“Amanda, I hope you’re still listening out there. The Mills Brothers can say how I feel much better than I can, but if you’ll only give me a chance I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for my stupidity.”
The Mills Brothers harmonized “You Always Hurt the One You Love” and Dev willed Amanda to keep her radio on.
Amanda sat curled in a chair, a pillow clutched to her chest as Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters asked, “Have I told You Lately that I Love You?” A single tear slipped down her cheek.
Zoe sat across from her, a smug I-told-you-so look on her face. She was enjoying this, Amanda could tell.
When Dev’s voice had come on the radio at the beginning of his show, she started to go over and turn it off. Just to prove to Zoe that she could get along without hearing his voice every day. But Zoe had grabbed her arm and tugged her back down on the couch with a single command. “Listen.”
So for the past thirty minutes she’d listened. Dev had admitted he was a fool. He’d apologized for everything he’d done. And he’d used some of the greatest songs she knew to tell her how much he loved her. She racked her brain trying to decide why he was making such a public spectacle of himself and came to the only possible conclusion—he really did love her. For the first time in days, she began to smile.
“At last,” Zoe exclaimed, noting the beatific grin on her friend’s face. “For a while there, I thought you’d never see the light.”
“Oh, and you saw it all along, right?”
“Yep. But like Mrs. Wyndham said today, you were stubborn where Dev was concerned.”
Amanda made a face at her friend. “You’ve got a few blind spots yourself, missy. But we’ll have to address them some other time.” She jumped up and grabbed the phone. She dialed, waited a minute, then her face fell. “They’re sending the calls on the request line to a canned message. He’s not taking any requests.” She dialed the office number out of desperation.
“Rosemary? I’m sorry to bother you. I thought I dialed the office.” Amanda ran her hand through her hair. “You’re there? At the office? What are you doing there at this hour?” She frowned, then rolled her eyes in disbelief. “I’ll be there in ten, no, fifteen, minutes. Don’t tell him I’m coming, okay?’ She smiled and nodded. “Can you get a special request to him? Give it fifteen minutes and then tell him you got a request on the office line for ‘The Man I Love.’ You’re an angel. Bye.” She ran for her room. “I have to change my clothes and get to the radio station. I’ll drop you off at the gallery on my way.”
“Oh no, my friend. I’m not gonna miss this. I’m coming with you.” Zoe picked up her own cell phone and dialed.
Fifteen minutes later, Amanda blew through the front door of the radio station and skidded to a stop. Zoe plowed into her from behind.
“Hey, don’t stop so sudden. I almost broke my nose on your shoulder blade.” Zoe stopped complaining at the unexpected sound of applause.
Amanda looked from face to face in astonishment. Rosemary, she’d expected. But Andy, Mike, Neal, Ed Santone? What were they all doing here? Rosemary beamed at her, and even Neal appeared happy. “What—?”
“Oh honey, we figured you’d be here as soon as we heard Dev’s opening tonight. We didn’t want to miss this.”
Andy sidled up to her and said, “We had faith in you, Mandy, but for a while there we were afraid the boss would never get his act together.”
Amanda felt her jaw drop.
“Yeah,” Neal chimed in, “we listened to Dev’s show every night, once Andy figured out that he was sending you love letters over the air. After the party, though, we knew something bad happened.”
They all nodded in agreement. Andy continued, “We almost called Captain Majewski, but Rosemary said the boss needed to figure this out on his own.” He winked. “Seems like it worked out okay, though.”
Rosemary went to the door. “I’m going to tell him about your request, Amanda. Are you ready?”
She nodded. “Oh yeah, I’m ready.” She had a lot of moisture in her eyes so they glistened as she scanned the group. “I’m so glad I had so many people here to watch over me. You’re the best.”
There was a knock on the front door, and Zoe opened it. “About time. You almost missed the best part.”
Jeff took off his helmet and shut the door behind him. “Got here as fast as I could, babe.” He eyed Zoe up and down. “We don’t all sit around being beautiful and waiting for phone calls, you know.”
The song playing was “I Could Write a Book” and everyone in the room quieted down as Frank Sinatra sang.
When he finished, Dev’s voice came on and Amanda looked up at the sound coming through the overhead speakers. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve just been given a request, and due to its very special nature, I’ll have to make an exception to tonight’s rules and play it.”
Sophie Tucker’s rendition of “The Man I Love” began and Amanda walked down the hall to the broadcast booth.
She stood on the other side of the glass and smiled at Dev, then walked around to the door. Andy caught up with her before she entered.
“Allow me, Amanda.” He opened the door. “I think I may have an extra shift ahead of me after all.”
But Amanda wasn’t listening to him. She only had eyes for Dev and she suspected they sparkled like stars. She walked into his arms and the heat and promise in his eyes sent her heart fluttering. “I love you, Devlyn MacMurphy.”
“And I love you, Amanda Adams.” He kissed her tenderly. “But I’m tired of the friends with benefits routine.” He kissed her again. “How about something more permanent, like husband and wife?”
She brushed the lock of dark hair off his brow. “Just what I had in mind, Dev of the Dream Machine. You’re making all my dreams come true tonight.”
The rest of the spectators lined the window outside of the booth and cheered, whistled, and stomped. Since the broadcast booth was soundproof, it played like an old time silent movie from inside. Dev and Amanda broke their embrace and bowed like actors on a stage.
“All this commotion over a few kisses?” Dev grinned into Amanda’s eyes. “Not that they aren’t worth it.”
“I think they’re celebrating your engagement, boss.” Andy smirked, leaning against the door. “The mike was open during your proposal.”
Amanda gasped. “You mean everyone listening in heard us?”
“Sounds like it,” Dev said, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “No way you can back out now.”
Andy leaned over and spoke into the mike. “You heard it here first, ladies and gents. I believe Dev will be unable to finish his show tonight, but don’t worry, he’ll be back tomorrow night.”
Dev went to the table and picked up one last CD. “Play this for me, will you, Andy?”
“Sure, boss.” He slipped it in the player, and ‘Time After Time’ serenaded the audience.
One more lingering kiss, and the couple left the broadcast booth.
The happy group offered congratulations and Amanda was touched to see such a display of good wishes from them all. Zoe hugged her and gave Dev a smacking kiss on the mouth.
“About time you two got your act together. For a while there I thought I was going to have to lock you both in a closet until you discovered you couldn’t live without each other.”
“And I’m beginning to understand all the strange behavior going on around here the last week or so,” Dev said.
“I hate to be the one to say this, boss, but sometimes you can be a little slow on the uptake,” Rosemary scolded. “You two go along now. The rest of us have everything here under control.” She made shooing motions and the group parted to let them leave.
CHAPTER 28
Amanda woke with the weight of Dev’s arm across her ribs, his left hand cupping her breast, and
his breath warm against her neck. She’d never known such a sense of utter contentment that loving Dev brought to her every waking moment. She sighed and pressed closer to her sleeping soon-to-be husband.
“Careful. You know what happens when you move like that.”
The hand tightened around her breast as the bud puckered against his palm. She couldn’t resist and pressed her bottom against his erection. Her reward was a string of kisses on her neck with special attention to the sensitive spot behind her ear. She reached back and stroked the velvety head of his shaft, smiling at the audible intake of breath.
Dev flipped her onto her back and reached across her to grab the last of their supply of condoms, not missing the opportunity to lick and suckle her other breast, then kiss her until her muscles went liquid with desire.
“Hurry,” she demanded, reaching for the foil packet he held just out of her reach.
“My, my, aren’t we the greedy one this morning?” he teased.
She arched her body so he could feel the moisture as she rubbed against him.
He ripped open the packet with his teeth and covered himself in record time. With a single thrust, he buried himself to the hilt, and Amanda wrapped her legs around him and began to move.
They’d made love dozens of times over the past week. Slow and sensuously, fast and furiously, and every way in-between. She still couldn’t seem to get enough of this wonderful man with his fantastic body, talented mouth, and a heart that was hers alone. This morning he took her from comfortable to crazy in a matter of seconds and she scraped her nails across his back and shouted her pleasure when she disintegrated into tingling nerve endings and ragged breathing. A few more quick thrusts, and Dev followed her.
As her pulse slowed, she languidly followed the latticework of sunshine moving across the bedroom wall. This was heaven. This was bliss. She’d be happy to stay in this bed another month or so—assuming someone would send them food from time to time to keep their strength up. She glanced at the clock radio.
“Oh, crap. Dev, get up.” She pushed at his shoulders but he didn’t budge. “Dev.” She smacked his backside for emphasis. “My parents’ plane lands at BWI in ninety minutes. We have to hurry.”
She pushed against his shoulders and managed to lift him an inch.
“Can’t we stay like this a little longer? I love being inside you, babe.”
He nuzzled her neck and she could feel him begin to harden again. No. No. Definitely not. They had to get going. She pushed against him again. “Nope, we’re out of time, honey,” she whispered in his ear. “I’ll take a rain-check, though.”
Dev propped himself up on his elbows, kissed the tip of her nose, and rolled off her.
She scrambled out of bed and ran for the shower. “Make a pot of coffee, will you, dear? Please?”
“Yeah, sure.” He ambled down the hall.
She had to get into—and out of—the shower before he came back. If he got in with her, there would be another half-hour delay, and they didn’t have time for that. She was towel drying her hair when Dev came through the door.
“Wow, you’re fast this morning.” He tugged on the towel wrapped around her torso and she grabbed it to prevent total exposure. “Why don’t you hop back in there with me? I’m sure you must have missed a spot or two and I could, you know, help you with that.”
She evaded his arms and shook her head. “We don’t have time. Get in there. We have to leave the house in ten minutes.” He kissed her anyway, but got in the shower.
Good thing her parents weren’t staying here. She’d kind of let housekeeping slip this past week. Laundry was piled up in front of the washer and dirty dishes from yesterday were still in the sink. What would her mother think?
That she’d given up the trappings of civilization to spend all her time in bed with her lover? Amanda grinned and shrugged. Guilty.
Thank God for Marjorie’s bed and breakfast. Her mom and Jack would be far more comfortable there, especially after she told them Dev had moved in with her. She’d ask them to stay an extra week so they could be here for the wedding.
Since neither she nor Dev wanted a big wedding, they’d decided to marry as soon as possible. Dev’s parents were flying in from New York for the ceremony. She would be nervous meeting Dev’s dad, knowing they weren’t on the best of terms, but she hoped that seeing him happy and healthy would ease the tension between them.
Tomorrow Agent Baley would meet with her mom, Jack, she and Dev and tell them the results of the autopsy. Then, Saturday after the medical examiner had released her dad’s body, they would have a short memorial service and Amanda could gratefully close the book on that chapter of her life.
Dev parked in front of the Blue Point Inn. Amanda’s mother, Marian, and her husband, Jack, sat holding hands in two of the wicker rocking chairs on the big porch. Agent Baley had asked to speak to Amanda and Marian so he was playing chauffeur. No way was he letting Amanda face whatever news the FBI agent had alone. He saw that Jack had the same idea as he walked Marian to the car, opened the door, and settled her in the back seat.
As he got in the other side, Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks for the ride, Dev. I assume Amanda is every bit as anxious about this as Marian.”
“She is, though she doesn’t want to admit it. She’s been working off her nerves with a cleaning frenzy ever since Agent Baley called this morning.”
“Even knowing what he’s going to say doesn’t make it any better,” Marian said. “Every time I think about that Highway Hijacker, it gives me chills. Amanda and Frank were so close I know it must be terribly hard for her.”
Dev saw the couple clasp hands in the rearview mirror and knew where Amanda’s penchant for handholding had come from. Marian was an older, but still lovely, version of her daughter, with the same gray eyes and fine skin. Her light hair was touched with frost but warmth radiated from her face.
“I’m so glad you’ll be here for this, Dev. It’s good that Amanda will have someone she loves close by. She’ll try to be brave but . . .”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Harris, I plan to stay right by her side today—and always.” Another glance in the rearview mirror showed him Marian’s smile.
After they arrived at Amanda’s house, they settled in the living room and Marian studied the room with interest. It was a warm spring day and Amanda had opened all the windows to let in the fresh air with a salty tang from the bay. “You’ve made your mark on this place, Amanda. It looks lovely.”
“Thanks, Mom. Dev, ah, gave me a little help with the hard stuff.” Her eyes twinkled as she slanted a smile at him.
“I just did the basics. The beautification all came from your daughter.” He winked at her and saw the color begin to stain her cheeks. He loved that she blushed as the slightest provocation. “Can I get you two something to drink? We have wine and beer and maybe some of that brandy left, too, don’t we, darling?”
“Wine would be lovely, Dev. Thank you,” Marion replied.
“If you’ve got cold beer stashed somewhere, I can take one off your hands,” Jack offered.
No sooner had he pulled the cork from the wine than the FBI agent appeared at the front door. Amanda went to let him in as Dev handed beer and wine to Jack and Marian.
“Can I get you something to drink, Agent Baley? We have iced tea and soda if alcohol isn’t on your agenda this afternoon.”
“Thanks, but nothing for me,” the agent said. He sat in one of the armchairs while Jack joined Marian on the love seat and Dev perched somewhat precariously on the arm of Amanda’s chair.
“First let me say that a lot has happened in the past couple of days but I wanted to wait to talk with you until I had all the pieces put together.”
Amanda slipped her hand into his and laced their fingers together. Dev gave her a reassuring little sq
ueeze and felt the tension in her shoulders lessen the slightest bit.
“We have determined that Mr. Adams was not a victim of the Highway Hijacker. We weren’t sure at first because we considered the possibility that the Highway Hijacker may have changed his MO over the years. Mr. Adams was not stabbed to death as were all of the other known victims of the Highway Hijacker. At least all that we have recovered to date. He was shot in the neck at close range with a 32-caliber pistol. The gun was found on the passenger seat and the bullet recovered from Mr. Adams’ body was matched to that gun.”
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