Flirting with Felicity

by Gerri Russell

  Felicity froze. Destiny. Photographers. This could not be good for either her or Blake.

  “Come on,” Blake said as he slipped his arm around her waist, turned her face in to his chest, and hurried them both across the lobby and down the long hallway toward the business office. Once she and the officers were inside, he shut the door with a resounding click.

  Felicity collapsed into a chair, expelling her breath in a rush. “Was Jack O’Conner the photographer who you talked to in Hawai‘i?”

  “You heard that?” he asked frowning, studying her face.

  She nodded.

  “So you did know the victim?” the older officer asked.

  “We met briefly,” Blake replied, dispassionately.

  The words were devoid of concern, yet the presence of the policemen in her office, along with the fact that Blake had called his lawyers caused her heart to palpitate. “Is the man okay?” she asked.

  “He’s hurt pretty badly.” The gravity of the young officer’s tone sent her heart beating even faster. “He’s in Harborview right now in critical condition.”

  “This has to be a mistake,” Felicity said, ready to defend Blake. “Why would Blake do something like that?”

  The older officer shrugged. “It happens all the time with photographers and celebrities.” He turned his gaze on Blake. “Where were you last night at ten forty-five?”

  Blake stood, leaning against the wall, with a look of cold indifference on his face, saying nothing. Why wasn’t he defending himself?

  “Blake was with me last night,” she said, her tone overly loud in the quiet of the room. Wasn’t he? She suddenly questioned herself. He’d left her alone in her hotel room after the paramedics had examined her father. Did that mean he didn’t have an alibi? Even so, she knew that Blake didn’t do it. If he’d gone back to his room, then all she had to do was give the hotel’s security tapes to the police to prove Blake hadn’t left the hotel again after they’d brought her father home.

  “Felicity, say no more until my lawyers arrive,” he instructed in a calm tone like he’d had to put up with this kind of situation more than once in his life.

  In silent dread, she snapped her mouth closed. The sound of her heartbeat filled her ears as they waited another ten minutes simply staring at one another.

  When the door of her office opened once more, three men in expensive suits entered the suddenly overcrowded space. One of the men moved to greet the officers. One made his way to Blake’s side. The other came for her. “We’ll take things from here, ma’am.” His gaze was alarmingly sharp as he motioned toward the door. “You can wait outside.”

  She looked over at Blake. He nodded and offered her the hint of a smile as she moved into the hallway. The door of her office closed behind her. She stared at the wooden door as her mind began tormenting her with all kinds of vague, disastrous possibilities.

  “Looks like Blake’s in some serious trouble.”

  Felicity turned to see Destiny.

  “Why are you here?”

  “I’m waiting to see what happens now,” Destiny said. “That’s what good reporters do—they watch, listen, and anticipate.”

  Felicity’s stomach felt as if it were being squeezed in a vise. “Will you do something for me, Destiny?”

  “Depends.” Destiny raised a perfectly sculpted brow in an unspoken question.

  “Go away and leave things alone.”

  Destiny shook her head, her red hair spilling around her shoulders. “I can’t do that.”

  Felicity frowned at the woman before her. “We used to be friends. What happened?”

  Destiny’s face went blank. “It’s really nothing personal. I just needed to move on.”

  “That’s a lie, and you know it. What’s really happening? How did you know the police were coming to talk with Blake? If I thought you capable of such a thing, I’d say you set this up. The friend I used to know wouldn’t have done something so cruel.”

  The barb must have struck a nerve, because Destiny stiffened. “You have no idea what it’s like to want something so desperately that you’d do just about anything to get it.”

  Felicity met Destiny’s gaze. “You’ve met my father. You know that’s not true. What do you gain from all of this, Destiny? You said you were desperate. Desperate for what? There has to be a reason. You’re not the self-sacrificing type.”

  Destiny bristled. “I’ve changed.”

  “I’d find that easier to believe if you weren’t the cause of Blake’s latest troubles.”

  “I’m not the cause,” Destiny countered, then pressed her lips together as though forcing herself to say nothing more.

  “But you know who is.”

  “You know.” Destiny straightened, then glanced down the hallway as though searching for a way to end their conversation. “I think I’ll take you up on your suggestion to leave. After all, I have a story to write.” She moved quickly down the hall and out the front door.

  Felicity was tempted to follow her onetime friend to see what she would do next, and perhaps who was the “cause” she’d referred to only moments ago. But she couldn’t leave, not during the dinner rush. But there was one person who might be able to help. She reached for her cell phone and re-called a previously dialed number.

  The call was answered in one ring. “Hello, Felicity. How can I help you?” Peter, Blake’s driver asked.

  “Are you parked out front?”

  “As usual.”

  “Do you see a red-haired woman leaving the building?”

  After a slight pause, Peter asked, “Miss Carrow?”

  “That’s her.”

  “She’s getting into a taxi.”

  If Peter could follow Destiny to see where she went or whom she talked to, he might discover some information they could use to help Blake get out of his current situation with the police. “Any chance you could follow her and see where she goes? It’s really important, Peter. Blake’s in serious trouble, and Destiny might be the reason why.”

  “You’ll look after Blake while I’m gone?” he said, his voice suddenly strained.

  “Consider it done.”

  “I’ll call back as soon as I know something.” Peter hung up.

  The same moment she ended the call, the door of her office opened and the two policemen came out. With a nod to her, they headed down the hallway. Blake’s lawyers came out next, and after promising to call him in the morning, they followed the policemen until only she and Blake remained.

  In that endless moment, their gazes met and held. She had an almost overwhelming desire to go to him and fold him in her arms, but she held herself back. “Are you okay?” she asked, breaking the spell between them.

  “I didn’t assault that man.”

  “I know. I’ll have Edward pull the security tapes from the hotel that will prove you were here last night. You were here, right?”

  He nodded. “Don’t worry, Felicity. My lawyers will take care of everything.”

  She prayed he was right.

  Blake stood and came toward her. “Have you been standing out there the whole time they were questioning me?”

  She nodded. “I had company. Destiny followed me here.”

  “Ah, yes. I saw her in the lobby,” he replied, his eyes intent on Felicity’s face.

  “While we were out here talking, she said something that makes me believe she’s up to something.”

  He quirked an indifferent brow and said, “I suspected as much from the first day we met.”

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I asked your driver to follow her when she left here. Who knows, maybe he’ll discover something.”

  The warmth in his gaze told her he was pleased. His manner was relaxed, in spite of all he’d been through in the last half hour. “It’s the tail end of the dinner rush. Are you still needed in the kitchen?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Then let’s head back.” He turned toward the lobby, then stopped, hesitating, no dou
bt remembering the photographers that waited there.

  She reached for his hand. “Come with me. There’s a back way. I have no interest whatsoever in giving those photographers any more fodder than they already have.”

  He tightened his hand around hers, giving her a conspiratorial smile. “I couldn’t agree with you more.”

  Blake and Felicity were alone in the kitchen two hours later when Peter called back. “What have you got?” Blake asked after Felicity turned the phone on speaker so they could both hear.

  “Destiny went to Harborview to visit someone named Jack O’Conner in the ICU. Then she went to the Seattle Gazette’s headquarters. I saw her meet Reid Fairfax in the lobby, before they both got into the elevator. That’s as far as I could go,” Peter explained.

  “Reid’s Destiny’s editor,” Felicity replied. “She probably met up with him to tell him about the story she intends to write to accompany the pictures that were taken of you with the police.”

  “Where are you now?” Blake asked his driver.

  “Outside the building. I didn’t want to hang out in the lobby and look suspicious. I’m no detective.”

  “You did great, Peter, thank you. Stay there, and just keep an eye on things. I’m going to call my detectives to come and relieve you. They’ll be there soon.” Blake hung up the phone.

  “You’re excited.” Felicity’s gaze was on his face.

  “We’ve finally got a break. The pieces of the puzzle are finally starting to come together,” Blake said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “So you remember the picture we found in the book in my uncle’s hotel room?”

  She nodded.

  “I learned today that the man with my grandfather in that picture was Byrne Fairfax. Reid Fairfax’s grandfather and a former partner in one of my family’s early businesses. Destiny is the link we’ve been waiting to find.”

  “How is she involved?”

  “I don’t know. That’s for my detectives to figure out.” He could see that she needed him to try to make sense out of why Destiny had turned on her. He only hoped when this was through that she would have the answers she needed. Just as he hoped he would have his about his uncle. The kitchen was clean, everything put away. He held out his hand. “It’s been a hell of a day. Why don’t we go check on your father, then go to bed?”

  She looked at him inquiringly. “Together? Are you sure that’s wise?”

  Nothing he’d done since coming to Seattle had been wise, but he knew he didn’t want to be apart from her tonight, wise or not. He slipped his arm around her waist. “How about we take the stairs?”

  She smiled. “Follow me.”

  Back upstairs in the new two-bedroom suite Felicity had moved herself and her father into earlier in the day, she said good night to Marie. She thanked the older woman for taking her father back upstairs, then staying with him while she and Blake had been occupied with the police. On silent feet Felicity crossed the living area, standing at the doorway of her father’s room, watching him sleep. It had been quite a day, but in the end, her father was safe, and Blake was with her.

  She shut the bedroom door and moved to the light. Flicking it off, she pitched them into darkness. Only the light of moonbeams seeping through the window illuminated the room, though she didn’t need any light to locate Blake. All her senses seem to lock in on him, helplessly drawing her into his arms.

  He folded his arms around her, pulling her against his chest. She could hear the sound of his heart, beating in tempo with her own, telling her he was every bit as affected by her presence as she was by his. She didn’t want to dwell on any of the reasons why he wanted to be with her tonight. Tonight she would have him for herself. There was no other outcome for them.

  Darkness. Heat. Blake.

  He lightly brushed his lips against her throat. A primal shudder went through her. With the darkness enveloping them, her other senses sharpened, and she could smell the woodsy scent that would always remind her of Blake.

  “You are so hard to resist. You always have been,” he whispered against her hair.

  “Then don’t resist.”

  “Felicity,” he said, his tone suddenly serious. “We have to decide about the hotel.”

  “We will, but not tonight. This moment has nothing to do with the future. This moment is you and me, right here, right now.”

  “And tomorrow?” he asked.

  “Tomorrow will take care of itself.” Tonight she wanted to set aside all the decisions that would need to be made and seize this moment with both hands. She moved against him, blatantly inviting him into blissful forgetfulness with her, demanding his attentions in return. Tonight they would both hold back the tide of what tomorrow would bring, bury that sense of something dreadful approaching that grew more intense every day they spent together.

  Tonight she wanted to set it all aside and know only their passion for each other.

  “Come with me,” he said, leading her toward the bed in the other room. A mindless rush of pleasure flooded her senses, bringing the sound of his voice into sharp focus. She held onto the languid tone, reveled in it, as he slowly removed her clothing. Her own fingers trembled with desire as she peeled his clothing from him and tossed it to the floor. With no more barriers between them, he flipped the covers back, lay down, and pulled her down beside him.

  He was all heat and power in the darkness as he lowered his head, slowly, until his breath washed over her lips. But he didn’t kiss her then; instead his lips lowered to the base of her throat, to a freckle on the arch of her collarbone, then lower, to her breast. His mouth closed on her nipple. Heat flashed through her, the muscles of her stomach clenched. And while he explored her with his mouth, his palm swept down her back, pressing her to him, then sliding lower, over her hip, to grasp her bottom and angle her hips to his.

  Beneath the silver light of the moon, he molded his hard length against her most intimate core. The sensation of his warmth, his strength, his arousal, overpowered all else, working its way into her memory. Never again would she be able to separate the silvery glow of the moonlight from him, never would she want to. She trailed her hands slowly over his body, savoring the feel of his sinewy strength. She dipped her hand down between their bodies and touched his arousal with a boldness that surprised even her. His body pulsed, throbbed, making her burn all the hotter. “I want you, Blake,” she whispered against his lips. She wanted more of him, more than he’d ever given to anyone else before.

  He took her lips then, in an achingly slow, devastatingly thorough kiss as he moved over her. Her weight stole her breath as she wrapped her legs around his hips. A thousand bright shivers of expectation hovered between them as he entered her, his warm, throbbing presence filling her fully. With slow, deliberate thrusts, he moved within, coaxing a response from her. She arched against him, meeting his thrusts, and gasped as each stroke that sent her further and further into a space in time where only sensation and promise existed.

  That promise gathered momentum and overtook all else, until an urgency born of flesh and fire and consuming desire burst within. His thrusts came harder, deeper, faster. She moved with him, their bodies mingling as they rushed headlong into the flood of sensations that surged through every fiber of her being. She tightened her legs around him, pulling him closer, never wanting to let go.

  He plunged into her with a final thrust as deep as life and breath could take him, and the world splintered into hot arcs of pleasure as the promise was fulfilled. That moment of exquisite pleasure extended. Deep within, her womb contracted, clutched, and held him, before satiation claimed her and all her senses surrendered to glorious, drugging bliss.

  They lay like that, a tangle of arms and legs, beating hearts and ragged breathing as the world drifted down around them again.

  He nestled against her. “Felicity, we are good together.”

  His voice was deep and caressing. And the way he said her name made it sound so beautiful. She had always hate
d the formal name her parents had given her. But now hearing it from his lips, she loved it, loved him.

  She loved him fully, as any woman could love a man.

  Felicity sat up, forcing Blake to relinquish his touch. We are good together. The words echoed through her mind. She could not deny she felt the same way. She was part of him now, just as he was part of her. Nothing had ever seemed more natural than being in his arms, having his hands caress her skin, having his lips on her lips.

  But at what cost to her or to her employees? Did she love him enough to give up the hotel and restaurant? Did she love him enough to sacrifice the lives of every employee at the Bancroft Hotel? Did she love him enough to put her father’s recovery at risk?

  Even if she did, would she then resent him for denying her those things? How would they ever build a relationship on that? Felicity drew a steadying breath and turned to face him, looking into the startling blue depths of his eyes. She had to ask the question, even though she feared his answer. “Where does this leave us, Blake?” she asked, her voice raw.

  He looked away, closing his emotions off to her. “You said to let tomorrow take care of itself.”

  “I did.”

  “And you wish for something different now?”

  “I want you and the Bancroft and security for my employees. I want it all.”

  He reached for her hands as a flicker of sadness crossed his face. “I know about wanting it all, but neither of us can have that. Either you or I have to change our minds about what we want from this hotel, and from each other.” His features softened. “If you’re worried about taking care of your father, I can help you.”

  “Absolutely not,” Felicity burst out. “Please, Blake,” she implored, realizing how ungrateful she must sound. “At least leave me some pride. I can’t accept your money. I won’t be beholden to you, or anyone, in that way.” She’d made it this far on her own.

  He nodded and released her hands. “So where does that leave us?” He echoed her question. “Right back where we started?”