In the Shadow of Malice Book 3

by Nancy C. Weeks

  He shut his eyes and Calista didn’t move. He believed every word he said, which tore her heart in two. He was trying to protect her from him.

  A tear spilled down her cheek and she quickly swiped it away. She leaned over and kissed the spot she struck moments before. The next kiss landed on his neck and she worked her way up the side of his face.

  “Don’t compare yourself with Ludis and Emil again. When I get pissed, I tend to strike out.” Balancing herself over him, she circled his neck. “Finding love is a blessing, Adam. Being able to love and accept love in return is why we are all here.”

  “Calista…”

  “You were not ready to give Rina what she needed. If that is a sin, then you need to find a way to forgive yourself.” She swallowed a sob and continued. “You are one of the most amazing men I have ever known, but you see yourself as a beast.” She brushed a strand of hair from his forehead. “I will never be able to make you see the Adam Blake I know. That is someone you are going to have to meet and get to know on your own.”

  Calista shut her eyes and held back tears. She cried a mountain of them over Hanna, and not one helped in the least. She had a decision to make. Could she accept only the part of Adam he was willing to share?

  Opening her eyes, she took a crazy leap of faith. “I just want tonight. If there is no tomorrow for us, then I don’t want to look back and wish…”

  Calista choked on her own words. No future with Adam hurt like hell. “You can send me anywhere you want in the morning. This time I promise to stay away.”

  Eighteen

  Temptation curled through Adam’s gut, driving heat in all the places that mattered. The world of his dreams slammed right into his reality.

  Adam rolled Calista under him. She intertwined her legs with his.

  “You see, we fit.”

  Her voice, low, hushed, but that charming sultry expression, new, damn exciting, and it sent a hot jolt through all the right places that mattered. The best part, she had no clue what she was doing to him. She was just being herself, his Calista. He should just take what he wanted for once. And how he wanted his mouth on the perky breasts pressing against his chest. Hell, he wanted to taste every damn inch of her. Adam lowered his mouth and gently caressed her lips with his tongue. Her breath hitched.

  “You really want this, Calista?”

  “Yes, hell yes!”

  He covered her mouth with his, her taste wild, and that spicy scent from her bath sent him over the edge. When she circled her arms around his neck and wiggled her body against his, he shuddered and gave in to the burning need.

  He released her mouth and yanked his shirt over his head. He ached for the moment when skin met skin. As if reading his mind, Calista reached for the hem of her T-shirt.

  “No, mine,” he ordered, and captured her hand above her head. His hands trembled as he moved the hem up over her breasts. With a final tug, he pulled the T-shirt over her head and tossed it across the room.

  * * *

  Did he have a point of no return? It had never happened before, but with Calista, anything was possible.

  “Adam?”

  His name came out in a breathless whisper. He closed his eyes for an instant, control slipping into place before he faced her. “You’re so beautiful, soft…I have dreamed this moment…”

  “You dreamed of us?”

  “Hours and hours, but will stop if you…”

  “Don’t you dare stop, Adam Blake.” Her hands spread over his shoulders to his pecs, then down to his waist. “Just this once, will you please stop trying to protect me, and take what you want. I need you, Adam.”

  “That’s good because I need you, too.”

  She moved her hand down to the bulge in his pants. He arched his back as every muscle tensed. That’s all it took. He flipped the button at the waist of his jeans and yanked down the zipper. He captured her mouth as he rolled them onto his side. One more yank and a kick, and his jeans hit the floor.

  Calista broke the kiss and ducked her head, taking his left nipple into her mouth. She pushed him onto his back and kissed her way across his chest to the right nipple. The air in Adam’s lungs burned. Two could play this game.

  Adam lifted her hands behind his neck and took a soft, rosy peak into his mouth as his hand grabbed the waistband of her sweats. She had knotted the string on his old pair, so they fit her narrow waist, but he had no problem finding his way beneath them.

  Calista rubbed herself against his hardness; she couldn’t get enough of the feel of him. The control he was trying so hard to hang onto faltered. He jerked the sweats off her and sent them flying. He lifted his head and took her mouth for another hard, carnal kiss, while his touch ignited every inch of her.

  Adam lifted her up onto his lap until they were chest-to-chest. Again, she met him by circling his neck, arching into him. He released her mouth and brought his lips down on her right breast, savoring the taste of her.

  Calista gasped, and a deep, primal groan made him close his eyes in pleasure. He raised his head and met her hungry gaze. She grasped both of his hands in hers and brought them between them.

  “Why are you holding my hands?”

  “It’s so… I can’t breathe.”

  He never heard that tone in her voice. “If I need to stop, just tell me.”

  Calista jerked her head back and forth, searching the room.

  “What are you looking for?” He couldn’t keep the harshness from his voice.

  “Something to slam over your head.”

  Adam let out a bark of laughter.

  “I was just catching my breath. I’ve never felt anything so…”

  “Intense, powerful?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t want you to stop.”

  In one swift move, Adam rolled them both until she perched over him, his body flat on the bed. He intertwined his hands behind her neck. “Okay, sweetheart. I’m all yours. Take what you want, as fast or slow as you want.”

  Her hands shook as she caressed the cord of his neck and then down the length of his abdomen. He almost lost it completely when her breasts eased over him, so soft, so feminine.

  Her eyes found his. “You are so damn beautiful. I know men don’t like that word, but there is none other.”

  He kissed her and said, “So are you, Calista. Damn beautiful, inside and out.”

  A trail of sweet, intoxicating kisses rained down his jaw line to the tender area just below his ear. As she savored his sensitive skin, her knee moved over his core. A bolt of sheer pleasure shot through his spine to his groin. He pressed into her as his hands grabbed her hips. He wanted her to have the control, to go at her own pace, but her every move was slowly killing him.

  If he had a death wish like Calista accused him of, this was the way he wanted to go. His hand moved down her spine, over the silky skin of her cheeks, then around her waist. When his fingers touched her center, his mind reeled.

  The moment her thighs widened, Adam gave in. Before Calista could take a breath, he pinned her beneath him. An instant later, he drove home and discovered something else that was sorely lacking in his life: Calista Martin.

  Nineteen

  A light sea breeze swirled around Calista, sending loose strands of hair into her face. She raised her face to the mid-morning sun, the warmth enhancing the absolute contentment. Without peering into a mirror, she would bet her last dollar that her skin glowed and she wore the silliest of grins.

  If ever there were a perfect moment, she was in it. Waking in Adam’s arms after hours of the most intimate, intense lovemaking would stay with her for a long time.

  She scanned the row of storage units. Just over the top of the tin roof, she could just make out a speck of the ocean. If she was still, she could hear the waves breaking and the shrill of the seagulls as they searched for their next meal.

  Calista turned and watched Adam raise the door of the unit. His muscles bunched in his back and shoulders from the weight of the door. She couldn’t keep from
smiling as her gaze traveled down the length of him. There was something all man beneath those tight, black denim jeans.

  “Calista?”

  “Yes,” she hummed.

  “Cut it out.” Adam drew her against him and kissed the tip of her nose. “You keep looking at me like that and we will be right back where we were an hour ago. There’s work to do.” He ran his finger over her lower lip. “Then we can play.”

  A flash of heat rose into her cheeks. She stared into the storage unit. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  Calista smiled, then flicked on the light switch. She scanned the mound of boxes stacked in neat rows. A light, powdery dust covered most of the surfaces. Doing a rough count, she came up with twenty-five boxes all the same size. For some reason, she expected the unit to be jam-packed.

  “When was the last time you were here?”

  “Ten years.”

  “I assumed you never went back to your home after they died.”

  Adam placed an arm around Calista and eased her against him. “It’s okay.”

  “I was just wondering how you got their stuff out of the house.”

  “I hid in the woods for hours, unable to move. I eventually found the car that Annija hid for me and drove home. I waited outside for a couple hours, then pulled into the garage. I threw some things I thought they would want me to hold onto into boxes.” He swallowed hard. “Like they were going to come back somehow and want their stuff.”

  “Oh, Adam.”

  He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “It was a long time ago.”

  “Not for me. I hate that happened to you. What did you do with the boxes?”

  “I loaded the car and drove away. Around two the next morning, I pulled over and called the police from a pay phone. The thought it could be days until anyone found my parents…I had to make that call.”

  “Did the police think you killed them?”

  “No. My parents’ time of death was while I was in school. The police believe that whoever killed them kidnapped me. My disappearance is still an open case.” Adam stepped back and scanned the small space. “I rented this storage unit right before I entered boot camp. Over the next few years, I stored things here. I guess this place became my home base.”

  He lugged a couple boxes out of the way as he moved toward the middle of the unit. “We only need to search the boxes against the far wall. I’ll start on the left and you can take the right side. We can meet in the middle.”

  A heart-wrenching pain clutched her. This space was all that was left of two people who loved and raised Adam. There should be more… stuff.

  Calista wasn’t sure which hurt more, the fact that a young, innocent, eighteen-year-old was forced to deal with such a tragic loss alone, or that in order to survive, Adam closed himself off from the few reminders of his childhood.

  He wrapped his arm around her middle and lowered his lips for a quick, tender kiss. “It’s just things I should have gone through years ago.”

  “No, it’s more than that.” She tugged the tape off the box nearest her and flipped the lids back. The box was filled with books and several popular board games. She reached in and chose The Hobbit.

  “These are memories. Cherished reminders you may want to pass down to Anna.” She held his gaze for several seconds. “Does being here after Rina…”

  He cut her off with another kiss.

  “I can’t go there. Not today.”

  “Of course.” She hugged Adam hard, stepped away, and began to flip through the pages of the book.

  “I don’t mean to sound callous or unfeeling.”

  “I know.” Calista fingered his jaw. “I understand. You’re departmentalizing.”

  “You know what you’re looking for?”

  “Yes, a plastic disk about an inch thick, three inches wide, and five inches long.” Her eyes searched the space. “If it’s in these boxes, we will find it.” She kissed his neck just below his ear, then began pulling out books from the box.

  They said little during the next half hour. Calista flipped through each book and examined the contents of every board game. She resealed the box and opened the one under it. Tearing back the lid, she let out a gasp. A photo of a beautiful baby boy framed in the center of the cover stared back at her.

  Adam’s baby album.

  To remove the album from the box, Calista dug out a smaller album tucked into a corner. Quickly, she glanced at Adam and eased onto the concrete floor. Resting her back against the boxes, she slowly turned each page. The album was the first year of Adam’s life, the pages filled with instant camera photos. Annija took great care labeling each of Adam’s firsts; first bath, first solid meal and those first precious steps. And then the type of photo film changed as well as the handwriting.

  Calista brought the album to her chest, hugging it against her. There was no doubt the loved Annija had for her son. It was on each page, and she left the album behind with her son.

  She lowered the book in her lap as tears burned her eyes. Taking in a deep breath, she kept the tears back and flipped through the last few pages, each photo again labeled with great descriptions. Annija may have handed her only child over to strangers, but his adoptive parents loved him as if he were their own child.

  Setting the album on top of the stack next to her, she reached for another book. There were eighteen full albums, all recording Adam’s day-to-day life as he grew into a young man. It took her a half hour to look through each album and repack them. She stood with the box, the lid on tight, and headed toward the car.

  “What are you doing?”

  “This box is going with us.”

  “Why? It’s just a box of photos.”

  “You are such a man, Adam Blake.” Calista sighed. “They are not just a bunch of photos. Your parents took great care saving these wonderful memories of your childhood. If anything, you need to share this part of your life with Anna.”

  “As long as it’s only one box, Calista,” Adam said, breaking eye contact to return to the contents in front of him.

  After placing the box in the backseat, Calista returned to her spot and picked up the small photo album she had dug out of the previous box. In the center of the cover was a handwritten dedication: Our greatest joy, the gift of our child.

  After skimming the book, Calista rose, her stomach in knots. “I think I found something.”

  Adam set the box he just lifted back on the stack. “What?”

  “I think this album was a gift to your mother from your parents.” She handed it to Adam.

  His eyes narrowed and his features looked haunted.

  “Have you ever seen the album before?”

  “My mother was making that album for Annija right before she died. I was about to graduate from high school.” He reached into his sport coat and retrieved the photo he had shown his father the day before. “I took the photo from the book to have something of Annija with me and stuck the album in the box.” He flipped through the first few pages. “I forgot about it.”

  Calista studied Adam as he eased each photo out, one at a time. A half smile appeared as he reached the last page. He was lost in a memory, and she let him relive it in peace. After several quiet moments, he closed the cover and handed the album to Calista.

  “No disk.”

  “Don’t you want to hold onto it? It’s filled with photos of you with Annija and your parents.”

  Before Adam could answer, a shadow appeared across the entrance of the unit. Two large men pointed a shotgun at Calista. Adam grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him. He had his weapon out from under his coat and aimed at the men before Calista could draw a breath.

  “Ours are bigger, Blake. Drop your weapon and kick it over to me,” one of the men ordered. “Those boxes aren’t going to stop ammo piercing rounds.”

  “Not fucking happening.”

  The hard edge to Adam’s voice sent a chill down Calista’s spine, while her breakfast did somersaults in her stomach
. She backed against the wall and scanned the area around her, but she found nothing to use as a weapon.

  Another man appeared in the doorway. His shoulders were so huge that he blocked the glare of the sun. He held a familiar plastic gasoline canister.

  Holy shit. Their plan was to burn the unit with them in it.

  His companion gave a simple nod, and he began dousing the boxes and doorway with gasoline.

  “What the fuck do you assholes want?”

  An instant later, three large blasts vibrated off the walls. The slugs slammed into the brick, inches from Calista’s head. Her stomach pitched. Oh my God. Oh my God…

  “You know what we are after. Give us the disk.”

  “I don’t have the fucking disk. I’ve never had it. Whatever my uncle is paying you, I’ll triple it. Just get out of here.”

  Calista peered through the boxes at the man’s reaction. His eyes narrowed and he sneered.

  “Then you are useless to us.”

  He nodded to his friend, who shot the lock off the storage unit next door. He made sure to dump the last dregs from the container into that unit before he tossed the can inside their neighboring shed. Then he pulled out a lighter.

  Adam fired off a shot. “Ignite it and you’re a dead man.”

  The thug laughed. “You are such a cocky bastard, Blake.” He nodded to the other unit. “Don’t you want to know what is stored right next to you?” He let out another laugh, gave the lighter a flick with his thumb, and tossed the flame into the unit next to Adam’s. “If I were you, I would duck.”

  Calista couldn’t see the spark, but the whoosh that instantly followed was noticeably clear. Adam reached for her arm and shoved her to the ground in the opposite corner of the room. When she hit the concrete, she groaned as a sharp pain shot up her elbow. His body slammed hard onto hers and his arm covered her head. She tilted her head just in time to see the men run out of view. She squirmed from under his weight, but Adam didn’t budge. Just as she opened her mouth to yell at him, a loud blast erupted in the next unit, shaking the ground. Adam’s arms tightened over her head, cutting off any air as a scorching heat spread over them.