by Tonya Brooks
“Maybe he's keeping his place available in case he meets another woman,” the detective suggested.
The young man laughed knowingly. “It sounds like you know Mark.”
“Not yet,” the other man denied. “But I will.” And within a couple of hours he'd discovered that Mark Baker was a player if ever there had been one. Everywhere he went, the man seemed to be the favorite topic of conversation. It seemed his affair with the Anderson woman had the whole town talking and everybody had their own opinion and didn't seem to mind sharing it with a stranger. He called the senator and filled him in on how the case was progressing; much to the other mans delight.
“Good. She's making this even easier for me,” Kyle said with a laugh. “Get me some photos of the two of them together. Try and make it as damming as possible.” If he could show the court that Desi was an unfit mother, she'd never have a chance at keeping the kid with her.
Kyle hung up with the PI, picked up the business card the restaurant manager had given him and placed a call. “Charlie, Kyle Chadwick, here,” he said jovially and listened while the other man greeted him in that sickeningly ingratiating tone that was going to prove useful. “Listen, Charlie, I need a favor and you're the man who can help me.”
“Anything, Senator,” Charles readily agreed.
“I'm having a dinner party for some very influential people and I was planning to try and convince Desi to handle the food,” the lie sliding from his lips with practiced ease. “Unfortunately, she's moved and I can't contact her. I was hoping you'd have a number for her.”
“I do,” the other man hedged since it was against company policy to give out an employee's personal information.
“I'd consider it a personal favor,” the senator assured him.
Well, she wasn't still an employee, Charles reminded himself. Desi had quit without notice and left him in a hell of a bind. Not to mention the senator was a very influential man. Having someone like Chadwick indebted to him could prove useful in the future. Charles gave him her mobile number without a second thought.
“Thanks, Charlie. I really appreciate this,” Kyle said in satisfaction and tossed the business card in the trash. “If there's ever anything that I can do for you, you just let me know.”
He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair wearing a smile. The noose was closing around Desi's pretty little neck and she was too stupid to know it. Running had been the worst possible thing she could have done from a legal standpoint and the best thing for his case against her. Yes, sir. When he got through with her, she'd be begging him for mercy. Maybe he'd even get her into bed again, for old time’s sake, he thought with a laugh. Not that it would help her any, but he'd like to sample her again and see if she was as sweet as he remembered.
~~~~
Mark met Desi and Harley at the warehouse and his sister-in-law was as excited over the building as they had been. The interior designer assured them that she could make the place exactly what they wanted, right down to the hidden door. She began to walk the building taking measurements and sketching rough floor plans from the diagram they had already drawn out, as well as taking dozens of photos for future reference.
“The floor plan you drew out is workable but it needs some adjustments since these support beams can't be moved,” she explained cheerfully. “I don't think any of this will be a problem.”
The couple was thrilled at the news. It looked like their dreams were going to become a reality. “My Desiree was confident you could handle it,” he assured her.
Harley was more than a little concerned about the outside of the building though. “The exterior is not my field of expertise. However, I know an architect who specializes in the period and I'd recommend you have him handle that part of the renovation. I need to know for certain if those doors can be replaced with glass block or if we have to make them a solid wall before I can go much further with the interior plans.”
“Hire anyone you want, Harley,” Mark readily agreed. “Tilman found the original blueprints in the town’s archives if you need them.”
“That would help a lot,” his sister-in-law admitted. “I'm so excited I can't wait to get started. This place is going to be amazing when we're finished with it.” She went back home to begin sketching ideas and contact her colleague while the happy partners went back to his apartment and made love to celebrate.
~~~~
That afternoon, Desi cooked while Kylie played with the neighbors children outside in the complexes play area and then Mark joined them for dinner. Desi walked to the door with him while Kylie was doing her homework, and she laid her head on his chest when he pulled her close. “I'm gonna miss you, Mark,” she confessed and reveled in the feel of his arms around her.
“I could have John fill in for me,” Mark offered since he didn't want to leave her any more than she wanted him to go.
Desi shook her head and smiled up at him. “This is what you do,” she pointed out. “So go do it.”
Mark kissed her lingeringly but still continued to stand there holding her for no good reason other than he just wanted to. “Damn, Baby, it’s hard to leave you,” he admitted. He wasn't looking forward to spending the evening without her, dammit. Mark liked having her with him all the time.
Desi reluctantly pulled away from his embrace. “Go to work.”
“Yes, ma'am,” he sighed in resignation and let her go.
He was almost to his car when she said with a wicked smile, “But don't forget, I'll be waiting for my man to come home to me.”
That smile kept Mark in a state of arousal for the rest of the evening and he couldn't wait to get back home to his woman.
~~~~
That night the detective watched the Mercedes pull into the parking lot and saw Mark go into his apartment. As soon as he arrived, Desi walked out onto her patio and met him as he was coming out his back door. He lifted his camera and snapped several shots in rapid succession of the two of them locked in a passionate embrace before they disappeared inside his unit. Deciding that this should make the senator happy, he went back to the motel and downloaded the photos onto his computer before emailing them to his client. He hoped like hell this would do the trick so he could get out of this backwater burg and back to civilization. Hell, this town didn't even have a strip club.
~~~~
Mark didn't like her leaving his bed and going home, and he discovered he didn't like sleeping without Desi in his arms either. He also didn't like the stark emptiness of his apartment. Hers looked like a home while his looked like a place where a bachelor brought women to have sex. Of course, that was exactly what it was, and he wasn't particularly pleased with that either. He didn't like having Desi in a place where he had brought all those other women, but dammit, what choice did he have?
They couldn't make love in her apartment since Kylie shared the bed with Desi now that she was home. His only option was to take her back to his place. At least until she found a house and then he could sneak in after Kylie went to sleep. He frowned at that. Mark didn't want to sneak around, dammit. He wasn't ashamed of their relationship and he sure as hell wasn't going to settle for some middle of the night clandestine encounter. But they had to use discretion because her daughter didn't need to know the extent of their relationship and get her hopes up even more. Having kids was the ruination of spontaneous sex, he realized with regret.
Chapter Fourteen
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Desi came home from the grocery store and found an envelope leaning against her door. She scooped it up, carried it inside and placed the bags on the counter. Curious as to what it could be, she opened it and gasped in shock. She stared incredulously at a picture of her and Mark together on her patio last night. She was dressed in the negligee that he had bought her and one of the straps had slid off her shoulder. Her head was tilted back, her hair cascading down her bare back as Mark ravaged her neck with his lips, his hands covering her breast and bottom as hers clung to his shoulde
rs. Her hands were trembling so bad she could barely hold the photos as she flipped through them and saw that they only got worse. She couldn't believe how wanton she appeared or how sordid it seemed on film.
Her phone rang and she dropped the pictures on the counter to answer it hoarsely, “Hello.”
“Did you get the pictures?” Kyle asked in amusement. “I particularly like the one where he's carrying you inside.” The investigator had called him the moment she arrived at home and he couldn't wait to let her know that her affair was going to cost her their daughter.
“Kyle?” she choked in disbelief. Dear God. He'd sent her the photos! That meant that not only did he know where she was, but he had someone watching her. Someone who was probably outside right now, she realized fearfully.
“Did you think you could hide from me, Desi?” he chided in a mocking tone.
“What the hell do you want?” she demanded shakily and locked the front door.
“I thought we already established that,” he sighed.
“You stay away from my daughter,” she warned.
“Our daughter,” he corrected. “I just called to say thank you.”
“For what?” Desi asked with a frown as she peered out the window blinds to see if anyone was watching the apartment.
“For making it so easy for me to get custody of the kid,” he said in amusement. “Not only did you run away and refuse to comply with a court order, you shacked up with a man right under our daughter's nose.” He made a tsking sound. “You're saving me the trouble of proving you unfit to have custody of an impressionable young girl.”
“You bastard,” she choked as the implication hit home hard. Kyle was going to use her relationship with Mark against her.
“Now, Desi, there's no need to be rude,” he smirked. “You could just sign over custody to me and we won't have to have a nasty court battle. Think about what all the publicity would do to Kylie. How is she going to feel when she finds out what a cheap little whore her mother is?”
Desi threw the phone across the room in a fit of rage and barely resisted the urge to scream. She was going to lose her daughter and it was her own fault. Kyle hadn't had to do a damn thing. Desi knew she had damned herself when she'd fallen in love with Mark and there was no one to blame but herself. She had put her own selfish needs ahead of her common sense and now she was going to lose Kylie because of it. She sank to the floor as despair threatened to tear her in half.
~~~~
Mark let himself in the apartment and found Desi kneeling on the floor crying as if her heart was breaking. “Desi!” he exclaimed anxiously and knelt next to her. “Baby, what's wrong?”
“Don't!” she cried rawly and turned away from him. More than anything she wanted to throw herself into his arms and accept the comfort only he could give, but Desi knew that she had to end her relationship with Mark if she had a prayer of keeping her daughter. The thought of losing him on top of everything else was more than she could bear. “For God's sake, please leave me alone.”
Stung by the rejection, Mark knew something had to be horribly wrong for her to be behaving like this. “Where's Kylie? Is she alright?” he asked urgently and she bent over double as if she were in excruciating pain, her sobs even louder than before. Mark couldn't stand seeing her like this. Her emotional torment was ripping his heart out and he wanted nothing more than to ease her suffering. “Baby, please tell me what's wrong. Let me help you.”
“Because of you I've lost her,” she accused brokenly.
His frown grew because what she was saying made no sense. Realizing that he was in way over his head, Mark pulled out his phone and called Harley. “Get over to Desi's right now,” he commanded in a no nonsense tone when she answered. “I don't know what the hell is going on, but she's hysterical and I can't get any sense out of her.”
“I'll be right there,” his sister-in-law said as she ended the call and made a u-turn in the middle of Main Street.
Mark's troubled gaze fell on the photos lying atop the counter and he picked them up. His mouth dropped open in shock and his temper began to boil as he flipped through them. Someone had been watching them, he realized furiously. Sonuvabitch! Now he understood what she had meant. Kyle was using their relationship against Desi. The bastard was trying to blackmail her into giving up her daughter!
Like hell he would! There was no way Mark was going to let that happen. He'd kill the other man before he'd let him near Kylie. He walked to the kitchen and rummaged around in the cabinets until he found the bottle of Grand Mariner and poured himself a double, the sound of Desi's sobs tearing at him mercilessly. Mark swallowed the smooth brandy and slammed the glass down on the counter. He had to find a way to undo the damage and make the other man back off before he hurt Desi even more.
Harley arrived and he shoved the pictures into her hands. “The bastard is trying to blackmail Desi into giving up custody,” he informed her angrily.
“My God,” she breathed as she flipped through the photos before handing them back to him. Harley knelt on the floor next to her friend and put her arms around her. “He can't do this, Desi. We'll find a way to stop him,” she promised.
“It's too late,” Desi said in utter dejection and looked at her with hollow eyes. “I dammed myself when I fell in love with Mark. I should have known Kyle would use it against me if he found out.”
“All those pictures prove is that he's willing to stoop to any level to get what he wants,” her friend assured her. “It doesn't mean he's won.”
“He said he’s going to use them to prove I'm unfit,” she sobbed brokenly. “My reputation has been above reproach until I met Mark and threw caution to the wind. I knew better, dammit! I listened to my heart and not my head and now I'm gonna lose Kylie because of it.”
“Over my dead body,” Mark growled. “I'll fix this,” he vowed. “I don't know how yet, but I'll make damn sure you don't lose Kylie.”
“No!” she cried in desperation and looked at him for the first time.
The absolute desolation in her eyes nearly sent him to his knees. “Baby, please,” he protested rawly. The pain he saw on her beautiful face was killing him.
“Just leave me alone, Mark,” Desi pleaded and the pain she felt at saying those words to him was evident in her voice and expression. “If you care about me at all, please, stay the hell away from me.”
Not wanting to go, but knowing that his being there was only upsetting her, Mark walked out of the apartment and closed the door quietly behind him. The knowledge that he was responsible for Desi being hurt ate him alive. The pain in his chest pierced like a knife and he had to fight to draw air into his lungs as he got in his car and drove away. He went straight to the bar, shut himself up in his office with a bottle of brandy and attempted to drink enough to numb the pain. He wound up completely hammered but the pain just wouldn't go away.
~~~~
Harley packed a bag for Desi and one for Kylie before she loaded them and Desi in her car. There was no way in hell she was leaving them here alone if someone was watching them. She took a despondent Desi home with her and put her to bed in the guest room before she called Matt and explained the situation to him. “You might want to check on Mark,” she suggested when her husband stopped cursing. “He didn't look too good when he left and I know he's blaming himself.”
“I will,” he agreed with a frown. “Is Pop at home?” Matt didn't want the women to be there alone if a stranger was watching them.
“He's in the kitchen.”
“Good. Make sure he knows what's going on and doesn't leave you two there alone. And make damn sure he keeps an eye on the kids.” At this point he didn't trust Kylie's father not to try and grab her.
“Alright,” she agreed and hung up.
Matt called his brother and got his voicemail. He drove over to the bar and found Mark passed out on the sofa in his office with an empty bottle of brandy. Ah, hell. Harley had been right. Guilt could weigh heavy on a man's conscience and it
looked like the puppy had tried to drown his sorrows. “Come on, little brother,” he said as he sat him up and lifted him over his shoulder. “Let's get you to bed.”
Matt got Mark in the Mercedes and fished the keys out of his brother’s pants pocket. He locked up the bar, got in the car and called John to tell him he'd have to open the place tonight since Mark was indisposed and let him know what was happening. “Pick me up at the apartment,” he added. “I drove the Mercedes so Mark will have it when he sobers up.”
“You're not taking him to the house?” he queried.
“Under the circumstances, I think he'd be better off at the apartment for now.”
“I'll be there in a few minutes,” the youngest agreed.
Matt got his brother in the apartment and stretched him out face down on the bed. “I tried to warn you that love can hurt like hell, puppy,” he told the unconscious man in regret. “It looks like you had to find out the hard way.”
~~~~
“Maybe I should go check on him,” Harley frowned in worry that evening as she lay in her husband’s arms.
Matt knew from experience that the last thing his brother would feel like doing when he sobered up, was talking. Especially to Harley. His wife was tenacious as hell when she sank her teeth into something and Mark would be in no mood to listen. “Not a good idea,” he denied.
“Dammit, Matthew, they're both suffering for no good reason,” she complained without heat, too content from her husband’s touch to be upset by anything. “If Mark would just open his eyes, he'd see that he's the only one who can fix this mess.”