by Aimee Laine
Whoever decided to come into the office had them trapped.
Dammit! Didn’t I say I shouldn’t get into this stuff?
The glow from the other room gave her enough light to catch Tripp’s expression.
A giant smile graced his face as if they could simply disappear and all would be well.
“Why do you look like you could burst out laughing?” She kept her voice below even a whisper.
He raised his finger to his lips, but the smile slipped into one of pure deviousness.
A vacuum hummed an incessant whir, shifting from loud to soft as it moved through the opposite room. When it quieted, Tripp peeked over the top of the desk.
He motioned with his hand for her to remain and stepped around their makeshift bunker. Within a few seconds, he came back, indicated with his hand that she should stay low but follow him. At a crawl, she inched her way to the office door behind him.
“On my signal,” Tripp said, “go straight back through and don’t stop until you get to the room. Don’t look back or wait for me.”
“Why would—”
He stopped her with a hand in the air as the sound of the machine drew closer.
“I mean it, Lexi. On my signal … do exactly as I said. Got it?”
She nodded.
When the sound of the machine faded again, he waved her forward.
Lexi jumped up, ran to the exit—which, at least on the inside, looked like an actual door—and pushed through it. She started to turn, to see if Tripp followed, but his explicit instructions ran through her mind.
At a creak, she spun back.
The cleaning lady poked her head out of the same door Lexi expected Tripp to walk through. With a tilt toward Lexi, the woman waved and returned inside.
Tripp did not emerge.
Lexi’s heart thrummed in her chest. Waiting at the door to their room, key card in hand, she shifted from foot to foot.
Still, Tripp didn’t appear.
The well lit hallway left nothing to the imagination. He’d either exited from the same place or remained inside.
Just as when they’d been trapped inside, no other way existed to leave.
Come on, Tripp. Where are you?
A touch to the back of her shoulder had Lexi jumping with a scream she quashed with pursed lips. “What the hell?”
• • •
With a push of Tripp’s hand, the hotel room entrance swung open.
Lexi didn’t walk through, though. “I’ve kept my eye on that door the entire time.” If she could have used a more disbelieving tone, Tripp expected she would have.
He gave her his best grin. “I know. Was kinda fun watching you.”
“Watching me?”
“I’ll explain … in private.”
Lexi brushed past him into their room. The moment the latch clicked behind them, she spun back to him, her eyes reflecting the look he’d seen in so many women: a need to yell while holding it in.
Before she could utter a word, he captured her mouth with his.
Lexi melted into the kiss as Tripp pushed her farther into the room and toppled the two of them onto the bed. The light slap across his shoulder only enhanced his desire for her.
She rolled herself off him. “What the hell happened?”
“Testy, aren’t you?” Tripp propped himself up on his elbow.
Lexi joined him back on the plane of the bed. “Please explain, Tripp, because … how did you—” She shook her head. “No … where did you come from?”
He tugged at her hair, twirling a strand around his finger. “When you go looking for things, you can see them, right? With your mental pictures?”
“You know that already. And you do something similar.”
He grinned. “I do, though I’m significantly faster than you, and I see little blips of the future … but only what leads me toward what to do next.”
“No shit.” Lexi sat up straight.
“None.” He slid her closer. “Let me ask you this … when you went looking for the pendant, was that the first time you used your gift for anything outside of ordinary, safe stuff—for something that required you to think beyond yourself?”
She shimmied out of Tripp’s hold.
“That’s what I thought. You really are the good girl, aren’t you?”
A spin back and a mock punch accompanied her small smile. “Just because—”
Hands in the air, he said, “I didn’t say it was bad. Hear me out.” A grasp of her hand had her closer with one yank. “I can’t just outright find stuff, but when someone tells me I need to get x, y or z, I can. Sometimes that’s picking a lock. Otherwise, breaking combinations or scaling a wall, turning invisible or waiting for the right time.”
“You did not just say you can disappear.”
“Of course I didn’t.”
She narrowed her eyes. “But you said invisible.”
He hoped his grin wouldn’t piss her off. “Yeah … that … I did.”
The second slap to his chest stung. She hadn’t backed down on that one. “Explain, please.”
“Ow.” He rubbed at the spot just above his heart. “I can only do these things when in the moment—when I need to. Like in the presence of a danger, or being pursued, for example. It’s an intrinsic thing.”
“So, you couldn’t … do it … right now?”
He shook his head. “Do you get images unless you focus and look for the answer?”
Her mouth opened as if to speak, but she closed it again.
“The myth says you can always catch—or with the way you seem to use it, find. And I can never be caught which is exactly how it works for me—it keeps me from getting caught. Same gift, different interpretation.”
“There’s more to it than the pictures? I always thought—”
Excitement built within Tripp, but he kept it tucked inside. “I love that this is new to you and I can talk to you about it. Ian knows everything—has since we were kids. Does Emma?”
Lexi shrugged. “As much as I know, at least, yeah. Uh … back to this invisible thing …”
Tripp sat up, leaned against the bed’s headboard. “Come here.”
On her knees, she scooted up to him, his arms wrapping around Lexi as she straddled him.
He kissed the edge of her lips. “I told you before, it’s like people can’t see me, right? That whole ‘under your nose’ thing?”
“Yes.”
“So it’s not that I disappear; it’s that I can’t be seen. I’m camouflaged, if that makes sense, along with whatever I’m touching.” He moved his lips along the other side.
“That’s ridiculous—”
“That’s how we stayed hidden on the balcony tonight.” He captured her mouth with his, teasing them open.
“Okay,” Lexi said without conviction.
“Is it?” he asked against her. “You said, in the car, I think … when you try to find something I have in my possession, you can’t see me, right? At least when I don’t want to be found.”
She pulled away. “Holy hell, Tripp. Even I’m a little freaked, and I understand the myth. How’d you learn that’s how it worked?”
“Ian and I had a lot of fun as kids.”
Lexi’s laugh burst from her.
Tripp’s own followed. “My sister thought I was the biggest loser ever. She refused to play games with me because I always won.” He chuckled, adding another kiss to her full smile. “You have to test the boundaries and let your body respond naturally. Same as you, right?”
Her curls danced as she shook her head. “Way simpler for me.”
“When you were on the beach with Robert, were you scared?”
“A little—”
“Did your body vibrate a little or shiver with a sensation you didn’t quite understand?”
“I figured that was just nerves.”
He chuckled. “Right, because you already had your prize tucked between those perky breasts of yours.” A touch had her trembling under his
fingers. “So … if in the process of finding something, someone caught you or was about to prevent you from getting it, you’d naturally react and do stuff, whatever it might be, to succeed. Right?”
“Yeah … but you got back without me seeing, and I’m not the enemy. How?” Her eyes reflected confusion.
“I wanted to get you out first, so I sent you when the cleaning lady went the other direction. I had about a five second window then. The picture I had in my head left me stuck with her coming into the office right afterward. That left me no options, so my body reacted for me, and I walked right through the door while she held it open to push her vacuum in. Once I hit the hallway and saw her poking her head out, I just had to wait until she went back in to know we were both safe, so to speak.”
“So, then you chose to be seen, or did your reappearance happen naturally?”
Tripp nudged her chin with a finger. “In this case, because I wanted to see your reaction, I chose.”
“Anything else make you go invisible?” A curious glint in her eye accompanied an eyebrow raise.
He cocked his head. “Whatcha mean?”
“You ever use it with … your fiancée?”
Tripp ran a thumb down her chin. “Now why would I do that?”
She didn’t answer his question. “So … what would happen …” Lexi paused as if to think. “… if I asked you to marry me?”
She jumped from the bed, her hands at her mouth. “Oh, hell, Tripp. Where’d you go?”
“I’m right here.” His laughter rang out with her half sigh.
“I guess I know what you think about that, then.”
18
The drive home took them most of Sunday, but only because Lexi suggested the coastal route with periodic beach stops. She and Tripp kept their conversation simple and relaxed—no bad guys, no work and no star or related subjects.
Once home, Lexi headed straight to her bedroom with her white four-poster bed and sheer netting across the top, tan plaid walls and mismatched furniture. Within moments, Emma stood at the door, dug in for details and repeatedly went back to the one subject Lexi had hoped to avoid discussing.
“Yes … for the fourth time … I said, he disappears.” Lexi withdrew the last of her clothes from her suitcase.
“He really told you he disappears?”
Lexi spun, faced her sister. “Again … showed me, Em. Showed.” She snapped her fingers. “So now, if I mention something to really freak him out, even imply I might catch him at something, he’ll go poof.”
Emma laughed until her entire body jiggled.
“Why is this so funny?”
As she breathed her way to light hiccups, Emma returned Lexi’s gaze. “Did you stop to think he might have faked it? I’ll place bets that you didn’t ask why he did it, accepted it as his answer to your threatening question and moved on. It’s what you do, Lex. The wall of don’t-ask-don’t-get-hurt moves into place. The disappearing act may be his trick, but I’m guessing he forced it.”
Lexi crossed her arms over her chest.
“And he probably laughed while he did it.”
“So?” Lexi faced her back to her sister.
“Then what’d you do?” Emma whistled a tuneless song. “I’ll infer on that one. No need for other crazy images to pop into my mind. Did you happen to ask him about the whole partnership thing?”
Lexi dropped to the edge of her bed. Her finger traced the pattern on the quilt her mother made ages ago. “I did. He likes the idea, though I’m not sure I can do it.”
“Really?” Emma moved to Lexi’s side.
“I was scared, Em. I—” She raised and dropped her hands as Emma put her arm around her. “I thought I’d be better at it. I mean, my gift is awesome. I figured I knew how to use all of it.”
“Aw, honey, you know the old expression practice makes perfect?”
“Of course—”
“Well, that’s not all. Until now you’ve never pushed the borders of your abilities, always did what came easily or naturally and avoided the other possibilities.” Emma rubbed up and down Lexi’s back. “Your rule has been no people, nothing stolen, personal gain only for basic living purposes. Which left the easy stuff like real estate.” Emma’s sigh blew warm breath against Lexi’s shoulder. “You’ve established your ground rules like a witch’s creed. I get the whole no people, no forced interpersonal relations thing. But the rest? You could venture a little closer to the line.”
Lexi stood and paced to the window. “It’s all changing, Em.”
Her sister’s arms wound around Lexi again. “It’s supposed to, Lex.”
“I’ve known him for a week, but I’m already falling in love with him.” She dropped to the window seat. “I can talk to him like I do with you.”
“Only to a point of course.” Emma tapped Lexi’s cheek. “You’ll always need me, but that’s a good thing.”
Lexi’s laugh came with natural exuberance. “Oh, yeah, I will. You’re my rock, sis. But he’s—”
“Hot? Hunky? Smart?” Emma giggled. “Understands you for what you are?”
“But, we still don’t know how to get around the paradox, Em. If I mention the word love, will he disappear, too? If I say marriage, will he erase himself completely from my life?”
Emma squeezed Lexi’s shoulders. “You’ll figure it out, like you do with everything else.”
“So, how?”
“With me, of course.” Emma held a hand over her heart. “This is all really about me, right?”
They laughed like a couple of school girls discussing their latest boyfriends or boy woes over homework.
“There’s a pint of Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer if you want to share,” Emma said.
“Yeah, let’s.”
She pointed to the pendant resting against Lexi’s chest. “Oh, meant to tell you, I found out a little about your necklace. It’s valuable from a jewel perspective, and it looks like this one has a history of sorts.”
“What did you find?” Lexi waved Emma toward the kitchen—a black and white, clean-lined room with red accents.
Emma dug in the fridge for the ice cream while Lexi grabbed spoons and straddled a bar stool.
“So,” Emma said as she scooped her first bite of gooey chocolate yumminess, “the star looks like yours … completely. Robert’s wife, Sherill, I believe, she said you should keep it, right?”
Lexi nodded, dug in. “Actually, I think her words were ‘it’s yours’.”
“Okay, so anyway, you know when you go to a yard sale with tons of old stuff, and you find out whatever you bought once belonged to the Earl of Denmark or something?” Emma dug in and scooped out a mouth-sized bite of ice cream.
“The Earl of what?”
“I was making him up.” Her spoon waved in the air. “It’s beside the point, anyway. The star inside is what makes it valuable, and this one … there’s some serious history. It’s a piece with over four hundred years of documented back story. It’s historic, Lex, and I think she always meant to give it to you.”
Lexi paused, her spoon midair. “Wow. But … um … why me?”
“Honestly? I think you were meant to go down this route. Search for new work to use your gift, meet Tripp, fall in love and find a way to get around the ultimate brick wall.”
“Got an idea on how to make all this happen then?”
Emma smiled. “You bet I do. It has nothing to do with the pendant. I think that was just the match for the flame. I think the answer you seek is a simple one.”
“No way, Em. It can’t be—”
“Dig in, Lex, ’cause it is.”
Lexi did as her sister told her, though slower than she might otherwise have.
“So …” Emma started, “think about all the kid games we used to play—like hide and seek. The last person found becomes the new seeker, right? At least, that’s how we played when you weren’t around. The seeker gives up his or her role to the new winner.”
Lexi jerked back as if s
he’d been slapped. “Give it up? Give up my gift?”
“Not quite. Well … yes, but differently. Maybe it’s time to pass on the title, so to speak. If George and Marge knew about your gift, then they had to find a way around it, too. Maybe they had to pass it on to you and Tripp in order for them to be together.”
• • •
Tripp flicked the light switch and brought a gray flicker of life to the farmhouse kitchen.
“You’ve got a shit-load of work to do on this place, man.” Ian stepped into the empty space. “That is, if you want to modernize it, of course.”
“Yeah, well, it could be a challenge.” Tripp kicked at a corner tile in need of repair. “Or I’ll redo it and sell it.”
“Ouch.” Ian mimicked the touch of a finger against hot metal. “Lexi would find you and kill you if you didn’t sell it to her. Emma told me how much she loves this place.”
“You and Emma spent quite a bit of time together.” Tripp wandered into the living room, another empty space in need of upgrades. The faded carpet, old wallpaper and general stuffiness suited the previous owners.
Ian sauntered in after him. “Since you left without a word to the wise, I was given nothing to do in this god-forsaken miniature city. No, wait, it’s barely a town. I figured hanging with a pretty woman was making the best of it.”
“You two hit it off?” Tripp turned to his friend, grinning at the possibility.
“Nah. She’d make a damn nice sister, though. Got this gooey, happy girl feel to her with a bit of a kick. Michael would love her.”
Surprise took over Tripp’s thoughts. “He’s what … eight years younger than her?
“Nothing a little cougar town couldn’t handle. But enough about her.”
Tripp switched lights on in a small first-floor bathroom. “Emma and Lexi seem pretty tight, don’t you think?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going upstairs.”
“I might as well follow. I mean, once again, what else is here for me?” Ian’s snide remarks made Tripp chuckle.
The first and fifth stairs creaked under his weight and again under Ian’s. The landing boasted shag carpet—out of style decades before.
“Did these guys ever do any upgrades?” Ian flicked on the single overhead light.