Reluctant Suspicion

by Finn, Scarlett

  ‘Do you think she’s here?’ Molly asked.

  Knowing that there could be a criminal, a murderess no less, on her premises unsettled Molly. Every new face was a potential suspect to her and it kept her on high alert.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Blake said, filling their glasses.

  ‘Shouldn’t you be watching for her?’

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m not here to find her. I want her to find me.’

  ‘What are you expecting? That she will wait until I am in the restroom and then she’ll pounce on you?’

  ‘I doubt it,’ he said with a smile. ‘But if it happens that way, then that’s all the better. So if you go to the restroom and I’m not here when you return, you’ll know where I am. I’ll try to be back for breakfast.’

  ‘Don’t joke like that,’ she muttered, unable to console herself with the idea that he could find himself at the mercy of someone so heartless.

  ‘Babe, I’ll be fine. I’m trained to deal with these things.’

  ‘How far do you let her go?’ Molly asked. ‘Surely you can’t be sure it is her until it’s too late.’

  ‘I think if she plays Feeling Good and then gets out the silk scarves, I’ll be pretty sure it is her.’

  ‘She won’t use that tack,’ Molly said, taking the glass he offered. ‘If she knows I know, then she knows you know.’

  ‘Anything else I should watch out for?’

  ‘Molly!’ Belinda shrieked, and dropped to sit at the table with Blake and her, cutting off their conversation. ‘This place looks incredible… I’m so sorry about downstairs.’

  ‘There was no real harm done,’ Molly said. ‘It needed a refurb anyway. Blake got this place organised for me. I’m very proud.’ Mustering a dedicated smile, she pinned it on him for as long as she could, but the urge to scan the faces in the room overcame her again.

  ‘You’ve been a dark horse about this,’ Belinda said.

  ‘About what?’ Molly asked.

  Belinda peered pointedly at Blake and then back at her. ‘You landed the devastatingly handsome stranger that got us all moist and sliding off our chairs… how did you do that?’

  ‘You know what I am like, Bel,’ she said. ‘I see something that I want, I go get it.’

  ‘Like Harry?’ Belinda asked. ‘What’s he doing back in town anyway?’

  ‘Sorry?’ Molly asked.

  ‘I saw him today, he was asking about you.’

  ‘Where did you see him?’ Molly asked.

  ‘In the park. He said he went to the bar but it was all locked up. He wanted to know what happened.’

  ‘Did you tell him?’ Molly asked.

  ‘Only what I knew,’ Belinda said. ‘It was quite a blaze last night. I was so happy to hear you weren’t in here. It must have been terrifying.’

  ‘You saw it?’ Molly asked. ‘I can barely remember.’

  ‘You probably block a trauma like that from your mind. It can’t have been easy to see. Remember how your dad reacted when you had that fire in the kitchen when we were kids?’

  ‘He wouldn’t talk to Cal for a week,’ Molly said. The memory of all those years ago was fond now, but it hadn’t been a ball at the time.

  ‘They told him to close that night too. He wouldn’t hear of it.’

  ‘I know, he never would,’ Molly said. ‘That was just a little kitchen fire, no big deal.’

  ‘Harry started that one, didn’t he?’ Belinda grinned.

  ‘Cal took the heat. No pun intended… They were trying to make a bong,’ Molly explained to Blake. ‘But Harry set the plastic bottle alight, and he panicked and dropped it. It landed on the dish-cloth which had just been used to mop a spill, so it went up. Then it was just a chain reaction, to the paper towel roll, the toaster. Then it was up the curtains.’

  Seeing the kitchen ablaze had been terrifying. Recalling the events from her past, with her family, allowed her to see the comic side now.

  ‘You and me were in the bar,’ Belinda laughed. ‘We were messing around with the jukebox. We could only have been what? Twelve, maybe thirteen?’

  ‘Something like that,’ Molly said, and watched Blake top off her champagne, which he’d only half filled in the first place.

  ‘All we hear is this almighty roar, then Cal is screaming for Molly… God only knows what we were supposed to do.’

  ‘Dad was in the cellar,’ Molly laughed. ‘We ran through to the kitchen and Cal was batting at the flames with a newspaper. A newspaper! It caught on fire, of course, so he threw it away.’

  ‘Only to let it set the chair on fire!’ Belinda shrieked with laughter.

  ‘Oh, Dad went crazy,’ Molly said, and sipped her champagne.

  ‘You were the only one sensible enough to call the fire department,’ Belinda said. ‘Harry was cursing at you the whole time, telling you that they would get in trouble.’

  ‘I think we’d have been in more trouble if we’d let the whole place go up in smoke.’

  ‘Your dad got it out with the fire extinguisher, though, right?’

  Molly nodded. ‘He got the worst of it. He was more pissed off that we were all in the room. He threw us out and slammed the door, remember?’

  ‘What are you guys talking about?’ Melissa asked, when she appeared at the side of the table.

  ‘Old times,’ Belinda said.

  ‘Shona’s coming,’ Melissa said. ‘She just called to say she was on her way. She’s never seen the function room.’

  ‘It’s been a while for all of us,’ Belinda said.

  ‘Well you can thank Blake for it. He came in and took control. Of course he didn’t ask me first but…’ Molly brought her eyes to his. ‘He was right not to. I never would have had the guts to do it. At least this way the guilt was taken from my hands. I would have left everything the way it was for years.’

  The gun. Molly had completely forgotten all about it until now. The reminder made her head snap in the direction of the bar. Vanessa and Mason were pouring drinks and to her shock so was a sober Joel, but they all appeared happy enough.

  Having something so dangerous back there, without their knowledge, was a hazard. As Blake had pointed out, more innocent people could get hurt than guilty ones.

  ‘Would you excuse us?’ Her tone betrayed her panic, but grabbing Blake’s hand and leaping from her seat didn’t help her exude an exterior of faux calm either.

  ‘Are you ok?’ Belinda asked, as she filled her wine glass with their champagne.

  ‘Uh, yeah… I just… Have an urge… you know,’ Molly said, trying to make a joke out of her outburst.

  ‘If I had him on tap I would be nothing but urges,’ Belinda said, and swigged from her full glass.

  Leading Blake through the tables, back the way they’d come, she shoved him forward when they got to the office door because he had the key, which he fished from his pocket.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he muttered as he unlocked the door. ‘Did you see something?’

  Blake wasn’t a mind reader, she had to tell him what had occurred to her. But as she worried about telling him, she also tried to think about how they could get the weapon out of the bar without her friends serving behind it noticing that it was there and asking questions.

  Then there were the bullets, if a customer saw those, or if they were spilled on the floor then someone might assume that the weapon was there, which could lead to trouble if someone tried to find it. Ashton’s hadn’t been held up since her dad’s day, so to have it happen twice in the same month would be an embarrassment, and the last thing she wanted was anyone hurt by something her father had put in place to protect the people who came here.

  Chapter Nineteen

  She didn’t say a word. Even after he got the door open Molly just herded him through the gap. Putting the door firmly back in its place meant letting go of her, and when he turned into the room, she was pacing.

  ‘We have a problem,’ Molly said.

  ‘Ok, calm down and tell me what it is.’
r />   ‘Behind the bar. That thing you made me promise never to touch.’

  Relief made his lips curl. ‘It’s in a locked box in my car.’

  ‘It’s what?’

  ‘I wouldn’t have left it back there,’ Blake said.

  She stopped pacing, giving him the chance to take hold of her hips and urge her back the half step to meet the wall. ‘You remembered?’

  ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I told you that I didn’t want you getting hurt by it.’

  ‘Good… Ok… Thank you.’

  Her own relief was palpable, but she emitted tension like a warning buoy. ‘Calm down. You’re like a meerkat on ready alert out there. Don’t look for her or for trouble. I promise you that no one will touch you.’

  ‘She might touch you, though, right?’ Molly asked.

  ‘I won’t enjoy it, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

  ‘Blake, I would have you sleep with a hundred women and enjoy it before I would want you to sleep with one who had the potential to kill you.’

  He shut one eye. ‘I’m going to say, thank you, I’m touched… but I’m not sure how to take that.’

  ‘Just promise me that you won’t let anyone tie you to the bed with silk scarves, ever… leather, handcuffs, fine… but just don’t let them—‘

  ‘I won’t, Mol,’ he said. Having her panic wasn’t great for what they were trying to accomplish, but that panic was for his welfare and it was humbling. For a second he let himself think that she had the capacity to forgive him for what had come before. ‘I won’t let her disarm me, I promise.’

  ‘She might take you by surprise and—‘

  ‘It would have to be a hell of a surprise for her to get one over on me like that. She would have to be stronger than me, and that’s unlikely.’

  ‘She could drug you,’ she said. ‘Did you ever think of that?’

  ‘All the victims’ tox screens were negative.’

  ‘They don’t test for absolutely everything, do they? Just promise me that you won’t eat or drink anything… please?’

  ‘You know, babe, if I didn’t know any better I would say that you actually care about me.’

  ‘I don’t want anyone getting hurt for me,’ she said.

  ‘Hmm,’ he responded, and let his fingertip touch her temple. Sliding it down, he hooked a tendril of her hair around his digit, then let it slide loose and trail down her neck to her throat.

  ‘I don’t want another death on my conscience.’

  There was a chance he would have believed her, if it wasn’t for her rapid-firing heart that beat its tattoo under the pad of his forefinger. Tracing around the hammering point, he was transfixed, until her ragged inhale made him pause. Being so close to her was a dream, and her now-heavy eyelids drew him lower. The slight panting that hitched her breath made her lips part to accommodate her need for more oxygen.

  ‘You look like Christmas morning,’ he muttered, tilting up her chin.

  ‘No one can see us here,’ she whispered. ‘You don’t have to look at me like that.’

  ‘I can’t help myself,’ he said, and brought his lips down to hers. Her eyelids met and with her sharp inhale, he knew she was preparing for his kiss. Then he stopped, because the whisper of a sound put him on alert. If he wasn’t mistaken, the sound was music, and it was…

  ‘Do you hear that?’ she whispered.

  ‘I hear it.’ Her father’s favourite song.

  Relinquishing their proximity was agony because he had no idea if she would ever let him this close again. But they were here to do a job, so he took her hand and led her back into the bustling function room.

  As soon as they entered he noted that Vanessa, Mason, and Joel were frozen, gawping at each other while everyone else in the room was drinking and laughing. No one else knew the significance of that song. Molly was the only person he had told, and she must have clued in those behind the bar, which he understood for safety reasons, if nothing else. The men were potential victims, so it was only right to let them know what to look out for.

  ‘It must be on the playlist,’ Molly said. ‘My dad put it on all of them, I think.’

  ‘Come on,’ he said.

  Taking her onto the dance floor, he swept her into his arms and began to direct her to the music. Showing no fear, or recognition of the song, was important if Choker was around. This song was an important part of Molly’s past, and obviously the killer knew that. But the police had not advertised that this song was a part of the murderess’s process. Choker may not know that the cops had picked up on it as being significant. If he and Molly were indeed lovers, and this song meant something to Molly’s father, it stood to reason that Blake would take her around the dance floor while it played.

  ‘Blake,’ she muttered. ‘This doesn’t feel right.’

  ‘Shh,’ he said. ‘Relax.’

  Sliding his hand from her waist to the small of her back, he held her closer. Her eyes darted around all over the place; she was waiting for something, vigilant, and making her uneasiness very obvious. The meaning of the word, “relax” seemed to be lost on her.

  If she wouldn’t do as she was told, then he’d have to try and make her comply through actions. Tilting his head down, he caught her lips as they swung around for a look in another direction. But Molly instantly broke from the kiss.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ she hissed.

  ‘Do you remember the first night you brought me in here?’ he asked, but her saucer-eyed expression didn’t seem to comprehend his words. ‘You moved for me then.’

  ‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘She could be watching us.’

  ‘If she is, then she can’t know that you know. You can’t be uncomfortable or she’ll suspect that this is a ruse. You have to pretend that you’re in the arms of the man of your dreams who promises to kiss all of your worries away into the dawn.’

  She lost some of her rigidity when her face relaxed. ‘You can be quite romantic when you want to be, can’t you?’

  ‘Shh,’ he said, touching his mouth to her forehead. ‘Don’t tell anyone.’

  Spinning her away in a manoeuvre meant to draw attention to them, he pulled her back into his arms and dipped her backward as the song came to its crescendo.

  ‘Are you going to kiss me?’

  ‘Third time’s the charm.’

  When he finally got the chance to bring his mouth down to hers without interruption, her body went limp. Decreasing the circle of her arms around his neck betrayed the trust she had in him, despite her protestations. She wanted to explore this searing desire between them, and from the coil of her tongue around his now, she was through being shy about it.

  Never one to blush, Blake considered making an exception now, because his body reacted to her as it always did. Hard to the point of busting diamonds wasn’t something he had to conceal from Molly, but he wasn’t used to being in such a public arena with such a problem. Before he allowed himself to do something indecent he tore free of their union.

  Except with her eyes closed and her lips parted, Molly let out a breath of a sigh and when he kissed her cheek, her head fell back, making him wonder if she remembered where they were. Her face glowed with delight, and this bliss that enraptured her was caused by him. She couldn’t pretend anymore, the truth of her feelings was written all over her face.

  Her arms sagged until her hands fluttered down to his chest, and she took hold of the fabric when he eased her back onto her feet.

  ‘You’re a good actress,’ he said, wondering if she’d deny the sincerity of what had just happened.

  Her eyelids fluttered apart and she kissed his jaw. ‘You wanted to put on a show.’

  ‘I did.’

  ‘Do it again.’

  Pushing onto her tiptoes, she tried to join their mouths again, telling him that she was ready for a more thorough round two. She waited there, suspended, with her lips just an inch below his. All he had to do was lower his chin.

  ‘Now?’ he asked.r />
  Tired of waiting for his concession, she traced a couple of teasing kisses on his jaw. The discomfort in his snug jeans was worth it. Relaxing his chin, he let his mouth dance just in front of hers. In any other circumstance he’d seize the chance with her, but they had a goal tonight and it wasn’t the one his groin had in mind.

  ‘Are you losing your nerve, Carson?’ she asked.

  ‘Trying to prevent an injury actually.’

  His admission must have made her curious, because her focus descended. ‘Are you teasing me, baby?’ she whispered, breathing heated passion onto his throat and pushing her hips forward against his discomposure.

  ‘Who’s teasing now?’ he muttered against her, realising that he was relying on her to prop him up as much as she was him.

  ‘You can’t blame a girl,’ she said. ‘I’m allowed to be curious.’

  ‘Curious?’ he said, losing his modesty and forcing himself harder against her. ‘Babe, you can satisfy that anytime you want.’

  ‘Mmm,’ she said, as her hazy gaze floated up to his. ‘And I was hoping you might satisfy it for me.’

  He groaned; she really did drive him wild. If this was all part of a show, then she was good. What he hoped was that this was the truth coming out. She’d had wine at his house and sipped champagne here. It was possible that her barriers were lowered just enough to allow her to express what she really felt inside. It felt so good to have her respond to him again without anger or fear that he chose to believe it. At least for this minute.

  Bringing his palm up to the side of her neck, he pushed his mouth to hers, taking the opportunity that Molly had handed him. The moan that she exuded shook his throat and fired his senses. Her sweet wet mouth teased his, and as she brought herself closer, she began to wriggle against him. If this was just a show, she was convincing even him.

  When she stole her lips away from his, she stole his voice too, there were no words. The sparkle that came through her eyes from her smile, and her pink aroused cheeks, fired a burst of selfish protectiveness inside him. The burning desire to satisfy himself, to sheath himself inside her, overwhelmed all good reason and rationality. All he could feel was the throb of his dick that battled to get as near her as it was able.