She smiled. “Thought we weren’t going to use P words.”
“That didn’t end in a Y,” he replied with a soft laugh. Then the laughter faded. Tilting her head back, he lightly pressed his lips on one closed eyelid, then the other, then moved toward her mouth. But before he kissed her again, he said, “But you are wrong about one thing.”
She gazed up at him, looking up at his handsome face, losing herself in the deep blue of those mesmerizing eyes, which held not a trace of gray. “What’s that?”
His lips moved toward hers, hovering no more than a whisper away. Right before he eliminated that tiny bit of space, he breathed an answer so soft, she almost didn’t hear it.
“I do believe in love at first sight.”
Epilogue
May 4, 8:05 p.m.
As they walked down one of Savannah’s quaint, elegant squares, heading for a local restaurant that had become Lexie’s favorite, Aidan couldn’t help thinking about where he’d been a year ago. Alone, first of all. In Granville—a town he’d happily never lay eyes on again, if he had his choice. Without friends or a job. Worst of all, without Lexie.
Now, though, everything had changed. Life couldn’t possibly have gotten much better.
“What?” she asked, slipping her arm in his as they walked. “What are you thinking?”
“Can’t you read my thoughts?” he teased.
She glanced up at him, her eyes shining so green under the old streetlights. Batting her lashes, she replied, “Well, that’s fine with me, if you’re sure you don’t mind missing dinner.”
Laughing, something he did a lot lately, he said, “Other than that.”
“Do you think about anything other than that?”
Didn’t seem that way. Especially lately, since Lexie had finally landed the job she’d been after and moved here to Savannah. And right into his place with him.
She still sometimes talked about getting her own apartment. He had every intention of talking her out of it and, in fact, changed the subject whenever she mentioned it.
She mentioned it less and less now.
Good.
He liked sleeping with her in his arms. In fact, when she was in his arms, he was actually able to sleep, as if as long as his subconscious knew she’d be there when he woke up, he could let himself go.
He also very much liked being awake with her in his arms. Their sizzling sexual attraction hadn’t decreased with time, it had only grown stronger as they became more and more connected in every way.
Aidan didn’t want to lose that and would do whatever it took to keep Lexie in his bed, in his home, in his life. They’d exchanged no rings, made no promises, but their feelings ran so deep, he knew he never wanted to live without her. He also knew she felt the same way.
They didn’t say I love you out loud every day. But they whispered it every night, when they came together in the dark. Sometimes they said it without ever really saying a word.
“To tell you the truth, I was thinking life is pretty good,” he admitted.
“Yes, it is. I wouldn’t have imagined it six months ago, but it is.”
He squeezed her again, knowing how those memories still tore at her. Moving away from Walter and his family, and from Vonnie, with whom she had become very close, had been hard for her. But they all knew she’d go back and visit often.
The Kirbys were doing okay. Getting ready for Taylor’s and Vonnie’s graduations, preparing Ann for her junior year, and Christy, the youngest, to start high school. Living life. Not necessarily living the life they wanted, the one they’d dreamed of. But they were surviving.
Vonnie was surviving, too. She’d gone home from the hospital with Taylor, who had refused to leave her side, and the Kirbys had asked her to stay on to finish the school year.
She hadn’t replaced Jenny, God, no. But helping the girl, giving her a place to go, rather than back to her abusive mother, and giving her a chance at the life she deserved, seemed to help Walter and Ann-Marie deal with their own grief.
Vonnie had saved their daughter’s life. Just as Taylor had saved hers. Nobody would ever forget that. No matter where any of them went, that bond would always remain.
“Are you glad you moved here?” he asked Lexie. “No regrets?”
“Are you kidding? Think I miss the wives of all those men glaring at me in the grocery store, like it’s my fault their pervy husbands ended up charged with everything from statutory rape to murder?”
He hated that she’d gone through that. But he also knew things hadn’t been all bad. “Most people thanked you. And they’ll miss you. Dunston looked ready to cry at your going-away party.”
She chuckled. “He’s a big teddy bear.”
Another thing he couldn’t have imagined hearing her say six months ago. Especially not with such affection.
Aidan had just opened his mouth to tease her about it, when he noticed the couple walking toward them on the narrow, cobbled sidewalk. The loud man wore an expensive suit, the thin, pale woman a designer dress.
He knew them instantly.
Aidan’s heart thumped and his first instinct was to step onto the road, out of the way.
Ted and Caroline Remington hadn’t seen him yet, and it would probably be better if they didn’t.
But traffic had picked up, and Lexie was closest to the street. No way would he let her step off the curb, and he couldn’t get around her fast enough. There was no escape.
Only a few yards separated them now, and at last, Remington stopped listening to himself talk and glanced ahead. Their stares met. Aidan’s, he knew, filled with regret. Remington’s with . . . Fear?
The man’s face tightened and his gaze shifted frantically. His jowly cheeks shook and he reacted as Aidan had—immediately looking to the street for an escape, blocked on that side by traffic, on the other by an iron fence surrounding a beautiful old town house.
Caroline Remington seemed oblivious, her jaded, pinched look hinting that she didn’t notice much of anything, including her bore of a husband. She continued walking, drawing closer, until just a few steps separated them.
Suddenly, Remington jerked her around, ignoring her gasp and her protest. Trading places, he pushed his wife over toward the fence so he was the one Aidan had to brush past when they finally came face-to-face on the sidewalk.
They drew abreast. Their eyes met, locked, all in the length of time it took to take one step. Then they moved apart. But Aidan hadn’t gone more than that one, single step when something made him freeze.
A scent. Peaches.
He whirled around, driven by some force he didn’t fully understand, his senses taking over for his brain. “Mrs. Remington?”
The woman stopped and looked back at him, apparently not noticing that her husband’s eyes had grown huge and desperate as he tried to tug her forward. “Yes?”
Aidan reached for her, watching his own hand rise as if it belonged to someone else.
Peaches. So strong.
It wasn’t a phantom smell, but a real one. Her lotion? Her shampoo?
“I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am,” he said.
Another inch and he touched her, his fingers brushing ever so lightly against her arm. Just a touch, the faintest connection.
But that was enough. That was all it took.
Mommy, please! I’m sorry. I’ll be good. I didn’t mean to forget to wash my hands. Please don’t spray me. No, please don’t put me in the dark. I don’t like the closet. Mommy!
Peaches. Spraying water. Wood. Splinters.
Teddy.
Remington, watching in horror, saw the moment it happened. His expression told the tale—he knew Aidan had touched his wife and seen the truth.
Which meant Remington, himself, already knew the truth.
“Come on, Caroline, we’re late,” the man snapped, his hands tightening on his pale wife’s arm, his eyes venomous as he glared at Aidan, silently threatening him not to say a word about what he had discovered.
/> The woman let herself be dragged away, though she looked back over her shoulder once, obviously not recognizing Aidan, confused, having no idea what had just happened.
Lexie, though, knew. Standing beside him, she watched the other couple depart, then murmured, “That was them.”
“Yes.”
“You felt something.”
He nodded. “She did it.”
Lexie said nothing, she merely curled her hand into his and squeezed, tight, knowing without further explanation what this meant.
That cold bitch Caroline Remington had done it, and Ted Remington knew. The bastard had, at some point, found out his wife had killed their child, and he’d covered it up. Let Aidan hang out to dry, probably paid off someone in the medical examiner’s office.
He’d covered up his own son’s murder.
“What are we going to do?” Lexie asked, her voice quiet, introspective.
He focused on the we, realizing they had become a solid unit, the two of them a unified front against anyone who threatened them. God, he loved having this woman for his partner.
He loved her, period.
“They’re not going to get away with it,” he swore, still staring at the couple as they disappeared into Savannah’s shadows.
“Will Julia and the others be able to help?”
“Absolutely. I know they’ll want to,” he said. Then he added, “It’s going to get ugly.”
“Murder always is.”
“Yes. But they won’t get away with it.”
Whatever it took to bring those people to justice, he would do it. He was back in his town, back in his job, back in his head. And ready to take on the world. Or at least two murderous residents of it.
“Okay,” she told him, unhesitating. “I’m with you.”
He turned to her, looking down at her beautiful face, so serious, so supportive, so full of emotion for him. Worry, fear, tenderness. Love.
And with every part of himself he told her exactly what was in his heart.
“As long as you’re with me, Lex, I can do anything.”
Did you enjoy COLD SIGHT?
Then don’t miss the next three books in the Extrasensory Agents series:
COLD TOUCH – Olivia Wainwright survived her own murder as a teenager. Now she shares the last few minutes of other victims’…and loses a little bit of her soul every single time.
COLD MEMORY – Mick Tanner can touch an object and know its history…which makes crime-solving the perfect career…but limits his ability to touch another living person.
COLD IMAGE – Derek Monahan sees the imprints of violent death everywhere he turns. Now he must investigate a strange series of disappearances at an eerie boy’s school.
All available now!
Visit: www.leslieAkelly.com for excerpts and more
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Watch Me
by Cynthia Eden
Watch Me
He was hired to protect her.
Watching gorgeous Gwen Hawthorne wasn’t a hard job, but it certainly was tempting. Chance Valentine had tried to keep his distance from the sexy socialite for years, but when her father hired him to keep watch on her—as a twenty-four, seven bodyguard—Chance knew his control was about to be pushed to the limit.
He’d never wanted another woman the way he desired her. Hot. Intense. Consuming. Being so close to Gwen, Chance knew that he wouldn’t be able to resist her. So he gave into his need, her need, and he took them both to the edge of a dark and consuming desire.
But Chance soon realizes that he isn’t the only one watching Gwen. Someone else is out there, a stalker who won’t rest until Gwen is destroyed. Every day, every moment…Gwen is in danger. And Chance knows that if he can’t unmask the stalker, then he may just lose the only woman he has ever loved.
Watch Me.
Welcome to the edge of dark and dangerous desire…WATCH ME is the first book in New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Eden’s sexy “Dark Obsession” romantic suspense series.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Description
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Want More?
Prologue
“Name your price.”
Chance Valentine slowly looked up and met the bright blue stare of the man seated across from him.
“You know I can pay it,” Will Hawthorne said, leaning forward. “So let’s cut through the bullshit and get this job done.”
Chance kept his face expressionless. “You have your own security team. I really don’t see why you need me anymore.” Will Hawthorne was one wealthy bastard—with bastard being the keyword. The man had enemies that stretched for miles, rivals that he’d stepped on—no stomped on—as he climbed to the top of the business world. The guy was also Chance’s ex-boss.
“She doesn’t trust anyone else on the team. She ditches the guards as fast as I put them on her.”
Her.
It got a little harder for Chance to keep that expressionless mask on his face.
“Gwen trusts you,” Will said. His blue eyes narrowed. “Use that trust. Get close to her. Stay close.”
The guy had no idea what he was asking. “Your daughter has plenty of—”
“My daughter barely talks to me right now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what the hell is going on in her life. Remember that asshole she hooked up with a few months back? The one with the damn shady past that still gives me nightmares?”
Beneath the desk, Chance’s hands clenched into fists. Yeah, he remembered the man. He also remembered how badly he’d wanted to rip the guy apart. Chance had seen what the fellow had done in the past—and he hadn’t been about to let Ethan Barclay hurt Gwen.
No one hurts Gwen.
Well, that had been Chance’s mantra. Then he’d been the one to break her heart.
“I’m worried about her. Gwen hasn’t been the same since that jerk Barclay.”
Chance cleared his throat. “Just because she had a bad break-up, that doesn’t mean the woman needs a twenty-four hour bodyguard.”
“What about the fact that someone is after her? Does that mean she needs protection?”
His body tensed. “You should have led with that shit, man.” And not come storming into my new office, telling me I had to take your job. Throwing your weight around and pulling your usual SOB routine.
Will nodded. “I think it’s Barclay. I think he’s the one who’s been tailing her. Some men can’t let go, know what I mean?”
Unfortunately, he did. “Do you have evidence that it’s him?”
Will’s lips thinned. “No, but someone broke into my daughter’s house. Someone has been calling her so much she’s had to change her phone number twice in the last two months. Like I said, she’s not talking much to me, but I am not about to let her be put at risk. I want you on the case. I want you close to my daughter.”
But that might not be what Gwen wants.
“With Barclay’s history…” Will sighed. “I won’t take risks. I can’t. Gwen has to be protected.” He inclined his head toward Chance. “You want this business of yours to succeed, right? You and your friends want to become the most sought after bodyguard agency in D.C.? I can do that for you, and you know it. I can talk to the right people, I can give you more clients than you can even handle.”
Yes, he knew the guy could. Just as he knew the wrong word from Will would have folks running away from his business.
Chance had been i
n security for years. Once upon a time, he’d even protected the president. He knew exactly how to stay close, how to shadow a client while looking for every possible threat. Hell, he’d been Will’s chief of security for three years. Like that had been an easy job.
Protecting the president had been a cakewalk compared to life at Hawthorne Industries.
But Chance had finally branched out on his own. He and two of his closest friends had put all of their savings into this business. In D.C., the personal protection business was booming, and he was all set to tap into that boom.
The right words from Will…oh, yes, he’d be tapping in to that boom, all right.
And what about Gwen?
Her image flashed into his mind, an image that came to him far too often. Beautiful Gwen. “I didn’t think you trusted me with your daughter.” His words came out rougher than Chance had intended.
“I don’t. I’ve seen the way you look at her.” A muscle flexed in Will’s jaw. “But I know…I know you’d keep her safe. She won’t let anyone else stay close. Gwen’s too smart. Like I said, she ditches every guard I put on her.”
“And you think she won’t ditch me?”
“I know you won’t let her,” Will said with certainty.
No, he wouldn’t. Chance rubbed his jaw and felt the scrape of his five o-clock shadow. “I’ll investigate,” he finally said. “I’ll see if anyone is after her or if you’re just being a paranoid bastard.” He didn’t pull his punches with Will. Others did. Chance didn’t.
Because he wasn’t intimidated by the guy’s money or power. Never had been. Never would be. “But let’s be clear…I’m doing this for her. If she’s in danger, then I will eliminate any threat. This isn’t about you or any damn promises that you think you can make to me.”
Looking satisfied, Will rose to his feet. “I am a paranoid bastard, but in my world, it pays to be that way.” He lifted a brow. “You’re taking the case?”
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