Before the Dawn

by Gail Chianese

  One by one she undid the buttons on the shirt he’d only thrown on when it was time to pick up dinner. Sliding it off, she let her hands glide over the warm skin, feeling his back muscles bunch beneath her touch until her fingers finally came to a rest on his toned butt. Together they closed the minute distance between them, claiming each other with their lips, teeth, and tongues. Tasting, tantalizing, teasing each other until lust buzzed through her brain like a tsunami crashing to shore, flooding her body and drowning her senses.

  Sweet coconut and spicy curry kisses. The musky scent of pure male and his pheromones wrapped around her, pulling her in deeper. Muscles like velvet-covered steel held her close.

  Lifting her to sit on the counter, he slipped his T-shirt over her head, leaving her naked and wanting. Fisting one hand in her hair, he held her as his other hand, splayed out, slowly caressed her neck and down to slip between her thighs, seeking the little bud of pleasure. His mouth claimed her nipple and together his tongue and fingers worked in unison to bring her to the edge of ecstasy and send her straight to heaven.

  Once she no longer feared she’d fall on her face from rubber-band legs, she slipped off the counter, snagged a finger in the waistband of his jeans, and led him to the bedroom. Turning into him, she kissed him deep, with sensual calculated steps, setting the pace. This would be no hurried, mindless sex.

  She poured her emotions into the act, though it was pointless to do so. Nothing had changed with Shawn’s plans. He was still leaving in two weeks and she understood, yet there was a raging need to let him know she cared, that he was worth loving.

  Worth getting her heart broken over.

  Because sure as the sun would rise in the morning, when he left, he’d be taking her heart with him. That wouldn’t stop him. Wasn’t meant to stop him. But the time to prevent this madness called love, to protect her heart, her very soul, had long since passed. The kiss—hot, tender, erotic—left them both breathless and for several very long moments they stood in the bedroom with their foreheads resting together. Silently, she reached for his hand and led him to bed.

  The next morning while Shawn fixed breakfast, Kat lay in bed, every muscle in her body aching from the workout the night before. She still couldn’t believe she, Katarina Jones, the good girl, was engaging in a fling. An affair. She’d always been the cautious one, even a bit old-fashioned. Oh, sure, to the world she presented the façade of a modern, confident women, free spirited and ready to take on whatever life threw her way. In reality, hidden deep inside lurked a person with doubts and fears who simply wanted to find a person who saw past the pretty face to share a simple, drama-free life with.

  “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” broke the silence and had Kat scrambling for her phone. Lexie. I’m so not ready for this conversation. Didn’t Lexie have anything better to do on her honeymoon than to bug her best friend? Of course she did. She was married to a man who was equivalent to sex on a stick. Not that she’d ever say that aloud. Which could only mean one of two things. Lexie had already heard of her new job or something bad had happened.

  Please let there be a third option.

  “Hello,” Kat answered, holding her breath.

  “Hey, Kat. Relax. Everything’s okay,” Lexie assured her with a laugh.

  “Then why are you calling me? Shouldn’t you be lounging in bed while McSexy feeds you grapes or something?”

  “Ooh, I like the new nickname. Think I’ll have to steal it.”

  “Be my guest. Let me know if he blushes, if not I’ll come up with something worse.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “So, what’s up, Lex?” She tried to keep it light because while they needed to talk, Kat didn’t want to rain on her friend’s parade or honeymoon as the case was. Besides, telling Lexie would make the change in careers real, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that kind of honesty.

  “Nothing. Can’t a girl call her BFF and take a moment to brag about the most incredible week of her life? Lounging on the beach, sleeping in, having sex 24/7, well, more like 12/7—after all, we do have to eat and get some sleep.”

  “Where’s McSexy?”

  “He ran over to the store to pick up some snacks for later today. How’s the case coming along?”

  “Nice try, but you’re on vacation. No shop talk allowed. Have you talked to anyone else?”

  “I talked to my parents. I asked how Bear was doing without me. I think Mom’s trying to steal my dog. She’s been feeding him steak for dinner.”

  “She’ll give him back when he starts shedding. So . . . she’s the only one you’ve talked to?”

  There was a pause. “Uh, I am on my honeymoon. Who else am I supposed to call?”

  Kat laughed. “No one, but I thought Vinnie might have popped in to tell you about Marilyn.”

  “Marilyn? Who the hell is that?”

  “Vinnie’s new girlfriend.”

  “Shut the front door!”

  “Dead serious. You’ll have to ask him about her when you get home. The dreamy look on his face is priceless. Kind of like you when Rafe’s name is mentioned.”

  “He is pretty dreamy, isn’t he? Okay, so since you won’t fill me in on work, where are you? I tried calling your place for the past two days and I’ve called your bloody cell a million times. I think a missing person’s case has been filed on you?”

  “Right.” Kat held the phone very still. “You’re kidding right? Lex, you didn’t?”

  “I didn’t, but I think your mom did. She called my mom around eleven p.m. Friday night worried because she couldn’t get hold of you and had been trying for hours. Then my mom called me, on my honeymoon, to find out where you were.”

  “Oh man. I’m soooo sorry.”

  “Are you okay?”

  Running her hand down Shawn’s side of the bed, she answered truthfully. “I’m great, better than I’ve been in a long time.”

  “Spill, Kat, and I want every detail.”

  “I’m having an affair.” She lowered her voice to just above a whisper.

  “You are not.”

  “Am too.”

  “With who?”

  “Remember that firefighter from the Big E who kept flirting with me?”

  “The one with the cute ass and great legs?”

  “You know that pretty much described every one of them. But yeah, that fits him. He’s the fire marshal working our arson case.”

  “When did you start dating him?”

  “We’re not dating. Dating implies the possibility of a long-term relationship. This is just a fling. A fun adventure between two mature, consenting adults who understand the liaison won’t go anywhere. He’s moving to Seattle in another two weeks.” She hoped the tone of her voice didn’t give her away, that she sounded unconcerned, even a little blasé, because no one knew her like Lexie.

  The line was quiet for so long she thought the connection had been lost. “Lex?”

  “I’m here. Kat, honey, are you sure you’re okay? I’ve never known you to get involved physically with a guy you didn’t care deeply for. I’m not passing judgment—trust me, if anyone deserves a little fun, it’s you. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  A little fun? Sounded good to Kat, but Lexie knew her too well and Kat knew, when the time came, when her heart lay on the ground in a hundred-million pieces, that Lexie would be the one holding the glue and helping her put the pieces back together. It’s what true friends did for each other.

  “Thanks for worrying, but I’m okay. Like you said, having a little fun, exorcising a certain douchebag from my memory. And let me tell you, I picked the perfect man to do the job. If you get my drift.” A grin spread across her face as she imagined the shocked look on her best friend’s face right now. Priceless.

  “Wow, I leave you alone for a week and you turn into some hoochie mama.”

  A gasp of shock rushed out of Kat’s mouth. No one had ever called her that before. A small sense of joy filled her.

  “Kidding. Hav
e fun and do me a favor, phone your mother before she has the National Guard called out looking for you. Love ya, see you next weekend.”

  The phone went dead before Kat could even say goodbye. McSexy must have returned to their room. Looking down at the phone, she debated calling her mom.

  “Breakfast is ready. If you’re not out here in thirty seconds, I’m eating your share, but you’ll still have to do the dishes,” Shawn called out from the other room.

  Knowing a call to her mom would lead to a long chewing-out, she tapped out a quick text letting her parents know she was fine and would call them later. They meant well, loved her tremendously, but after her accident, they worried. They all did—her parents, Lexie, Vinnie, Miss Elsie at the diner, Lexie’s parents, even their housekeeper, but none worried as much as Kat did herself.

  Coming face-to-face with her fiancé’s betrayal had been a major strike to her self-esteem. Blessed or cursed, depending on how you wanted to look at it, the mixed DNA from her parents’ union had produced a beautiful girl. Looking in the mirror, she liked what she saw: her mother’s eyes stared back, the same softly sculpted cheekbones, the smile that had reassured her for years everything would be okay and that told her she was loved daily, topped off with her dad’s stubborn chin, dent and all. Yet, that wasn’t how others saw her.

  The majority saw a delicate princess or a supermodel, someone to be admired and placed on a pedestal. Definitely not a person with brains and complexity. Guys she dated in high school and even college had treated her like a prize won at the local fair, a badge to show off their prowess on the field or in the bedroom. Very few had made the effort to get to know the real her, to see past the pretty face. She’d thought Paul was one of them. Until he proved her wrong by sleeping with one of his bank tellers, Kat being no more than a rich, pretty bauble to help him move up in the community.

  To let the actions of another control how you viewed yourself was simply stupid. She knew this, yet it was as hard to ignore as a box of Girl Scout cookies.

  She joined Shawn in the living room, accepted another plate loaded with fat-storing carbs, and settled onto the couch next to him.

  “Everything okay? You’ve got a funny look on your face, something between humor and horror.”

  Nibbling on a strip of bacon, she nodded. “As I suspected, my absence has not gone unnoticed.” She filled him in on how her best friend had called her from her honeymoon. “I told you, in a small town, nothing gets by prying eyes. I sent a text to my parents letting them know I wasn’t lying in the middle of a field, bleeding to death, or tied up in a serial killer’s basement, and I hadn’t run away to join the circus, as tempting as that might be. I’ll call them later to prove it all.”

  “Good. Then I won’t have to worry about being arrested for kidnapping. The department frowns on that kind of thing.”

  She stabbed two sausage links with her fork and used her knife to release them onto Shawn’s plate. “Party poopers.”

  Finishing off everything on his plate, plus her two links, he eyed the remaining pancakes on her plate. Kat passed them over and took her dirty dishes to the kitchen. “Have you got anything special planned for today? Other than ravaging my body?”

  Slipping his arms around her, he caged her in against the sink, nibbling along the exposed line of shoulder from his T-shirt she wore. “It’s a gorgeous day out, perfect for a hike at the point.”

  Creepy crawlies marched down her spine. “A hike?” she squeaked as she turned to face him. “Outside? With bugs and dirt and . . . bugs?” Disgust filled her voice. Why did men always pick the outdoors? What was so blessedly romantic about getting filthy and having insects crawling all over you, biting you in unmentionable locations? She’d never understand. “I don’t have any hiking gear.” She hoped her lame excuse would change his mind.

  One side of his lips curled upward, exposing a dimple in his right cheek. “It’s not really a hike, more like an easy walking path. You’ll be fine in the clothes you wore Friday.”

  “Speaking of, where are my clothes? I haven’t seen them since you ripped them off me the other night.” Not that she was complaining at all.

  He pulled her in closer, bunching the tee up until cool air caressed her bare butt seconds before his warm hands followed suit. “Your shoes are in the hall closet and your clothes are in the laundry room. I washed them yesterday morning for you, so you wouldn’t have to wear dirty clothes home.”

  Aww. How sweet, thoughtful, and caring. Unexpected. Surprising, even. Shawn was definitely not her usual type. As if she needed any more help slipping down the rose-colored road to love.

  “Where the fuck is she?” Peter St. Pierre yelled to no one in particular as he sat alone parked across the street from the office, giving him a wide-screen view of Kat’s car. “No one’s seen her all fucking weekend. Not since she’d walked out of that damn diner with that fucking fire marshal.”

  Pounding his fist on top of the steering wheel, pain vibrated up his arms. He wiped the windows to clear the steam. His chest heaved up and down, air whooshing out of his lungs loud enough to make him look around for the source. Visions of his lovely muse, naked, arms and legs entangled with that, that idiot sent his blood to boiling, stirring the beast within. They’d pay. He’d make them both pay for this. The world around him went fuzzy, blending together.

  Closing his eyes, he took deep, slow breaths like he’d taught himself over the years to calm the beast. He didn’t have proof that his beautiful Katarina was with that man and until he did, losing his temper was wasted energy. She’d probably spent the weekend with her family. According to word around town, they were very close. Or perhaps she’d been at her friend’s place, the one who was on her honeymoon. It always amazed him how much information some people were willing to share with complete strangers.

  The purr of a motor brought him out of his trance, only to bring his blood back to a boil. Finally, he’d found her. Kat slid out of the truck he’d seen parked outside the diner on Friday. The very one driven by the fucking idiot fire inspector. Not all rumors in small towns are just rumors.

  His beloved Katarina had, indeed, betrayed him. Soiled her body and soul.

  Gripping the steering wheel, he pulled out behind her as she drove her car away, keeping a respectable distance. They’d only gone a few blocks when she turned into an apartment parking lot. The morning sun glinted off her blond curls as she bounced into her condo, a happiness to her step.

  Darkness filled his heart. “Well, she made her decision and has left me none at all.” He pulled out of the lot, heading home. “I had hoped for so much more, to share my genius, my art with her. Clearly, she is unworthy. The slut will die a death fitting her status,” he stated to the air.

  A calm rage filled his heart and a plan began to form.

  Chapter 10

  Monday morning rolled around all too soon with its usual grace and subtleness, kind of like having a shovel whack you upside the head. She’d had Shawn drop her off at the office so she could retrieve her car, even though the walk to her condo took a mere five minutes. Better to move it and give the gossips less fodder to talk about. Showered and dressed, Kat was now back in the office, wishing she could wind back time and start the weekend over. Not that she wanted to do anything different. Oh no, au contraire. Who’d want to wish away relaxing, playful, fantastic sex? Not her.

  No, it was freaking work that was driving her crazy. Detective Daines’s text hadn’t made her day. He informed her that every one of the teen gang members had an alibi. The hooligans were actually members of the school band (because, well, a well-rounded resumé was important) and at the time of the fire they were on their way to New York for a competition. Now she was not only on the way to sure heartbreak, but back to square one with the case and no leads to point her in the right directions.

  In other words, she was screwed eleven ways to Sunday—and five ways to Saturday.

  Five. Five days were all she had until Lexie retuned and K
at dumped this mess in her lap. Seven days until she started her new job. Eleven days until Shawn moved away. Numbers sucked. Math time with the kids was going to suck. What a flipping nightmare. She should just notify the client that they couldn’t solve the case. Move on. Lexie would be disappointed when Kat told her she was leaving the agency, but she’d understand. It’s what friends did. They understood. Watched your back. Hopefully, caught you before you face-planted and helped you put the pieces of your life back together when everything went to hell in a handbasket.

  As for Shawn, if she were smart, she’d end the relationship now. No harm, no foul. An exciting memory in her quest for a new life, yet as with all good things, there was a time to let go. And he was good. Almost too good, but she knew that wasn’t true. All men appeared to be good, some even perfect, until their true colors showed.

  Yep, she should end it now. Move forward and not look back.

  Look at me being all grown up and philosophical and crap.

  Yeah, right. At this point, it might be easier to walk away from chocolate than Shawn. Which was precisely why she should do it. But while her head screamed run, her heart softly said, Stay. Fight. Enjoy. Love.

  Sometimes, it was the quieter voice that was harder to ignore.

  Walking to the back office-slash-kitchen to fix a cup of tea, she rehashed the case in her head. If she was in for one, she was in for all. The air around her chilled, and a few papers in the other room rustled before falling to the ground. Vinnie.

  He popped his head into the room. “Hey Kat, how was your weekend?” he asked with a smirk the size of Texas plastered on his face. Great, another lecture. You’d think she was eighteen instead of twenty-eight.

  Steadily stirring her tea, she leaned against the counter. “Don’t you start on me too.” Her voice sounded weary, as it should be. Her mom had called five minutes after she’d walked into the condo this morning. After that it had been Lexie’s mom, her honorary aunt. Both meant well, but really, they should give it a rest already.