Obsession

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  “What spyware?”

  “Apparently, someone managed to plant some kind of high-tech spyware on Kendra’s laptop. We haven’t been able to track down the guy who was monitoring it.”

  “It’s sounding more and more like she could be the real target.” Charlie let out a shaky breath. “Look, I’ve got to tell Kendra who I am.”

  “Do you think she’ll accept protection?”

  “I don’t know.” Charlie ran his fingers through his hair. “When I was talking to her earlier, she mentioned staying clear of Malibu for the time being.”

  “But if you’re right, she may be the primary target,” Elias commented. “Maybe it’s time you convince her to hide out somewhere else for a while. Would she trust you enough to go with you to a safer location?”

  “Are you asking me to trick her into going to a safe house?”

  “It may be necessary for her own protection,” Elias said. “You said yourself that she was planning on hiding out for a few weeks anyway. What are the chances she would go with you?”

  “I don’t know.” Dozens of thoughts raced through his head, but at the heart of them all were his developing feelings for Kendra. He hesitated a moment. Then with a sigh, he admitted, “She thinks she has feelings for me.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Not really. Not when I have to lie to her.”

  “Just give us another day or two. A plow is supposed to be coming down from Flagstaff to clear the road by tomorrow or the next day. If one of these leads doesn’t pan out, we’re going to have to convince Kendra to let us protect her somewhere else, especially since you’re without power,” Elias insisted.

  “I just don’t see her buying into it. She’s Mormon. The only reason she’s willing to spend the night in the same house with me right now is for survival,” Charlie insisted. “I can’t imagine she would be willing to set up house somewhere with me under normal circumstances. Maybe we should bring in a female agent.”

  “That will only work if she agrees to protection. And she trusts you,” Elias reminded him, sending another wave of guilt through Charlie.

  “Do you have someplace in mind?”

  “Actually, I do. There’s a cabin in Oak Creek Canyon I used a few years ago. It’s secluded enough that no one’s going to find you, but it’s close enough to where you are now that we won’t have any trouble relocating you.”

  “What story am I using?”

  “A friend from work found out you didn’t have electricity and offered to lend you his cabin in Oak Creek. Keep it simple,” Elias told him.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Charlie said. As soon as he hung up the phone, he closed his eyes for a moment, praying she would agree to protection. If he was right, if she really was the person the stalker was obsessed with, she was in more danger than either of them could have imagined. Charlie was afraid to think about how she would react to the news and to the fact that he had been hiding the truth from her all this time.

  Charlie stuck his phone back in his pocket and walked back out into the living room. Kendra was sitting on the couch, fiddling on her guitar. When she looked up, her expression was guarded.

  Charlie thought of Elias’s words and of his suggestion to use Kendra’s feelings to let him take her somewhere safe. Moving forward, Charlie tried to convince himself that it was that suggestion, not his own selfish interests, that gave him the courage to sit beside her. He was on the job, and he couldn’t fail.

  Before he could find any words to say, Kendra asked, “Who was that on the phone?”

  “That was my boss. He’s a bit anxious for me to get back to work.”

  Trepidation crept into her voice. “So you’ll be leaving soon?”

  “Maybe.” Charlie considered his words carefully. “They’re supposed to clear the road in the next day or two. With the snow melting off a bit, I should be able to make it back down the mountain tomorrow or the next day.”

  “Oh.” Kendra swallowed hard and looked away.

  “I want you to come with me.”

  Her eyes whipped around to meet his. “What?”

  “The case I’m researching will only take me an hour or two a day, so I can take another week or two before I have to get back to the office. But I do need to be somewhere that has reliable electricity. My boss has a cabin down in Oak Creek Canyon. He offered to let us stay there.”

  “You told him about me?”

  “Not your name, just that I had a friend staying with me that I hoped could stay there too,” Charlie told her.

  “Really?” Confusion, hope, and a touch of vulnerability flashed in her eyes.

  Charlie reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Yeah. Really.”

  The spark between them flickered, and Charlie felt his emotions tangling. He pushed aside his guilt for the moment, letting himself get lost in the sweet simplicity of two people finding friendship, and maybe something more.

  He accepted the inevitable fact that he would hurt her before this ordeal was over, but he wouldn’t think about that now. Instead, he brought her hand to his lips. “What do you say? Will you come with me? I really don’t want to leave you here alone.” Her fingers briefly tensed in his before Charlie added, “Besides, I’d like the chance to spend more time with you.”

  Slowly, a smile bloomed on her face. “I think I’d like that.”

  Charlie’s smile mirrored hers. “Good. Now, I think it’s time for a rematch.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.” Charlie reached for the deck of cards sitting on the end table. “It’s about time my luck changed.”

  “Okay.” Kendra gave him a smug smile. “But remember. You asked for it.”

  Chapter 21

  He slipped through the front door of her condominium, waiting motionlessly inside the door for a moment to make sure he really was alone. He already knew she wasn’t here, but he needed some kind of connection until the day he would see her again in person. Listening to her music no longer helped fill the void, nor did staring at photographs of her.

  His gloved fingers curled around the shiny silver key in his hand. Picking the lock had been easy enough the first time he had come here looking for Kendra, but he had decided that she wouldn’t want him to have to break in. After all, they belonged together. She said so in one of her songs.

  Making a key for himself had been simple enough once he’d taken the time to gather the right tools. And he wasn’t worried about anyone seeing him and being suspicious; he belonged there. Besides, the neighbors would certainly get used to seeing him once he and Kendra officially became a couple. For now, though, he would keep his presence a secret.

  He pocketed the key and moved slowly through the living room. A single framed photo rested on an end table. His lips curved up when he lifted it to eye level. Kendra and her baby sister. Kendra wearing blue.

  The photograph still in his hand, he continued into the hallway and made his way to her bedroom. A thick duvet in bronze and cream stripes covered the bed, pillows in varying earth tones artistically arranged on top of it. He picked up a pillow and held it to his face, slowly breathing in the scent. Was that a trace of her perfume he smelled? Could it have lingered here since her last visit?

  Setting the photograph on the bedside table, he slipped his shoes off and gently climbed onto the bed. He let himself relax against the sea of pillows and then stared up at the ceiling. Hugging a pillow to his chest, he let himself imagine. Soon Kendra would be here beside him. Soon she would be his.

  * * *

  Kendra stretched her arms over her head as she shook the sleep out of her brain. She didn’t notice that she’d kicked off the top layer of her blankets during the night or that there was a whoosh of hot air blowing through the vents. Instead, she rolled out of bed and headed down the hall toward the living room to make sure the fire was still burning.

  To her surprise, Charlie was stretched out on the couch, his Bible lying open on his chest and the lantern flickeri
ng on the table beside him. He stirred as she walked closer. His face was shadowed with a two-day beard, and even in sleep, there was a faint line between his eyes as though he were deep in concentration. She wondered for a moment if he was ever truly at peace. Then she noticed the splash of light spilling into the living room from the kitchen.

  Electricity! The possibility of a hot shower sent a thrill through her, followed by the delight that she would be able to do laundry before she completely depleted her limited supply of clean clothes.

  “Charlie! Are you awake?”

  Charlie shifted and rolled onto his back, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Hmmm.”

  Kendra grinned down at him as she sat on the edge of the couch beside him and nudged his shoulder. “Wake up. The electricity’s back on!”

  His eyes remained closed, but he shifted to make room for her, and his arm snaked around her waist to hold her in place.

  “Charlie,” she repeated, her voice growing thick as an unexpected warmth seeped through her. “Wake up.”

  Slowly, his eyes opened. Then he gave her a lazy smile, and his hand trailed up to stroke her back.

  She didn’t realize that she’d leaned closer until her lips were on his. She didn’t think of anything except for the way Charlie’s lips felt pressed against hers and the unexpected sense of acceptance and belonging.

  She pulled back, embarrassment cresting even as she stared down at him. Then he shifted to sit up and pinned her with his deep blue stare. Before she could find any words, he stroked a hand down her cheek and leaned forward, hesitating for the briefest moment before he kissed her again. His fingers crept up into her hair, tangling in it as the kiss lingered and another wave of sensations crashed over her.

  When he pulled back, he stared at her with a combination of confusion and something else she couldn’t quite identify.

  “You have an interesting way of waking a man up,” Charlie said with the beginnings of a smile. “Not that I’m complaining.”

  A blush rose to her cheeks, and she scrambled to stand up. “I just wanted to tell you that the electricity is back on. I didn’t mean to . . .”

  Her voice trailed off. She didn’t mean to what? Kiss him? Find that unexpected feeling of belonging in his arms?

  Charlie stood as well and nodded at the hall. “Since we have electricity again, I’m going to go shave and grab a quick shower. Then I can go check if the road is clear yet.”

  “I thought you would want to stay here now that the electricity is back on.”

  He jerked a shoulder. “I could, but there’s too big of a chance that we’ll just get snowed in again.”

  “Oak Creek Canyon isn’t much better than Pinewood.”

  “Yeah, but the roads get plowed in the canyon. That doesn’t always happen here,” Charlie reminded her. “Come on. My boss’s cabin is supposed to be really nice. We can both get some work done, hang out, maybe even order a pizza.”

  “What about my car? Do you think we’d be able to dig it out?”

  Charlie looked at her skeptically and slowly shook his head. “I doubt it can make it out of here yet, at least not safely. You can just drive down with me, and we can come back for it as soon as the snow melts off a bit more.”

  “At the rate the snow keeps coming down around here, I might not be able to drive my car again until spring.”

  “Worst case, I can get a tow truck to come in and bring it down the mountain for you. Once it’s out on the freeway, we’d be able to drive it.”

  “I guess that’s true.” Kendra nodded. “I’ll go ahead and get breakfast started.”

  Charlie gave her an odd look. Then he nodded. “Sounds good.”

  * * *

  Charlie put the last of his clothes into his suitcase and zipped it closed. Then he took another look around his bedroom. He had already loaded his laptop and printer into his SUV, along with the groceries and supplies left over from his trip to the general store. He decided they’d need to stop by the store on their way out of town to do some snooping as to Jed Burgess’s whereabouts. But he had one thing he had to do first. He had to tell Kendra the truth. The whole truth.

  He still wasn’t quite sure what had happened between them earlier. He had tried to rationalize that the only reason he had kissed Kendra was that he had been half asleep, but rationalizing that fact or the fact that she had kissed him first didn’t negate the spark that had flashed between them or the reality that he wanted to kiss her again. Soon.

  Perhaps it was selfish of him to come clean now and risk her kicking him out of her life and ultimately refusing his protection, but he couldn’t keep pretending that he was someone he wasn’t. The simple fact was that he was falling for her, and he didn’t want to lie anymore.

  And he couldn’t very well stop by the store without making sure that Kendra wouldn’t inadvertently mention that they were leaving or tell Mrs. Burgess where they were going.

  He carried his suitcase outside and loaded it in his car. Then he trudged through the snow toward Kendra’s cabin. His stomach tightened into knots as he climbed the front steps and strode across the porch to knock.

  “Hi.” Kendra waved him inside.

  Charlie rubbed his arms against the chill in the room. The heater was going full blast, but Kendra hadn’t started a fire, presumably because they were getting ready to leave. “Are you all packed?”

  “Almost.” Kendra took a step toward the hallway leading to her bedroom. “I’ll only be a few more minutes if you want to wait here.”

  He reached for her hand and waited for her eyes to lift to meet his. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you first, if you don’t mind.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “Is something wrong?”

  “Not exactly.” He led her to the couch and sat down beside her. Then he took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  “Okay,” she said cautiously.

  “I know I let you believe that I came up here to get away from work for a while.” Charlie’s heart squeezed in his chest when she pulled her hand free of his and her expression became guarded. He took another deep breath and forced himself to continue. “Your grandfather actually sent me up here to make sure you were safe.”

  “What?”

  “He was worried about you after what happened at your concert,” Charlie rushed on. “Neither of us had any idea that the Malibu Stalker might be after you when he arranged for me to come.”

  Kendra stood up and took a step back. “So all this time you’ve been lying to me?”

  “Kendra . . .” Charlie’s voice trailed off as he stood as well. Before he could continue, a loud metallic bang sounded through the cabin.

  Startled, her attention shifted away from him. “What was that?”

  “I don’t know.” Charlie started toward the kitchen where the sound had originated, and now he could hear a loud hissing sound. He stepped past the kitchen counter to see a steady spray of water seeping out from under the sink. “It looks like a pipe busted. It probably froze while the power was out.”

  “Great,” Kendra muttered. “What do we do now?”

  Charlie pulled the cabinet open and searched futilely for a shutoff valve. “I can’t turn off the water from here. Do you know where the main water shutoff valve is?”

  “Yeah.” she nodded and motioned toward the back door. “It’s out there under three feet of snow.”

  Charlie sighed as he made his way down the hall. He grabbed a shovel from the mudroom, along with the wrench hanging on the wall that was clearly kept there for the purpose of turning on and off the cabin’s water supply. “Point me in the right direction.”

  Kendra opened the door leading to the back porch and pointed at a tree on the edge of the property line. “It’s about three feet in front of that tree over there.”

  He stepped out into the deep snow and turned back to face her. “You might want to throw a couple towels on the floor to soak up the water until I get it turned off.”

 
; She didn’t speak, but she nodded before she turned and closed the door between them.

  As soon as she disappeared back inside, Charlie trudged to the spot she had indicated and used the shovel to start clearing the snow away. He tried not to think about the look of betrayal on Kendra’s face or what she might say once she had time to let his confession sink in. He focused on the task at hand, steadily shoveling snow from one spot in the yard to another.

  After several minutes of working in the frigid cold, the shovel finally struck metal. Lifting the heavy steel covering away took another minute, but he finally managed to shift it aside so he could access the main water valve. Then he used the wrench to turn the water off completely. He tucked the wrench into his pocket and turned toward the cabin just as he saw a pickup truck lumber into the driveway.

  Possibilities raced through his mind of who might be in that truck—none of them good. He dropped the shovel and ran toward the back door. His already rapidly beating heart picked up speed as he heard the car door slam followed by hasty footsteps on the front steps. His hand trembled as he pulled his weapon from its holster and leaped onto the back porch.

  Surely Kendra would know not to answer the door to anyone. She knew that her safety was at stake, that she couldn’t trust anyone right now. Then he heard voices, and his anxiety went into overdrive. What would he do if the Malibu Stalker had already found her?

  He tried to focus on his training, on all the hostage scenarios he had studied while at the FBI Academy, but in the forefront of his thoughts was his concern about Kendra. He uttered a silent prayer, one he kept repeating over and over. She had to be okay. She just had to.

  Cautiously but quickly, Charlie pushed the door open even as dread curled in his stomach. He made it down the hall in a few long strides, his weapon cold in his hand. When he saw Kendra calmly standing by the couch, a combination of relief and confusion pulsed through him. Then his focus shifted to the older man standing beside her, and his training took over.

  “Hold it right there!” Charlie’s voice was clipped and commanding.