Suspect Lover

by Stephanie Doyle

  He wondered how she would respond if he went to her and began kissing her in her sleep, arousing her before she was even awake. His very own Sleeping Beauty. He imagined her eyes opening just as he pushed himself inside of her.

  “Roof!”

  Startled out of his fantasy, Dominic looked over at Munch and scowled.

  “Shh. You’ll wake her.”

  Too late. He could see her eyes flutter open. She stretched out languorously, and the sight of her twisting on top of his bed didn’t help to cool his ardor. As if suddenly realizing that she was awake and wondering what had brought her to this point, she turned her head and saw him.

  “Hi,” she said softly.

  “Hi.”

  He watched as she sat up and smoothed her hair, clearly embarrassed to have been caught napping. She shouldn’t have been. She was compelling in her rumpled state.

  “I wasn’t sure if this was the right room. The driver left my bags here so I thought…”

  “You picked the right room.” Dominic swallowed hoping to ease the gruffness in his voice. “I want you to have this room. It has a beautiful view. I’ll sleep in the guest room while you’re here.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  She stood and he took in her tailored jeans and lightweight sweater. The soft pink color made him think of the inside of a shell and he couldn’t help but wonder if she would be as soft to touch. She stretched out her hand.

  “I suppose we should start with the basics. I’m Caroline Somerville.”

  “I’m glad,” he said taking her hand, which was small and delicate in his. “You came. I’m glad you came.”

  She nodded even as she continued to watch him, study him. He couldn’t help but wonder if she liked what she saw as much as he did. Dominic wasn’t a self-conscious man, nor was he lacking in confidence, but this woman standing in front of him in her white socks was twisting him in ways he hadn’t imagined. This was supposed to have been a practical and efficient way of meeting and interviewing a potential spouse.

  All he wanted to do was kiss her.

  “Roof!”

  They both smiled as Munch hopped off the bed and maneuvered her way in between their legs. Dominic gave her head a rub and was glad to see that Caroline wasn’t afraid or bothered by the dog.

  “I’ve already met Munch. I think we’re getting along very well.”

  “Obviously. You’ve already been to bed together.” Dominic surprised himself with his attempt at humor. Sexual humor, no less. Probably not his strong point.

  Still Caroline laughed softly.

  “You must be hungry. I have food for dinner. I thought it might be better for us to eat here rather than at a crowded restaurant. Give us a better chance to talk without interruption.”

  “Did you just say you were going to cook for me?” she asked eagerly.

  “Cooking might be overstating it. I plan on grilling.”

  Together they headed for the kitchen. While Dominic put together a very basic meal of steak and baked potatoes, Caroline tossed a salad.

  “If you’ll open the wine, I think we’re ready.”

  Caroline selected the lone bottle from the wine rack mounted on the wall. “This is amazing. I love this label.”

  “I know. I read it on your Web site. It was on your Favorites list.”

  “You visited my Web site?”

  Dominic wondered if he should have admitted that. “Of course. I wanted to see some of the titles you’ve written.”

  He turned away from the grill on the range and watched her smile grow. It was a large smile, practically taking up her whole face.

  “I don’t suppose you actually bought any of them? Authors need our royalties.”

  “You seem to do rather well with that. I’ve seen your annual income, remember.”

  Her smile faltered.

  “I did buy one,” he said feeling the need to make amends although he wasn’t sure why. “I haven’t read it yet, though.”

  “You don’t strike me as having much time to read for pleasure.”

  “I don’t.”

  She nodded. As she poured the wine and Dominic laid out the food, Caroline pressed him for information regarding his business.

  “I don’t want to bore you,” he insisted between bites.

  “You have no choice,” Caroline insisted. “Unlike you, I wasn’t able to get much from your Web site. Just products and services and half of that I didn’t understand.”

  “Encrypton provides encryption software. We’re not one of the bigger names out there but we’re growing. Thankfully there is a tremendous demand. Government regulations require that much of the data being transferred over the Internet be secured. We secure it.”

  “How?” she pressed.

  “Generally speaking, the data goes into a box, the box is locked, then transmitted over the Internet. Someone on the other end has a key that opens the box. We make both the box and the key. Specifically I couldn’t tell you how the code works. That’s Denny’s department. I mentioned him, didn’t I?”

  “He’s your partner.”

  “One of them, yes. Steven is the other. Denny and I…got together about twelve years ago. He had the idea for the program and I had a talent for business. Steven joined the company later, but recently took on the role of partner. He is our financial man. We’re bidding on a large government contract and he’s making sure we’re in a position to do the work if we get it.”

  “I see.”

  Dominic poured her another glass of wine and prayed he wasn’t boring her to death. She didn’t seem bored, though. She seemed interested. “Ironically, I’ve been traveling to your side of the country lately. You said you were close to D.C?”

  “Relatively. I live in Leesburg, Virginia. How does one go about winning a large government contract?”

  “The biggest concern is stability. The government has to believe we can deliver. Second is getting the job done within the budget. I’ve been lucky to have some inside help. A former…employee of mine works for the FBI. Having dealt with the government for years, she’s been giving me advice on how to speak their language.”

  Caroline’s lips twitched at the edges. “You stumbled over the word employee.”

  “Did I?”

  “If she was a girlfriend, you don’t have to hide your former lovers from me, Dominic.”

  Dominic frowned. “She’s not a former lover. She’s a former employee. I wouldn’t lie about that, Caroline.”

  He watched her shift in her seat and he could practically feel her skepticism. Reaching across the table, he circled her wrist with his hand. “I wouldn’t lie about that,” he repeated. “I have no reason to. If there was a lover you needed to know about, I would tell you. I hope you would do the same. I want us both to go into this with our eyes wide open.”

  “This?”

  “Marriage,” he said firmly.

  He felt her retreat and regretted his haste in bringing up what was essentially the reason for this little get-together. But it was too late now.

  “Caroline, you must know marriage is my goal. I believe I’ve made that very clear from the beginning. The point of the service we hired is not casual dating.”

  “I know,” she said quietly. “You just startled me by talking about it so quickly. I thought we would have more time. I want to get to know you, Dominic.”

  “You know me. You know about my work. You’ve seen my home. I don’t know that there is much else to talk about.”

  That made her laugh, but there was no humor in the sound. “What about your family, your friends? Your whole life before you started your business?”

  “I have no family.” He shook his head and forced himself to take a deep breath. Slow down, he thought. “That sounds more melodramatic than it is. My father left my mother before I was born. My mother died years ago. She was Mexican. My father was American. Is that a problem?”

  “Your heritage? No. Besides, it was on your profile. But that isn’t enough. It isn
’t nearly enough for two people to read each other’s résumés, have dinner and then decide on marriage.”

  Dominic sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t have time for a drawn out romantic courtship. Hell, even if I did, I doubt I would be very good at it. I want to marry you, Caroline. I knew after a few conversations that ultimately you would be suitable.”

  She flinched and Dominic cursed under his breath. He was making a hash of the entire evening. He should have said nothing, had more wine and taken her to bed. The morning would have been soon enough to discuss the future.

  Dear Caroline,

  I told you my world resolves around work. However, last night during our conversation you seemed determined to find some other hobby or interest. I suppose I enjoy swimming, as well. I like the feeling of floating above the surface. Pushing my body in exercise. I love the freedom.

  D

  Unable to sit, Caroline stood up and wandered out of the kitchen and through the living room. Once there she could look down to the office and gym and from there see the glittering reflection of light on the surface of the pool. Beyond the glass house, the ocean crashed against the surf, leaving nothing but puffs of white to assure her that she wasn’t lost in space.

  It had taken so much courage to come here, she thought. So much to beat down the coward inside her. To pull herself away from her quiet little house and her quiet little town. The strength of ten men to leave her quiet little life and take a chance on the unknown.

  She hadn’t needed the therapist she’d worked with after her parents’ deaths to explain the obvious. Her life, the life she’d known until she was sixteen, had been suddenly and irrevocably altered. It had changed her from a free-spirited teenager into a coward. Someone who always played it safe, who didn’t take chances for fear of getting hurt again.

  This wasn’t safe. This had taken courage. Just to get on the plane and come here.

  Only Dominic was asking for more.

  “I don’t know that I can do this,” she muttered. It was the coward speaking and she hated it.

  “Why did you come, then?”

  She turned and found him nearer than she would have expected. Unnerved by his closeness, she took the stairs down to the pool room.

  Maybe it was the pool that brought her here. His description of swimming gave him character beyond his curt e-mails. His one-syllable answers during their phone calls. It made her believe there was more to him. More of what she wasn’t sure. It was too intangible to name.

  “I asked you a question.” This time he left a few feet between them but he still had followed her.

  “Why did you pick me?” she asked instead. “Of all the profiles what was it about mine?”

  He looked away and she wasn’t sure if he was searching for the truth or the answer she wanted to hear.

  “I picked you because of your career,” he finally said. “I thought you would be used to a quiet life. Being on your own for so long, I didn’t think you would make unnecessary demands on my time. Time I don’t have to give.”

  The truth. It was certainly brutal enough. She supposed she had to respect him for that.

  “I’m sorry if that upsets you,” he said.

  The truth couldn’t upset her. It helped to ground her in a reality that was quickly slipping away.

  “Answer me. Why did you come?” he repeated.

  He took a step closer, his eyes fixed on hers forcing her to meet his gaze.

  Why had she come?

  Why hadn’t she stayed home? With her work and her small circle of friends. Her fuzzy slippers and flannel pajamas. Why hadn’t she just gotten a damn kitten?

  Because you were tired of being afraid. Because you decided you could want again. A family. A chance at having a family.

  That seemed too personal to share with him. Because it meant so much more to her than a simple word. She struggled to find an answer that would appease him. “I wanted to find…”

  “Love?” he interrupted. “Surely you’re not so naive, Caroline. Love is an aberration. At best a fleeting emotion that dies quickly once routine sets in. Two people of the same mind, with similar goals and compatible personalities can form a bond. A marriage based on that can be infinitely stronger than two people in love.”

  She didn’t agree. But she didn’t see the need to contradict him, either. “I was going to say happiness.”

  “I don’t know about happiness.” Dominic took another step closer. This time he reached out and took her hand. “But I can give you what you want.”

  “What I want?”

  “A child.”

  She jumped a bit and he must have seen her reaction because he stilled.

  “Your profile said you wanted children. You told me you even considered having a child on your own.”

  “I did,” she blurted out. “I did consider that.” But the coward had won then, too, convinced her she couldn’t do it alone.

  “You want a family don’t you?”

  The word was like a punch to her gut. It struck at the very core of who she was and what she’d lost and she realized that there was no point in holding back. Not if he was going to be her husband.

  “I have no family, either. My parents were killed in a car accident when I was sixteen. I lived with an older aunt but she passed away two years ago. I’ve been alone. Not lonely. But alone. I decided I wanted more.”

  He nodded and she thought that he understood. A man who had lost his mother would know what it meant to start again. To take a risk and try to create a new family when you had already suffered the pain of losing one.

  “Let me give you that.”

  “I’m thirty-five,” she whispered even as he was tugging her closer. “It might not be that easy.”

  A hand reached up and slipped around her neck. She felt the warmth and the weight of it in her hair tilting her neck ever so slightly to the side.

  “We can try. We can keep trying.” He bent his head then and his lips touched hers. The bolt of attraction she’d been struck with when she saw him for the first time tripled, then quadrupled as his lips played with hers. His mouth opened and took possession. His tongue thrust deep. It had been so long. It felt so sinfully good.

  Dark hair, dark eyes and the body of man who liked to push himself in exercise were easy excuses for his appeal, but Caroline knew it was the other things that coerced her into wanting him. His small barely-there smile. How his hand stroked Munch’s fur. The way he held her close to him without suffocating her.

  His head lifted and she knew he was staring down at her, but she didn’t want to open her eyes. She didn’t want to see the man she’d just met for the first time tonight. The man she’d only exchanged e-mails and phone calls with. Instead she needed him to kiss her again so she could go back to feeling as if she was in the arms of someone she’d known most of her life.

  “Tell me you want this, Caroline. Tell me and I’ll take you upstairs.”

  She lifted her hand to his chest and felt his heart beat heavily through his shirt. It was time to say that it was happening too fast. Time to retreat and head to her own bedroom. The coward was ready to bolt. But the fighter, the one who pushed her out of the house and on the plane to come here, the one who was willing to take another chance on life, stood her ground.

  “Tell me.”

  His urgency was palpable and it fueled her need.

  Tell him. Tell him.

  But words wouldn’t form in her mouth. Since they typically fell easier from her fingers, she reached up and cupped his face and then lifted herself so that she could kiss him in return. Letting him know in the only way she was capable of that yes, she did want this.

  She wanted him.

  Chapter 3

  Caroline let Dominic lead her back up the stairs without a protest. She didn’t want to tug on his hand, fearing he might stop. A stern “stay!” kept Munch happily curled up on the couch in the living room. Then the next thing she knew, she was standing in the bedroom.


  His room.

  She reminded herself that this wasn’t like her. A woman didn’t stay single as long as she had without having some reservations when it came to men. Sex was an important thing and she took it seriously. Maybe too seriously. But all her internal defense mechanisms evaporated with his kiss.

  She should have known it would be this way.

  Hadn’t she reacted the first time she saw his picture? As if her stomach had plummeted to her feet. His serious eyes and serious mouth. When his name popped up in her e-mail, she smiled. His voice on the phone made her shiver. She wanted him before she’d agreed to his invitation.

  She told herself it was her active imagination. That it was just the hope of what he could give her that made him seem so attractive. But she knew there was nothing imaginary about it. She’d come here for him. Because something inside her said he was waiting for her. And he kissed her not like a man bent on seduction, but rather like a man already in the grip of need. As if he’d wanted her before he’d ever seen her, too.

  “Caroline,” he whispered. His mouth left hers, taking her breath with it. “I’m sorry. I should go slower.”

  “No.” She didn’t want to go slow. She didn’t want to have time to think. She wanted to act. Reaching down she pulled her sweater over her head, letting her hair fall in a muss about her shoulders.

  The simple bra wasn’t enticing and it hadn’t occurred to her to wear anything more daring, but she could feel Dominic’s eyes on her. With a gentle push, he turned her around so that she faced away from him. He bent her head forward and brushed aside her hair, his mouth falling hot and wet on the nape of her neck. His hands cupped her breasts from behind and squeezed.

  The sensation was stunning. After so long-so long she didn’t want to even think about it-of not being held or touched or treated like a woman, this was sensory overload. His fingers pulled down the straps of her bra until the cups gave up their hold on her breasts and his hands were there instead. He pinched her hardening nipples while his mouth made a trail down her spine. One sharp tug and the bra was gone. Then his hands were on the front of her jeans while his lips traced soft kisses over her bare shoulder.