“It’s nice to see you girls working together,” the woman said as the grilled cheese making process began.
“We just thought it would be a nice break for you,” Juliette said evenly. “You’re always making supper.”
“Always making chicken casserole,” Vi muttered under her breath and got kicked under the island by Juliette.
Mrs. Tompkins didn’t seem to hear her, to which Juliette was thankful. “You girls are such dolls. I’m certainly going to miss you both when I’m gone.”
Juliette chuckled uncertainly. “Gone? Gone where?”
She thought maybe the woman meant dead, but she still had loads of time left before thinking about that.
“My daughter wants me to move in with her,” the woman surprised them by saying. “She’s been asking for ages, but it wasn’t time.”
The buttering of bread was forgotten as both Juliette and Vi stared at her.
“But you said no, right?” Vi broke in. “I mean, you’re not going to go live with them, are you?”
But Juliette could see the flash of guilt in the woman’s eyes even before she lowered them to the counter.
“I don’t have very long in this world,” she said instead. “Each day is one day closer to when I won’t be here anymore. You girls have been my family for three years and I wouldn’t change that for anything, but I miss my children and grandchildren … and great grandchildren,” she added with a chuckle. “I think it’s time I spent some time with them now.”
“That’s rubbish!” Vi blurted. “We need you here.”
“No,” Juliette cut in softly. “I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
Vi rounded on her. “What?”
Juliette kept her attention on Mrs. Tompkins. “You’re always welcome to come back anytime.”
Relief loosened the knots along Mrs. Tompkins’s thin shoulders. They lowered from their place at her ears and she offered them a tiny smile.
“I will miss you girls,” she admitted, her gray eyes glistening. “I was worried about leaving you alone here, but the last few weeks have really changed my mind. You’re both so happy and finally working together. It really warms my heart.”
“Well, you’re a crazy old lady,” Vi muttered, grabbing two slices of buttered bread and turning away, but not before Juliette caught her sweep quickly at her cheek. “Just abandoning us to run off with your real family.”
The pan hissed as the slices were thrown down on the hot surface, drowning out whatever else Vi was grumbling.
“Don’t listen to her,” Juliette told Mrs. Tompkins. “She’s just naturally miserable.”
Mrs. Tompkins laughed. “I hope you’ll consider coming down to see me once in a while. It’s only one city over.”
Juliette agreed. Vi stayed over the pan, grudgingly jabbing the bread with the tip of her spatula.
It was well after everyone had eaten and Vi had stalked off to her room and Mrs. Tompkins had retired for the night that Juliette realized Killian never called. Granted, she still didn’t have her own phone—the cost was just not worth it—but he usually sent some kind of word with Jake or Melton and neither had said a word.
Wiping her wet hands on a dishrag, she padded from the kitchen in search of her guards. She found them in a small huddle with Javier, Laurence, and Phil in the sitting room. The five were talking in low whispers that made the back of her neck tingle.
“I’m sure of it,” Javier was saying, his close set eyes a little too focused. “Same one about ten minutes after you arrive each time.”
Jake and Melton exchanged glances.
“We haven’t seen anything,” Melton said at last.
“Maybe it’s someone that lives in the area,” Phil suggested.
Laurence shook his head. “I checked all the cars in a nine block radius. Doesn’t match the description.”
“Guest, maybe?”
Javier shook his head. “Drives by the house exactly ten minutes each time.”
“Did you report it?” Jake asked.
Laurence nodded. “Called it into Frank an hour ago. No response yet.”
“There was a fight at one of the casinos,” Jake explained. “I heard it was messy. Guy got shot.”
Juliette shivered and stepped away from the doorway. Her gaze jumped to the front door, closed and secured by three locks and a deadbolt and still she wondered if it was enough. What if someone still managed to get in, especially now that there was a possibility that someone was following them? Was Vi safe? Maybe they needed to go to … where? The police? A hotel? There was nothing the police could do that Killian’s men couldn’t and a hotel was just out of the question.
“Ma’am?”
She jumped at the unexpected intrusion to her inner panic. Her head jerked up to find Jake standing a few feet away from her, arm extended. A phone was nestled on his palm.
“A call for you,” he said, seeming unperturbed by the fact that she was clearly eavesdropping.
Swallowing audibly, she took the device and thanked him. He inclined his head and left her alone. She pressed the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
His response was immediate, warm and soothing. It rushed over her with the power of a fluffy blanket, enveloping her and chasing away the chill and dread.
“Hey.”
Her heart danced a tango of relief and the flutter of girlish delight. “How was the incident?”
She hurried up the stairs to her room. She shut the door behind her and went to the bed.
“Messy,” he replied with a tired little sigh.
“What happened?” she pressed as she crawled onto the stiff mattress and propped her back against the headboard.
“Nothing you need to hear about before bed. What are you wearing?”
Her laugh filled her tiny room. “I think you should come over and find out.”
His low groan sent shivers scattering across her skin, raising pimples and making her nipples harden. “I’d be there in a heartbeat, except I was thinking of spending some time with Mar before she up and vanishes again. I’m not even wholly certain she’ll be at the house when I get there.”
Rancorous bitterness swelled in her chest, filling her with a sort of loathing she hated herself for feeling.
“That’s a nice idea,” she forced herself to grind out. “We can always meet up tomorrow.”
“Angry?”
She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see it. “No, it’s good you spend time with your sister. I know you haven’t seen her in a while so…”
“Thank you, darling.” There was a pause, followed by his sigh. “I’m nearly at the house now. When do you work tomorrow?”
Disappointment an iron weight hanging from her neck, Juliette stared across her room at her closet as she answered, “Later in the afternoon at the diner. It’s my first day back in a week and I’ve only got four hours right after lunch, but before supper, which is the deadest time in the whole day. It’s going to be awful.”
“Why do you stay there?” he asked.
“Can’t leave.” She picked at a loose thread on her comforter. “I still owe them money from all the advances.”
“I can—”
“No, you can’t!” she broke in quickly. “It’s fine. It’s days I don’t work at the hotel anyway so it saves me from having nothing to do all day.”
“You know what I would really like?” He didn’t want for an answer, but went on. “A woman who actually lets me do things for her.”
Juliette raised an eyebrow he couldn’t see. “Haven’t you done enough for me? Besides, I only keep you around for one purpose and it’s not to buy me things.”
There was a pause, then an amused, “That so? And what purpose is that?”
She drew in a deep, exaggerated breath. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Clearly so I can beat you at laser tag and make myself feel better.”
His laughter filled her ear and made her chuckle. “Nice try, but it was a tie so you didn’t beat me.
”
She hissed through her teeth. “That’s just what I wanted you to think.” In the background, she heard a car door slamming shut. Then the crunch of feet on snow and she realized he must have just arrived home. “Guess you have to go now, huh?” she murmured, unable to keep the pout from her voice.
“Aye, but I’ll see you tomorrow. I promise.”
With a sigh, she said goodbye and hung up. She set the phone on the end table and stared at it a long while before dragging herself off the bed and into the bathroom. After a quick shower, she dressed in a long t-shirt and climbed into bed.
The fire was slow burning, working its hot, greedy tongue up the length of her body in deft little flicks that had her writhing in anticipation for more. It consumed miles of flesh in a lazy trail that seemed to take forever to reach her apex. A choked sound forced its way up her chest and pooled at the back of her throat as her back arched to the languid dance of pressure gliding over and around her throbbing clit.
“Killian!”
His name tangled with the whimper that finally escaped its confinement. The tongue faltered as though startled by the sound, but it quickly renewed its insistence with a vigor.
Juliette gasped and reached for the hungry mouth lapping at her, guiding her effortlessly to the edge. Her fingers curled into thick, wavy strands of silk. Her knees lifted and fell apart in open invitation for more. Her companion groaned appreciatively. The sound vibrated against her core, giving it just the right push to send her over with a wail she stifled between her teeth.
The mouth vanished and she whined at the loss only to have her arms filled with broad shoulders and a familiar weight.
He drove inside her without a pause. The invasion popped her eyes open. It tore her back off the mattress with a strangled cry. Her gaze met dark ones on a face painted in shadows, but unmistakable. Her heart leapt and her mouth cracked into a smile in delight.
“Killian.”
He kissed her. He tasted like chocolate and her. She welcomed it, welcomed him as she wound her legs around his hips, drawing him in deeper.
The kiss intensified with his every demanding thrust. She met every one. Every kiss. Every thrust. She let him swallow her moans as his body rode hers expertly to a second climax that was met a moment later by his.
His weight settled comfortably on her, but she knew it wasn’t all of him. His face nuzzled the side of her neck as she littered tiny kisses along the seam of his shoulder. Her arms clasped him tightly to her.
“Please don’t be a dream,” she whispered against his skin.
His response was the turn of his head and the violent claim of his mouth over hers in a kiss that dissolved her bones and sent the room spinning all over again.
“I can’t believe you’re really here,” she murmured some time later as they lay in a tangled mess across the rumpled expense of her bed.
She lay partially on top of him as he traced the bumps of her spine with lazy fingertips. Her head rested against his chest and she could feel the steady patter of his heart thumping beneath her cheek. One leg tucked comfortably through his as she drew lazy circles against his exposed skin with a finger.
“Wasn’t going to,” he said quietly into the top of her head. “But I couldn’t think of anything, except to see you again.”
She lifted her head and peered down at him. His beautiful face was barely visible beneath the curtain of darkness, but his eyes shone with their own inner light that never failed to mesmerize her.
“Stay the night?” she asked.
Fingers smoothed stray locks of hair behind her ear. “For a few hours.”
Juliette’s heart sank. Her shoulders drooped.
“None of that now,” he said. “What kind of example would we be setting for your sister if I stayed?”
He was right and she was ashamed that she hadn’t even thought of Vi.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You’re right.”
Even concealed, she could see his features softening. She felt it in the gentle glide of his fingers tracing the side of her face.
“I would if I could.”
With a sigh, she lowered her head and rested her brow against his chin. “Thank you for coming.” She raised her face and peered down at him. “I missed you.” She flattened her hand against his cheek and pressed her thumb over his lips before he could speak. “I know you’re going to tell me I shouldn’t—”
He took hold of her wrist and gently drew her hand away. “God help me, but I missed you, too.”
Elation sent her heart tap dancing in her chest. His words stole all her senses, even disappointment over him leaving in a few short hours. Juliette beamed as she dropped her mouth and kissed him.
He was gone when Juliette woke up only a short few hours later. The blankets had been drawn tightly around her, but the heat of his body was no longer enveloping her. If it wasn’t for the sweet thrum between her thighs and the fact that she was naked, she might have mistaken the previous night for a dream.
Grabbing her clothes, she quickly dressed before the rest of the house could wake up. She righted her room. She was in the process of tossing her roped sheets into the hamper when she spotted the thin, black box on the nightstand, next to a card and Jake’s phone. A fat, red ribbon circled the case, contrasting brightly against the dark velvet. Juliette stared at the thing. She knew full well that it hadn’t been there when she’d gone to bed. Her heart skipped a beat as she reached for the card and turned it over.
Her name winked up at her from the back in perfect, scrawling penmanship and nothing else. She set the card down and reached for the box. It was real velvet, not the sort that anyone could just buy at the dollar store. It bristled lightly against her skin and she had to suppress the urge to stroke it to her cheek. Instead, she turned her focus to easing a finger beneath the bronze little latch. The top popped open with only a slight squeak from the hinges. More velvet filled inside with a layer of silk. Against the navy bed lay the most beautiful pendent Juliette had ever laid eyes on.
Early morning light danced off the elegant curve surrounding a flawless sphere and caught on each of the four stones embedded in a bed of gleaming silver. Vines twisted in jagged knots around the pale face of a beautiful girl in a Victorian gown. Her long, unbound curls lay in perfect waves around bare shoulders and was held in place by a lily pinned to the side of her head. Juliette turned the cameo in her hand and early light skated along the swirling scripture etched into the silver slat on the back.
“Your happiness drives me.”
The writing was faded, like it had been done years ago and she wondered if Killian had found it in a pawn shop or some antique dealer. It didn’t even matter. The pendent was by far the most thoughtful gift anyone had given her in years. She’d almost forgotten what that felt like.
Moving quickly into the bathroom, she slipped the delicate chain about her throat. The cool metal settled lightly against her skin. The pendent nestled just inches below her collarbone. She fingered the carved gemstone and grinned at her own reflection.
Excitement thrumming, she grabbed Jake’s phone and sprinted downstairs. Jake, Phil, and Melton were in the kitchen, surrounding the island with steaming mugs of coffee when she rushed in. All three jumped. Melton hissed when scalding liquid sloshed over the rim of his cup and burned his hand.
“Sorry!” she said, unable to stop grinning. “Do you think you’re up for a drive?”
Jake set his cup down. “Ma’am, we go whenever you’re ready.”
Too geared up to tell them she didn’t mind waiting until they were finished their coffee, she handed Jake his phone and nodded.
“I’m ready.”
Leaving them, she hurried to where she’d left her coat and purse in the dining room. She moved quietly to avoid waking Javier, who most likely got the nightshift. Laurence glanced up from his position at the window when she stepped into the foyer, swinging her things on.
“Ma’am,” he said in the way of greeting.
She smiled at him. “Morning.”
Jake and Melton were on the front porch when she joined them. Together, they marched down the walkway to the SUV. Melton held the door open and she scrambled inside.
Maybe it was because she was practically crawling out of her skin with anticipation, but the drive seemed to take forever. It wasn’t until Jake took an odd turn off the major road and through a deserted side street that she realized they were changing routes.
“Is there really someone following us?” she asked.
“It’s only precaution, ma’am,” Melton answered.
No one said anything else as they ambled their way up the side of Killian’s hill. The gates opened at the top with a rusty shriek and they pulled to a stop next to the fountain. Juliette opened her own door. She hopped out and darted up the steps.
Despite having left her bed in the wee hours of the morning, Killian was showered and dressed and wide awake when she poked her head into his office. There was a black mug on the desk, no longer steaming, so she wondered how long it had been sitting there forgotten. The owner had his face buried in a stack of papers. He had his serious face on as he scanned the pages. It was the one that puckered the place between his eyebrows and pulled at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t notice her walk in until she cleared her throat.
His face shot up and the lines on his brow immediately vanished. “Juliette?”
In a handful of determined strides, she closed the space separating them and took his face between her hands. There was a split second of surprise on his part, but the moment her mouth closed over his, it had dissolved into a look of pure satisfaction.
“I take it you got my gift,” he teased once she’d drawn back.
Slightly breathless, Juliette grinned. Her hand went into the collar of her coat and she pulled the pendent free for him to see.
“It’s so beautiful,” she breathed, smoothing the pad of her thumb over the girl’s delicate features. “I love it so much. Thank you.”
Killian said nothing for several long minutes as he studied the cameo. He filled the silence by taking her hips and perching her gingerly on the edge of his desk. His chair hinges squeaked as he rose to tower over her. He lightly nipped the zipper of her coat and tugged it down the rest of the way. But his intentions apparently weren’t to disrobe her. It was to get a better look at her wearing the gem.
Transcending Darkness Page 39