by Sable Grey
“And they never end up like they do in the books.” Cee Leigh smirked. “It’s hard to have a happily ever after in the real world. There are too many things that get in the way. Jealousy. Baggage. Money.”
“You sound like you’ve been burned before,” Rex pointed out.
“Haven’t we all?” Cee Leigh sighed.
“I guess I was burned a little when I was younger. These days I don’t let anyone get close enough to burn me,” he admitted. “Easier.”
“And lonely,” Cee Leigh added.
“That’s why you need a dog.” She was glad when Rex’s voice lightened, though it made her feel good that someone else knew what she felt.
“I had a cat once,” she offered.
“So did I. She beat up on my dog,” Rex said causing her to laugh. “You have a beautiful smile. I’ve always thought so.” Cee Leigh felt her face warm beneath the compliment. Several seconds of silence dragged between them, until she looked up and met his gaze.
He reached out and pushed the afghan away from her body, and ran a finger over her right nipple, smiling when it hardened to his touch. Slowly, he leaned in to kiss her, but the moment was ended when the shrill ring of the phone sounded, causing them both to start.
Rex made a face, but turned and answered the phone. “Hello? Who is this? Hold on.” He looked at Cee Leigh. “Detective Gray?”
Cee Leigh reached for the phone, frowning. Why was he calling her at two in the morning? Had something happened? “Hello?” Silence. “Hello?”
“You left.” The voice on the other end wasn’t as deep as the detective’s.
“Who is this?” She felt Rex’s body tense beside her.
“I went to your house. No one was there but a cop,” the voice said softly in her ear. “Why did you leave? And who is that man who answered?”
Cee Leigh’s hands shook. How had he found her? “Why are you doing this? Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Rex reached for the phone but she held on to it, so tightly that her knuckles lost their color.
“Who is that man?” the man repeated. “Reynolds is the name the number is listed under. Does he know about me? About us?”
“There is no us, you sick bastard! Why were you in my house? Why are you calling me?” Her voice cracked as she shot to her feet. Rex also stood, reached out, and jerked the phone from her hand, lifting it to his ear.
“Listen closely. You do not call my home again. You do not contact Miss Farrah again. If you do, I swear…” He cursed and slammed the phone down into the cradle. “The fucker hung up.” Cee Leigh’s whole body began to shake and she would have gone to her knees if Rex hadn’t caught her around the waist and pulled her to him.
Tears stung her eyes and ran down her cheeks. How had he found her? How had he gotten the number? She buried her face into Rex’s shoulder and sobbed.
Chapter Three
Detective Leon Gray sat stiffly on the leather sofa, listening to Rex Reynolds give him the details of the phone call he’d received earlier that morning. He’d driven into the mountain the moment he received the hysterical call from Cee Leigh. The snow had been heavy and had slowed him, but he’d managed to make it before the storm grew worse.
He’d wanted to protect Cee Leigh Farrah the moment he’d met her. She seemed a small, fragile bird left alone in the cold, though she had shown she had more than enough spine. One look at Rex Reynolds, however, and he knew she was not completely on her own.
“You don’t happen to have caller ID?” Leon asked when Rex grew quiet.
“It was from a payphone. I called it in to a friend of mine. It’s a payphone in Boulder.” Rex hugged Cee Leigh close when she sobbed around her fist. “The Boulder Police Department sent someone up here earlier. But he said there was nothing that could be done and to let them know if he called again.”
“I feel as if I’m going to be ill.” Cee Leigh rose and headed for the bathroom.
“She’s been like that since the call,” Rex said lowly after the door closed behind her. “She’s scared out of her mind.”
“She should be. In cases like these the stalker never just disappears. He’s gradually grown bolder. Now he’s contacted her, spoken with her. It takes no special training to figure out what his next move will be.” Leon crossed his arms.
“If he comes here, I’ll kill the bastard.” Rex’s voice was filled with vehemence.
“You have a gun?” Leon asked and Rex nodded.
“And a dog that will attack on command.” At his words, the German Shepherd at his feet lifted his head. “Stay.” The dog lowered his head again.
Leon glanced around the cabin, then back at Rex. “You care for her?” He nearly smiled at the conflicted expression on the man’s face. “You care for her safety?” That was an easier one to answer and Rex nodded. “She shouldn’t be alone. Would you let her stay here?”
“Of course.”
Leon leaned forward, the leather moaning beneath his weight. “It will be easier to set up surveillance here. No one else around. We’d be able to spot him a mile away. But I’d feel better if she wasn’t alone.” Leon rested his arms on his knees. “You see, I do care about her and have only known her a short time. She needs someone to look after her, to keep her safe. Even if that’s your dog, I feel better.”
Leon watched the man’s face. He was harder to read than most. But Leon didn’t miss the flight of suspicion and jealousy that momentarily darkened his blue eyes. So Rex Reynolds had feelings for her, even if he didn’t want to admit to it just yet. He glanced up at the piano.
“I play a little myself. Did you take lessons?”
“Mom was a Liberace fan,” Rex answered flatly.
Leon grunted. “My wife wanted me to learn. Made me take lessons two years ago. She said it made me more romantic, whatever the hell that means.” Leon stole a glance at Rex’s face. Relief.
“Easy time. I did ten years.” Rex smiled, and Leon could see he was shed of his earlier suspicions. A wife, and one that Leon freely mentioned, as Leon expected, put him at ease. “I can’t tell you the disappointment she had with me when I started flying.”
“Women,” Leon murmured and turned when Cee Leigh returned from the bathroom. “I want you to stay here with Mr. Reynolds until we get this guy. No sneaking off like you did before.”
Cee Leigh stared at him. “I can’t stay here. I wouldn’t want to intrude…”
“It’s no intrusion,” Rex said.
“…and I may be better off going back to Denver. It was a mistake to come here, to think he couldn’t find me,” Cee Leigh finished.
“I imagine he got the number from your sister’s desk. He wasn’t afraid to break into your home. I’m sure hers wouldn’t intimidate him much either. No, I think it’s best this way. It will be easier to locate him if you stay put,” Leon argued.
“You mean as bait.” Cee Leigh didn’t seem impressed with that idea. Leon couldn’t blame her. The guy was a freak and probably more dangerous than she had first assumed.
“Call it what you will. We can catch him and put an end to this if you stay here.”
“Can’t I just stay in my own cabin?”
“Why would you do that?” Rex asked. “The man’s a psycho. You don’t want to be alone.”
“I won’t be. Detective Gray is here…” she began.
“You are staying here,” Rex interrupted with a note of finality. “Besides. The storm is growing worse. Do you have a generator?” She just stared at him. “That’s what I thought. You can’t sit out there in the dark waiting for some crazed lunatic to masturbate on your doorknob.”
Leon kept quiet, allowing the two to come to the decision together. It was easier that way for him.
“I hadn’t thought of that.” She finally relented and Rex nodded as if it were settled.
“You can set up in the spare room.” Rex turned to Leon. “Whatever you need I’m pretty sure I can get.” Leon nodded. But where would Cee Leigh sleep? Leon was certain he had a
pretty good idea.
“I need to make a few calls,” Leon told him. “My wife isn’t going to be happy about me spending the night this far from home.”
“There’s enough cord to reach.” Rex nodded, so Leon stood and grasped the phone, heading towards the door Rex indicated, leaving them alone.
“You’ll be safe here.” Rex said once the door was closed.
“How can you be sure?” Cee Leigh asked. Rex looked at her face. Her eyes were puffy and red and she gazed at him with desperation.
He stood and reached for her hands, pulling her closer. “He’ll have to come through me and Jones to get to you.”
“That’s the part I don’t like–endangering someone else.” She folded into his arms, resting her cheek against his chest.
“I’m in no danger.” Rex kissed the top of her head.
Chapter Four
“So, you and the pilot have a thing?”
Cee Leigh felt herself flush and glanced back at the bathroom door, where Rex had disappeared for a shower. “I don’t know. I’m not sure.”
“He seems like a pretty good fellow.” Leon walked around the room, then stepped to the bookshelf. “You should give him a chance. Not many men would be so nice to look after someone they barely knew.”
“I don’t need looking after,” Cee Leigh argued. “I’m capable of living alone and am successful at what I do. I know what you think, but I am not a weakling.”
Leon glanced over his shoulder, then faced her. “I don’t think you are a weakling at all, Cee Leigh. You’ve shown me more courage than most women would’ve in the same situation. Some men like being the ones taking care of people. I’m one of those.” He crossed his arms. “But you like Rex.”
Cee Leigh looked at the bathroom door again. “Yes, I suppose I do. But we barely know each other.”
“My advice, for whatever it’s worth, is to give him a chance.” Leon shrugged and headed back to the bookcase.
Cee Leigh stood there a moment longer, then turned and headed into Rex’s room. Maybe Leon was right. Her last relationship had ended because her boyfriend had been jealous of the time she spent writing. Rex had said he liked his own space. It might work out with a man like that.
She lay down on the bed and stared up at the wooden beams across the ceiling. Maybe, after all this mess was over with, they could try. She could move into her cabin and they could take it slow; see where it went.
The door opened suddenly, and Rex’s wet head poked into view. “Are you writing?”
Cee Leigh glanced guiltily at her laptop in the corner. “No.”
“Need some inspiration?” His smile curled into a lopsided grin and Cee Leigh laughed. When she didn’t answer, he slipped into the room, closing the door behind him.
Her gaze slid over his bare chest and down to the jeans that hugged his hips. He really was sexy as hell. “You want me to use you for research?” She sat up as he walked towards the bed.
“Use me, abuse me, and throw me out in the cold if you want.” He climbed onto the bed beside her.
“With Detective Gray just in the other room?” Shivers raced down her spine when he reached out and touched her stomach.
“It’s my house. Besides, I told him to take Jones out.” He pulled at her until she lay back onto the pillow. “He’d have to be stupid not to realize I wanted to be left alone with you.”
“You think it’s safe for Jones to go outside after what the stalker said on the phone?” Cee Leigh asked worriedly.
Rex grunted. “I don’t think he’d want to piss Jones off.” He moved closer and leaned up on an elbow so he could lean over her. “I don’t want to talk about your stalker.” His hand moved up to her right breast and he caressed her through the material of her tee-shirt.
“If you don’t want to talk, what do you want to do?” Cee Leigh batted her eyes in pretended innocence.
“Fuck you.” He hesitated, his gaze darkening. “Fuck you hard.”
Cee Leigh knew that Leon was probably right. Some men liked taking care of women. But she wasn’t a woman that always needed to be taken care of.
“I’ve a better idea.” She put her hand on his chest and gave him a little shove.
“You wanna fuck me instead?” He grinned.
“Stand up.” She waited and after a moment of staring at her, he climbed off of the bed, then faced her.
“Undress.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, hoping he wouldn’t laugh at her. Again he hesitated, but then obliged. He was obviously aroused by the control shift. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe Rex was the kind that believed in two people taking care of one another.
She dropped her feet over the edge of the bed and scooted forward until she was sitting right in front of him. Slowly, she reached forward and wrapped her hand around the base of his cock. She stole a glance at his face to find him watching her with anticipation.
Leaning forward, she barely brushed her lips over the soft flesh of his crown, then let her tongue dart out to flick underneath. He jerked against her palm. She smiled and parted her lips, so her breath rushed against him.
“Cee Leigh,” Rex murmured when she took him into her mouth and rolled her tongue around him.
Cee Leigh released him from her mouth, smiled up at him, and brought her finger to her lips. “Shhhh.”
He groaned deeply as she leaned forward again.
* * *
The low sound of Jones’ growl dragged Rex from sleep. “What is it, boy?” He asked sleepily as he sat up on the couch, rubbing his eyes. Jones continued to growl so Rex reached over and flipped on the light. He stood up and was about to reach for his coat when the phone suddenly sounded. Rex stared at it a moment, then reached down and picked up the receiver. He quickly punched the record button on the small machine on the table.
The voice that echoed from the other end was chilling. Too soft. Too calm. Dangerous. “I didn’t know you were a pilot.” Rex said nothing, lifting his gaze when both bedroom doors opened. One framed Leon Gray’s large frame of rumpled clothes and the other, Cee Leigh’s thin figure draped in a pair of sweats and one of his tee shirts. Leon quickly moved forward to make sure the device he’d set up on Rex's phone was working.
“You better keep your hands away from her, Reynolds. She’s mine.”
“Away from who exactly?” Rex asked in an attempt to keep the bastard on the phone.
“Cee Leigh.”
Rex frowned at the whispered hissing way he spoke her name. The guy was wacked. “And what makes you think I’ll do anything you tell me?”
“Best keep that dog indoors.”
The hair on the back of Rex’s neck stood up and he looked down at Jones. The dog was still growling low in his throat. He’d started pacing by the door.
“I seeeeeeeee you.”
Rex turned, eyes searching the large windows that looked into the cabin. Nothing. He dropped the receiver and before Leon could stop him, ran to the door and threw it open. Jones leapt forward onto the porch, barking frantically.
“Stay,” Rex commanded and though Jones continued to bark, the sound echoing around them, he remained on the porch.
“What is it?” Cee Leigh cried.
“Stay inside.” Rex heard Leon command, already stepping outside behind him.
The moon shined bright, illuminating the falling snow and weaving a ghostly white glow throughout the atmosphere.
“Come out you fucking bastard!” Rex shouted. Nothing.
“How do you know he is here?” Leon asked in a low voice.
“Because he knows I’m a pilot and he knows I have a dog.” Rex turned and started to go back inside, then froze. There, beneath the window, in the snow were a set of footprints. “Look.” He and Leon stepped from the porch in unison, peering through the snow at the prints that led away from the cabin and towards the woods.
“He’s here alright,” Leon murmured. “Stay with her. He was just here so he’s not far away.” He pulled his gun from the side holste
r and headed away from the cabin, walking alongside the footprints.
“Shout if you need help.” Rex told him, and then turned to find Cee Leigh standing on the porch, arms wrapped around her shoulders, staring out at him with wide eyes.
“Inside.” Rex ordered. She and Jones filed back inside in front of him.
“He’s…he’s here, isn’t he?” Cee Leigh whispered, once the door was closed and Jones sat down in front of it.
Rex gritted his teeth. “Yes.” He strode across the room to the small table next to the bookcase. He pulled open the drawer and grasped the gun. Quickly, loading it, he didn’t look at Cee Leigh.
“What did he say?”
Rex looked up and stepped towards her, dropping his arm so that the gun rested against the outside of his leg. “For me not to touch you.” He lifted his empty hand and touched her face. “Fat chance in that. He must not have seen you in your polka dot blouse.”
A faint smile found her lips. “How can you make jokes at a time like this?”
“Because I know that he isn’t going to get to you, not while I’m here.” He ran the pad of his thumb over her soft lips.
“Pilot. Pianist. And now the hero?” She turned her cheek into his palm, rubbing against it.
“I’m no hero.”
“No?” She laughed lightly. “You’ve a gun in your hand and are ready to lay your life and your dog’s down to protect me. I’d call that pretty damned heroic.”
“It’s not heroic if you care for the person.” He blinked. What had he said? She opened her eyes and stared at him.
“You care for me?”
Rex cleared his throat. “Well, you are my most loyal customer. I count on you every year.” He grimaced. “Yes, I care for you, though it seems a bit ridiculous to even say it since we really don’t even know one another.”
“I care for you too,” she admitted softly, “But I don’t need anyone to save me. I appreciate friendship over–“ she cried out as a shot echoed outside. Jones began barking again.
A moment later the door opened and Leon stepped inside. “Can’t see anything out there. I dropped my gun…” He grunted as he closed the door and leaned back against it, exposing the small, dark stain on the shoulder of his shirt. “The bastard was right there and I didn’t see him. Shot me with my own damned gun.”
