WindSwept Narrows: #23 Molly & Natasha

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “Molly…”

  “How long were you living in Houston?”

  He inhaled slowly. “A little over ten years.”

  “You said you couldn’t dance. You made faces at my music…” She went to the stack and pulled one out that she knew and liked a great deal. And knew it was perfect for the two-step. “Dance with me.”

  “Molly…”

  She held up one finger and he closed his mouth. “See this?” She held two fingers together. “It’s a magical key.” She moved her fingers to the snap of her jeans and turned it as if it were a lock. Then she placed her fingers to her lips. “Locked. Dance with me.”

  “That’s blackmail.”

  “So? Dance with me,” she repeated, arms crossed and one booted foot tapping on the solid tiles of the dining area. “I’m waiting,” she reached out one hand and pressed play on the CD player, the strings of guitar filling the suite.

  Grinding his teeth, he removed his glasses and moved from the table, the newspaper forgotten. “For the record, there’s a big difference between cowboy music and country,” he took her hands in his, their eyes locked as he began moving her expertly to the romantic two-step. He guided her around the area, keeping their hips close and bodies aligned until the music finally ended.

  “Wow,” Molly swallowed hard, staring at him wide eyed.

  “I want that key,” he told her, leaning in just enough for their lips to touch. “And I don’t want it ever taken away from me again. Are we clear?”

  Jonathon accepted the rapid nod seconds before his mouth crashed down on hers for a long, hungry kiss. He should have had his fill by now but Molly Fielding was coursing through his veins as surely as his own blood. And he knew he couldn’t live without either one of them. Yet he heard the chiding laughter of Angela in the back of his mind and broke off the kiss, stepping away and returning to the table.

  Molly stared, unsure what she’d done. Dark lashes blinked, her gaze shifting to the expanse of Puget Sound spread below the resort.

  “Would you like to take a long walk on the beach?”

  “It looks like it’s going to storm,” he settled back into the seat, his glasses replaced and the paper picked up again.

  “It always looks like that here. Or there’s the zoo…I love walking around in the zoo.” But she already felt his withdrawal. “Well…okay…I think I have some things to do at my apartment, anyway,” she left him sitting there, striding into the bedroom and quickly collecting all the things that were hers, stuffing everything into her bag and zipping it closed. When she returned, he hadn’t moved from the table, but he was watching her.

  “We aren’t kids, Molly.”

  “No,” she agreed wistfully. “Your ex-wife pointed that out, didn’t she? Friday night we were. And for most of Saturday, we were, too,” she reminded him, her smile one long practiced and very strained. “I’m not her, Jonathon.”

  “Her…?”

  “Angela. I’m not all polish and fancy clothes, perfect makeup and fake laughter. As far as my career is concerned, I’m the best I can be and on cue at all times. But once I take off that badge, barring emergencies, I plan to breathe in the ocean air and laugh as much as possible. I plan to walk on the beach in the rain and visit the zoo at least once a year just to throw popcorn to the birds and feed the animals. Any other life feels dead to me,” she finished, walking to the door and feeling the very cold handle beneath her fingers. “It was fun, Jonathon. Thank you. Have a nice day,” she managed before slipping out of the suite and almost running for the elevator.

  She collected the bags from her car, balancing things and carrying it all into her apartment. She’d kept blinking just to keep the stinging from making her gulp in deep breaths of air.

  She didn’t stop moving until she felt the hard wood of her apartment door behind her shoulders. Her head thumped back once, eyes closed as she worked to pull air into her lungs. She’d let him get to her. All her lectures and she’d broken the main one by falling for someone way out of her league.

  Somehow she managed to go through the motions, starting a load of laundry, braiding her hair and finding a pair of good, cushioned walking shoes. She was in the process of struggling with a knot in her shoe strings when the knock echoed through the mostly quiet apartment.

  Expecting to see one of her friends, she pulled the door open. Whatever she was trying to swallow at the time was now stuck, forcing her to clear her throat a few times.

  “Jonathon.”

  “You call me Jon when you’re losing control during sex,” he said softly, his thumbs caught in the pockets of his jeans. He was nervous. Just like one of the kids he swore he wasn’t. Damn if he didn’t like the flush of pink that tinted her cheeks at his words. “I figured it was my turn this time…since you came to me Friday night.”

  “I…it was actually Saturday morning…” she said numbly.

  “What would you like to do today, Molly?” He looked down at her fingers trapped in the tangle of strings and dropped to one knee, taking the laces and quickly freeing them before knotting them for her. He stood up and waited, the back of his hand brushed over her cheek. “I’m working through what was in my head this morning. Give me a little time, okay?”

  He had no idea he was holding his breath until she nodded and offered a little smile that seemed to brighten and warm him from head to toes.

  “The beach…the park is just a mile or so away,” Molly stepped closer to him, her fingers twining with his where they rested at his sides. She stared at his chin. “I thought…maybe we could find a secluded corner somewhere and maybe neck a little…maybe even…” she went to her toes and whispered hotly in his ear.

  Jonathon groaned softly, his fingers tightening around hers. “Words like that will make it damn hard to walk, girl…and this penchant you’re developing for blackmail is troubling me.”

  “I prefer to think of it as incentive,” she returned with a perky grin, too glad that he was there with her again to worry about when he wasn’t.

  “Let’s go for a walk,” he said, waiting for her to get her jacket and the wallet she zipped inside.

  “Spontaneity! How about a swim instead?” Molly suggested when they entered the underground tunnels that were built into the resort complex, allowing employees access in an efficient fashion. “I keep a locker in the gym area. And they have a hot tub,” she told him with a pair of wiggling brows and a wink.

  “I’ll run up to my room and grab my trunks.” Jonathon laughed, his head shaking.

  “They have towels. Just bring your key card,” she told him, impulsively going to her toes and kissing him before sending him toward the elevators with a little bounce on her toes.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Molly spun around a couple times, trying to convince herself that the weekend was real! That she wasn’t dreaming the sexy man she’d almost fell into. She figured if she were less dignified and mature, she’s be squealing like a teenager. She thought about pulling her phone out and calling her friends, but resisted. They’d all know at work in the morning, the instant they saw her beaming and bouncing.

  “Molly Fielding?”

  She turned toward the male voice, ready to answer when everything inside her froze. For a long minute, she didn’t breathe. Her stomach ached and she felt dizzy. She whipped her arm away when the older man raised his hand to grip it.

  “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me,” she ordered, her head shaking adamantly. She glanced around, noting the clock. Barely ten in the morning. Sunday. “Why are you here?”

  “Molly, please come with us and talk. I haven’t seen you in a very long time and…”

  “And you’re not seeing me now. Go away and leave me alone.”

  “We’ve been talking to some of your friends. Trying to locate you for the last several months,” the younger man spoke from her other side.

  Molly looked from one to the other. She didn’t know the younger one. He looked to be about mid-thirties. But the other
one, Dr. James Harrison, would be almost sixty, if she remembered right. Then his words registered.

  “You did what? You’ve been talking to people? How dare you!” She hissed angrily, fearfully.

  Jonathon stepped around the corner from the bank of elevators and came to a stop a few feet behind Molly. Her hands were clenched at her sides and her feet braced slightly apart. She looked like she was prepared for battle, but why?

  “You were my best student,” the older man said softly. “Your ability to solve the puzzles and create imaginative and viable working models surpassed all the other students we had.”

  “Students! You should be…you bought me! It wasn’t a school! It was a prison, only it took me a while to figure that out. You used us, studied is like we were lab rats and…and you killed some of my friends,” she accused, her voice falling to nothing. She shook her head, backing up a step as the fear of a scrawny, lonely twelve year old returned ten-fold. “Get away from me.”

  “Dr. Harrison wants you to come and have lunch with us,” the younger man stepped forward, his hand up and almost on Molly’s arm. Until Jonathon moved closer, his hand up and clamping hard on the man’s wrist, preventing him from touching her.

  “Not a good idea. Molly said she wants you to leave her alone. I suggest you do as she asks.” Jonathon forced the man’s arm to his side as he held out his other hand to Molly. “Good day, gentlemen. If you harass her again, I’ll have security see that you’re removed and a complaint filed with the local police.”

  “I don’t know who you are, young man, but this is none of your business.”

  “Jonathon Shepherd,” he answered politely, though he was positive his eyes betrayed nothing remotely close to manners. “And if it concerns Molly, it concerns me.”

  This seemed to disturb them both. But it was the glance they exchanged that had him watching them closely, something silent passing between them.

  “Stay away from my friends,” Molly pulled her shoulders with a stiff shake, one hand up and her finger poking at the older man. “Do you hear me? You paid money for kids and used them. What you did should be illegal and the parents involved thrown into jail for life, with you two in the cell next to them.”

  “I operate a very high quality private academy for gifted young people. You were afforded all the technology and knowledge available…”

  “You locked us up and used us!” She repeated loudly, ignoring the attention they were gathering. Her dark lashes narrowed. “How did you find me? All that information was destroyed.”

  “And just how would you know that, Molly?” James Harrison studied her closely.

  “Because I destroyed it…every computer, every file and every wooden floor board. Every test tube, every petri dish and anything I could possibly smash or burn,” she hissed furiously. “I set them free and you should have been inside the building when it burned.”

  Before any of the men could make a move, Molly turned and ran across the foyer and out into the morning mist surrounding the resort.

  Jonathon cast one last look at the pair, only to commit their images to his memory before he took off at a run, forgetting the swim trunks that were clenched tightly in his fist. His voice rang out loud the instant he cleared the resort.

  “Molly!”

  He made it to the curb, ignoring the light misting rain. He stared around the parking lot, frantically searching while his brain worked to fit the puzzle pieces together from the information he’d heard. Her parents and these men evidently were the cause of the past she’d been shielding from him.

  Jonathon stormed back into the resort, grateful the men that created this problem were nowhere to be found. He wasn’t sure how much bail would cost these days.

  Not sure where else to search and not having access to the employee sections of the resort, he returned to his room. He’d deal with the problem later. That’s what he was good at. Right now, he just wanted to find her. Calling the numbers on the little card she’d given him didn’t help. But then he wasn’t surprised that she refused to answer her phone.

  He switched to his bike jacket, grabbed up his helmet and gloves and dropped his keys into his pocket. He traded out his sneakers for the sturdy boots, realizing they might be echoing a bit louder than normal as he crossed the large foyer for the outside. He had an idea where she might be, but wasn’t sure what he could do about it, if he was right.

  There were too many variables, he thought as he guided the heavy bike along the damp streets surrounding the resort. Signs pointed him toward the health center, the sight of construction half a block away announcing the arrival of the new hospital that would partner the health center. He cruised slowly through the parking area but there wasn’t a sign of her car. If she’d used the underground system, she wouldn’t have needed it.

  He hit the throttle and rode to the fenced off parking lot established for the employees who lived in the apartments off to the east of the resort. Her car hadn’t moved from where they’d parked it over the day before. He brought the bike to a stop, both feet planted firmly on the ground as he stared through the visor.

  He wasn’t keen on the idea of taking his personal issues to any of the new friends he’d made. He knew they’d get him access. But giving her time to come to him sounded like a little smarter idea at the moment. Despite the fact that he really didn’t want to leave her alone. He didn’t know what was going on. The fear and anger had been so strong around her that he was worried about leaving by herself for too long.

  But at the moment, it was what she wanted.

  Shoving a long, slow breath between his lips, he decided on a ride and guided the bike through morning traffic to the highway, heading west over the Narrows Bridge.

  He rarely paid attention to the clock when he rode. But he also admitted it had been a long time between relaxing enough to just mount and ride. When the light began fading and he still hadn’t heard from Molly, he had just pulled into a gas station. He glared at the phone like it was the one to blame and listened to the ping pong argument inside his heard about what she might need, what he would feel better doing and how things actually were happening.

  He wasn’t real thrilled with any of it at the moment.

  When he made it back to the resort, he cruised to the employee housing and searched for her car. The surge of relief that struck him when he found it just where it had been that morning and it helped him feel a little better. Not a lot, though, since she was still refusing his messages or calls.

  He had to remind himself when he pulled his boots off in the suite that he didn’t own the property and denting it with a heavy motorcycle boot wasn’t polite.

  Monday didn’t go as he had pictured in his mind. He had envisioned spending the entire three days chasing Molly around the suite after some wandering around the area. The sun came out but it didn’t make him feel any better. Like a stalker, he checked the parking lot several times during the day, holding his breath until her car came into view. Still in the same spot and untouched.

  Tuesday morning didn’t arrive soon enough. He grabbed up the phone on the nightstand, his fingers brushing the unused foil packets. He shoved his legs over the side, took a quick glance at the phone before tossing it down on the bed and storming off to the shower. He stared for a long minute at the newly clean shaven, CEO presentable face and shook his head.

  “You’re not fucking sixteen,” he told the reflection before going in search of his clothing. He threw the towel into the basket he’d set up near the bathroom and ran both hands through the damp hair. “So a girl threw you over. Big deal.”

  Jonathon drained the fresh coffee, checked his briefcase, grabbed up his keys and headed for the SUV. He had several meetings and a ton of contracts to review and go over with his admin.

  It was noon before his brain found a place to stop and think.

  Jonathon tapped in a number and waited. The idea that he might look foolish took a backseat to his concern.

  “Cassidy Lawson, ple
ase. It’s Jonathon Shepherd with Vincent Technologies.”

  He knew he was using the company for a shield, but it got him through to the head of security with barely a blink.

  “This is Cassidy.”

  “I’m hoping you recall me, Ms. Lawson.”

  “Professionally? Of course. Personally…you were with Molly on Saturday,” Cassidy recalled without faltering. “What can I help you with?”

  “First, I don’t want you to think I’m a stalker. I don’t have access to the employee area of housing,” he drew in a slow breath and knew she was listening intently. “On Sunday morning, two gentlemen approached Molly in the lobby. I was upstairs getting my trunks. We were going to the pool.”

  “Did Molly know the men?”

  Jonathon was astute enough to hear not only concern in her voice, but serious interest. “She seemed to know the older one. He was about sixty. The thing is, after words were exchanged, she ordered him to stay away from her and her friends and she bolted. Ran out the main entrance and by the time I took off after her, she’d vanished on me.”

  “What time was this?”

  He answered the question, vaguely hearing sounds that told him she was moving around in the office. “You don’t seem surprised.”

  “I’d offer a cliché and say little surprises me, Jon. But we’re dealing with humans and they definitely keep coming up with new ways around my naiveté.” She sighed. “I’m at one of the terminals and checking video. The men are two we’ve been watching for because they’ve approached several of our employees, as well as others we know or who are known through friends.”

  “They mentioned having spoken to some of her friends. She wasn’t happy about it.”

  “Cat, call up the health center. Make sure Molly Fielding is there today,” Cassidy spoke loudly. “Thanks.”