mandy supposedly flirted with that night. The women she went out of town with that weekend think he’s the same man that she was to meet the day she disappeared.”
    Kim frowned. “But if that’s true and there is a possibility there was another man involved, then…”
    She stopped talking, hoping Duan was following her train of thoughts. He was.
    “That means if there was another man involved, then that man could very well be the person behind her disappearance,”