“Finn Jewell, meet Isaac Quinn.”
Finn eyed him, offered his hand and without hesitation, Isaac shook it.
“Hey, Chief, good to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Sarah beamed.
“Be right back.”
She gave them both a smile and disappeared. Molly went to clear the tables and close the door.
Isaac grinned at Finn. “Sarah tells me you’re like her big brother. You going to give me the speech?”
Finn laughed. “Let’s just say it’s implied and leave it at that. You’ve made her light up, that’s for sure, and that’s good enough for me.”
Isaac beamed. “She rocks my world even after this short a time.”
“It’s worth it,” Finn grinned at his sister who had come back to the counter, “I haven’t seen her like this since way before Dan disappeared.”
Molly stopped and threw a murderous glare at her brother. Isaac didn’t notice.
“Dan?”
Sarah chose that moment to return to the main room. She stopped when she saw their faces – Molly and Finn embarrassed, Isaac confused. She smiled at them.
“What happened? Were you two being socially awkward again? They’re twins, you know,” she added as a joking aside to Isaac. He smiled and took a deep breath in.
“I think they’re worried because they just mentioned someone called Dan. Is it a secret or do I get to know who that is?”
***
Finn ducked as Caroline threw the glass at him. What he’d done to deserve this, he didn’t know. He’d walked in the door and she’d flipped out on him.
“Woah!” He reached over and grabbed her arm before she could pick up another weapon. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Caroline ripped her arm free. “You’re an asshole, Finn. I saw you earlier. In that goddamned coffee house. With her.”
Finn’s shoulders slumped. This again. “Also, with my sister but I suppose it’s more convenient for your little story if it was just me and Sarah.”
“Don’t say her fucking name.” Caroline spat at him. “Sarah-Sarah-Sarah-Sarah-Sarah-fucking-Bailey. It’s all I ever hear about.”
She sat down in the armchair and lit a cigarette. She leaned her head back on the chair, looking at him. “Are you screwing her? Just tell me.”
Finn sighed. “This again. How many times, we are just friends, we have always been just friends. I’m married to you.”
“But you love her.”
“What do you want me to say, Caroline?”
She laughed. “You can’t even deny it, can you?”
“Do we have to do this every week? It’s like I could schedule into my diary. The same fight, the same questions and you’ll never get a different answer to the one I always give you. Sarah is my sister.” He looked over to where the glass had shattered. “The glass was new, that was nice, made it kind of special.” Finn knew he was goading her now but he didn’t care. “If you’re so convinced I’m in love with Sarah –,” Caroline hissed and he grinned “ – why don’t you leave me?”
Caroline smirked. “Why don’t you leave me?”
Finn turned to her, defeat in his eyes. “Go to bed, Caroline. You’ve made your point.”
She smiled and stubbed her cigarette out and got up. “Are you coming?”
“No.” Finn stepped away from her.
She gave a short laugh and walked off. “Suit yourself.”
He heard the bedroom door shut and sighed. He picked up the glass on the floor, tempted to step on it with his bare feet so he could feel something else than the utter hopelessness he felt this night. Why the hell had he married Caroline? Because she’d faked a pregnancy, dumbass. He slumped into the armchair and closed his eyes. This nightmare was of his own making – and he had no idea how to leave it.
They’d gone back to her house and were sitting on the porch. Sarah couldn’t believe how much had happened in such a few short days. She’d spent a blissful weekend with Isaac, making love…. fucking like animals, she grinned to herself, but now it was time to get back to reality. He needed to know about her.
She snagged two beers from the fridge and they settled in the comfortable chairs out back, watching Wilson playing with his ball in the yard. The Labrador and Isaac were already fast friends.
Isaac hadn’t pressed her after the incident at the coffee house when she’d asked him to wait until they were alone to explain. She loved him for that.
Now, she turned to him. She was constantly amazed that every time she looked at him, she saw something new and glorious about his handsome face. Even after such a short time, she felt he belonged in her life – and she in his.
“Dan was my husband. He went missing two years ago. It was a Friday, a normal workday. I was at the coffee house, Dan was at his work. Nothing was wrong, we hadn’t argued and he showed no signs of depression. All that had happened was that, two days before, I asked him, calmly, if he was having an affair. He denied it and I let it go. I got a call from the school saying he hadn’t shown up for work. I went home – and he was gone. Just gone. He’d taken the dog so I thought he’d just gone for a walk but it was odd that he hadn’t called anyone. I never saw him again. I found Wilson tied up near an abandoned lighthouse at the edge of our property, Dan’s wallet, phone and keys lined up neatly along the cliff.”
“He jumped?”
Sarah shrugged. “More like, I think he wanted to give the impression he had.”
Isaac studied her. “You sound angry more than sad.”
Sarah hesitated. “I was upset for a while but the more I thought about it…Dan wasn’t the type to kill himself. I think he wanted out and couldn’t face telling me.”
“You are pissed.”
She nodded. “We were happy when we first got married but things changed. He changed. Became…. I don’t know. It wasn’t as if we argued or he was abusive just, controlling. He got upset easily.” She sighed. “I don’t know, he might be dead for all I know.”
She studied Isaac’s expression but he looked interested with no trace of the sympathy she dreaded. “That’s rough.”
She nodded. “Anyways, I divorced him in absentia. They couldn’t find a body and we hired detectives to find him. Nothing. I’d gone from upset to pissed to - and I’m ashamed to admit this - relief.”
“What did he teach?”
She was startled. “Music. He taught music. When he was young he used to win prizes, all the time, for piano.”
Isaac looked behind him. “Do you have a piano here?”
She nodded. “In the drawing room.”
“Do you play?”
She nodded. “But not since.”
“I understand.”
A somber mood had fallen and Sarah felt uncomfortable. “I would have told you, I promise. I just thought it might be too soon and I didn’t want to presume, and I didn’t want to burst the bubble I’ve been in since we met.”
Isaac reached out and pulled her onto his lap. “I get it. This is all new. But, Sarah, listen. I’m in this. I want “us”. I’ve never felt this connection with anyone before. If you’ll let me, I want to give you everything he never could. You deserve all the love in the world.”
Her eyes filled at his words and she pressed her lips to his. “I’m in this too,” she whispered against his mouth and felt his mouth curve up in a smile.
“Good.” He stood, lifting her with him and carried her into the house. “Guess what we’re going to do now?”
Upstairs, he laid her gently on the bed and began to unbutton the front of her dress, pushing the soft cotton aside to expose her bare skin, pressing his lips down on the velvety silkiness. He popped the front clasp of her bra and let her full breasts into his hands, plumping them, taking each nipple into his mouth, his tongue teasing, his teeth grazing them until he felt them harden. He kissed down the line of her stomach, circled the deep hollow of her navel with his tongue, feeling her belly quiver and contract under his touch.
“I love fucking you, beautiful Sarah….”
In reply, she tilted her hips up, taking him in deeper, her fingers twisting in his dark curls, her cunt hungrily squeezing and contracting around his cock. Their eyes locked as Isaac began to thrust harder, faster, ramming mercilessly into her, urged on by her cries and moans.
He came explosively, his entire body jerking with the force of the semen being pumped from him, shooting deep inside her. His mind was a delirious whirl, consumed by her, the silky skin, and the heady scent of her, her beauty. He murmured her name over and over as she came, his fingers rubbing her clit as his still hard cock plunged in and out of her. She shuddered and cried out as she came and he gathered her to him as they caught their breath.
“Sarah…beautiful, beautiful Sarah…”
There were tears in her eyes and he brushed them away. “What is it, love? Is everything all right?”
She nodded, smiling through her tears. “Everything’s perfect, Isaac, it’s just….I never knew it could be like this, I never knew I could be this happy…”
Isaac brushed his lips over hers. “I know, baby, I know. I’m falling for you, Sarah Bailey, falling so, so hard…”
He sat in his car, watching Sarah through the big windows at the front of the coffee shop. She looked happy, her dark hair messy, her cheeks flushed as she flitted around, chatting to the customers. Her smile made his stomach twist with desire. The pretty white blouse she wore rode up every time she reached for something from the coffee shop’s shelves, he noticed. He imagined the delicate cotton soaking through with her blood, her dusky skin cleaving under his blade.
She’d been fucking that rich asshole for weeks now and looked so happy, so radiant it made his prick harden and twitch. He wanted her in his bed, fucking her into submission, before finally ending it the only way that it could end…
By killing her.
“Hey, geek.”
Sarah, mired in accounts and bored out of her mind, looked up and saw Finn coming into the coffee house, obviously ducking out of work to come see her and she was grateful for the interruption. She shoved her glasses up her nose and studied him. His police uniform was crumpled as if he’d been sleeping in it.
“Hey, weirdo.” She automatically poured a large Americano for him, sliding across the counter. He grinned his thanks and took a huge slug.
“How’s the boyfriend? Gotta say, I like him.”
Sarah beamed at him. “I’m glad.”
“A definite upgrade.”
Sarah peered over the top of her glasses at him and tried to look disapproving. “Finn…”
Finn shrugged unrepentantly. “Truth, sorry. He’s treating you well, yes?”
She nodded, feeling uncomfortable. Since Dan’s disappearance, Finn had often alluded to the fact he’d never really liked her husband and had never thought him worthy of her. Something came back to her; Isaac asking why and Finn had never hooked up. She pushed the thought away. That wasn’t why Finn had disliked Dan… was it?
She found that she couldn’t look him in the eye then.
“Yes, he is. Actually, we’re going to his place in the city for a few nights.”
“Nice.”
“Yep.”
“Hey, you know how much this guy’s worth?”
She frowned at him. “None of my business – or yours either, Finn Jewell.”
He grinned. “Hey, the info’s right there on the internet. Besides, as a cop and your friend, I had to check him out. Don’t worry…” He added hurriedly as she opened her mouth to complain, “Squeaky clean. Guy’s worth seven-hundred billion, though.”
“Finn! I don’t want to know that.” Sarah clamped her hands over her ears. She really didn’t need to know that; it was bad enough that she couldn’t hope to be on equal financial terms with Isaac, let alone knowing exactly what the difference was.
Finn chuckled. “Relax, I’m kidding. More like half of that.”
Sarah reached over and picked up a muffin, lobbing it at her friend. “Shut. Up.”
Finn caught the cake and took a big bite of it. “Thanks. Seriously, though, bubba, I am happy for you.”
She hugged him. “If only you could be as happy.”
Finn rolled his eyes. “That is entirely of my making, Bubs. And mine to sort out.”
Sarah chewed on her lip, wondering whether to tell him about the letters. Caroline was the only one who hated her enough to send them, the only person she knew was spiteful enough. She and Caroline had loathed each other since childhood; Caroline had been a bully even then and when the headstrong Sarah had failed to bow down to her playground majesty, Caroline had made her a target.
But she didn’t want to give Finn more stress. She smiled at him. “One day, I know you’ll be happy. I just know it.”
Finn finished his coffee and gave her a high-five. “From your lips to God’s ears, sweetheart. Better go, poorly performed policing to be done.”
Sarah watched Finn cross the street to the police station. Caroline was walking towards him, still haranguing him but he ignored her. Caroline stopped in the middle of the street and looked over to the coffee house. She scowled as she caught Sarah’s eye. “Bitch,” she mouthed. Sarah, wearing a wide grin, cheerfully gave her the middle finger, laughing as Caroline flounced back to her house.
Isaac looked up as his brother and business partner Saul knocked at his office door. Saul, at forty-two, was Isaac’s elder by three years but stood half a foot smaller than Isaac’s six-five. Since their parents had died, Isaac and Saul had built the business up into a global endeavor thanks to Isaac’s genius and Saul’s solid and shark-like business nous.
Along the way, Saul had managed to find himself a wife and now he was the father of two children. His wife, Maika, was a Professor of Chemistry at the local University and Saul had been taking a back seat in the Quinn business for the last few years.
He’d been delighted when Isaac told him about Sarah. “Damn, at last! I was beginning to think we’d have to refurbish our basement for you in your old age.”
Isaac grinned. “Very funny. Listen, she’s coming to stay with me in the city for a week, think you and Maika could be free for dinner?”
“Sure thing. Let me know when.”
After his brother had gone, Isaac attempted to answer a few overdue emails but in truth, his mind was across the water, on the island, wrapped around the image of the beautiful brunette whose bed he’d left this morning. He could call her… then changed his mind. You’re supposed to play it cool, man. But he couldn’t be bothered with childish games. At thirty-nine, he’d thought himself a bachelor for life and he’d been okay with that. The day he’d walked into that coffeehouse had changed all of that.
Isaac got up and walked to the window that looked out over the city and Elliott Bay. He couldn’t get the story Sarah had told him about her absent ex-husband out of his head. Why the hell would anyone want to get away from her? He agreed with Sarah – even though he hadn’t known Dan, there was something hinky about the way Dan Bailey had gone missing. Why take the dog with him unless he wanted someone to find him and his carefully laid out possessions? It was all too staged.
Be honest, he told himself, you want to be sure he won’t come back for her. He admired Sarah for divor
cing Dan, for not being a victim. There was more she hadn’t told him yet, he was sure but that was up to her, he wouldn’t push it. Wouldn’t hurt to check out Daniel Bailey, though, would it?
Isaac reached for his phone and made a call. “Jake? Yeah, it’s Isaac. Listen… can you do a background check on someone for me?”
Molly took over for Sarah in the afternoon and Sarah went home, eager to do her laundry and get packing for her week in the city. She could barely wait to see Isaac; he was coming to pick her up over her protestations that she could drive herself.
“I’m trying to show off,” he’d told her with a grin, “I have my own chopper.”
Sarah had giggled at him. “A big one?”
“A huge one just for you.”
That had stopped the protestation as suddenly, her mouth was busy kissing him, giggling over their silliness.
Now, she gathered clothes from all over the house, where they’d been discarded as Isaac had taken them off her. She loaded the washer then cleaned the house quickly. She remembered when Dan was here, the house had always looked pristine; Dan had hated clutter. Over the last two years, the house had become more homely, books everywhere, records and cds shoved into piles on the living room floor. More relaxed, more me, Sarah thought now.
She walked back into the hallway and saw an envelope on the wooden floor. It hadn’t been there when she came home. She picked it up and opened the front door, walking out onto the porch and looking to see if anyone was around. All she could hear was the breeze through the trees and the distant yell of schoolchildren from the private school that bordered their land.
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