Protecting His Witness

by Marie Ferrarella

  "I'm sorry." He heard the compassion in her voice as she touched his arm. Touched his soul.

  Zack shrugged, not at her compassion, but at the way his father's death had affected him and his siblings. "As far as I'm concerned, he died a long time ago."

  Kasey shook her head, confused. "I don't understand."

  That wasn't her fault. He'd left out a large part of the narrative. The part that bothered him most, he supposed. "He was a different man years ago. I think the job got to him, changed him. Made him into somebody who was quick to anger. Someone devoid of sympathy. And it was hardest on my mother."

  He loved his mother, she thought. That spoke well for him. "What job would that be?" Jim had had a similar complaint about his own father. Before suffering a fatal heart attack, the man had been a much-sought-after civil lawyer, the kind who forgot about promises made to his young son. Forgot dates that were important to members of his family. Had Zack's father been a lawyer? That gave him something in common with Jim and in an odd way, drew her closer to him.

  Zack shook his head. He'd already said too much. "Doesn't matter. He's gone now." Mustering a smile, he nodded at the container in her hands. "So how do you like cold coffee?"

  She took another sip before answering, as if to back up her words.

  "Not bad, actually." The longer she stayed with him, the more she wanted to. She needed to leave while she still could. "Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but I really am very tired."

  He could see why. "They do have you keeping horrible hours."

  Edwin was good to her and she didn't want Zack getting the wrong idea about the older man. "That's just until the owner gets back. There's been a death in his family and he had to fly back East to make funeral arrangements. I told him to take his time and I'd hold down the fort. Usually, I work just the morning or the afternoon shift, not both."

  He liked the way moonlight caressed her skin, making it almost translucent. "He's lucky to have someone as dedicated as you."

  "It works both ways," she replied with a vague shrug of her shoulders as she looked away.

  The way she saw it, she was lucky to have gotten the job. Edwin hadn't asked her any long, tedious questions during her interview. It was as if the man sensed her situation and was kind enough not to press the subject. Before she'd gotten her job at the bookstore, she'd gone to several other places whose ads she'd found in the paper. They had all turned her down for one reason or another. Mainly, she was certain, because she had no list of references, no contact numbers to call. Saying she was new in town wasn't enough. Her potential employers wanted to know about her last job, her last address. The next time she moved on, she was going to find a way to fabricate not just a driver's license, but references and previous employers, as well.

  The next time.

  The thought of having to go through all that again was oppressive and not something she wanted to deal with right now.

  Kasey straightened, holding out the empty container as she flashed a quick smile. "Thank you for the coffee."

  She was leaving, he thought. And he didn't want her to go.

  * * *

  Chapter 7

  « ^ »

  I'd like to come in."

  She looked at Zack for a long, endless moment, not knowing what to say. It wasn't that she didn't want him to come in. She did, and that was the problem. She wanted him to come in and all that the simple action implied.

  Definitely not smart.

  But then, she wasn't feeling very smart right now. Just vulnerable. And maybe a little bit needy, as well. A very bad combination and she knew it even if she couldn't seem to block it the way that she normally did.

  The best she could do was hope that he would back away. "I don't think that would be a very good idea, Zack."

  Probably not, he thought. But then again, he had a feeling she was worth the risk. And if this didn't go anywhere, she'd be out of his system. Either way, he needed to move forward.

  Ever so lightly, he slid a forefinger down along her cheek, his eyes never leaving hers.

  "I won't do anything you don't want me to," he promised. "I just want to talk, to connect for a half an hour or so."

  He'd be connecting with someone who didn't really exist, who wasn't there. But, oh God, she ached to be there, to be herself if only just for a little while. To remember what it was like to feel something other than leery. Still, it was hard going against habits she'd taken up to ensure her own self-preservation.

  "It's late," she pointed out. God, did that sound as lame to him as it did to her?

  Kasey was weakening, he could hear it in her voice. He pressed his advantage. He had no idea why this was suddenly so important to him, but it was. Maybe, in the middle of all these people out to cheat and steal, he needed to be with someone decent for more than a fleeting second.

  Zack supposed he could just drive home to his mother's house. His mother, bless her, would always welcome him with open arms. It didn't matter what time of night or day, she was there for him, for his brother and for his sisters. But she was finally forming a new life for herself, and, like as not, Brian was probably there at the house, as well. As much as he was glad for both of them—and he did like Brian Cavanaugh—he wasn't sure if he actually wanted the image of rousing his mother and Brian out of the same bed vividly imprinted in his head. She was, after all, his mother and mothers and sex were not to be thought of in the same sentence. It just didn't seem right.

  Which meant the woman before him had to restore his faith in humanity. Zack rather liked that option.

  "I won't stay long," he promised.

  Kasey sighed. She pretended she was actually fighting this, even though on some level she already knew how all this was going to turn out.

  "You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?" It was a rhetorical question.

  Zack's answer surprised her. "I will if you want me to."

  Kasey pressed her lips together. Had he said "no," she would have summoned the resolve to leave him leaning against her vehicle and gone inside, locking the door behind her. But Zack had placed her needs before his. That completely blew up the last shred of her resolve.

  He probably knew it, too, she thought, looking up at his chiseled profile.

  The man was good. Very, very good. And undoubtedly wanted to be bad. Very, very bad.

  "C'mon," she murmured. She nodded her head toward her house, indicating that he should follow her.

  Kasey led the few steps that it took to reach her back door. Taking out her key, she unlocked it and reached inside to turn on the light. Instantly, everything was bathed with enough illumination to seriously rival sunlight.

  Zack blinked, then squinted in order not to be overcome with the amount of brightness everywhere. The contrast between moonlight and this was startlingly dramatic. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. "You've changed the lighting since I was here last."

  Kasey smiled, shaking her head as she closed the door behind him.

  "You didn't see the house in the evening," she reminded him. "You came to just at dawn. The sun was rising. There was no need for lights then."

  He thought for a second and realized she was right. Everything was still rather blurry from that night. "Why do you have it so bright?" he asked. The preponderance of her furnishings, he also realized, were white, as well. It was like being caught in a snowstorm.

  "I don't like the dark," she answered simply.

  There was a great deal more to it than that, but she saw no reason to elaborate. When the lights were set at maximum illumination, there was absolutely no place for anyone to hide, no shadows to use for cover. Everything was out in the open. As it should be. If someone was in here, she wanted to be aware the second she opened the door, not the minute she walked into a room. A minute could prove fatal.

  As it had for Jim.

  Zack glanced around her shoulder at the wall. There was a dimmer, not a switch there. That meant that they didn't have to go blind. "Do you
mind if I turn it down a bit?" His hand hovered over the dimmer. "A few notches below the aurora borealis?"

  Kasey glanced around the house one more time. There was no one here but them. Taking the empty coffee containers from him, she crossed to the kitchen to throw them out.

  "Knock yourself out," she tossed over her shoulder.

  The lighting changed instantly from supernova-bright to seductively intimate. Somewhere in her soul, she knew that was going to happen, knew it the moment she'd said he could come inside. Even so, forjust a split second, she stopped walking, then resumed again, a fluttery, nervous feeling buzzing all around inside of her. She knew she was on the cusp of something she couldn't control.

  And yet, she didn't want to back away.

  Kasey was exceedingly aware of her every movement, her every gesture. She could all but feel her breath in her lungs as she turned around again.

  "Trying to save on electricity for me?" she quipped.

  "Never a bad thing in California," he countered. 'Turning down those million-watt strobes might just save us all from experiencing another county-wide brownout."

  She crossed back from the garbage, after depositing the containers. "Very ecology-minded of you," she commented drolly.

  "We all need to do our share." Zack said the words so seriously, she couldn't decide if he was just bantering, or if he meant what he said.

  Most likely not, she decided. Men usually had simpler goals in mind. "It's also more intimate that way," she went on to point out.

  He grinned. It was hard to explain why the spreading of his lips and a glimpse of his teeth undid her so, but it did, going straight to her gut like a classic boxer's one-two punch.

  "That, too," he agreed. His eyes were already caressing her. Undressing her. Excitement thundered through her veins. "Nice little bonus for doing a good deed."

  She could hardly catch her breath—and he hadn't even done anything yet. Except make her want him.

  Badly.

  "I'm not a one-night stand, Zack," she told him softly. She needed him to know.

  The grin faded. "I know that."

  Platitudes, he was giving her platitudes, she told herself, fiercely trying to do whatever she could to keep from sliding down the slippery slope that had just opened up before her. And enticingly beckoned to her. He'd say anything to get her into bed. That's what men did. So why didn't that incense her? Why was she still standing there like some love-struck adolescent, crazy-glued in place?

  "How would you know that?" she challenged. "You don't know anything about me."

  "Some things you just know," he told her, slipping his hands around her waist.

  It wasn't a line, it was the truth. He sensed things about her, things he had no way of knowing right now. Except that he did.

  Drawing her closer, Zack hungrily lowered his mouth to hers.

  Half of him was prepared to have her pull away, knowing that if she did, he wouldn't pursue it any further, even though he wanted to. Wanted to badly.

  It would be a struggle resisting, but he refused to be like his father, to put his own needs and demands above the woman he was with. But Kasey didn't back away. She didn't wedge her hands between them, didn't push against his chest in an effort to separate them. If anything, she leaned into him.

  And his fate was sealed.

  He heard a slight moan escape her lips as she drove her fingers into his hair. The sound of pleasure mingled with surrender inflamed him. He could feel his pulse accelerating and his heart hammer a wild tattoo.

  Looking back later, he had no clear recollection of how they got from the threshold of her living room to her bedroom. He was only vaguely aware of an odd two-step of sorts, his mouth still sealed to hers, moving ever forward in slow motion as she stepped back at the same pace. Along the route, pieces of clothing rained down. His shirt, her blouse, his belt, her skirt.

  When Kasey stepped out of her shoes, the jolt separated them for a second. She was close to four inches shorter in her bare feet.

  Why that made his heart race even more, he hadn't a clue. Feelings of protectiveness sprang up out of nowhere, emerging out of the shadows. He found himself wanting to take care of her, to shield her from whatever it was that created that guarded, wary look in her eyes.

  * * *

  This is a mistake, a mistake, Krys, you know it is. Damn it, stop now!

  And yet, she couldn't, which made no sense to her. She would never have let herself go like this with someone she hardly knew, and yet, she couldn't stop herself, couldn't pull back.

  Didn't want to.

  She needed and wanted this. Needed to feel like a woman again if only for a few precious minutes. That hired killer had robbed her not only of Jim and her life, but of everything else, as well, including her feelings. She hadn't allowed herself to feel anything all these long months. She desperately wanted something, at least one thing, back, if only for a handful of minutes.

  She wanted to feel again.

  Concerns were shed as swiftly as her clothing.

  Her body heated, urges and desires taking over common sense.

  If pressed, Kasey couldn't have said exactly what there was about this man that fired up her attraction. All she knew was that, deep in her soul, it had been almost instantaneous, even though she'd tried to ignore it, tried not to pay attention when she felt something inside of her igniting.

  The life she led now was such that primal and basic instincts had shut down. Or so she'd told herself, but obviously, she'd lied. Because whatever was going on inside of her now was beyond her ability to regulate, to bank down and vanquish.

  And it was very, very primal.

  Startled, Kasey sucked in her breath as his lips and tongue expertly claimed her, branding her everywhere they touched. It seemed that incredible sensations were born in the wake of every caress, every pass of his hand, his mouth.

  She felt delicious sensations slamming into her, making her peak over and over again. And still it went on. Firing her blood, making her feel almost dizzy and definitely giddy. Zack kissed the side of her neck, the inside of her elbow, the soft, vulnerable area between her breasts. She was like a mindless piece of cotton, eagerly absorbing everything that came her way.

  Kasey arched her body, bringing it up closer to him. Wound her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. All the while wanting more from his touch.

  Even in her heated haze, Kasey knew this was never going to happen again, not with him, perhaps not with anyone. Certainly not for a very long time. She desperately needed to store up the memory of the explosions, of the sensations, to have them last her for as long as was humanly possible.

  His body was hard against hers, demanding and yet, he seemed to be taking his time even as an urgency continued to fill her. With each passing moment, she found herself aching for that final, fulfilling release. But Zack continued to stroke, to caress, to fondle, kissing her and basically turning her into a mass of shimmering, uncontained longing.

  She tried to return the favor as best she could, give a little of the fierce pleasure that Zack created within her. She had no idea that the strength of her reaction to him was accomplishing just that for Zack.

  There was supposed to be nothing new anymore, but this he recognized as being new. At least for him. She made him want to continue doing this forever. He gloried in bringing her from one shuddering climax to another. Her pleasure was his, twofold.

  He'd never been aware of himself or the woman he was with, no matter what her attributes had been, as much as he was right at this very moment. Oh, there'd been women who'd been more beautiful, more agile, more schooled, but none had ever been more sensual, or moved him the way that this one did.

  She was nothing short of magic, he thought, reveling in the feel of her flesh against his palms, the taste of her skin against his lips. She arched against him, offering what he wanted so badly to take.

  He very nearly did just then.

  But patience was something he had learned to
incorporate into everything he did a long time ago. Patience made the outcome that much sweeter, that much more rewarding. It had been an edict he'd lived by all his adult life.

  Patience, he discovered tonight, was also very hard to hold on to when its converse, impatience thundered through his veins, demanding the ultimate release, the ultimate joining of two bodies. Of two souls.

  Unable to hold himself in check a heartbeat longer, Zack shifted his weight, covering her body with his. He touched his mouth to hers and then drove himself into her. Even that required restraint because he didn't want to take the journey alone, didn't want to leave her stranded by the wayside as he took his pleasure. It wasn't about him. Or even just about her. Perhaps for the first time in his life, it was about them.

  Sheathed within her, Zack moved his hips with a growing urgency that she reflected back at him like a mirror, matching him thrust for thrust until it felt as if they really were one complete being. Kasey wrapped her legs around him.

  The road grew steeper, the ascent sharper, the climb more intense until finally, he felt the final explosion, felt her tightening around him, tasted the whimper of pleasure as it escaped from her lips only to be smothered against his.

  He tightened his arms around her even as the sensation began to settle into his bones, spreading out.

  It was only a matter of time before it began to grow fainter.

  With all his might, Zack wanted to hang on to the feeling, on to her, for as long as he possibly could. There was something overwhelmingly warm about the feel of her heart pounding against his chest. Mimicking the rhythm of his own heart.

  Two hearts beating as one. The notion was so damn corny...and yet, also so very comforting. How was that possible?

  Zack took a deep breath, raised himself up on his elbows and then slowly rolled off her. But rather than get up, the way he knew he should, the way he always had before, all he wanted to do was lie beside her. To hold her to him and pretend that all was right with the world instead of the exact opposite.