eyond Desire Collection

by JS Scott, M Malone, Marie Hall, et al

  He’d arrived at the office just in time for the video conference with the director they’d been eyeing to do the group’s first video. He was known for dance videos, which was exactly what they wanted. If they were going to make an entry into the pop world, they needed a club-worthy hit. Too bad he hadn’t been able to keep his mind on anything the guy said.

  Mac crossed his arms. “You never told me what you thought of his idea. As a matter of fact, I’d bet you don’t even remember the guy’s pitch. You keep spacing out on me. What’s the deal?”

  “Sorry, I’m really distracted today. I’ve just got some stuff going on at home.”

  Just one night. It doesn’t count.

  Right.

  Any chance he’d had of being a gentleman and not seducing her had died an instant death the moment he’d climbed into bed with her. Ridley had been like a dream. It had been just as hot as he’d thought it would be and twice as memorable.

  He had a feeling the night that didn’t count was going to cost him more than just a few hours of lost productivity. If he couldn’t get a handle on his crazy emotions, it might cost him his sanity.

  “Jackson?” This time Mac was watching him with open amusement. He wondered how long his friend had been calling him this time.

  “Huh?”

  “I said is everything all right with the kids?”

  “Oh yeah, yeah, they’re fine. I just have a guest this week.”

  “Oh right. Your hot neighbor. Matt already has a betting pool going on how long before you nail this one.” Mac chuckled.

  The thought that his friends were thinking anything sexual about Ridley was enough to make his blood boil. Any man actually. No one should see her the way he’d seen her last night or think about the things she could do with that lush mouth.

  “It’s not like that. So keep her name out of your filthy mouth,” Jackson growled.

  “Whoa! Take it easy, man.” Mac backed up a few steps and then cleared his throat. “Damn, Matt was right. You’ve really got it bad.”

  Jackson flexed his fists. “I’m serious, Mac. She’s my neighbor and I’m just trying to help her out. Don’t turn it into something dirty.”

  Mac tried, unsuccessfully, to hide his smile. “Okay, okay. Sorry. No disrespect intended.”

  Jackson walked into his office and closed the door. He dropped down into his desk chair and looked around his crowded workspace. He hadn’t gotten much of anything done all day.

  His inability to concentrate was part of the problem. Ridley was sneaking into his thoughts wherever he was, no matter how inappropriate. He ignored the inner voice that called him a coward. Ridley affected him more than any woman he had ever met. A man had the right to be a little freaked out.

  But now he was being forced to admit that close proximity wasn’t the only reason he was fascinated with her. Ridley was nowhere near him, yet he couldn’t seem to think of anything else.

  He had to get a handle on his feelings or he wasn’t going to be getting any work done. The way he saw it, he had two choices. He could abide by the rules of their one-night deal or he could spend some time with her and let his fascination run its course.

  The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Of course he was entranced by Ridley. She was beautiful, and what red-blooded man wouldn’t be affected by a gorgeous woman who offered him a night of hot, no-strings sex? But if he spent more time with her, he’d start to see her flaws. It would at least take some of the fascination away. Then he could get back to work—no harm, no foul.

  Either way, he wasn’t going to hide his attraction to her any longer. She was a grown woman and he would leave the decision in her hands. They’d agreed on one night, but if she gave him even the slightest indication that she’d welcome a little quality time before she left town again, he was more than ready to deliver.

  He swiveled in his chair and pulled up his e-mail. When he saw there was a note from Elliott, he smiled.

  He opened the message and then double-clicked on the attachment. The top page was a blown up copy of a Florida driver’s license. David Randall Finemore.

  “Elliott, you always come through for me.”

  He’d just wanted to find out a little about the guy, but it looked like Eli had done a full-scale background check. He scrolled through the file. There were several more photographs. They were candid shots, most taken from far away.

  Surveillance photos .

  The first one was of two men sitting at an outdoor restaurant. Upon closer inspection, he could see that one of the men was David.

  David Finemore meeting Alberto Moreno.

  He recognized his brother’s handwriting scrawled across the image. He’d also written the date the photo was taken.

  “This was taken over a year ago.”

  Hadn’t Ridley said she’d only just met the guy? He scrolled through the rest of the photos quickly. Most were just of David, but Moreno appeared in a few other shots. Some of them were dated even further back than the first one. His brow furrowed as he came to the last picture. Whoever had been following the guy had been thorough.

  He flipped through the rest of his mail. There wasn’t anything else that couldn’t wait. He hurriedly signed his approval on a few bills and then put them in his outbox for Mac to pick up. He might as well finish up early so they could go out to dinner. He could show Ridley what Elliott had found and see how she felt about an encore of the previous night’s festivities. The sooner he got his fascination with Ridley out of his system, the sooner he could get back to normal.

  This was a business decision, even if it felt better than anything he had done for a while.

  ***

  Ridley pulled an Adirondack chair into a shady part of the lawn. She glanced back at the house before settling down with a paperback book she’d found in the family room. Miss Bessie had arrived at precisely 9:29 a.m. and had seemed more than a little surprised to see her.

  When he’d introduced her to his parents, he hadn’t mentioned where she was staying, so of course his mother’s friend wouldn’t expect a woman to open the door.

  Talk about awkward.

  After her initial fumbling introduction, she’d spent the next few hours puttering around in her room. Things seemed to be going well other than a few loud crashes and what sounded like a full-scale tantrum. She’d finally come down to investigate, only to find the boys eating sandwiches at the kitchen table, ominously quiet.

  She’d made herself a quick turkey and cheese sandwich before deciding to eat outside. Right before she’d left, she’d heard Miss Bessie telling Jase to take his thumb out of his mouth.

  She hadn’t sucked her thumb, but she’d been a quiet, introverted child much like Jase. It hadn’t been easy growing up around adults who constantly told her to “speak up” or “just smile, honey!” With any luck, the trio would get along once they got to know each other. She hoped so, anyway. Otherwise Jackson would be searching for yet another nanny.

  After reading several pages, she put the book aside. Perhaps a murder mystery hadn’t been the best choice. Not when she was smack in the middle of her own unsolved murder case. How could she relax as if she was on vacation when someone she thought of as a friend was dead, probably because of her? She thought of the jeweled necklace she’d given Jackson to put in his safe.

  It was a good thing she’d been on her way to the bank that day. Otherwise, if she’d put the necklace in her jewelry box with the rest of her jewelry, it would have been stolen when her apartment was broken into. She’d have to ask Agent Graham to contact David’s next of kin so she could return it. Clearly, it had been important to him.

  “Oh, hi! Sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be back here.”

  Ridley looked up to see a young woman with smooth brown skin and short curls, followed by two young boys.

  “Hi. Were you looking for Jackson?”

  “No, we were just taking a shortcut over to the next street. Sorry to disturb you.”

  “
Can we play with Chris, Mom? Please?” One of the boys jumped up and down next to his mother excitedly.

  “The boys are just finishing lunch. Maybe they’d like to play outside. I’ll go check.” Ridley held up a finger and sat up. Before she could get out of the chair, the back door of the house burst open and she heard a high-pitched shriek.

  “Get it away, get it away, get it away! Eeeeeeeeek!!”

  Miss Bessie came barreling down the back steps, shaking frenetically and throwing her head back and forth. “Oh sweet Lord Jesus, it’s a spider. Get it off!”

  A giggle came from behind Ridley and she turned to see the two boys being shushed by their mother. Ridley tried valiantly to stifle her own smile as she hurried toward the older woman. She was trembling so furiously Ridley worried she’d hurt herself.

  “Wait, I’ll get it off. Just… wait.” She put her arms on the woman’s trembling shoulders until she stopped throwing her head around. A quick visual inspection proved that there was nothing on her. “See, it’s already gone. You’re fine.”

  “He picked it up.” The older woman shuddered, revulsion all over her face. “He brought it to me on his hand. I thought he was showing me a toy.”

  The back door opened again and Chris and Jase came outside. Jase took his thumb out of his mouth to say, “Spider! I had a spider!”

  Miss Bessie shuddered again. “I can’t stand spiders. I can’t believe that sweet little baby was touching that nasty thing.”

  Ridley walked over to Jase slowly. “Where’s the spider now, Jase? Is he gone?”

  Jase nodded solemnly. “I lost him.”

  “It’s okay. Maybe he went home.”

  “Oh, look! There it is!” Chris pointed at Miss Bessie’s shoulder. She immediately started dancing around again. Chris erupted into giggles. “I’m just joking. It’s gone.”

  “Chris! That’s not nice.” Ridley shook her head and turned back to the older woman.

  “Some of the neighborhood children are playing outside. I can keep an eye on the boys if that’s all right with you.”

  Miss Bessie exhaled, her shoulders drooping visibly. “Only if you don’t mind. I would appreciate that. I wanted to start cooking early, anyway.” She gave a defeated smile before turning and walking back in the house.

  Jase tugged the edge of Ridley’s shirt until she looked down. “She no like my spider.” He sounded so crestfallen that it was hard to keep a straight face.

  “You like spiders?” she asked. He nodded.

  “He likes all bugs,” Chris interjected.

  Oh boy. Ridley was starting to understand why Jackson was having such a hard time keeping a nanny. If there was anything that most women couldn’t tolerate, it was creepy crawlies. Luckily, gardening had forced her to get over her aversion early. You couldn’t work with flowers without encountering insects.

  She knelt next to Jase. “Lots of people are scared of spiders. That’s why she ran away. Is there anything you’re afraid of?”

  “Um, the thunder,” Jase mumbled around his thumb.

  “I don’t like thunder, either. I’d much rather it stays outside. That’s how most people feel about spiders. Let’s keep the spiders outside so Miss Bessie isn’t scared, okay? Maybe later we can play in the dirt some so you can see where the bugs live.”

  Jase’s eyes rounded and then he grinned. “Okay.”

  “Okay. Let’s go have some fun.”

  Chris let out a happy screech before running and jumping over the three steps leading from the patio to the yard.

  The sound was reminiscent of summers past and the freedom of entire days devoted to nothing but adventure, friends, and fun. There had been many summers she and Raina had wandered their neighborhood while their mother was at work. They’d ridden their bikes all day, searched for hidden pirate treasure, skipped rope, and drawn lines on the sidewalk in front of their building for hopscotch. They’d done everything together and every day had been an adventure.

  The world had seemed wide open back then.

  “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself. I’m Katie Mason. We live three houses down.” The other woman had wandered closer to where Ridley stood watching the children chase each other around the yard.

  “I’m Ridley. I actually don’t even live here. Not really, anyway. I’m just visiting.”

  Katie nodded, a knowing smile on her face. “Your presence here is dashing the hopes of many of the women in the neighborhood. Jackson is considered quite a catch around here. A single, handsome man living in a big place like this all alone tends to attract attention. He’s probably been hit on by all the single women at some point. Probably by some of the married ones, too.”

  “I don’t think anyone needs to lose any sleep over my being here. I’ll be gone in a week or so.”

  “I hope you’ll stay for a while. I’m excited to see some new faces in town,” Katie said. “A lot of the wives here are a little older. I don’t get Botox or play tennis, so there’s just not much common ground. I thought about getting a job to keep me busy while Don’s at work, but that didn’t go over too well.”

  “Don is your husband?” Ridley ventured. A shadow crossed the other woman’s face before she squared her shoulders.

  “Yeah. We’ve been married almost seven years.” She didn’t look too happy about it, though. She sighed and then said, “He’s not home much, so the kids and I are usually on our own. That’s why I was trying to find a part-time job before the kids go back to school. But I’ve technically been unemployed since getting married, so it’s harder than I thought.”

  “Unemployed? That makes it sound like you haven’t been doing anything. I don’t even have children and I find that insulting. You’ve been raising kids.”

  “I’m used to it, believe me.”

  Ridley shook her head in disbelief. “If you were watching someone else’s children, you’d be considered self-employed. An entrepreneur with your own business. So why is it any different just because you’re watching your own? That doesn’t seem fair.”

  “Well, the fact that I don’t have any current skills isn’t helping, I suppose. But the only experience I have is being a wife and mother. There doesn’t seem to be much demand for that lately.”

  Ridley looked back at the house.

  “Oh, I think you’d be surprised. What would you say if I told you there might be a job available where all you had to do was watch two kids close in age to your own and cook dinner a few nights a week? Would you be interested?”

  “I’d say I think you’re making that up. Of course I’d be interested!” Katie said.

  “Let’s get together tomorrow and I’ll let you know what I find out. In the meantime, let’s see if we can keep the kids occupied by letting them play in the dirt a little.”

  Katie pushed up her sleeves. “Just another day in the life of a suburban mom.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I’m home,” Jackson called out. “Chris? Jase?”

  He dropped his bag by the door. It had been a long day, but a good one. After his breakup with Alana, his career had suffered. He’d been too distracted to be creative, which was the only reason he’d put out the substandard album that would haunt him for his entire career.

  Not that he paid much attention to the media, but when terms like “has-been” start to be bandied around, even he had to notice. He had started to question if he’d lost the one thing that had made him so successful.

  His enthusiasm.

  Now that he was back in his creative groove, he was writing songs again. Once Divine recorded the single he’d just written for them, they could shoot their first video and start planning the album’s release. He would finally be able to prove the naysayers wrong.

  “Where is everyone?”

  He wasn’t used to being able to share this kind of stuff with anyone but had found himself rushing to get home so he could tell Ridley. She’d understand how important it was to him. How much it meant to finally be back on track. He s
tood still, listening. Nothing.

  Something was different in the house. He scrutinized the room, trying to figure out if Ridley had changed something, perhaps put something back in a different place from where he usually kept it. Nothing seemed out of place.

  The small bowl where he kept his keys was the only thing on the entry table since Jase had broken the few knickknacks he’d been stupid enough to place there. What’s different in here? He turned in circles for a full minute before he figured it out.

  It was clean.

  The maid service usually cleaned on the weekends, but with the boys in the house it didn’t stay clean for long. It was almost weird to see it so organized. He walked into the family room and stopped in his tracks. Chris and Jase sat on the couch as still as statues. There wasn’t a smudge of dirt or a grass stain on either of them.

  “Hey guys, what are you doing sitting in here? I thought you’d be outside playing.”

  He walked farther into the room and then stopped and sniffed. What the hell is that smell? There was a pungent odor wafting from the kitchen that made his nose itch. Stifling a sneeze, he edged his way into the kitchen, his eyes widening at the massive pile of pots and pans lining the counter. Smack in the middle of the chaos was an elderly woman stirring a large pot.

  Miss Bessie.

  Backing up before she saw him, he turned and retraced his steps to the family room. The room was so clean it sparkled. The house hadn’t looked this good since he’d bought it. His sons were still in the same position as before, like melancholy figurines with their identical downcast expressions.

  “So, it looks like Miss Bessie is working on dinner for us.” His words didn’t trigger a response as both boys continued to stare at their sneakers. “And she did a great job cleaning up.”

  Two pairs of eyes turned chilly glares in his direction.

  “She didn’t clean up—we did. The only reason we finished before you came home was because Ridley helped us dust. You can’t reach much when you’re as short as we are.” Chris jumped up and put his hands on his hips, affecting an indignant pose. “And she made us change clothes! She said we shouldn’t wear playclothes to the dinner table.”