by Anna Lowe
They pulled apart for a quick breath, then fell into another kiss — a soul-melting kiss that carried through her veins and snuck into her heart. Another followed, then another. Dell’s hands slid over her arms, and some of their kisses went deeper. Others were lighter, and some sadder, making her want to comfort him. Some were outright hungry, and when Dell scraped his beard over her skin, she giggled with sheer pleasure.
“Don’t you wish we could fly first class?” she whispered, only half joking. “All that space.”
“All that privacy,” Dell murmured, flashing her a naughty grin. “But when we get to Chicago…”
She smiled. God, it was dangerous, fantasizing out loud. Her hand strayed to her pearl, which felt warm, almost as if it was cheering on her fantasies of true love.
She released it, laughing at herself. Her imagination really was going too far.
“When we get to Chicago, what?” she teased, picturing him slowly undressing her and lowering her to her bed.
“Well, first, I’m going to cook you that dinner I kept promising.”
She grinned. The group of friends who lived at Koakea shared most meals, and whatever Dell cooked was delicious. He kept promising her an Indian dinner that would put her mother’s cooking to shame. But food wasn’t what she had on her mind now.
“Cooking, and what else?” she said in an open tease.
He grinned then went dead serious and drew a finger down her cheek. “Whatever you want. Whatever you’re ready for. But Anjali…”
She winced. Funny that she was the one feeling reckless while Dell was the responsible one.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“It’s a terrible idea,” she admitted. It was going to kill her to say goodbye to him and Quinn as things stood. Why make it harder?
They both went somber, and Dell looked at the floor.
“Maybe…” Anjali started, and he looked up in hope.
They stared at each other for a good minute, saying so much without uttering a word. Finally, Dell touched her cheek softly and spoke. “Maybe we ought to get some sleep. While the boss is snoozing, I mean.” He nodded to Quinn.
Anjali’s smile was faint, but it stretched when he patted his shoulder. She rested her head there and closed her eyes.
“But maybe…” Dell whispered, making her look up.
“Maybe?” she said, harboring far too much hope.
“Maybe later, we can figure something out.”
The words alone might not have helped, but they came with a kiss. A long, slow one that sucked the tension and sorrow out of her, leaving her with a sweet, if tenuous sense of peace. Anjali closed her eyes, convinced she couldn’t fall asleep.
But she did, as did Dell, and the flight she’d been dreading turned into a nice time-out instead of a chore. She got to spend all that time snuggled close to Dell and indulge in all the fantasies running through her head. Quinn woke, drank, and happily bounced on Dell’s lap. Hours passed, and instead of counting the minutes, Anjali treasured every one, hiding from the cloud of sorrow that tried to engulf her from time to time. What if she never got her to hold a baby again? Her own baby, not a nephew or niece. What if she never got the family of her dreams?
“Chicago,” she murmured hours later, looking out the window in trepidation.
“Lots to look forward to,” Dell said. “Like that dinner I promised.”
He distracted her with that idea all the way through the airport and on the cab ride home. The elevator rose steadily to her apartment on the eighth floor, pinging her closer and closer to home. Had she only been gone a week? Was she really back so soon?
She fumbled with the key, exhausted all over again. Relieved to be home but dreading the fact that it was the end.
“Hey.” Dell covered her hand with his, helping her steady the key. “It will be okay.”
She nodded in a jerky way. Sure. Right. Except she’d told Lourdes the same thing, and things hadn’t turned out okay.
Finally, she swung the door open and turned on the light.
Here we are, she was about to say, but the words stuck in her throat once her eyes focused on the mess in the hall.
“I guess you left in a hurry?” Dell asked, peering over her shoulder. A jacket lay across the floor, and books lay scattered beyond that, along with a single shoe and the mail she hadn’t gotten to before leaving.
Anjali backed up, shaking. “No, I didn’t.”
Dell swore, coming to the same realization she had. Her apartment wasn’t a mess. It had been ransacked.
“Oh no.” Her voice trembled as she looked around.
Quinn must have picked up on her anxiety, because she started to wail. Dell’s nostrils flared, and his face went grim. He pushed ahead, making sure the coast was clear. Then he pulled out his phone and motioned urgently.
“Quick. Get whatever you need. We need to get out of here.”
His gritty tone scared her as much as the state of her apartment. Anjali looked around, wondering where they could go.
“I can call my parents.”
He shook his head firmly. “We don’t want to involve them. I have an idea.”
He turned away and started murmuring into his phone while peeking out the curtained windows. Anjali glanced around, still processing the shock. Someone had been in her home. What had they been looking for? Why?
Finally, she grabbed a bag and stuffed in a few articles of clothing and a spare credit card. On a whim, she added one of the overturned picture frames from the bookcase — the one of her and Lourdes sitting in a tree house as kids. Why that felt so important, she couldn’t explain. Then she looked around. What else did she need?
“Ready?” Dell asked, nodding toward the door.
She gulped, giving the place one last look before joining him. “Where are we going?”
He peered out into the hallway before leading the way. “To a safe place for the night. Silas, the drag—” He coughed and started again. “The guy who owns Koa Point Estate has a house not too far away. We can stay there.”
Minutes later, they were out on the sidewalk, where Anjali rocked Quinn softly, telling herself it would be all right.
But nothing felt all right. Instead of the quiet pace of sunny Maui, they were on the sidewalk of a dim city street. And rather than listening to the soft whisper of a sea breeze, she was surrounded by honking horns, sirens, and the rush of the L.
Dell hailed a cab and barked an address to the driver when they slid in.
“North Astor?” The driver whistled. “Nice place.”
Anjali stared, recognizing the Gold Coast neighborhood. Dell’s friend had a place there? Then again, if he owned an estate on Maui, she shouldn’t be surprised.
“Not my place. A friend’s,” Dell said.
“Who was it again?” she asked quietly, wondering which of the people she’d met in Maui that might be.
“Silas. A friend. Boss. Former commander.” Dell waved a hand. Apparently, Silas was all of those things. “Anyway, we’ll be safe there.”
Anjali gripped his hand while Quinn looked up at her with wide, innocent eyes. The drive took an eternity, but finally, they pulled up in front of a limestone mansion that had to be at least a hundred years old. The driver wasn’t the only one whistling. Anjali nearly did too — especially when a uniformed butler came out and opened the car door.
Was it safe? She didn’t doubt it. The butler was an older man, but he was nearly as tall and muscled as Dell. The security man standing silently at the stairs had a neck as thick as a tree trunk. Each had the same throbbing undercurrent of raw power that Dell and all the men of Koakea had, like so many elite athlete-warriors. Or maybe something beyond that, although she didn’t know what that might be.
“Is this for real?” Anjali whispered to Dell.
He grimaced. “All too real. Come on. Let’s go.”
Chapter Twelve
At eleven o’clock the next morning, Anjali found herself staring at t
he computer screen in her office, trying to concentrate. Normally, her desktop was neat and orderly, but today, it was cluttered with documents and spreadsheets. She’d tried starting by clearing her email, but with a backlog of hundreds of messages and attachments, everything began to blur. She looked around, wishing she could replace the sound of phones with that of songbirds. Her eyes drifted to the right. Instead of showing a brilliant blue sky, the view out of her sixteenth-floor office mostly consisted of other sixteenth-floor offices in neighboring buildings. All those cubicles. All those people. All that hustle and bustle. What was it all for?
A storm was brewing, and she watched dark, cloudy tendrils creep around each building as if seeking something. She crossed her fingers for Dell and Quinn, who’d gone out. Hopefully, they wouldn’t get soaked when those clouds broke. The wind was already whistling between the buildings, and the lone bird flying out there was practically flapping in place.
When Anjali forced her gaze away, it landed directly on the picture of herself and Lourdes in the tree house as kids. She stopped cold, then grumbled to herself.
“Get through your emails already.”
She blamed her dark mood on sleep deprivation. Even with Dell sleeping close by, she’d been plagued by nightmares through the few hours of shut-eye she had caught. Quinn had picked up on her anxiety and had fussed while Anjali fretted away the night. Who would have broken in to her apartment? What was the perpetrator looking for?
If it hadn’t been for Dell, she didn’t know what she would have done. But even he couldn’t stop the ugly scenarios playing out in her mind once they had gotten settled in at Silas’s house with the takeout meal Dell had gritted his teeth over.
“I swear I’ll cook you that dinner sometime,” Dell had sighed as they picked through boxes of Indian takeout.
She’d squeezed his hand. Food was the last thing she had been worried about, but the passion of his promise went straight to her heart.
So, yeah. It had been a hell of a night and a pretty hectic morning, what with her and Dell both bustling to get themselves and Quinn ready for the day. Dell wasn’t keen on Anjali going to work, but she’d insisted, and he’d walked her all the way to her office.
And boy, had heads turned. A handsome man and an adorable baby coming into an office with plain old Anjali Jain? Even more intriguing, a man with the look of an elite soldier — but one with a baby strapped to his chest. A blond baby who couldn’t possibly be hers. Anjali could imagine the whispers at the water cooler already. And not just about who she’d come in with, but how Dell had left her.
Her breath hitched just thinking of it. He’d taken her by both arms, then slid his hands to her cheeks, cupping her face.
“Be careful,” he’d said in a scratchy voice. “Call if you need anything. And, Anjali…” He paused, searching her eyes.
I love you. The words popped into her mind. His lips didn’t move, and yet she could have sworn his gritty bass voice spoke into her mind. I love you.
I love you too, she nearly said.
But Dell hadn’t actually spoken, so that had to have been her imagination, right?
She blushed. One thing was for sure — the kiss Dell had left her with hadn’t been imagined. Full and hard, he’d totally covered — no, consumed — her lips, and his voice was gravelly when he spoke afterward.
“Be careful. I mean it. Call me at the slightest thing, and I’ll be here.”
She’d stared. This was a different Dell. Gone was the easygoing beach bum, the flirt. Gone was the slow, relaxed attitude. This man was all knight in shining armor, absolutely dedicated to her cause.
So, yeah. How could she blame her colleagues for whispering about what everyone had to have witnessed through the glass walls of her office? And how was she supposed to concentrate after that? Her heart fluttered at the mere memory, and her fingers twitched, wishing him back.
She rubbed her face, trying to get herself together. Dell was gone, off to Child Protective Services, ready to sign the papers to take full custody of Quinn. So really, everything was going to plan.
Except that her apartment had been ransacked. Her childhood friend had died a brutal death. Her own life had been turned upside down. Outside, the storm was intensifying, with dark clouds moving in like an army creeping into place.
She shivered and looked away. Get back to work. She had already been gone a week, and if she didn’t get in gear fast, there was no way she’d get that promotion she’d dreamed about.
A scowl formed in the reflection she could just make out on her computer screen. Make that, the promotion she used to dream about. Now, her dreams were populated by baby smiles. Sunny skies. The voice of a man she had no business getting involved with. The man who’d held her tight all night and kissed her senseless when he’d left a few hours ago.
She glanced at her phone. There were plenty of messages there, but nothing new from Dell.
Crystal, her assistant, knocked on the door before entering with an armful of files and a cup of coffee. “Here,” she announced. “You look like you could use this.”
Anjali hid a frown. She never used to show her emotions. What was different now?
“Thanks. For everything,” she said. Then Crystal opened her mouth, and Anjali shook her head immediately. “But whatever you do, don’t ask.”
Crystal grinned and leaned closer. “Not even if his kisses are as hot as his looks?”
A grin slipped out before Anjali could catch it. “Not even that. Now, what do you have for me?”
Crystal heaved a theatrical sigh and thumped the papers on her desk. “You’ve got a team talk in an hour and a meeting with Hugh at three. Here are the reports.” She let exactly one second tick by before leaning closer to whisper, “I figured you’d be relieved to get that baby off your hands. But seeing as it comes with her daddy…”
Anjali shot Crystal a sharp look. “I never wanted to get the baby off my hands.”
Crystal’s mouth curled. “Could have fooled me.”
Anjali nearly protested, but then she remembered. Not using those exact words, maybe, but something close when she’d confided in Crystal two weeks earlier.
Two weeks, and so much had changed. Like the sorrow that had settled into her chest when she watched Dell go off with Quinn.
“Crystal,” she growled, warning her assistant to back down.
Crystal turned to go, then stopped. “Oh, I nearly forgot. She’s here today, so be warned.”
For a moment, Anjali couldn’t place who she might be, but then it hit her. “Shit. The new shareholder?”
Crystal nodded gravely. “The major shareholder. In the flesh. And, Jesus. If a person could breathe fire, I’d bet she would. Ms. LeGrange is upstairs now,” Crystal glanced up in the direction of the corporate offices. “Everyone is already terrified of her.”
Anjali took a sip of the coffee and nearly choked at the bitter taste. She hid her grimace and gulped it down. Wow. Maui had spoiled her in more ways than one.
“I saw her go by, and I swear she had the smile of a viper,” Crystal confided. “Even if she promised not to make any major changes, I don’t believe a word.”
The phone rang at Crystal’s station, and she scurried out, much to Anjali’s relief. Rumors about the new major stakeholder had been circulating through the office for the past month, but she didn’t have time for that. She had to buckle down, and fast.
So with a last, longing look at the few slivers of sky visible between neighboring buildings — God, what she wouldn’t give for a rejuvenating breath of fresh Maui air — she got down to work. It took a good five minutes of mental wrangling, but she finally got herself into the groove. So much so that she nearly missed the team talk and ended up rushing to her appointment with the division head at three. Both meetings left her mind spinning. In one week, so much had happened — yet nothing had happened, in a way. It was all the same cycle, repeating itself all over again. As one project lurched through the hiccups of planning, anot
her was rushing toward completion. They were all different, yet depressingly alike.
Meanwhile, in the past week, Quinn had started sleeping more. Sitting up straighter. Trying to roll over. Monumental changes, really. The kind you didn’t dare miss because they would never come again.
Anjali sighed at herself and buckled down again. Getting back on track became her mantra, and there was so much to do. So she forced herself to sip tasteless coffee and power through another hour. Then another and another and—
The door to her office flew open for the third time in the past hour. “What is it this time?” Anjali demanded without looking up.
A dark, menacing feeling hit the pit of her stomach. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Her fingers tensed — all before she looked up.
“Oh, nothing,” the woman at the door all but purred. The purr of a cat as it loomed over a mouse, ready for some fun.
Anjali’s eyes went wide as she processed the stranger at her door. Red silk dress. Jet-black hair. Piercing eyes.
Behind the woman, Anjali saw Crystal standing and mouthing, Watch out. It’s her.
“I’m sorry,” Anjali said, coming to her feet. “It’s been quite a day. What a pleasure to meet you.” She extended a hand. “Anjali Jain, head of the North/Central division.”
The woman’s eyes shone. Was she impressed at Anjali’s composure? Amused at catching her off guard?
Anjali braced herself for one of those overly firm, woman-proving-herself-in-a-male-dominated-world handshakes, but mostly, she noticed was how cold the woman’s hand was. Reptilian, almost.
“Moira LeGrange,” the woman said, keeping her eyes locked on Anjali’s. “Here to acquaint myself with your division. I’m sure you don’t mind.”
Her words were spoken in challenge, as if the woman actually wished for someone to defy her for a change. And if that happened… Anjali didn’t want to witness any such thing.
“Of course.” Anjali waved to a chair. “Anything you like.”