It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries)

by Beth Prentice

  Riley suddenly put his arms around me and held me very tight, preventing any movement at all. “Please, don’t move like that,” he almost pleaded, looking me in the eyes.

  I noticed the outer ring of his irises had turned a darker blue and the intensity of the color almost winded me as much as the fall. I watched as he took a deep shuddery breath and rolled me over to the floor. Wow, was the only thought I could conjure, as he looked down at me. If only he was laying over me for another reason, I thought, my hormones doing all the thinking for me. I lay there trying to catch my breath as Riley stood and held out his hand. I knew I should apologize for knocking him over, but to be honest, I wasn’t sorry at all.

  * * * *

  By the time we made it to the boardwalk, it was nearly ten thirty. It was rare that I ever walked here with a partner, usually preferring to walk alone. It didn’t take long for Riley and I to fall into step with each other. Five minutes into the walk, my phone rang. Looking at the number display, I showed it to Riley. I didn’t recognize the number.

  “Hello,” I answered.

  “Oh yes, is that Lizzie Fuller?” a male voice replied.

  “Yes, who’s calling please?”

  “This is Brian Hogan, the jeweler. I’m sorry to call you on your mobile. I did leave a message for you on your home phone but I wasn’t sure if you would get it or not. I have some information for you about the ring you brought in and I was wondering if you could come down so we could have a chat about it?”

  “Oh, of course, Mr. Hogan. That’s fine. I could come down this afternoon if that suits you.”

  “No. I have a client coming in this afternoon I have to do some drawings for. Would tomorrow morning suit you at all?” he asked.

  “Perfect. I could come in around ten o’clock.”

  “Yes, that would be wonderful. I have a very interesting story to tell you.” I could almost hear his smile.

  I thanked him for his time and hung up the phone.

  “Did you hear that? The jeweler has some information for us about the ring,” I said, turning to Riley.

  Feeling excited for the first time—okay, the second time—in days, I picked up the pace and continued on our walk. It didn’t take long to reach my favourite coffee shop and asking Riley what he wanted—plain water, how boring—I walked in and placed our order. Looking around the shop, I realized I had missed most of the regulars as my walk had started much later this morning, Sitting in the corner was one of the people I usually passed on the boardwalk. My heart skipped a beat and I quickly ran out to Riley.

  “Hey, Riley, I need your help to figure something out,” I said excitedly.

  Putting down the newspaper he was reading, he looked up at me expectantly.

  “There is a person sitting in the corner inside, wearing a red t-shirt, black shorts with joggers and drinking a Grande white chocolate macchiato.” Riley gave me a look as if to say how the hell did I know what they were drinking. “I need you to tell me if it’s a man or a woman.”

  Finally, this mystery may be solved. Leaning over to look inside the shop, Riley strained to see who I was talking about.

  Grabbing his arm and making him stand up I said, “No, no, no. You have to go and talk to them. I pass him-her all the time and have never been able to figure it out.”

  “Have you ever tried speaking to them?” he asked.

  “Of course I have. No help there though.”

  “Well, what do you want me to do?” asked Riley, looking at me as though I was crazy.

  “I don’t know. You’ll figure it out. Go and wait for our drinks and see if he-she looks at you. Start a conversation. I don’t care. We just have to solve this mystery,” I begged.

  Sighing, Riley walked into the coffee shop. I watched he-she as Riley moved towards them and noticed them taking several deep breaths, obviously impressed by Riley. This didn’t mean much though. My brother and sister had exactly the same reaction. After a few moments, I saw Riley move closer, saying something. I noticed the person of interest look down at their watch and then back up at Riley with a reply. I think they actually swooned at one point. Just then the barista called our drinks and Riley walked back out to me.

  “You gave them the killer smile didn’t you,” I said, more as a statement than a question. Handing me my drink, Riley looked at me, eyebrow raised.

  “Killer smile?” he asked.

  “Yeah, you know the one that gets you whatever it is you want. Don’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about. You understand its power perfectly well.” Riley gave me the killer smile. “That’s the one,” I said, trying not to swoon myself. “Well, what did you find out?” I asked.

  “I have absolutely no idea. If I had to take a guess, I’d say it’s a woman.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Just a vibe I got.”

  “But you get the same vibe from Danny.”

  “That’s true. In that case I have absolutely no idea.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  We spent the rest of the day at Riley’s, curled up on the couch watching DVDs. I had so much work to get done I really should be at home, locked in the office, but somehow sitting here next to Riley seemed like the better option. Go figure. By the time we’d worked our way through every Jason Bourne movie released, night had descended, my eyes were stinging and my yawning was getting more obvious.

  “Do you mind if I go to bed?” I asked.

  “Sure. I’ll grab some clean sheets and change them for you.”

  “That’s okay. I can do that,” I said standing. “Just show me where to get them from.”

  Riley stood up and walked towards the stairs. I followed him up to his bedroom and waited while he pulled clean sheets out of the closet. Walking over to the bed, he started pulling off sheets. Just looking at his bed had my girl bits tingling again. I started to wonder how many women he’d entertained here. That thought did not sit well in my stomach, so I quickly busied myself helping him put the clean sheets on.

  We were completely silent throughout this process and occasionally, I looked over to Riley to see if I could figure out what he was thinking. The only light in the room was coming from downstairs and the adjoining bathroom so I couldn’t see enough of his features for his thoughts to be given away. When we’d finished, he finally looked at me and smiled.

  “If there’s anything else you need, just let me know. Goodnight.” He turned his back and walked back down the stairs.

  What sort of a statement was that, I wondered. Was there anything else I need? Well, how about you naked? No, I didn’t think he’d respond to that too well, so I decided a cold shower would be the best option.

  Riley had thought to leave a clean towel in the bathroom for me, so after stripping off I stepped into his walk-in shower. The whole time I was in there, I desperately tried not to think of all the times Riley had stood naked in this very spot.

  Turning the cold water up even higher, I stuck my head under the showerhead and closed my eyes. These thoughts were doing me no good what so ever. I really needed to get a grip. This was not helping.

  Getting out of the shower and away from my fantasies, I put on the least sexy pajama’s I owned and got into bed. I must say Riley’s bed was pretty inviting, even without him in it. It was much bigger than mine and crawling under the sheets felt like heaven. It was extremely soft and comfortable and even though we’d changed the sheets, I could still smell Riley on the pillow. Lying there, I could hear him moving around down stairs, probably making up the couch to sleep on. He had the television on low and I could hear the soundtrack to the late night news come on. I heard him reach over, the lights went out and the TV was zapped off. Darkness and silence descended.

  It always fascinates me how all noises are magnified in the dark. I heard the rustle of his sheets and him fluffing up his pillow. After a few minutes of straining, I could even hear him breathing. I really hoped he didn’t snore but I suppose I could forgive him one flaw.

>   Now it was dark, I didn’t feel anywhere near as tired as I had before. Probably the cold shower woke me up. I lay there for what felt like ages thinking about Riley on the couch and started to feel a bit guilty. If it weren’t for me, he’d be the one laying in this very comfy bed.

  Getting up, I walked downstairs and moved towards the couch. I think Riley must have started to doze off because I could hear his breathing slow and become more even. A streetlight shone through the stained glass windows and I could see just enough of him to stop me in my tracks. Standing over the couch, I looked down at him lying flat on his back, head to the side and all his features totally relaxed. Wow.

  I don’t know how long I stood there watching him but he woke with a start, obviously feeling my presence.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes thanks,” I answered, grateful he couldn’t see my glowing face. Sitting on the edge of the couch, I felt Riley move his leg to make some room for me and then roll onto his side. “I think we should change spots.”

  “What do you mean? Aren’t you comfortable up there?”

  “No, no, it’s amazingly comfy. It’s just that if it weren’t for me, you’d be the one having the comfy sleep. So I think you should take the bed and I’ll sleep on the couch. I’m shorter than you anyway so it won’t matter to me.” Sitting here in the dark with Riley so close had me feeling very fluttery and shaky. I just hoped he couldn’t sense what I was feeling.

  “I’m not taking the bed.” I could feel him smile.

  “Please don’t argue with me, Riley. You have been so kind to me ever since we met and what have I done for you? Dragged you into some sort of mess I don’t even understand and kicked you out of your bed. No, please, the least I can do is to be the one to sleep on the couch.” I could feel tears start to prick the back of my eyelids. What were they about? I don’t really know. Maybe my period was due. Yeah, that’d be it.

  Riley sat up, probably hearing my wobbly voice and knowing I was about to cry. “Lizzie, come here,” he reached over and pulled me in close.

  I’m sure he did this as a gesture to soothe me and I have to say it did take my mind off of my troubles. Tucked under his arm, my cheek resting on his naked chest, I could feel his chest hair tickle my nose. I took a deep breath in and could smell a mixture of his aftershave, deodorant and what I can only describe as Riley’s smell. Believe me, when I say that any thoughts I’d been having were long forgotten. Lust was rising up in me at speeds that could break records. In fact, between you and me, I think I just had a little orgasm.

  “If you remember, I was the one who insisted you stay here. There was no way I could have slept tonight thinking of you alone in that house. I don’t know why this guy is stalking you, whether it’s connected to the house or not, but I do not want you alone until this is over.” I felt him rest his chin on my head. Not daring to move for fear this would be over all too soon, I sat silently taking some deep shuddery breaths.

  “Thank you,” was all I could say.

  We stayed like this for ages, so long in fact I fell asleep. I mean, it wasn’t hard. There I was snuggled into warm, sexy Riley, feeling safe and protected—would you have moved?

  When I did wake up, I found myself still lying on him and thankfully hadn’t drooled on him in my sleep. Sitting up and looking around, I could see the display on the microwave read five-thirty. No wonder my back was cramped. I’d slept most of the night half sitting up and half lying on Riley.

  Wow. That was so worth a sore back.

  Hoping I could sneak off for a shower, I slowly tried to stand without disturbing him. I stopped, looking down at him, just enjoying the view, my heart doing its little trippy thing. Overnight whiskers had appeared on his face giving him an extremely sexy five o’clock shadow, his hair was messed just enough to be sexy and the blankets had dropped from his waist just enough that I could get a slight view of the top of his boxers and enjoyed how the hair on his chest and abdomen trailed their way towards the unknown. Taking a deep breath in, I resisted the urge not to just jump on him right there, right now.

  Riley stirred under my gaze, so I quickly turned and ran for the stairs. I think you understand by now I am not that sexy first thing in the morning and unless I wanted to scare the hell out of him, I felt I should jump in the shower and at least tame the hair.

  By the time I got out, Riley was sitting on the bed waiting. Standing and pushing past me, he smiled and shut the door. It was only when I heard the toilet flush I remembered this was the only toilet in the house. Poor guy must have been busting.

  * * * *

  We decided to have breakfast out to try to fill in time before our appointment at the jeweler, so we found a really nice café about two blocks from the shopping center and sat down to enjoy our bacon and egg burgers. Well, I enjoyed my bacon and egg burger, Riley enjoyed his bowl of muesli. That’s probably why he was so fit-looking and I needed to lose some weight.

  Sitting in a companionable silence, we watched as a few fire engines drove past, lights flashing, followed by a couple of police cars, all heading in the direction of the shopping center. Wondering what was going on, we paid for our meal and decided walking was the best option. It wasn’t that far and we still had a good three quarters of an hour to kill. A couple of minutes into our walk, we saw the smoke rising high into the sky.

  “That doesn’t look good for someone,” said Riley.

  “No, I hope no-one’s hurt.” Just as I said this, an ambulance flew past, siren blaring.

  Picking up our pace we arrived at the shopping center to see a car park empty of shoppers and filled with reporters, fire engines, police cars and ambulances, all with their lights flashing. The police had taped off the entrance to the shops and were ushering people out of a door further down the building. We stood watching as smoke billowed out of the open doors, all the while hearing people scream and shout as they pushed to be the first out.

  The loud screeching of smoke detectors was blaring through the air, mixing with these panicked screams, and emergency radios squawking out instructions. A couple of ambulance officers were attending to a few elderly and even though this looked like chaos from my point of view, the police and firemen seemed to be calm and in control. It didn’t look like we were going to make our appointment with Brian Hogan.

  Standing back and watching for the next few minutes, I noticed Officer Lucy Wilkins standing near one of the police cars filling out paperwork. I wandered over to her and said hello. Looking up, she recognized me and came over to where I was standing.

  “Hello, Lizzie.”

  “Hi. This looks really bad,” I said, nodding in the direction of the center. “I hope everyone’s okay.”

  “It is pretty bad actually. I shouldn’t be saying anything but I just heard on the scanners they’ve found a body in there. We don’t know how the fire started yet or if there are any others. It’s going to be a really long day for a lot of people.” She sighed and turned, as one of her colleagues called her name.

  “Oh my God, that’s really awful,” I whispered, watching her walk away and get consumed by the crowd.

  I felt Riley walk up behind me as a wave of sadness hit me for the unknown person who’d just lost their life. Not being able to do anything to help, we decided to leave. Watching a disaster unfold just didn’t feel like the right thing to do.

  On the drive back to Riley’s, my thoughts strayed from the fire and onto all the work I had to get done if I wanted to be paid this week.

  “You know Riley, I really need to go home and get some work done. Surely it’ll be safe through the day, won’t it?” I asked. Riley looked at me, indecision in his eyes.

  “I suppose it will be. How about we go over there and check it out. If the car is in the street, we’ll call the police.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  I was feeling more on edge the closer we got but gave a sigh of relief when we arrived and there was no black car stalking my house today. He probably re
alized he was watching an empty house and gave up. How long he’d stay away for was yet to be seen.

  Riley walked ahead of me as we approached the front door and put out his hand for me to give him the keys. Fine by me, let him go and see if anyone was hiding in there. I followed him in through the front door and let out the breath I’d been holding when all looked normal. Everything was just the way I’d left it. Riley walked upstairs to check everything up there and I headed to the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on.

  Hmm, that’s strange. I could smell coffee. Walking over to the coffee pot, I reached out and touched the glass jug.

  It was hot.

  I didn’t think I’d left it on yesterday, but maybe I did. I hadn’t had much sleep the night before and I wasn’t thinking straight. Picking it up to make a fresh pot, I heard Riley walk into the room. Turning to look at him, I noticed he looked a bit paler than usual as he looked back at me, his features hard.

  “Um, Lizzie, I know this is a personal question, but...umm...has Scott slept over here recently?” he asked, uncertainty giving an edge to his voice.

  “That’s not a personal question, that’s a weird question. The answer to which is no. Why?” I asked, filling the pot with water.

  “Ok. Has any man slept over here recently?” I watched as he swallowed down whatever was sitting in his throat.

  “Riley, what’s this about?”

  “Maybe you’d better come and see for yourself,” he sighed. I followed him out and up the stairs. Reaching my bedroom door, he stopped and motioned for me to enter first.

  The first thing I noticed was my bed was unmade. Strange, I knew I’d made it yesterday. I’d been up early and trying to fill in time. Approaching the bed with caution, I pulled back the sheets and looked down...and suddenly understood all the personal questions.