Distant Obsession (24 page)

“I don’t understand.”

“This is my home, and I won’t be driven from it by …” She stepped away, leaving him bereft and confused. “It’s not you, it’s just that…”

He stiffened, unsure how to answer. “It’s fine. It was just a thought.”

“No, Reece, I appreciate the offer, it’s just that this is all too soon. I’ve enjoyed my independence this past year, and while I want “us” to work, I’m not ready to move that fast.”

He shook his head. “I get it. No, actually, I don’t, but I’m patient, and I think you’re worth waiting for.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you or be insensitive. But when I decide to make that move, I want to come to you without all my baggage. You know – with Ashley safe and the murderer behind bars. I won’t put you in danger in the meantime.”

“I’m already in danger,” he said softly. “Of losing something precious. You need better protection than an occasional police drive-by or a home security system that might have a long response time.”

“It’s my life. My decision.”

“And one I don’t agree with, but I’ll abide by your rules if that’s the only way we’re going to make this relationship work. At least for now, but I reserve the right to try my best to change your mind.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and exited before he said something he’d regret.

For now, he’d give into her need for independence, but he damned sure didn’t like it.

Twenty Three

Lilah hated that she’d sent Reece away while anger festered between them. Weary resignation forced her to sit and contemplate all he’d said, all he’d insinuated.

She knew Ben to be a jerk, but to hear Reece voice the reasons, to state plainly that her husband had never loved her… Damn. Why should she care whether Ben loved her or not. The bastard was dead, cut down in his prime by his own dirty dealings.

She thought of Reece and the pain she’d caused by turning down his invitation. Didn’t he know she wanted nothing more than to be with him, to love him as he deserved to be loved?

But she couldn’t risk putting him in danger. And she needed to be at the house should Ashley return.

What a crock of bull, Lilah. His offer frightened you.

“I’m such a fool,” she said and rose to her feet. In the kitchen, she poured a glass of water and downed two aspirins. “If you want this to be over, to end so you can live free of danger, of guilt, of the stigma associated with Ben’s death, then find the damned hidden data that set events in motion.”

~ * ~

 “Damn piece of rusted old junk.” He kicked the tire and tossed the ignition coil against the back wall of the garage.

Maybe it’s time I break down and buy a new mower.

Reece nudged his head in disagreement with his own thoughts as he passed the clutter of power saws, trimmers, and other odds and ends gathering dust around the border of the garage. Discarding something because it was old or suffering from a breakdown was not his way. From service rendered across the years, there had to be loyalty. Why did so many, like his Ex, find it so easy to ignore the premise of honor, commitment?

Maybe if I rebuilt the carburetor and installed new primary wiring.

He patted the fender of the fourteen-year-old lawn tractor. “Sorry, girl; my fault, not yours. I’ll fix ya up.”

The mechanical failure of his equipment wasn’t the core of his frustration; rather the abrupt ending of what appeared to be the solution he’d searched for from the very beginning. Like an automaton, his hands worked delicately at removing the carburetor from the manifold while his mind drifted elsewhere.

Why are relationships so hard?

Didn’t men and women want the same thing, feel the same loneliness, ache from the same realization that they might fly solo the rest of their life; or was it just him?

No, they have to feel it too, they have to.

Then why the confusion, the ambiguity in their behavior?

I just don’t get it.

Maybe that’s just part of the equation that lures us forward, the quest to understand, to peer inside and know what makes them so damn beautiful, yet so vulnerable.

I won’t give up, damn it. Not with Lilah, not this time.

All that he’d wanted, that he’d imagined with a life mate, he saw in her eyes, sensed in her touch. If he could just get her to open to the possibility, realize he wasn’t the dick-head senator from Maryland, would never betray her trust, then maybe he’d stand a chance.

That must be it.

Lilah wanted to move forward but the injured spirit inside, the little girl lost in the sea of strangers remained frightened. Her heart, like his, cried out to be held, to be loved above all others. They both needed to break down the barrier, the memory of thorns used by another to prick your heart without regard for…

“Lilah.” Without hearing her approach, he knew she was there, tasted that wondrous feminine scent that communicated her presence. Reece tried to rotate his body from its kneeling position, but she collapsed across his legs and pinned him against the lawn tractor. Her arms enveloped his neck, and her mouth inhaled his lips, that tiny sweet tongue darting madly in and out. “Jesus, Lilah. Are you all right?”

She molded to his torso, glued tight against his mid section, like a cowgirl preparing her steer in an upcoming rodeo contest. “I found it.”

“You certainly did.” The erection pressing against her spread thighs was proof enough.

She giggled and nipped at his earlobe. “I think I found Ben’s hidden data.”

The combination of wet and warm against his neck had his mind racing toward all sorts of possibilities and his body yearning to… “Wait.” He pulled away to look into her animated face. “You found the information?”

“That’s what I said.”

“How?”

“Last weekend, just before I went to the art show; I was putting the last few touches on a painting I had been contracted to complete. I ran out of cobalt violet. It’s an expensive color, about six times as much as everyday tones. I don’t use it that much, but this scene cried for that pigment. I thought I might still have a partial tube in my old suitcase. I store art supplies I don’t often need there. Anyway, when I looked inside the upper flap, there was a small envelope. I shook it and something hard slid back and forth. I was going to rip it open, but Ashley called me into the kitchen, then I got wrapped up in a dozen other things and just forgot about it until…”

“Until I jogged your memory with all my questions.”

“Hmm, you’re quite the detective, Mr. Edwards.” She wiggled her cute ass against his lap.

“Maybe we should check out the data, find out if our suspicions are right.” Or maybe they should finish what she so obviously wanted to start.

“Later.” She tugged at the hem of his shirt. “I’d rather check out you first.”

Good lord. The woman is insatiable.

“Now?”

 “I want you, Reece. Now. Here.”

She ripped at his shirt, accelerated her pace of consuming the exterior of his face, his neck, down between his pecs.

“Jesus.” Reece chuckled like a schoolboy being tickled for the very first time. He tried to respond in part, but she’d have none of it. The lioness had come to take its due, devour the prey from which she’d held back so long, and he didn’t resist. Reece willingly became her folly, reviled in the heat preparing his body, surging through all veins, until he greeted his neighbor’s stare as she watered the driveway instead of the adjacent flower bed.

“Wait a minute. We need to move inside. Someone’s…”

Lilah growled and silenced her meal with that commanding tongue while both tentacles tore at his pants, his belt, his…

“Holy shit. Lilah, we’re being watched.”

His words were irrelevant, his attempt to gain momentary pause in the process of being devoured was no concern to the crazed beast writhing up and down on his body.

Reece sighed, struggled twice to lift both their weights now entwined into one undulating mass. He grunted, in pleasure but also in strain as he worked his way inside the house, down the hallway and still the appendage cork screwed around his body continued munching his face, his throat, until finally they arrived at the bedroom. In one mighty heave, he tossed the feline to the mattress, took back control, and ordered, “Stay.” He raised both grease laden arms into the air. “Must clean.”

He raced into the bathroom tearing and tossing garments along the way. In fifty-four seconds he returned to take his turn as the master devouring the morsel reclining before him.

He stepped through the doorway, and the angel wrapped in a single sheet flipped off her cover. “Welcome aboard, captain.”

Twenty Four

They petted, cuddled, entwined, and finally linked as only two, a man and woman enveloped by the body and spirit of another human, can do.

Like two spent hummingbirds, quenched from the wealth of the other’s nectar, they again returned to this world, and she pondered her new countenance.

“What is it, what are you working on in that pretty head of yours?” he asked, trailing a delicious finger along the side of her rib cage.

 “No, you’ll think I’m being silly.”

“Sweetheart. I thought we agreed. No secrets, okay?”

She drew a deep breath and released a micro giggle. “There’s a flood of new sensations racing through my body, and my mind just can’t stop exploring the possibilities.”

“What do you mean?”

“My dreams, the things I’ve wanted since I was a little girl, they just keep dancing through my mind.”

“Like what?”

“No, it’s just crazy things, wondrously new hopes that crashed on the rocks years ago.”

“I promise, I’ll never laugh at you, only with you.”

Lilah hesitated and wiggled into a sitting position on the rumpled bed. “Okay, but we have to play a game first.”

“You mean like the sailor and his first mate, like last night? Hold on a second, let me check.” Reece reached below the sheets. “Yep, he’s up for another roll.”

“You’re so bad.” She chuckled. “It’s a word game. You have to answer a question. Hold on a second.” Lilah stretched across the lamp table, rifled deep within her purse and retrieved an envelope.

A warm hand caressed her exposed bottom. “Honey, you keep flashing me like that and we’ll have to play a different game first.”

She flopped back into place, prize in hand. “Later. Are you ready?”

“Shoot.”

“If you could have anything right now, what would it be?”

“I already have it; she’s laying right next to me.”

“Don’t be funny. You know that’s not what I mean.”

“Then what are you referring to; world peace?”

“No, what do you want for you, for Reece Edwards?”

“That’s easy. I want to be my own boss, not take orders from anyone else…except you of course. Like I told ya before. I want to start a small charter service, nothing big, one plane at first, maybe grow to half a dozen, but that’s a long way off. It takes…”