Crazy in Chicago

by Norah-Jean Perkin

  His kiss ignited Roberta, sizzling nerves already on fire with fear and anticipation. Fear of never seeing Cody again. Anticipation of a touch that might set off a conflagration she couldn’t control. The two melded together as he claimed her mouth, melting her bones and taking her breath away until she no longer wanted to think about anything but him, and her, together.

  The texture and pressure of his lips on hers, the touch of his hands on her body, his musky scent in her head, his very closeness fired her senses. A rhythmic refrain pounded through her veins, faster and more insistently by the second. He wants me. He wants me. He . . .

  Her heart racing, she kissed him ever more wildly. Her hands tangled in his hair, played across his broad back, cupped him through his nylon shorts. No longer restrained by guilt or conflict, she offered herself to him.

  “You’re wonderful,” he murmured as his lips dragged along her chin to her throat. “Just wonderful,” he murmured, his breath tickling her ear. He pressed her hard against the growing evidence of his desire.

  “We don’t know each other that well,” she whispered.

  He pressed his nose against hers. In the sudden stillness of his embrace, his dark eyes regarded her steadily. “Maybe not,” he whispered. “But I think we know everything that matters. I know that you’re just as beautiful inside as out. And that you care about me, more than anyone else for a long time. That’s more than enough for me.”

  Her heart swelled in response. Silently he lowered his head to her breasts, arching her backwards across his arm. Through the thin material of her top, he took one breast into his mouth. He sucked hard and rhythmically, then worried the nipple with his teeth. The ache in her nipples grew, echoing the growing ache of need reverberating through her.

  The fever and pitch of the sensations overwhelming her shot skywards when he slid his hand down her belly, across her shorts to the apex of her legs. She strained towards him, her body silently begging for his touch. She moaned when, finally, he slipped is hand under the thin barrier and found the liquid heat between her legs. He caressed her until she didn’t know how much longer she could withstand.

  Finally he lifted her and they sank together into the soft leather of the couch. His midnight eyes smoldered; she reached for him. With a smile he evaded her, and removed a safe from the pocket of his shorts. He started to rip the corner off with his teeth, then stopped when he saw her watching him. He handed it to her. “Here. You open it.”

  Roberta smiled. With trembling fingers she ripped the foil packet open and slid out the condom.

  “Put it on.”

  She looked up to find him grinning. With a toss of her head, she quickly tugged off his shorts. Before she could do anything more, he pulled her top up over her head and tossed it aside. The shorts followed and his mouth captured hers once more, while his hands played her body to ever-increasing sweet torment. He guided her hands to his erection and helped her sheath him, then pulled her into his lap.

  With a thrust, he entered her. His tongue plunged into her mouth at the same time, cutting off her gasp. Slowly, and then with steadily increasing speed, she rode him, driving them both towards the relief they sought. The taste of him filled her head. His ragged breath increased her frenzy. The touch of his hands on her breasts drove her crazy. At the exact second when she knew she couldn’t take any more, the torrid torment exploded into a kaleidoscope of color, sensation, and relief. A moment later she felt Cody stiffen and join her.

  He wrapped his arms around her and they sat, still joined, slick body clasped against slick body. Roberta shut her eyes and snuggled closer. It felt so good in his arms.

  A faint murmur escaped him and she clasped him more tightly. She drifted in and out of sleep, enjoying the feel of his arms around her, the press of his maleness against her.

  It was still dark when she woke some time later, her legs stiff and aching from her position wrapped kneeling around Cody. She wriggled experimentally and realized she was locked in his grasp. No way she could move without waking him.

  She kissed his chin. “I should go now.”

  “No.” For someone asleep, he’d woken up awfully quickly. His arms tightened around her. “Stay.”

  She squirmed. “No, I—”

  He pressed his lips against hers. Her heart fluttered and desire started to rise in her again.

  “No,” he repeated. “Stay. Stay here. Where you belong.”

  Roberta didn’t want to leave. But her legs were starting to hurt. “I—I can’t stay in this position. It’s hurting my legs.”

  “Mmm. Why didn’t you say so?”

  Without warning, Cody tumbled her back onto the couch and lay beside her. He kissed her forehead, then his lips whispered along her cheekbone. “There’s more than one position for everything. Even sleeping.”

  His lips claimed hers once more.

  Chapter 8

  Drifting out of sleep, Roberta tried to move. With a start she realized a heavy weight held her down.

  Her eyes flashed open. Cody, his hair disheveled and jaw shadowed, smiled rakishly, his face only inches from her own.

  Memories of the night flooded back. The disastrous climb over the hedge, her apprehension by Cody, their long talk, the surge of feeling, their love-making. Their love-making!

  Roberta grew still. She hadn’t had a lot of experience waking up in a man’s arms. Especially a man as devastatingly charming and lovable as Cody, a man whose eyes probed her as knowingly as his did now.

  She shut her eyes to escape that look, and an intimacy she didn’t quite know what to do with. Making love hadn’t been on her agenda when she’d climbed over the hedge last night. This was too much, too fast, too . . . everything, and with a man who’d likely had far too many women.

  “Hey, don’t go back to sleep on me.”

  She opened one eye. Cody was still there. Smiling down at her, his musky scent and warm hard body enveloping her, his eyes smoldering with a hunger that thrilled and scared her in equal measure. A hunger for her.

  She swallowed and opened the other eye. Immediately she squinted against the bright sunshine streaming into the living room.

  “What time is it?”

  “After eight. We slept in.” Cody didn’t sound or look the least perturbed.

  “Oh, no.” A checklist of the day’s responsibilities surged into her head, setting off sparks of panic. She tried to sit up.

  “I have to go.” She pushed at Cody’s chest. “Garnet will have a fit. He’s got appointments lined up all morning for . . .”

  “Why are you so worried about Garnet?” Cody growled. He grasped her wrists and nuzzled her neck. “You’re late already.” He nipped her mouth. Nose to nose, an interesting gleam in his eye, he demanded, “So why don’t we . . . ?”

  The gleam caught her breath and set off tiny explosions within her. She hesitated. “I . . .” Her characteristic responsibility rushed back in. “Garnet’s counting on me.”

  This time she shoved harder. With a sigh, Cody rolled over, releasing her. She sat up.

  She looked around the room, blinking. “My clothes . . .”

  “Here. You might need these.” Cody pulled her shorts out from under him. He glanced around. “As for your top . . .”

  Both of them scanned the room. The camisole was nowhere in sight.

  Cody stood up. “I’ll get you a T-shirt.”

  Roberta scrambled into her shorts as he headed for the bedroom. A moment later a gray shirt landed in her lap.

  She looked up. Cody stood a few feet away, magnificently and unselfconsciously naked. The sunlight gleamed off his bronzed lean body, illuminating every muscle, angle and curve. Dark hair curled on his chest and arrowed down to his narrow hips. And to his unmistakable erection.

  A pang of desire, as hot and shocking as an unexpected burn, took her breath away. For a charged second, her head swam. She screwed her eyes shut, swallowed, and yanked the T-shirt over her head.

  “Thanks.” Without another lo
ok at Cody, she hurried to the door, unlocked and opened it, and scooted into the hallway. It wasn’t until she reached her own door that she remembered.

  Her apartment door was locked, of course. And she didn’t have the key.

  She grimaced and turned away. Just as she reached for Cody’s door knob, the door swung open.

  “I thought you might be back.” He grinned at her. She glanced furtively downwards and was relieved to see he wore jogging shorts.

  “Yes. My door’s locked,” she admitted sheepishly. “I’ll have to go over the hedge.”

  She slipped past him into his apartment.

  “Want some help?”

  “No.” She kept on going to the sliding doors. After her inglorious fall onto the patio early this morning, she didn’t want a witness to her scramble back over the hedge.

  “How about I meet you tonight for a drink? At Roxy’s? I’ve got to work late but I could meet you there about eight.”

  The request sent her heart soaring. Forget her fears. Forget what she’d read about him and his playboy past. Forget that this had all happened too fast. Slowly she pivoted to face him.

  The look on his face bowled her over. He smiled at her as if she were the most wonderful, beautiful, incredible woman on the face of the earth. She couldn’t help smiling in return. “I’d love to.”

  Her heart singing, she headed for the door. Only to be brought up short by a strong hand capturing her wrist.

  Before she could react, Cody’s arms wrapped around her and his mouth closed over hers in a hard, intoxicating kiss that made it clear just how much he wanted her. A kiss that made her knees weak and her head swim. A kiss that she felt all the way down to her toes.

  As quickly as he’d grabbed her, he released her. Through a daze, Roberta saw his wink. “One for the road.”

  He turned her towards the door. “Careful going over the hedge.”

  No problem, thought Roberta. I’ll be sure to fly.

  * * *

  Cody swung the suit jacket over his shoulder and leant into the buzzer. A moment later a woman’s voice, sounding harried, answered. “Hello. What is it?”

  “It’s Cody, Allie. Can I come up for a minute? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

  The intercom system crackled. “Oh.” A pause. “All right.” A buzz signaled the unlocking of the door. Cody grabbed for it, entered, and then made a dash for the elevator standing open in the lobby.

  As the doors closed and the elevator began a slow ascent to the fifth floor, Cody shook his head. He could hardly believe he was doing this—coming to talk to Allie about what the psychic had said about him, Erik, and the strange cold place that seemed to link them.

  Maybe it had something to do with making love to Roberta last night. He smiled as memories flooded over him. Roberta’s unorthodox arrival. Her apology. The silkiness of her thighs and the deep longing they’d inspired. The sweetness of her sincerity, her serious face, and how it had hit him in the gut like nothing had before. He’d wanted her so badly—and the wonder of it was, she had finally wanted him back.

  He shut his eyes for a moment, lost in the pleasure of the moment and the discovery that Roberta cared about him. For himself, and not for what he might mean to her career. He didn’t know why it meant so much to him, but it did.

  He opened his eyes as the elevator jerked to a halt. He hadn’t slept much more than the scant two hours a night he’d managed through the past few weeks. But he felt so much better. With that feeling of well-being had come the determination to resolve the question of his disappearance once and for all. Even if his disappearance had nothing to do with aliens, Roberta was right. His current insomnia and nausea had to be connected with the trauma of that disappearance. Probably the blue light, too.

  He stepped off the elevator, his trademark jauntiness back in his step. Which was why he’d decided to talk to Allie about the psychic’s strange comments. No other clues, or potential leads, existed. Even the hypnosis hadn’t revealed much more, except to put to rest Roberta’s idea he’d been abducted by aliens. Thank God.

  But now he had to either follow this up, or accept his disappearance as inexplicable once and for all. He wasn’t ready for that yet. During the last two weeks he’d realized how much he wanted—how much he needed—to know what had happened to him during those six weeks. He couldn’t drop it. Not yet. Even if it did mean exploring a side of him that bordered perilously close to everything he wanted to avoid, to everything that reminded him of his father.

  No, he’d go for it. He smiled again as he thought of the many amazing facets of his curly-headed neighbor. Roberta. One more thing for which he had to thank her.

  And he could think of a thousand ways to do it.

  * * *

  Allie opened the door before Cody could knock. A soft flannel receiving blanket hung over her shoulder and she held the baby in one arm.

  “C’mon in.” She disappeared inside and Cody followed.

  “Sit down.” She settled onto one couch and nodded at the one opposite. “I was just starting to feed the baby when you buzzed up,” she said. “So if you don’t mind, I plan to continue.”

  “Go ahead.” Curiosity flared in Cody. He’d never seen a mother nurse her child. And certainly not, it occurred to him, from breasts he had once caressed. He wondered, momentarily, whether it would bother Allie, and how he himself would react.

  Before he had a chance to decide, Allie had slipped a breast out of her blouse, positioned Star, and covered them both with the receiving blanket. The action occurred so quickly and so discreetly that Cody didn’t have time to suffer even a twinge of discomfort. Instead he remembered the woman of the night before and all that had passed between them.

  After making sure the baby was properly latched, Allie looked up at Cody. She smiled without embarrassment. “Strange, huh? Anyway, we’ve got about twenty minutes before I have to change her to the other breast. So what did you want to talk to me about?”

  Cody rested his hands on his knees. He frowned as he tried to fix on the right place to start. He looked at Allie, who gazed at him expectantly. Her open expression, combined with her lopsided pony tail and unironed blouse and shorts encouraged him. Allie, of anyone he knew, was among the most likely to give a fair hearing, no matter what.

  He cleared his throat. “A few nights ago I went to see that psychic you consulted last year. I went with my neighbor, Roberta.”

  “You mean Madame Carabini? You actually went to see her? Why?”

  “To see if she could tell me anything else about my disappearance. Any clue, any hint of what really happened to me.”

  “Oh.” Allie looked down at the baby. She adjusted the receiving blanket. “And could she? Tell you anything new, that is.”

  Cody frowned. “A little. But not much. This time she said she could see me in a room, lying on a shelf or bunk attached to the wall. The whole room was gray and sterile, like stainless steel, she said. She couldn’t tell if I slept and she could hear what she described as a human voice talking in a language she didn’t recognize.”

  Allie adjusted the baby’s blanket again. Without looking up she asked, “Did Madame Carabini see the person talking?”

  “No. She didn’t see anyone in the room but me.”

  Allie shut her eyes. When she opened them, her mouth twisted in an odd little smile. “That’s not really much help to you, is it? Did she see anything else?”

  “Only a blue light. An eery blue light, she said. She saw it when she sat in my car.”

  “Blue? Did you say blue?” Allie straightened. A strange look came over her face. The baby started to wail.

  “Oh, there, there.” Instantly Allie focused her attention on her daughter. In a moment the child had latched onto her breast again and was suckling away. When Allie addressed him again, her features appeared serene. “Madame Carabini saw a blue light?”

  “Yes. The creepy thing is that I’ve seen a blue light several times in the last f
ew days. Usually when I’m in the car, or about to get into it. It’s usually just a flash but it’s, well, unsettling to say the least. Madame Carabini said it gave her a feeling of dread.” Cody didn’t mention the one other time he’d seen the blue light—the time he held Star. He’d planned to, but now, seeing Allie feeding the child, it didn’t seem right to drag her into his problems.

  “Dread?” Allie repeated slowly. She frowned. “Did you say the blue light gave you a feeling of dread?”

  Cody looked at her sharply. Had she been this pale when he arrived? He couldn’t remember.

  “Carabini had one more thing to say,” he said, his gaze glued on Allie and the baby. “Something stranger than anything else. You remember how she told you I was in some cold, unusual place that she couldn’t really describe?”

  Allie nodded.

  He continued. “She said that Erik—your Erik—was linked to that same, strange, cold place where I was being held.”

  Allie’s expression of calm interest didn’t change. “Yes? What else?”

  Cody squirmed. Asking people he didn’t know difficult questions was part of his job. Asking a friend difficult questions about her husband was much harder. He cleared his throat. “She also said that she warned you against Erik. That he would bring some change to your life, and that it wouldn’t necessarily be good.”

  Allie grew still. After a moment, she looked out the window. “And what did you think of all this?”

  “At first I thought it was all mumbo-jumbo. I still do. It’s just, well, I keep seeing this blue light. I haven’t slept well for more than two weeks. I keep getting nausea attacks. I started wondering if the insomnia and nausea had something to do with my disappearance. Or whether I was going crazy.”

  He debated whether to tell her the troubling questions raised by his hypnosis yesterday. He took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “Something else. I was hypnotized yesterday. I remembered a blue light while I was driving, just before I disappeared. And later, in the room where I seem to have been kept, a man stood and watched me.”

  “A man?” Allie croaked, then cleared her throat.