Distant Obsession (23 page)

Reece smiled. “What for?”

“For being who you are and caring enough to help me. I feel so relieved from knowing now I wasn’t crazy, and for not being alone in my life anymore.”

“Good, keep that sparkle in those pretty green irises, cause I’m about to blow your mind.”

“You already have.” The seductive gleam was back in her eyes.

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet. I have a little treasure from your past.” He scrambled from the bed and trotted up the steps to the stern.

“A what?” she called from below.

Reece reached inside the built-in cooler and extracted a small cube shaped box. “It’s a unique delight prepared just for you.”

He returned with his prize and handed the delicacy to her. “Go ahead, open it.”

Lilah unwrapped the ribbon like a child on Christmas morning and stopped once she peered inside. “I haven’t seen one of these in years. How did you know?”

He removed the rectangular multi-wafer pastry and fed her a bite. “Your mother.”

Reece wiped the inner puffy Custer from Lilah’s chin with his finger.

“My mother?”

 He extended his coated appendage and waited while she licked it clean like a lollipop. “The other day when I learned Mrs. Johnson was your mom, I recalled one of our many conversations about her daughter Lilah and her favorite treat as a child; a Napoleon. I stopped by Mary’s pastry this afternoon and picked up your dessert fresh from the oven.”

“Too bad there’s no milk to top it off.”

“Wait here.” Reece left again and reached into the cooler for the cold thermos he’d packed. He returned to find her licking the crumbs from her fingers.

God, she’s beautiful.

He pulled himself from his momentary daze. “Here ya go. Mrs. Johnson noted it was the only way she could get you to drink your milk.”

She swallowed two large gulps of cow juice, wiped her cream smeared mouth clean of the white beverage, and graciously opened both lips for another bite, to which he gladly obliged. Lilah closed her eyes as if she were in the throngs of orgasmic bliss and moaned in delight. “I didn’t realize that store had them, otherwise I would have gained twenty pounds since I arrived here.”

“They don’t normally. I called yesterday after my morning flight and told the owner I had a special date with my sweetheart and how I’d like to astonish her. The old woman said she’d be happy to play cupid and impress my girl. Well, is it working?”

Lilah downed the final morsel. “Yes,” then sucked the gooey white and chocolate icing from one finger before moving to the next, “it is.”

She peered at him, her eyes hooded. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“For this,” she said, spreading her arms wide. “For being my rock, for everything.”

He climbed back into bed and straddled her legs. “Thank you.”

“For?”

He pressed a kiss on her temple and trailed lower to her cheek and lips. “For this. For making me feel alive again. For – for everything.”

Twenty Two

Lilah couldn’t believe she’d spent almost two whole days in Reece’s company. The time had gone by so quickly. She glanced at her sailor-slash-pilot and smiled. “I’m not sure I want today to end.”

“Me either.” He looped the lines around a cleat, securing the
Jenny May
to her small dock. “Another night spent out under the stars would have been heaven. Too bad I have a late flight tonight.”

He handed her the cooler then her bag before stepping off the boat. “Come on. I’ll carry these things for ya.”

“You don’t have to. I can manage.”

“I want to.” He winked. “A man likes to feel wanted.”

“As if you have any doubts after this weekend.”

“Yeah, well there is that.” He laughed, following her up the steps and to her front door.

Once there, she frowned. The house was exactly as she’d left it. She peered around to the driveway and noted the rental. “Ash hasn’t returned. Reece, I know you said I shouldn’t worry but …”

“But a whole weekend without any word isn’t right.” He took the keys from her trembling hands and unlocked the deadbolt. “I don’t like the idea of you being here alone.”

“The home security folks are coming tomorrow to install an alarm. I’ll be fine. Well, as fine as a person can be for worrying about her sibling.” Her voice caught on a lump of fear. If anything happened to Ashley because of her, she’d never forgive herself.

 “I called my friend at the sheriff’s office this morning before you woke up.”

“You did?”

“Yes. He said there’s been no fatalities or serious car accidents within a thirty-mile radius since her disappearance. Plus, no one matching her description has shown up in any of the emergency rooms at the local hospitals. My advice is to believe your maverick sister is on a joy ride and when she gets back, you read her the riot act.”

Lilah released a flood of tension filled air. “Perhaps you’re right.” After all, Ashley was known for taking off on a moment’s notice without thinking of telling her family. She had to think positive or go crazy from worry. Reece’s plan was best.

His gaze shifted to the evidence of the intruder’s evil designs, the laptop knocked on the floor. “Did he do that?”

“What? Oh, the computer. Yes. Fortunately the fall only cracked the corner, it still works.” She bent to pick it up. “I confess, I haven’t finished cleaning up all the areas he carelessly destroyed.”

“Think maybe he was looking for some sort of file?”

Her eyes widened. “Damn, how could I be so blind? I had a similar conversation with Ashley when she first arrived, about how he was always hiding stuff from me around the computer.”

“Any idea where your husband could have hidden data storage units? Maybe he had a hidden safe somewhere in his office.”

Lilah searched her memory and related pretty much the same information she’d shared with Ashley. “A few weeks before the murder, I walked in on Ben when he was working on the computer. He acted weird, like I had caught him watching porn or something. He quickly removed something from the side of the screen and stuffed it in his pocket. A couple of days later I was gathering clothes for the cleaner and a flash drive fell from his pants. When I bent to pick it up, he freaked out.”

Lilah’s lips twisted. The only way she’d be free of this nightmare was to locate that data. Otherwise the danger would always be close by.

“It’s all right, my love. You’re not alone anymore. Think Lilah. Is it possible you have the information and don’t even know it?”

“No, Ben never told me about it, and he definitely never gave anything to me.”

“Okay. This is like a puzzle with no clues.” Reece analyzed what few facts they had. “Ben couldn’t bury it in his office, his clothes, nothing associated with himself personally; that’d be exactly where they’d search. Did the senator have a safe deposit box in a bank somewhere?”

“Not that I know of?”

 “Problem with a safe deposit box was he’d be observed coming out of the building. The kingpin would simply have him trailed till he returned to recover the storage device, then they’d get him.” Reece seemed to be talking more to himself than her, but his ramblings made sense. “No. Better to place it where he thought no one would see him store or retrieve the data. A hiding place in plain sight; not associated with him, but still nearby. A location rarely visited, but openly…”

He stared at Lilah, his face alight with the dawning of new realization.
“You have it, that’s why you’ve been a target.”

“No, I told you, he never confided in me about such things, and he definitely never gave me data records to hold.” His continued assumptions frustrated her. His interrogation held a ring of familiarity, like the grilling tactics of the police.

“You don’t understand. Your husband hid the drive in your possession, not his. When this thug ransacked your apartment the first time, he never figured to search your stuff, why would he? Later, once he found nothing, they likely concluded the senator stuffed it in your things without telling you.”

“But why would he do that…”

“That’s right, Sweetheart. He was an asshole. The Senator was known publicly for his escapades. I’m sorry but the man never truly loved you. Lilah, you’re a woman, you have three or four times the possessions of a man.”

“What the hell’s that suppose to mean?”

 “I was only married once, but I’ve been involved… let’s just say that most ladies I know have things in their closets they haven’t visited for years. Is there anything you can remember, a box of shoes, a container of memorabilia…”

She rubbed her temples where a headache formed. That Ben could be so cruel as to embroil her in this affair made her physically ill. “Can we do this later? You have work, and I – I need to sort out my thoughts.”

 He softened his voice and pushed a stray hair from her forehead. “Got an idea?”

“What?”

He gently pinched her chin. “What if I do everything I can to bring back that pretty smile? It’s so much nicer than the sad face.”

She forced a grin, leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Reece. I appreciate that.”

He released a mocking gasp. “I’ll never wash that side again.”

Lilah chuckled. “Cute. Corny, but cute. You do have a boyish charm about you, Mr. Edwards.”

“So my plan is working?”

She held up two fingers separated by a quarter inch gap. “A little.”

“Well, that’s something.” He chuckled then sobered, pulling her against his chest. “You make me feel so damn special, like I could do anything, and you do it so naturally. It’s as if, I know it sounds silly but, I keep thinking, why did He keep us apart so long. This thing, us, why did we have to go through all the pain in our lives before our paths finally crossed?”

She gently rubbed the back of her French cut nails against his temple. “Maybe so we’d appreciate the gift of one another after all the dead ends and sleepless nights. You know, kind of provides perspective for how rare and wonderful this is.”

“Perhaps, but I sense it’s almost like we’ve both been lost in a sea of strangers, only to finally come together into one unity of purpose, so far into the journey. It just took so damn long to find each other.”

 “You may be right. Perhaps it was meant for this specific moment in our lives, when we needed the other the most, when we could better grasp the significance of the bond. I know, sounds corny, it’s just, you make me feel so damn good.”

“Personally, I’m not going to question the timing; I’m just finally thrilled He brought us together.”

He pulled back. “Move in with me.”

“What?”

~ * ~

Reece didn’t know he was going to offer until the words left his mouth, but what better way to make sure Lilah remained out of harm’s way. He’d caught her off guard, and she looked ready to throw a dish at his head, but damn it, he loved her. He couldn’t just stand by and watch while her ex’s idiocy got her hurt – or worse, killed.

“I know it’s sudden, but you’d be safe at my place, and I wouldn’t have to worry about hit men and burglars and missing information. So – what do you think?”

“No.” The negative answer spilled from her lips as a whisper before she punctuated it with a louder denial. “No. I can’t.”