by Char Webster
The kids were still sleeping, and everything was very quiet in her house and in the neighborhood. It was a rare thing that she was actually enjoying. She never had any time to herself anymore. She wandered out to the front porch and sat on the top step with a cup of coffee to enjoy the quiet and the pre-dawn cool air. The sun would be up in a little while, and Maddy would be up shortly after that.
She was going to take this time to just relax and try not to think about Nick and his gorgeous blue eyes. Kate sighed. Who am I kidding? That was all she kept thinking about. She kept switching between daydreaming about her blue-eyed rescuer and wondering if he was something more sinister.
Kate had just settled into another delightful daydream when the subject of her thoughts came into view. She rubbed her eyes, thinking she must be way more tired than she thought, but he was definitely heading her way.
Nick was walking toward her house. He held her gaze the entire way up the street and down her walkway. Kate just stared at him as he flopped down on the step beside her without saying a word. Once again, she felt no emotion from him.
Determined not to break the silence, Kate continued to sip her coffee and look out at the dark street.
~*~*~
Nick couldn’t sleep either. He had been up many of the last few nights keeping an eye on Kate and the kids. He wanted to make sure Robert hadn’t followed them to their house that night or shown up there any time since.
He was looking out the window of the home he was renting—several houses down from Kate’s—when he noticed the light go on in her room. He knew she hadn’t been sleeping either, but he wasn’t sure what her reasons were. He half hoped that he was the source of her insomnia.
Nick was watching the house when he saw her come out on the porch and sit down. He was pulling on a T-shirt and heading out the front door of his place before he even thought about what he was doing. He knew he owed her some explanations, and he didn’t want to do that in front of the kids, but, under it all, he just really wanted to see her up close again.
So, now they were on her front porch together, just sitting there in silence, and he had no idea what to say to her.
~*~*~
Kate took a deep breath and tried to force herself not to look over at Nick. He was sitting so close to her that only a few inches of space were between them. If she moved her arm, it would brush against him. She had to get ahold of herself.
She had no idea who this guy was or what he was doing, walking up her street in the middle of the night. How does he know where I live? she wondered. And, how did he know I would be awake at 4:00 a.m.? Was he watching me? That thought gave her the creeps. She sighed again and turned to him.
“You owe me a ton of answers,” Kate told him sternly.
“I know, and I’ll try to provide as much information as I can.” He knew she wasn’t going to be happy, but he couldn’t and wouldn’t tell her everything. He still didn’t know if he could trust her.
Kate waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. She was starting to get annoyed. Why did he come here if he wasn’t going to talk to her?
“So . . .” she prodded.
He smirked. She really was impatient. He turned serious and looked directly at her. He decided to go for the shock factor because he wanted to see if he could trust her. He needed to be able to trust her. Nick watched her reactions closely. He would know immediately if she was lying to him. “I’m trying to figure out who killed the kids’ parents.”
Of all the things she thought he might say, that was definitely not one of them. “What? What are you talking about? Their parents died in a car accident.” Kate stood up and looked down at him. “I thought you came here for a serious conversation, but obviously this is all a very big and distasteful joke to you.” She turned and started to walk to the door.
He caught her hand as she tried to walk by. Goosebumps shot up her arm and spread over her whole body. Even her hair started to tingle. He seemed to notice, or maybe something similar was happening to him, because his eyes had grown huge and he had an odd look on his face—half longing, half fear. He gave himself a visible shake and got a serious look on his face. “Kate, I am being serious. I’m being deadly serious. “
He continued to hold her hand, silently begging her to stay with his eyes. Kate hesitated, unsure of what to do. Something was happening between the two of them. She felt a pull, almost as if an invisible force was pulling her to him. It started to scare her until she felt some emotion coming from him. Fear and longing collided within him in such a force she wanted to take a step back, but they were still holding hands. Just as quickly as the emotion came, it disappeared and she felt nothing from him again. Is he blocking me somehow? Can he turn off his emotions that easily? What is he hiding? She needed to find out.
“Okay,” she said quietly, and pulled her hand away. She went back to sit on the step but this time put more than a foot of space between them.
Nick was shocked. What the heck just happened? he thought. He had never felt anything like that before; yeah, he had been interested in a hot woman and had felt strong feelings before, but nothing ever like this. He knew he was interested in her, but now there was no denying it. He wanted her, and it was as simple as that. Now more than ever he needed to talk to her. He needed to find out if she had anything to do with the car accident. He needed to know if she was working with the Division, because that is who his superiors had told him were the likely ones behind the accident.
Nick couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She really was beautiful. Man, he was in trouble. She was watching him as he struggled with what to say to her.
He chose his next words carefully to watch her response. He would know if she knew more than she was letting on. “It wasn’t an accident,” he said watching her closely. “The car was tampered with to cause it to crash. Someone killed them.”
“Oh my gosh,” she said, clearly shocked. “How do you know?” Her eyes were huge. Her reactions seemed to be genuine so far, but he needed to probe farther.
“We did a private investigation and found out that the brakes were cut and the steering column broken. Someone wanted to make sure that car crashed and crashed hard.”
“Why would someone want to kill their parents?” she asked, still in shock.
“We don’t know yet, but I’m trying to find out.” He knew his next words would be the deciding factor. “Do you have any ideas? Did you have anything to do with it?”
“ME?” she yelped, standing up again. “You’re questioning if I had anything to do with it? Why would I have anything to do with something so horrible?”
“I don’t know. You tell me,” he said, still watching her. She was getting angry but she didn’t seem to be lying yet. “Why would you suddenly decide to be a foster parent, after spending only a couple hours with three kids who were deemed troubled by the system, and who had just been kicked out of three different foster homes in the last eight months? Why would anyone do that unless there was something in it for her?” He continued to stare at her.
She was near to shouting now. “You think I had something to do with their deaths! I had nothing to do with that, NOTHING!” she said, and started to pace. “I care about these kids, and I didn’t want them to end up in another bad situation, so I decided to help them. I don’t even know why I am defending myself to you. You’re the one who should be answering questions. How do I know you’re not making all this up? How do I know that you’re not here to hurt me or the kids? If what you say is true about their deaths, maybe you killed them!” She was just getting started. “Who are you? You’re always turning up places. Are you stalking us? Are you crazy?”
Nick still wasn’t sure what her story was, but she wasn’t lying. He felt somewhat relieved, but he still was going to be careful with what he told her.
“I’ve been watching over the kids since their parents died. We know that their parents were killed, but we don’t know who did it or why. It just didn’t make sense . . .” he
started saying, but she cut him off.
“You were using the kids as bait, weren’t you?” she raised her voice again. The guilty look on his face confirmed it. “How could you do that? They’re just kids.” She took a breath. “How do you know them anyway?”
“Wait, it’s not as bad as you think,” he told her before she started to yell at him again. “I didn’t find out about their parents’ deaths until after the kids had already been placed in foster care. They had been there for several weeks when I came back into the area.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you know them or how you could use them as bait,” she reminded him.
He hesitated. He really didn’t want to tell her how he knew the kids. Not yet anyway. “I’m protecting the kids, Kate. I wouldn’t let them get hurt. As for how I know them, I knew their father.”
Kate was watching him closely, looking for the information he was leaving out. “Okay, that was vague. Care to elaborate?” She arched a brow, but he didn’t continue. “Who is this ‘we’ you keep talking about?”
“Greg Taylor—the kids’ father—and I belonged to the same organization. They’re the ones who did the investigation.”
“And they are . . .” she prodded.
“Not yet, Kate,” he said quietly.
“So you still don’t trust me?” she asked incredulously.
“You don’t appear to trust me,” he challenged.
“I’m not the one who is stalking the kids, skulking around the neighborhood in the middle of the night, and showing up everywhere.”
“I told you I’m protecting them and, apparently, now you, too,” he said with an almost hurt look on his face.
“Me? I don’t need protecting, and I’m not convinced that the kids do either.” She couldn’t believe he was trying to act like the hero here. “How do I know anything you just told me, which wasn’t much by the way, was the truth? You want me to trust you, but you aren’t going to trust me? Is that it?” She shook her head at the double standard. “Trust is earned, Nick.”
“Yes, it is Kate,” he said pointedly.
“So where does that leave us, then?” she asked.
“Just enjoying the early morning?” he said, half-jokingly.
“No way. You have not answered all my questions yet.”
He sighed. He wasn’t sure how much else he could tell her. “What else do you want to know?”
“Who is Robert, and how do you know him?” she asked.
He sighed again. He didn’t like to talk about Robert. “Robert and I grew up together and worked for the same organization.”
“Oh, the organization you won’t tell me about?” she interrupted with a small, annoyed huff.
He laughed. “Yes, that would be the one.” She looked like she was going to say something else and he said, “Can I continued, or do you have something else to say?”
She waved her hand at him to continue. “He got tired of taking orders and following the rules, so he went off on his own. Now he has his own agenda and only does things that will benefit him.” He looked directly at her when he said that last part. What he told her was mostly true; he just left out some important details.
“And you think I can benefit him in some way?” she asked, not really believing it.
“That’s one of the things I want to find out. It seems too coincidental that you become foster parent to the kids and he suddenly shows up and tries something with you,” he told Kate.
“Is he dangerous?” she asked.
“He can be,” he said. “Don’t worry though; I’m keeping an eye out.”
She shivered but asked, “Are you dangerous?”
He stared into her eyes. “If you aren’t being straight with me, I’ll be the most dangerous person you’ve ever met.”
They sat in silence for a moment, just looking out at the dark street.
“Maybe we should call the police,” she said quietly.
“This isn’t something that we can involve them in,” he said with a humorless laugh.
“Why not? It’s what they do.” She was starting to think he might be a little crazy. This entire situation was a little crazy. At least her goosebumps were gone. She didn’t want to think about that right now.
“There are things that you don’t know and that I can’t tell you right now,” he told her, shifting closer to her.
“Oh, okay, James Bond. You can tell me, but you’d have to kill me or something like that,” she said sarcastically and stood up again, clearly annoyed at his responses. She had had enough of Nick for one night. “As educational as this has been tonight, I’m going back in now. Maddy will be up soon.”
“I really am trying to protect you and the kids,” Nick told her as he, too, stood up.
“Whatever. I’m sure I’ll see you again because you seem to just show up randomly.” With that, she walked into the house. As the door was closing, she heard him say, “See you later, Kate.”
~*~*~
That didn’t go very well, Nick thought as he slowly walked back to his house. She wasn’t lying to him, he could tell, but she was hiding something. She was definitely more than she seemed. There was something about her that he couldn’t pinpoint; something almost familiar. He had almost lost it when he had grabbed her hand to stop her from leaving. Never before had he felt such a pull toward someone. He had been attracted to her from the start, but now, just remembering the electricity that had run through his body made him want to go back and pull her into his arms. She was dangerous to him. If she were to check out and come completely clean with him, maybe he would explore something with her, but he couldn’t even think about that yet.
~*~*~
Looking out the window, Kate watched him walk down the street and out of sight. She sighed and rubbed her arms. She was chilled, but it was not cold in the house. Her emotions were all over the place, and she had no idea what to do about that. Too many questions nagged at her. He had succeeded in confusing her even more than she was before. Questions swirled in her mind. Who was he really? Was he telling me the truth? What is this organization? Are the kids in trouble? Why would someone kill their parents? What if the kids had been in the car? Why did just touching his hand give me goosebumps everywhere and make my heart start to pound?
She was starting to like him, really like him, but what if he was not someone she should give her heart to?
~*~*~
Dawn was tired from a long day at work. She had had a few truly horrible people to deal with that day and she was just mentally exhausted. All she wanted to do was relax, but she couldn’t yet. Her son would be home soon, and she still needed to make something for dinner.
She walked into her house from the garage and stopped short. The back door was slightly open. She looked around, and nothing seemed too out of place. She fished her cell phone out of her big Michael Kors purse, held it in her hand, and made her way farther into the house. She listened carefully, but she didn’t hear anyone. The TV and Blu-ray player were still there in the family room, along with her son’s Xbox. Maybe her son had left it open before he had gone to summer baseball practice. She tried to convince herself that that was it, but something felt wrong.
All of her papers on the dining room table were still there, but slightly moved. Her son always teased her about being a little OCD; her stuff was always in extremely neat piles. These piles were slightly off. Maybe her son had used the dining room table for something and moved her piles.
A gut feeling told her to look through the house. Nothing seemed to be missing, and nothing was truly out of place, just slightly moved or touched. The average person wouldn’t notice, but she did. Someone was looking for something.
She ventured to her home office and looked into the room. Again, nothing was stolen, just looked through. She liked having her file folders separated by equal spaces between them in the drawer. These files were all pushed to the front. It was nothing that an average person would think twice about, but Dawn was different.
<
br /> She always left her laptop on her desk and kept it running all the time. It was not angled on her desk like she left it. Someone had been on her computer.
She walked through the rest of the house and nothing was missing, just touched. She felt violated—someone had searched through her things.
She sat down at her desk to think. Something was going on; there was a break-in at the office, and now someone was looking through her things. The two break-ins had to be related. Someone was looking for something, and she knew what it was. Somehow, the Taylor kids were involved, and now, thanks to her, Kate Sutton was, too. She had to protect them.
She pulled her shoulder bag onto her desk and pulled out the Taylor folder. She snapped a couple of photos with her cell phone of the important pages, then looked at the folder and did something she thought she would never do. She walked over to the fireplace, set the folder down on the metal rack, and grabbed the lighter from the mantle.
As she watched the file go up in flames, she thought about warning Kate but decided against it. By destroying the file, she bought herself some time, but she still didn’t have any proof of her fears. She couldn’t just go to Kate with a hunch and some circumstantial information and expect her to believe what Dawn was saying. She needed to quietly look into this situation and then go to Kate and maybe even the police with what she found out.
Chapter Seven
Two days later, they were all in the backyard and the weather was wonderful: low 80s with hardly any humidity. Alex and Zach were out by the pool, and Kate and Maddy were around the corner of the house planting flowers. Things were going really well with the kids. They were settling in perfectly. Kate smiled at Maddy who was covered in dirt. The little girl had the biggest smile on her face as they filled several small holes they had dug with multicolored pansies.