by Tia Louise
Exhaustion was creeping in, causing my eyes to grow heavy. Releasing a week of painful tension in bed with her after that long drive, all of it was hitting me hard, but I didn’t want to be the dick who fell asleep the minute I got what I wanted.
“How was Back to School?” I said, suppressing a yawn.
Elaine turned, and I saw her covering an enormous yawn of her own. Of course, I laughed.
“Sorry!” she said, shaking her head. “It was fine, but damn, I’m exhausted.”
Warmth flooded the place in my heart that for days had been a cold, dry ache. “Let’s get some sleep then.”
She curled around, pressing her back against my chest, and my arms went tight around her. After all we’d shared, it felt inevitable to have her this way. Her body drew me in until my heart beat with hers, and my soul felt threaded to her very breath. My lips pressed against her neck, then behind her ear. She was amazing.
“I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.” Her voice was growing quieter, and I kissed the top of her shoulder, surrendering to sleep. I was back in heaven, and I wasn’t leaving this place or my angel ever again.
Chapter 14 – Then I Met You
The sound of plates clanging together woke me. I was alone in the bed, and it sounded like Elaine was rearranging the kitchen. A smile immediately curled my lips, and I hopped up, hitting the bathroom to lose the wood before stepping into my jeans and heading to where she was.
“What are you doing in here?” my brow creased as I took in the pots and pans scattered around my lady, who was dressed in a short white gown. It was lacy and showed off her body in the most incredible way. Morning wood returning.
She glanced up and her shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry,” she said, stepping over a pot to kiss my cheek. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I wanted to serve you breakfast in bed, but I can’t find my damn omelet pan.”
Catching her waist, I pulled her closer to me, kissing her temple, the side of her ear before whispering, “I’ll take you out for breakfast.”
Her body relaxed, and I felt her smile. “Have some coffee at least.” She stepped around to pick up a glass pot sitting on the counter as I admired her body under that nearly sheer nightie.
“I’ll just have some juice,” I said, going to the fridge. “Got any?”
“Yeah, help yourself,” she said, distracted as she put the pans back in the cabinet.
My phone buzzed from the center of the bar, and I realized I’d pretty much just walked out of the office yesterday afternoon. Derek probably thought something had happened. I grabbed the OJ and reached for a glass in the rack. Leaning against the sink, my phone buzzed again, and she glanced at it.
“You’re getting a text,” she said, lifting the small coffee pot and pouring the dark brown liquid in her mug.
“Is it Derek?” I took a long drink, not worried. “He probably thinks I had a family emergency or something the way I left yesterday.”
Her brow creased, and she turned her head to read the face. “It’s Kenny. He wants to know if Fatal Attraction got you.” Her green eyes were hesitant as they rose to mine. “What’s that about?”
Fuck. I did not want any of that coming into my space with Elaine. I put the glass down and stepped to the bar, picking up my phone and quickly texting back. All good. Will catch up ASAP.
“Sorry,” I said, putting the phone back down and reaching for her. But I could tell she was still thinking about it. “It’s stupid bullshit at work. I’m handling it.”
“Fatal Attraction?” her brow arched. “Wasn’t that about an office affair gone psycho?”
She had a right to be worried. I’d been a dick, and I was so lucky I’d met this amazing woman who saved me from myself.
“I called it that, but I was exaggerating. It was just this temp we had weeks ago. She’s gone now.”
“A temp?” Her expression caused the tension to burn in my stomach again. Elaine was so important to me. She was still standing in my arms, and I tightened my hold on her waist.
“I was an idiot,” I said. “Then I met you.”
I wasn’t sure if she would even understand the enormous change those eight words conveyed, but I didn’t know how else to put it. My phone buzzed again, and both our eyes went to it. Kenny.
You were supposed to check in. Asshole.
My lips tightened. I wasn’t sure what to say, but everything changed when Elaine snorted a laugh. “You should at least tell him you’re okay.”
Relief washed over me, and I pulled her close, resting my forehead on hers. “I’d rather be okay with you,” I said, kissing her lightly.
Her arms wrapped around my neck and she kissed me back. “Didn’t you just promise to buy me breakfast?”
“I don’t know if it was a promise. And this little dress you’ve got on is seriously pitching my tent.”
She laughed and kissed me harder. Her response was not cooling my erection, but she let go, skipping back and going to her room. “Then I’d better change because I’m hungry.”
Shaking my head, I picked up my phone and quickly typed back. My bad. Sorry. Will explain soon.
Returning the phone to the bar, I went to the bedroom. Elaine was already sliding faded jeans over her slim hips. Was it possible that everything this woman did turned me on?
“I need to stop at a drugstore,” I said, picking up my shirt and buttoning it. “I didn’t bring anything with me.”
She turned, now wearing a long-sleeved navy tee with her jeans, and I watched as she shoved her feet into a pair of hot pink Chucks. “We’ll take care of it. First, breakfast!”
I couldn’t stop smiling as she caught my hand, pulling me to the door.
* * *
The weekend was too short. Sitting at my desk in Princeton Monday morning, all I could do was gaze out the window, imagining myself in the car, flying to meet her again.
We’d spent the entire weekend either making love, chatting, eating, or sleeping. We’d told each other everything. I knew all about Brian The Idiot. The complete moron she’d dated five years who was so clueless he’d never proposed. Of course, I wasn’t complaining. And I’d told her about Stacy.
Looking back on those relationships in view of what we shared, it was hard to believe they had ever seemed so important. What was more believable was how easily they ended. Nothing could last that didn’t feel like this.
“I suppose it’s chemistry?” Elaine’s fingers had traced a delicate line along my cheek, down my jaw. I’d held her body tight under mine on the soft bed. It was my all-time favorite way to hold her.
Leaning down to kiss her chin, I answered. “Some people are just meant to be.” I kissed her again, tasting her sweet mouth. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone in my life.”
Her lips curled into a smile as she wrapped those lovely arms around my neck. “That’s always nice to hear.”
Kisses led to more lovemaking, and when it was time for me to go, it hurt like hell. But it wasn’t devastating. The separation sucked, but everything was right now. I was back at work, smiling in anticipation of seeing her again, and I could actually concentrate on cracking the two cases in front of me while I passed the time.
Turning back to my computer, I began the process—scrolling through face after face, looking for Star’s. I’d spend an hour on this, and if I didn’t find her, I’d switch back to the phishing case for a while. Then I’d return to finding the needle in the haystack.
A cry from the kitchen broke my concentration. “Gross!” It was Nikki, and I was just about to tune her out when her words registered in my brain. “Who put plates and glasses in the dishwasher and didn’t run it? This looks a month old!”
My brow creased. I didn’t even know we had a dishwasher, and I was out of my chair in an instant. Derek wouldn’t have done it—there was only one other possibility between Nikki leaving and coming back…
“Stop!” I shouted, freezing her hand just before it reached one of the glass tumblers I recogniz
ed from that Friday afternoon in my office.
Nikki stepped back, and I looked all around the kitchen for anything I could pick it out with. “Hurry up, it stinks!” She was holding her nose.
“Hang on.” I dashed back down the hall to our supply closet. A neglected box of medical gloves was in the back corner, and I shoved my hand inside, pulling one out and snapping it on.
Back in the break room, I reached into the dishwasher, carefully lifting the glass that had remnants of beige lip gloss—and hopefully a decent fingerprint—lightly by the edge.
“Cross your fingers,” I whispered, returning to my office.
Fingerprinting was as basic as addition in our line of work. I hoped to find something useable, and if I did, I hoped it led to answers. I took out the small kit I hadn’t touched in years and dipped the soft brush in the feathery, black powder. It was a pretty old-school technique, and not something I did very often. Dusting all around the edge, several smears readily appeared, but nothing distinct. I kept coating, but still nothing showed up. My chest sank. I was on the verge of quitting, when I took one more pass under the lip gloss smudge. Jackpot. A thumbprint stood out, and I almost shouted. Then I remembered Derek didn’t know I was working on this case, so I stood and crossed my office, shutting the door.
A clear piece of tape over the print, and in moments, I was attaching it to a blank sheet of printer paper. There it was, clear as day. Turning back to my computer, I took the sheet and fed it into our scanner. Once I had the image, all I had to do was submit it to Fieldprint and wait. I’d have the location of Star Brandon in hours. Less time if I was lucky. My chest tightened in anticipation. I couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of this.
Chapter 15 – One to Keep
Star Brandon was not a real name.
No surprises there, even Nikki called that one, but what did surprise me was the only record anybody had of her was as Toni Durango of Raleigh, North Carolina. I shook my head at the additional, obviously fake name, and wondered if the work address, The Skinniflute bar, was equally false.
It was clearly her photo, beside a two-year old arrest record for indecent exposure. Seemed Ms. Durango thought a thong bikini would be acceptable in Myrtle Beach, but the conservative residents thought otherwise. The charges had eventually been dropped, but it gave me a place to start. If that turned up nothing, Tom Brandon was my next search. He’d given her his name and called her, perhaps he was her boss.
My mind scrolled through the possibilities, the most pleasant of which was that I’d have an excuse to be in Elaine’s home state again. I heard Derek’s voice—he said my name loudly, but then it tapered off. Fine with me, I wanted to read every word of the Star/Toni report and note any clues it might give me to her current whereabouts.
The noises out in the hallway grew louder. I glanced at my closed door. A female voice was speaking rapidly, but I didn’t recognize it. It wasn’t Nikki. Star/Toni’s information was still up on my screen, as I slowly stood, finishing the page.
The voice tapered off as I opened my door. That’s when it sounded vaguely familiar. I was out in the hallway just in time to see the front glass doors closing and Derek standing at the entrance to his office looking shell-shocked. He quickly went after whoever that was, but when he went out, the foyer was empty. I followed him.
“Are you okay?” He didn’t even look at me. Without a word, he turned and went back into his office. “Derek. What happened?” My concern was growing by the second.
He walked straight to the windows and looked down, turning his head as if he were trying to see something. I looked down, too, but all I saw was the empty courtyard below. For several minutes he simply stood watching, not speaking. My brow creased as I studied his face—lined, dark brow furrowed, blue eyes full of pain.
“What happened?” I repeated.
Nikki stepped into the room and quickly crossed to him, touching his arm. Her voice was quiet, gentle. “Was that her?” she asked.
My mind flew through everything that just happened—everything I wasn’t paying attention to. Derek had said my name then his voice cut off. Several minutes passed, and I heard that female voice… I noticed Derek’s jaw clench, and he turned back to the desk, quickly sitting behind it. I looked at Nikki, but she shook her head.
“What her do you mean?” I asked.
“Melissa was just here.” My partner’s dead tone immediately caused me to sit.
“Melissa?” I repeated. “But… why?” Clearly it hadn’t gone well.
Elbows bent, Derek put his face in his hands, his fingers pushing back the dark hair. For several seconds he stayed that way, and I sat watching him, waiting. My eyes scanned his desk. A small pouch lay on top of some papers, otherwise, nothing unusual was in front of him.
Nikki’s voice was hesitant. “Is there anything I can do?” She carefully reached out and put her hand on his arm.
Dropping his hands, Derek cleared his throat, turned to his computer, and started typing. I watched in silence as he pulled up the state government site for Maryland and started scrolling.
“Want to tell me what happened?” I tried again.
I knew his longing for Melissa was as powerful as mine had been for Elaine. Now that I’d had my need met, I felt better about offering to help. I wasn’t walking around like a hollowed-out shell of a person anymore.
The telephone out front beeped and Nikki left the room. Her voice in the reception area echoed back to us, and Derek slowly turned to face me.
“He beat her.” His voice was quiet.
“What?” I slid forward in the chair, anger rising in my stomach. “Melissa? Who beat her?”
I didn’t know her very well, but I knew her well enough. I knew Derek loved her, and I knew she was Elaine’s best friend. If someone had hurt her, I’d gladly help Derek kick the shit out of him and put him away—in whatever order they preferred. But I was confused. Derek didn’t seem ready to act.
“Her husband.” Still quiet, his voice now sounded broken. “I didn’t know. I didn’t even check.”
A flash like white light hit my face. “Melissa’s married? But I thought you two were—”
“I knew her husband from Princeton. He hired me to follow her to Scottsdale. To see if she was having an affair. I told him she wasn’t.”
This revelation had me slowly sliding back in my chair again. I watched Derek as he spoke. He’d never struck me as the homewrecker type, and I knew how he felt about sleeping with clients. Now he was telling me this potentially explosive story of how he’d broken all his rules.
“Did he beat her when he found out?” I asked, unsure how to proceed. Cheating or not, abuse was still unacceptable to me.
“No,” he said. “It was before. Apparently a while back. It’s why she was leaving him. She’d filed for divorce before she went to the desert. He lied to me.”
I was sure the confusion was clear on my face. I didn’t know anything about the case that had taken him to Arizona, and now I was learning he’d been hired by Melissa’s almost-ex-husband to investigate her, and he’d ended up falling in love with her.
“Is this why you blamed me?” I asked, remembering his demeanor at the bar, his incomplete story.
Weary blue eyes lifted to mine, and I decided to drop all comparisons to my screw up or how this pretty much got me off the hook.
“Explain this abuse part,” I said. “What was that about?”
He picked up the small pouch on his desk and opened it, lifting out a gold chain with a small floating heart on it. “She thinks I knew. She thinks I helped him knowing what he’d done to her.” His fist closed around the delicate piece of jewelry, and he lifted it to his lined brow. “I’ve got to fix this.”
Derek stood quickly, heading down the hall to an older storage closet that contained several filing cabinets. In a few moments he was back carrying a file. I sat watching.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“She said he hired prostitutes.” He se
emed recharged. “Abusers usually have a pattern. I need to find another woman he hurt.”
“This guy sounds like a real winner.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “You didn’t know about any of this?”
He shook his head, quietly scanning the pages. The folder had the name Reynolds on it, and I remembered it was the name Melissa had said at dinner that night. Her former marketing client. Derek stood and snatched his suit coat off the back of his chair along with his keys and phone.
“I might be out of the office a few days,” he said, going to the door. “Nikki, forward my calls and emails.”
He pushed out the glass doors, and the office was suddenly quiet. Staring after him, I processed all he’d said. It was an awful story. It was what had taken him to the desert. Melissa and Elaine were out there together on a spa vacation—a mental health break, Elaine had said.
If Melissa thought Derek was lying to her, had she told Elaine what happened? I was on my feet and headed to my office in an instant. Shutting my door, I grabbed my phone and touched her number. Elaine had to know I didn’t know shit about any of this.
* * *
Nine hours later, Elaine’s body was back beneath mine, my arms tight around her waist, and I was breathing an enormous, internal sigh of relief. Moments before she’d been crying out in ecstasy, but before all of that, she’d been about to hit me and throw me out of her condo.
Again, an enormous, internal sigh of relief.
After Derek had left to do God knows what about his situation with Melissa, I’d tried calling Elaine. When my third call went to voicemail, I knew something was wrong. Scooping up my things, I went straight to my car headed for Wilmington. Nikki followed me into the hall complaining about Alexander and Knight both disappearing at once, but I wasn’t listening. Whatever my senior partner had done, I’d be damned if he cost me the woman I loved. I drove all eight hours thinking of what I might say, which wasn’t going to be much, considering I’d just found out about the whole thing.
