by Sherri Hayes
She took advantage of his distraction, opened her car door, and slipped inside. He knocked on her window, but she ignored him as she drove away.
A minute later, she had to pull over because she couldn’t see the road through her tears. Jared’s mother had never liked her much. Abigail Carter always thought her little boy could do better. Her perfect son. And Elizabeth had taken him from her.
Although the things Abigail had said weren’t anything new, they still hurt. She wasn’t a horrible person. She’d loved Jared in the beginning. He’d made her feel special, like she was the only woman in the world for him, but Abigail could never believe her baby boy was beating his wife and that what Elizabeth had done was purely in self-defense.
Anger began to replace the fear and the hurt. She wasn’t sorry she’d fought back. She only regretted that it had ended with the loss of a life. Jared had been terrible to her, but she could never bring herself to wish him dead. All she’d wanted was to leave, but he wouldn’t allow her. She’d had no choice. She knew that. Unfortunately, that didn’t make it any easier.
She had no idea how much time passed before she glanced at her surroundings. Nothing looked familiar. She had no idea where she was.
She dug through her purse for a tissue and then angled the rearview mirror so she could wipe the tears and streaked makeup from her face. After she pulled back onto the road, it didn’t take her long to find a sign for Route 40. All she wanted to do was get home and have a large bowl of double chocolate fudge ice cream.
As soon as she left, Chris locked up the office, jumped in his truck, and pealed out of the parking lot.
He pushed the speed limit as much as he dared to get to the house. He figured he’d try there first. If she wasn’t there, he had no idea where to look, but he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.
Luckily for him her car was in the driveway, and as he hopped out of his truck, he realized she was still sitting inside. Slowly, he walked over and knocked on the glass.
She jumped and just stared at him, looking shocked. Her eyes were red.
Seeing her hurting caused an odd pain in his chest, and he felt compelled to comfort her. Before he could think it through, he opened her door and guided her out of the car and into his embrace. Her arms hung limply at her sides at first, but then she wrapped them around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.
She felt good against him—right. She always smelled feminine. He wasn’t sure if it was her perfume or just her, but it pulled him in no matter how hard he tried to resist.
Suddenly, as if realizing where she was for the first time, she stiffened and he released her. She stared up at him, but neither spoke. Minutes passed, and that pull he felt for her returned again, even stronger than before.
Ever since Elizabeth Marshall had walked into this life, he’d wanted her, and no amount of avoiding or denying was working. At that moment, he didn’t want to avoid. He didn’t want to deny. He wanted her. Now. Even if he woke up tomorrow kicking himself, he’d take it. All he wanted was to stop fighting whatever this was, just this once.
When he finally kissed her there was an energy he’d never felt with another woman surrounding them, and something inside him wanted to get as close to her as humanly possible.
The moment their lips met, she couldn’t think clearly. His lips were soft, gentle, and tentative in such contrast to his size. He cradled her cheek as if she were the most precious thing before sliding his hand back into her hair to pull her closer to him.
The feel of him so close wasn’t as scary as she’d thought it would be. Jared had never touched her like this. He’d never made her feel alive like she did now. She felt vulnerable and strong at the same time. Chris guided their movements, but allowed her to lead.
She gripped his shirt as she lost herself in the sensations. A warm, tingly feeling ran from her lips down to her feet.
He pulled back and she opened her eyes. He stared at her with a strange look on his face. His hand was still in her hair, sending warm pulses down to her feet. She wanted him to kiss her again.
They stared at each other until the spell was broken by the sound of a car door slamming.
“I knew you were screwing her!” Carol stomped toward them with a look of fury in her eyes.
Chris took a step back but didn’t release Elizabeth completely and kept a hand protectively on her waist. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“Not even going to try and deny it, are you?” Carol was acting like a jealous wife.
“If memory serves, you’re the one who had trouble keeping your pants on, not me. We aren’t married anymore, so what I do or who I do it with is none of your business.” His voice held an eerie calm, but Elizabeth felt his fingers flex against her back. “So I ask you again, what are you doing here?”
Carol stood motionless as if waiting on Chris apologize or beg her forgiveness. But judging by his expression, he looked like he’d rather eat glass.
Then, before Elizabeth’s eyes, Carol’s features changed, becoming both pouty and flirty at the same time. She’d witnessed this earlier when Carol had stormed into Chris’s office.
Suddenly, Elizabeth was furious, and she had no idea why. Chris leaned down and whispered in her ear, asking her if she could give them a minute. She didn’t want to leave that nasty woman with him, but she did. She turned on her heel and marched inside, leaving them on the front lawn.
Once inside, the stairs seemed taller than usual as she trudged up them. It was as if a rubber band were inside her and with each step, it was stretching, pulling. She didn’t know what was causing the feeling, but she didn’t like it.
When she stepped inside her apartment, she walked straight to the kitchen for some water. Her mouth felt dry, and she wanted to lie down. It was only eleven in the morning, and she already felt as if she’d had run a marathon.
As she walked into her bedroom, she kicked off her shoes. It wasn’t until she was half way across the room that she noticed something wasn’t right. The sun was shining brightly outside, and yet her room seemed dark in comparison. Had she closed the curtains this morning?
Then she looked over to the window across the room. It took only seconds for her brain to take in what it was seeing. She screamed as she dropped her glass and heard it shatter on the floor.
Chris watched as Carol drove away. For whatever reason, she obviously wanted him back, but that was so not going to happen. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice . . . Yeah. She was not going make a fool of him again. Once was more than enough.
He turned toward the house, looking up to the second story windows. He’d kissed Elizabeth, and there was no question he wanted to do it again, but all his doubts where still there. He wasn’t sure he could handle what happened with Carol again.
But she wasn’t Carol. That was the whole point, really. Elizabeth was genuine. She didn’t hide behind falsities. He never had to wonder if she was being honest with him.
Could he give whatever this was between them a chance?
He opened the main door to the large Victorian as he thought about the possibilities, but before he made it to the stairs, he heard Elizabeth scream. He raced up the stairs, bursting through her door.
Hearing a noise coming from her bedroom, he raced in to find her kneeling on the floor and surrounded by broken glass.
She was staring, transfixed. Something was covering her window. He walked over to get a closer look. He was no expert, but it looked like blood and small pieces of flesh running down the smooth panes of glass and onto her floor.
Someone had been in her apartment, in the house. His mind raced, thinking of the implications. Alarms would need to be installed. He couldn’t let anything happen to her or Jan.
He knew not to touch anything and, turning his back on the mess, he went to Elizabeth. She was clearly shaken, but he needed to get her out of there. He wasn’t about to make her stay there looking at that window. Without thinking, he knelt down and scooped her u
p. She didn’t fight him; just lay stiff and unresponsive in his arms.
He carried her up to his apartment. Once inside, he dialed 911. The dispatcher informed him that, since no one was in any immediate danger, a police officer would be there in an hour or two.
He hung up the phone and glanced over at Elizabeth. She hadn’t moved. Her legs were still slightly bent, her back against the arm of his couch, her head tilted to the side leaning against the cushions. Just exactly how he’d left her.
She was in shock, and he couldn’t even imagine what was going through her mind right now.
He walked into his kitchen and got her a glass of water. When he returned, she didn’t even acknowledge him. “I brought you something to drink.”
Nothing.
“Elizabeth?” he said, touching her shoulder.
She turned around sharply, eyes blazing, muscles tense, ready for a fight.
“Easy. You’re okay. I thought you might want something to drink.”
She looked down at the water in his hand, but it was almost like she didn’t recognize what it was. A few seconds later, he saw her shoulders relax as she reached out. “Thank you,” she said, taking the glass from him.
She took a sip and then brought it down to rest in her lap. “I called the police. They’ll be here later to look at things and take a report,” he said. She just nodded, so he stood and went over to the chair across from her to sit down. All they could do now was wait.
After spending the day volunteering at the senior center, the first thing Jan noticed when she pulled up in front of her house was a police car.
She’d checked her phone after leaving the senior center and noticed Chris had called. Since he hadn’t left a message, she hadn’t been concerned. Now she was wishing she’d called him back.
Given that Jan and her husband had not been blessed with any children of their own, she’d always looked after Chris as if he was her own son. The thought of anything happening to him, or Elizabeth for that matter, sent a jolt of fear through her.
Both Chris’s truck and Elizabeth’s car were in the driveway nearly blocked by the police cruiser. Her mind was flooded with awful scenarios, but she knew she needed to calm down and stop jumping to conclusions.
She grabbed her purse, rushed inside, and up the stairs, her heart skipping a beat when she saw the open door to Elizabeth’s apartment.
Quietly, she took the last few steps up to the landing and looked inside. Chris was standing just inside the entryway, his arm around Elizabeth as if supporting her weight. They both stood with their backs to the door.
Her attention shifted as a police officer in full uniform walked out of the bedroom. In one hand, he held a plastic baggie with a specimen cup filled with some kind of red blob, and a camera in the other. “I’ve got everything I need. I’ll get this to our forensics lab and have it analyzed. I’d be surprised if it’s human, though. Looks more like someone was just trying to scare you,” he said, looking directly at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth just nodded. The poor thing truly looked frightened, and Jan wondered just what in the world had happened.
The officer reached into his pocket and handed a business card over to Chris before giving a curt nod to Elizabeth. “Someone will be in touch when we know something. Call us if you think of anything else.” Then he turned and came to the doorway where Jan stood. “Ma’am,” he said, nodding to her before going around her and out the door.
Jan watched as the man descended the stairs before turning back to Elizabeth and Chris. “Are you two all right?”
Chris said, “Yeah. We’re okay.”
“What happened?”
Instead of answering he said, “I called my security guy, the one I use on job sites. He’ll be here in the morning to take a look at what we need.”
It took Jan a second, but then she understood. “Someone broke in? How?”
“Don’t know. There was no sign of forced entry.”
Jan went over and pulled Elizabeth into a hug. “I’m so sorry, my dear. Is there anything I can do?”
Elizabeth allowed Jan to hug her, but didn’t return it. When Jan released her, she leaned back against Chris, and he immediately put his arm around her shoulders. No matter what he said, Chris wasn’t as impartial to Elizabeth as he’d wanted Jan to believe.
“I need to clean it up,” Elizabeth said in a dead voice.
There was one thing Jan was sure of, whatever the mess was, she didn’t need to be dealing with it. “You don’t worry about that, dear. Chris and I will take care of it. Why don’t you just sit down and relax?”
“No, I couldn’t—”
“Jan’s right,” Chris said. “You don’t need to be dealing with cleaning up that mess. Come on, you can wait upstairs.”
As soon as they were out of sight, Jan walked into the bedroom. One look and she knew why Elizabeth had been so shaken up. Jan had grown up on a farm, and her dad had a room in the back of one of their barns where he’d slaughter their pigs. What was on her far wall looked like the stuff that was left on the concrete floor after her father was done slaughtering a pig.
Whatever it was, it was not a house-warming present. This looked personal to her. Someone was trying to send a message, but who would want to hurt a sweet woman like Elizabeth?
Elizabeth was numb. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time. Not since the night she’d killed Jared. Chris had helped her upstairs to his apartment and guided her to his couch. After giving her another glass of water and making sure she’d be okay alone for a while, he’d gone back downstairs with Jan.
There was a part of her that knew she should be the one cleaning it up and not them. They were too good to her, and she didn’t deserve it. She just stared at the glass of water until Chris returned and knelt down in front of her, frowning as he took the full glass from her hands.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
She shook her head. She didn’t think she could eat anything right now if she tried.
“Tired?”
Yes. She was tired. Although she knew it was only midafternoon, she felt as if she’d been up for days. She nodded and the next things she knew, Chris had lain her down on the couch and covered her with a blanket. She began to cry. It had been so long since anyone had taken care of her.
Chris said, “I’m right here. You’re safe.” Calloused fingers brushed lightly against her face as she let sleep take her.
By the time she woke from her nap, the sun was going down, and she sat up, unsure where she was.
Looking around, she located Chris sitting at a table surrounded by paperwork. Memories of what had greeted her in her bedroom came rushing back. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Safe. No one was trying to hurt her right now.
Her eyes opened again. Chris hadn’t noticed that she was awake, and she enjoyed a moment of just watching him.
She watched his hands sort through the pages and remembered the feel of those fingers on her face, in her hair. She recalled the gentle pressure of his hand on her back as he’d kissed her. A shiver ran down her spine. Only hours ago she was having trouble feeling anything. But now, seeing him across the room doing something as simple as sorting through paperwork created that fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach. What was happening to her?
Her gaze traveled up to Chris’s lips. His mouth was open slightly. It was something she’d noticed he did when he was concentrating on something. She couldn’t help but remember the feel of his breath against her lips just before he’d kissed her. And no matter how wrong the moment was, she wanted his mouth on hers again.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize Chris had caught her staring until he shifted his position. She glanced up and her eyes met his heated stare.
Gone was the fear she used to feel in his presence. Now, there was this need to be closer to him.
Even though she’d run from him, he’d helped her, comforted her. He’d let her lean on him when everything just seemed like to
o much. And he’d brought her into his home when the thought of being in hers had terrified her.
The invisible pull toward him was getting stronger. Then, suddenly, Chris pushed back from the table and their connection was lost. She immediately felt empty.
He doesn’t feel it.
“Jan brought some dinner if you’re hungry. Chicken and noodles.” He walked toward what she assumed was his bedroom, given the layout of her own apartment. “I’m going to go grab a shower,” he mumbled and then disappeared behind a closed door. She stared at the door until she heard the shower.
Reluctantly, she pushed herself up from the couch, folded the blanket she’d been using, and shuffled into Chris’s kitchen. It was the exact reverse of her own, and the crockpot filled with Jan’s chicken and noodles was on the counter by the stove.
She located a bowl and refilled her glass of water. Finding the silverware was easy enough, and once she’d scooped a healthy-sized helping into her bowl, she went to the table and sat down.
The food was good, but that wasn’t a surprise. Jan was a great cook. She was still hungry once she’d polished it off, so she went to get more. That’s the last thing you need. She ignored her inner voice and scooped another large portion into her bowl.
Finally after fifteen minutes, the sound of water cut off, and it seemed like forever before Chris came out, not looking at her as he found a bowl and filled it. He seemed to debate whether or not to come sit with her at the table before remaining at the counter. Not sure what to do, she switched her focus back to her own food and finished eating. The second bowl didn’t taste quite as good as the first.
After they were both finished, she was at a loss. She knew she should really go back down to her apartment. It was getting late, and she was sure Chris would want to go to bed in the not too distant future. But the thought of being alone in her apartment right now sent chills up her spine.