Say You Need Me (24 page)

“You knocked your head.”

“Yeah. I don’t remember how that happened. My hand’s pretty banged up.” Geoff lifted the bandaged hand.

Kiana whimpered as she looked at it. The visible fingers were discolored and swollen.

“But at least I’m still here, baby. That’s what matters.”

Kiana’s eyes flew to his. She was startled to see the hint of a smile on Geoff’s face.

“It could have been much worse,” Geoff continued. “If the car had hit my door…I might not be walking, much less breathing.”

Here Geoff was, looking at the bright side even though he was in pain. But he was right. The accident easily could have been tragic. So despite any discomfort, the bottom line was that he was going to be okay.

Kiana threw her arms around Geoff once more and squeezed him, forgetting about his physical discomfort or anything else. She was just so thankful that he was alive!

“Ah…” Geoff moaned softly when she held him too tightly.

Releasing him, Kiana said, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, baby. I like when you hold me.” He paused, then added softly, “I’m glad you came.”

Kiana met and held his eyes. “So am I.”

“I’m going to be off work for a little while, maybe a few days. Just until my hand feels better, and my neck.”

“Your neck?”

Geoff moved it gingerly. “It’s a bit sore. Who knows if it will be worse tomorrow? The tests will show if there’s any major injury, but I doubt it.”

“You’ll need a heating pad for your neck. Or is it ice?”

“Ice for the swelling on my hand, that much I know.” Geoff looked at his hand, then at her. “I think I’m gonna need a nurse…to take care of me. Know any available to do the job?”

“You know I’m gonna take care of you, Geoff.”

“You are?”

“Yes. Why, you want someone else to?”

“No,” Geoff quickly replied. “I just thought…you’re always so
busy
.”

Kiana placed a palm against his face. “Not for you. Not this time.”

“What does that mean?”

Kiana blew out a frazzled breath. “Geoff, I know you’re going to say I’m a big idiot—and Serena would no doubt agree—but when I got that call…I promised myself that if I got here and you were okay, I wasn’t going to take you for granted again.”

“Really?” One of Geoff’s eyebrows peaked.

“Yes, really. I was always so afraid I’d lose you that I thought I could protect my heart if we didn’t continue our relationship. But when I got the call that you were in the hospital, I realized that I’d been lying to myself.”

A huge grin formed on Geoff’s face.

“My father was a fisherman, and there were risks inherent in his job every day just by his always being out on the boat. But I never heard my mother worry or complain about what he did. She valued the time they had together.

“I think when my parents died in a boating accident, I associated the danger of his job with what had caused his death, even though that wasn’t the case. And I kept thinking that if only they hadn’t gone out on the water that day,
they wouldn’t have died. But you know what? In the end, it doesn’t matter. You have to live life, enjoy it for as long as you have it. I don’t want to live the rest of my life afraid to love because I’m afraid I’ll lose you.”

“Baby.” Geoff placed his uninjured hand on her face. “I want to be straight about what I’m hearing. Are you asking me to give you another chance?”

Kiana’s mouth fell open in mild shock, then she smiled at Geoff’s signature humor. For months,
he’d
been asking
her
for another chance, yet he’d turned the tables around on her—all, she was sure, to get a smile out of her.

But she said, “Yes. I’m asking for another chance. Think you can give me one?”

“Hmm…you know it.” Geoff leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Then, pulling his head back, he stared into her eyes, his own serious. “I love you, Kiana.”

Kiana gave him a playful smile. “I love me, too.”

When Darrell heard the phone ring hours after
he’d retired to bed, he at first thought he was dreaming. But an instant later, he bolted upright.

It was the middle of the night, and the phone was ringing. He threw the covers off and jumped out of bed.

Cecil!

Darrell charged into Serena’s room without knocking, but paused when he saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, her body hunched forward and her face buried in her hands. Hearing him, she looked up.

That’s when Darrell realized something was seriously wrong.

Her eyes were big and round and filled with fear, almost as if she’d seen a ghost. In three quick strides, he crossed the room to her.

“What happened?” he asked urgently.

“Someone just threatened me.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. Some man. He said to tell Cecil that his days are numbered and he warned me to stop hanging out with him, or I’d be an unfortunate casualty.” Serena’s voice trembled as she spoke the last words. “Darrell, someone called here for
Cecil
.”

Darrell didn’t think of the immediate consequences of her words. Instead, he responded to her fear, sitting on the bed and wrapping her in his arms.

“Why would someone call here for Cecil?”

Her body shook slightly as she spoke, and Darrell whispered, “I won’t let anything happen to you, Serena.”

“You don’t get it. Someone told me to stop hanging out with Cecil. Obviously, they’re talking about you. They’ve
seen
you, and they think you’re Cecil.” She paused. “God, maybe it was a bluff, but I said…I begged them not to hurt him. You. I wasn’t thinking. Now, they’ll know for sure you’re with me. Oh, God.”

Still holding her close, Darrell considered her words. “You’re right.”

“Gosh, maybe my sister was right. Maybe I should have let the police deal with this.” She whimpered. “How did this happen?”

Darrell was silent as he thought about her question. “If someone called here, that means they know who you are, or…did you block your number when you made the calls?”

“No.” Serena looked up at him. “Oh, damn.”

“God, I should have thought of that before you made the first call.” But he’d been distracted by his attraction to her and hadn’t thought about taking any safety precautions.

Serena pulled out of Darrell’s arms and rose to her feet. Hugging her torso, she moved to the bedroom window and peered outside. After a moment, she turned and faced him. “You have to get out of here.”

He gave her a puzzled look.

“If someone knows where I am and they think you’re Cecil…God only knows what they’ll do. Darrell, it’s not safe for you here.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You were ready to go earlier,” Serena pointed out.

“That was then.”

“Nothing’s changed.”

“Of course it has.”

“Right. You’re not safe here anymore.”

Darrell stood. “Do you think I’m going to leave you now, with the very real threat of danger?” When she didn’t answer, he continued. “Think about it. Even if I leave, they’ll probably think you’re still in touch with me. They’ll go to you to try and get to me.”

Serena moaned her distress. “Oh, Darrell. What should we do?”

“I’m not going to let you out of my sight.”

Several seconds of silence passed, then Serena said, “That’s not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

Serena’s eyes narrowed on him in the dimly lit room. “Don’t you remember what you said earlier? That we were spending too much time together, that it was clouding the issue?”

“I’ll deal with that.”

“How?” Serena challenged. “By falling into bed with me again?” At Darrell’s stunned expression, Serena added,
“Because say what you want, Darrell Montford, I know you enjoyed being with me, so much so that it scares you.”

Serena’s words rendered him speechless. How had she so completely figured him out?

“I’ve seen this struggle before,” Serena continued, as if she’d read his thoughts. “With my sister. She’s still in love with her ex but is either too blind or too scared to see it.”

“Fine,” Darrell said, when his mouth was moist enough to speak again. “I’ll make a determined effort to keep my hands off you.”

Two tension-filled seconds passed before Serena asked, “Why?”

“
Why?
”

Serena folded her arms under her breasts, and the fabric of her T-shirt hugged her as erotically as if she’d been doused with water. “Yes, why?”

“B-because,” Darrell stammered, not quite sure what to say in the face of her boldness. “Because I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I think we’re past the hurting stage…if you know what I mean.”

Good Lord in heaven, who was this woman? Was this how demure librarians talked these days?

She was crazy. If he had a smidgen of doubt about that before, he no longer did. Who else but a crazy woman would talk to him so frankly only hours after he’d taken her virginity, then told her he didn’t want a relationship with her?

But God help him, that whole coy-on-the-outside-bold-and-sassy-on-the-inside thing was getting him hot and bothered again. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“If I could stop it,” Serena replied, her voice a whisper as she strolled toward him, “I would.”

Oh, man. How was Darrell supposed to stay away from her when she came on to him like this? Forgetting everything he’d said about staying away from her, he closed the distance between them in one urgent step, framed her face, and brought his lips down on hers.

Hard.

A soft moan bubbled from Serena’s throat instantly, and just like that, he was hard. He pressed his erection against her.

Serena opened her mouth and let him deepen the kiss. He did, his tongue hot and demanding, probing every inch of her mouth. Never had anything felt so thrilling.

Serena suddenly broke the kiss. “I lied,” she said breathlessly. “I wouldn’t stop this if I could. It feels too delicious.”

“Delicious?”

“Mmm hmm…” Serena managed before Darrell smothered her mouth with his once more.

God help him, her insanity was rubbing off on him.

Oh, yeah. He was crazy. But this kind of crazy felt too good.

“Maybe we should wait,” Jan said, as Rex paced the floor before her. She was suddenly uneasy with what Rex was planning to do. “Cecil promised he’d be in touch in a few days.”

“He’s been saying that for a few weeks.”

“I know.” Jan bit her bottom lip as she regarded her husband. Every time she told him they should forget
about the jewelry and move on, Rex got pissed. He wanted vengeance, and he wouldn’t feel better until he got exactly that.

Rex went on and on about the jewelry and how important it was to him, to them, but in her heart, Jan knew Rex wasn’t as upset about the jewelry as he was about what it represented. And that was her fault. She’d had an affair while he was in prison, and boy, had she picked the wrong man. She’d hardly been able to keep her affair a secret when Cecil had stolen the jewelry Rex had given her.

For Rex, getting back the jewelry was like getting back a piece of his pride. And to do that, he’d stop at nothing.

God, Jan just wished he’d forget the whole damn thing!

“We know where he is, so if we’re gonna do this, then I say we do it ASAP,” Rex declared.

“You think he has the jewelry there?” Jan asked.

“If he doesn’t, that’s his problem,” Rex said.

“I thought the point was to get the jewelry back. Now that we’ve let his girlfriend know that we know where he is, we should call back and give him the chance to bring the jewels—”

“And give him a chance to call the cops? I don’t think so.”

“Cecil wouldn’t call the cops,” Jan countered.

Rex stopped pacing and glowered at her. “You know him pretty well, don’t you?”

Jan gritted her teeth. “I’m pointing out the obvious. Why would he call the cops when he’s a thief? It doesn’t make sense.”

Rex didn’t respond. Once again, he began wearing a hole in the floor.

Jan bit down hard on her bottom lip. Suddenly, things
had gotten out of hand. She was worried about how far Rex would go. He was a huge man and could seriously hurt Cecil. In fact, huge was an understatement when describing Rex’s body. Over the two years he’d spent in prison, his body had grown with extensive working out. Now, he was two hundred and sixty pounds of solid walking muscle.

Unfortunately, Rex had never insured the jewelry he’d given her. In fact, Jan wondered if it wasn’t hot when he’d bought it, and therefore he
couldn’t
risk insuring it.

The problem was, Jan was glad to have Rex home and didn’t want him to go back to jail. But Rex’s ego was so big that despite the fact that he was on parole, he wouldn’t let
anyone
make a fool of him and get away with it.

She wished she could make him see how crazy it was to pursue this, but when Rex got an idea into his head, no one but Rex could get it out.

Serena’s ear-to-ear smile disappeared the moment she rolled over, reached for Darrell, and found the bed empty beside her.

Her eyes flew open. Then her heart sank.

Darrell was gone.

Glancing at the bedside clock, Serena saw it was shortly after six
A.M
. Miami was still shrouded in darkness, but the sun would soon rise.

But Darrell had already risen, unable to stay in the same bed with her so they could wake up together after the night they’d shared.

Serena rolled onto her side, tucking her hands beneath her cheek. What had gone wrong? While she had felt warm and blessedly content a few hours ago, she now felt
cold and horribly confused. She’d sensed Darrell’s fear, had told him that, and had assured him that she understood. And Darrell had proceeded to make love to her again. Serena had figured that meant he was ready to deal with his feelings, but clearly she was wrong.

God, she was a novice. She’d foolishly expected that sex would make things better, but now she realized that wasn’t the case. Despite how she felt for Darrell, he might never get over his issues.

Yesterday, she didn’t allow herself to feel regret, but now it washed over her in waves. She’d waited her whole life to share herself with the perfect person, but she’d blown it.

She’d gone and given her virginity to Mr. Wrong.

When Darrell didn’t come out of his room for breakfast, Serena went to him. She softly rapped on his door. Seconds later, he opened it.

“Morning,” Serena said cheerfully, though her heart pounded in her chest. Just seeing him again, she found herself growing light-headed. She hoped she wasn’t jumping to conclusions about how Darrell felt. Maybe the time away from her had given him time to think, to face his fears.

“Whassup?” he mumbled.

Whassup?
Last night, he’d been whispering to her how beautiful she was, how good she felt, and today he was greeting her with a
what’s up
?

This was bad.

Suddenly, Serena didn’t know what to say. Linking her hands together, she wrung them—hard. She’d taken the initiative and seduced Darrell again last night, hoping
that would solve everything. She’d held out hope that they could have a romantic breakfast this morning. That’s the way the morning after making love for the first time played out in her dreams, with her Mr. Right continuing to sweep her off her feet with a romantic breakfast of strawberries, chocolate, and champagne. But the champagne wouldn’t make her light-headed. Mr. Right’s affectionate kisses and caresses would.

Instead, she was getting the cold shoulder, served up with a plate of embarrassment.

Serena swallowed her pride, but it didn’t make it past the lump in her throat. “Um…”
Don’t do this,
she told herself.
If he doesn’t care, walk away.
But she said, “Last night…that was just more sex, wasn’t it?”

“If you’re asking whether or not…” Darrell hesitated, swallowed. “Maybe we should just concentrate on finding my brother. Then all our lives will go back to normal.”

Why are you being so dense?
she wanted to shout. Instead, she said, “I’m going to work.” She had been planning to take yet another day off to be with Darrell, to help him search for Cecil—and maybe even have some more wonderful sex. But in light of the brutal reality, she’d now go in.

She could no longer deny the fact that Darrell was Mr. Wrong. And if he was Mr. Wrong, she couldn’t share her body with him anymore.

No matter how much she wanted to.

“I’ll stay here, then. Wait to see if Cecil calls. If you don’t mind, of course.”

Serena did a half-turn, fully intending to walk away. But she pivoted back toward Darrell and blurted out, “Yes, I do mind.” She looked at him with disbelief. “I gave you
my
virginity
, Darrell. And fine, maybe I don’t expect a proclamation of love, but I sure as hell don’t appreciate the cold shoulder from you.”

Darrell didn’t know what to say, so he asked, “What do you want from me?”

Serena swallowed, then held her head high. If Darrell didn’t care about her, so be it. She wouldn’t waste another thought on him. She couldn’t change the past, so she’d just have to move on. “I want my necklace back. That was always the plan.”

Darrell gave a curt nod, his eyes unreadable. “Good. So we’re both on the same page.”

Serena forced a smile. “Yeah. I’m gonna go get ready.” Not able to stomach being near him another moment, Serena hurried to her bedroom. Inside, she slid down against the closed door. But an instant later, she bolted to her feet. She needed fresh air.

Exiting her bedroom, she hurried to the front door, slipped into her shoes, then headed outside.

The sun was shining in a cloudless blue sky, and the hint of a breeze flirted with her hair. Serena turned toward the lake, then decided that since she always strolled around the lake, she’d take a walk in the other direction instead. There were tennis courts, two pools, and a little park in that direction. Maybe a few minutes alone sitting beneath the scenic palms and cypress trees would help clear her head.

Serena was almost at the end of the walkway from her apartment when she heard squealing tires. Looking up, she saw an SUV speeding toward her. Instinct made her stop and not attempt to cross the parking lot, but as the car got nearer, a chill snaked down her spine. The next
instant, she saw something jut out from the passenger window.