by Bourne, Lena
"There's all the cars he stole on top of that," Scott says, staring out the front window. "Should net him ten years at least."
I gasp and turn to him sharply, digging my fingers into his thigh. "You'll tell them? You promised you wouldn't incriminate yourself!"
Scott going to jail is something I can't even think about, let alone voice.
He shakes his head, his eyes hard and black for the first time since I got out of the hospital. "I fixed it so it won't come to that. They have enough to convict him without anyone testifying."
"How?" I manage.
"This has to stay between us, Gail," he says, his eyes fixed on mine now. I nod, because my throat is clenched so tight I probably couldn't speak anyway.
"I planted some very incriminating stuff on his computer and at his apartment, then made sure the cops found it before anyone else did," Scott says. "It's all true, just not something he actually left laying around."
"What if he tells them about you?" I mutter, panic rising in my chest, turning my mind fuzzy.
"He won't. And if he does, I'll deny it," Scott says. "I already told them he's been trying to get me back into the business ever since I got out of jail, and that I kept refusing. They believed me when I told them abducting you was just his last desperate attempt."
"How do you know?" I wish his certainty could reassure me, but I'll never be calm, not until I see it with my own eyes.
"I'm sure. And Jerry thinks so too," Scott replies.
"Who's Jerry?"
"The cop you met. He's kinda been looking out for us since my mom died. Her murder was one of his first cases," Scott explains. "He'll do his best to make sure they believe my story. Even if he has his doubts."
"He was the one who came in when you found me?"
"Yeah, I called him. Wasn't sure I'd be able to after I got my hands on Mike. I seriously could've killed him."
The fear coursing just below his firm words pierces me right through the heart.
"But how did you know where to find me?" I ask. It didn't make a lot of sense that he could surprise Mike so easily at the time, but a lot of that night is still lost in a fog.
"I recognized Benny's voice on the phone and pestered him until he told me where Mike had you," Scott explains. "But neither of them expected me to get there so fast."
"I'll testify for you, tell them I was with you on all those nights when you were working with Mike," I say, my fingers digging into his thigh.
He chuckles and kisses my cheek softly. "No you won't. It won't come to it, and besides, your dad would kill me if you did."
"Marry me," I whisper, and he turns to me, his eyes twisting up into his forehead.
"What?"
"Yes, marry me. Then they can't compel me to testify," I urge.
He smiles, his eyes softer than melting snow. "You know, whenever I thought about a marriage proposal I always had something a lot more romantic, and a lot less panicked in mind. And a ring, obviously. Or did you bring that too?"
I lean back in my seat, smacking my head. "No, I completely forgot I was supposed to get you a diamond ring."
He runs his palm up my thigh. "I appreciate the thought though, Gail. But it's alright, it's over."
The wind rustling through the trees outside is louder than the sea crashing against cliffs as we're lying in my bed later, darkness pressing at me from all sides.
Each time I close my eyes, I hear glass breaking, footsteps echoing in the hallway, water tap-tapping somewhere behind me.
I press my lips against Scott's and he kisses me back, but it's a soft kiss, all lips and no tongue, and the warmth building in my belly has a cold edge to it, like a knife.
I slide my hand down his stomach, but he stops me before I reach the waistband of his pajamas. He hugs me close, until I can hardly breathe.
"Is this all we'll be doing from now on?" I ask, my voice muffled against his chest.
"I don't know, Gail. I just…" he says, running his hand up and down my back.
"Just what?" I mutter, tears a hard ball in my throat.
"I just keep seeing you in that warehouse all bloody and battered," he explains. "I have no right to even touch you. I almost got you killed."
"You have every right to touch me. You saved me," I shoot back, staring into his eyes, my voice firm again, the tears gone. "And I want you to touch me."
He kisses me, maybe a little harder than before. But it's over too fast. "I was so afraid I'd be too late. And when I saw you there, I was so sure I was too late."
"You weren't," I say and kiss him softly, but it's still troubling him so I let it go. "How did you get there so fast?"
"Fast? Even with the sick amount of money I was waving around it took me almost five hours."
"Money?"
"Yeah, I spent like $25,000 getting back," he says and chuckles, then, probably because my eyes are so wide they're about to pop out of my head, adds, "but I'd spend everything I have in a heartbeat."
"How much money do you have?"
"A lot, like $400 K," he says.
"Didn't they seize everything you owned after you went to prison?"
He shakes his head. "No. Just my car and my computer, and some of the money too. But Janine hid most of it for me in safety deposit boxes under her name."
"She took a risk like that for you?" I gasp. It could be a gesture of friendship, sure, but all I'm seeing it as an act of love. And now I can't get the image of the two of them kissing out of some tropical beach.
"Where is Janine now?" I ask.
"Thailand, the last she told me," Scott says. "And it sounded like she's not coming back for awhile."
And now I'm seeing them kissing on some paradise beach, palm trees swaying in the breeze behind them.
"Wow, Gail, that look," he says, his fingers wrapped across my belly. "I can almost believe you're completely healed."
I kiss him again, and the vision flees my mind, leaving behind less than a memory. But all we do is kiss, long into the night, the wind rustling the trees outside, whistling around the edges of the house.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sun is shining on the day our new landlord hands us the apartment keys. It's a ground floor unit in an old house, with a small, walled in garden at the back. We got it cheap, because it needs some work, but I love it. And so does Scott, even though he's been grumbling about leaky faucets and noisy heating since we signed the lease. But it's got high-ceilinged, light filled rooms, and the study would be perfect for his studio.
And as much as I hated leaving Phillipa after all the fun times we had living together, I couldn't get much sleep in my bed, not even with Scott's arms around me. We ended up sleeping on the living room sofa a lot.
Scott drops the bags he's carrying and unlocks the door, staring back at me and not letting me enter.
"What?" I finally ask, because his eyes are sending rivers of heat coursing through my chest.
"I don't know, but I kinda feel like I should carry you over the threshold," he says, his eyes sparkling like a thousand diamonds scattered across a plain of pure white snow.
I drop my bag too, the edge of my laptop hitting my foot. But I don't feel it at all. "Then what are you waiting for?"
I shriek as he picks me up like I'm lighter than air.
I pull him to me by his shirt as soon as he lets me down, and this time the kiss isn't soft, and his tongue is in my mouth, wrestling with my own, his hands looking for the bare skin of my belly.
The mattress is lumpy, and we'll have to get a new one, but I hardly feel it, because his eyes are so blue, so sparkly. I'm back in the warm cabin in the middle of nowhere, soft snowflakes falling from the sky outside the window.
His naked skin pressed against mine is enough to send shooting sparks of electricity through my entire body, his lips covering me with kisses like firecrackers exploding in a velvet blue sky.
I keep my eyes locked on his as he presses into me, filling me so completely it's like he's a part of me. The
whole world is opened before me in his eyes, our future, our past, blended seamlessly forever in the explosion that comes with his thrusts.
"Finally, you're not looking at me like that anymore," I whisper, running my fingers across his lips as his breathing slows.
"Like what?" he asks, his eyes washing over me like the waves of the warmest ocean.
"Like I'm about to break," I mutter.
His lips curl up into a half smile. "I don't think you'll ever break."
I pull him down for a kiss like I always wanted, ever since he pulled me out of Kate's pool, all those ages ago.
"You know," I say, as I pause to take a break. "I think chasing after you might actually have been the best decision of my life."
"You know what?" he says, and his eyes get that sharp glint they always do right before he's about to say something cutting and true. "I think you're right. I really shouldn't doubt you from now on."
I wrap my thighs around his waist and lock my hands behind his neck. "And thank you for the drawing. But later I'd like you to draw me another one. One where I'm much happier."
He kisses my neck, biting that spot just where my neck meets my shoulder, sparks firing all through me. "I will, Gail. But it'll have to be much later. Because there's no way I can just look at you today."
And that's perfect, because there will be a later, and countless ones after that. I know, because I've already seen them all, stretching vast and far in his deep blue eyes to the end of eternity. And the best part is, I've yet to live it all.
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Thanks for reading! This story unfolds over a series of episodes in the form of short novels. The next episode of Not Looking For Love will be out in two weeks. Please sign up for my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/5-Prj to find out as soon as the next part becomes available. In the meantime, if you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review to help other readers find it. You can do so on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com. It only takes a minute, but it makes a world of difference!
About the Author:
Lena Bourne is a young writer, but she has seen her fair share of the world, of love and loss, and all that happens in between. Now she's here telling the stories you might otherwise have missed, which all are made up, of course, but could very well be real and true. Not Looking For Love is her first serial, a steamy New Adult romance, which will be released in five installments over the next few months.
www.lenabourne.com