Still the One

by Debra Cowan

  He kissed her gently, deepening the contact only when she pressed him closer, her mouth opening under his. A new tenuous connection fluttered between them, fragile yet cementing the feelings that had never died.

  She ended the kiss, pulling away with a sigh and cupping the side of his face. “It will work out. If we both want it to.”

  He wanted to believe her.

  She smiled and stood. “Guess we’d better get busy looking at those property records.”

  “Right.” His body ached for more of her, but he knew now wasn’t the time.

  He plugged in his laptop, trying to calm the steady thrum of want in his veins.

  After an hour of poring over the reports, Rafe groaned and flopped back in the chaise lounge. “I don’t know what we’re missing.”

  “Maybe it’s just not there.” Kit rubbed her neck, sagging back in the chair she’d moved next to him.

  “Maybe not,” he admitted.

  She stifled a yawn. “I’m about ready for bed.”

  “Me, too.”

  She disappeared into the bathroom.

  When she emerged, wearing her gown and robe, her face was scrubbed clean of makeup. Her short, dark hair was brushed into a sleek wedge. The room’s fluorescent light picked up a hint of auburn in the dark brown.

  She padded to the window but left the curtains closed. “Do you think the bald guy’s out there?”

  “I don’t know.” Rafe ignored the ache that settled in his chest at the sight of her in that curve-hugging robe. Looking at her long, lean legs only reminded him of how she’d wrapped them around him last night.

  “Do you think it will be much longer before Nita hears something on Sanchez’s background check?”

  “I hope not. I’m not having much luck here. There are a lot more guys named Eddie Sanchez than I anticipated.” Somehow, he tore his gaze from her. He needed to keep his focus on the case, sort out his feelings about Kit, not confuse them further.

  “I know Nita passed on to my investigator that I wanted him to dig deeper, so hopefully she’ll learn something useful soon. She’ll call as soon as she does.”

  Kit smiled, her gaze softly devouring him.

  Sensation hummed through his body. “You shouldn’t look at me like that.”

  “Close your eyes so you won’t know.”

  He grinned, the want sliding deeper. “Craig called while you were in the bathroom. He said he’s pieced together a trail of e-mails between Alexander and Tony. Even one threatening Tony’s loved ones if he didn’t do as Alexander wanted.”

  “Good,” she said fiercely, her eyes shifting from dreamy to sharp. “I hope they’re enough to put that jerk in jail.”

  “Me, too. I told Craig to get it over to Uncle Wayne, let the FBI start compiling evidence.” Rafe sat up, sorted through his files until he came to the beginning of the property records. He might as well go through them again.

  She walked to the bed, sank down on its edge. For a long moment, there was only the sound of his mouse clicking as he scrolled down and read a file.

  “I don’t guess you want to sleep here tonight?”

  His gaze shot to hers. Images flashed through his mind, mirrored in her eyes. Their bodies moving together last night, the friction of damp flesh against damp flesh, the way she’d closed tight and perfect around him. He could still taste her, wanted to do more than that. “I don’t think so. Probably not a good idea.”

  “I didn’t mean…” A blush stained her cheeks. “I meant I’d sleep on the chaise or on the floor. This bed feels pretty comfortable. I don’t mind if you want to use it.”

  “Oh. No, you take it.” His body already throbbed; it would be sheer hell to lie in that bed and think about her being in there with him.

  “Let me know if you change your mind.”

  He nodded, watching her slip out of her robe and slide into bed, reach up to turn out the light just above her head.

  He swallowed hard.

  Her eyes glowed as they sought his. “Good night.”

  “Night.” A tightness stretched across his chest, and he rubbed at it. For several seconds, he watched her. Her mouth was relaxed, her features vulnerable as she fell asleep. It was with some effort that he pulled his gaze away.

  She had hit upon his resentment like a sharpshooter. Surprisingly, he did feel better after talking about it. She amazed him with her willingness to open up, lay her feelings on the line after the way he’d hurt her this morning.

  But he had no idea how far he could go from here. He couldn’t reject her any longer, but he couldn’t commit, either. Would he ever be able to?

  The phone shrilled. Kit rolled and reached for it, only to realize the ring belonged to a cell phone. Rafe’s cell phone.

  “Hello.” His deep voice rumbled, rusty with sleep.

  Groggy, she sat up, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Dawn-pink light crept into the room.

  “Great.” He rose from the chaise lounge where he’d spent the night. “Tell me what you’ve got.”

  “Is that Nita?” she whispered.

  He nodded, moving to sit down on the bed next to her.

  Only the sheet and thin bedspread separated them. His lean thigh silhouetted hers; his heat reached through the fabric. The sight of his dark, tousled hair and his black T-shirt wrinkled and untucked sent a surge of warmth through her. She had gotten some sleep, and Rafe looked as if he had, too.

  “Hang on,” he told his office manager. Leaning forward, he jotted a note on the hotel’s stationery pad that lay on the bedside table.

  When he settled back, Kit breathed in the deep, woodsy scent of him. She curbed her impatience to know the news.

  “Thanks, Nita. I’ll give you a call and let you know what’s going on.”

  He hung up and ripped the sheet of paper from the pad. “She heard from my investigator. The reason we couldn’t find a cabin for Sanchez on the Internet is that it’s listed under his mother’s maiden name, Harper.”

  “So, where are we going?” His warmth coaxed her closer. Kit wanted to snuggle up to that broad chest, press a kiss on the side of his neck.

  His gaze traveled over her face, lingered on her lips long enough to make them tingle.

  Reflexively, she licked them. “Rafe?”

  “Yeah.” He jerked his gaze to hers, and she saw desire flare in the black depths, saw him bank it. “Uh, let’s see. We’re going to Fort Towell. The cabin is located just east of there, on the edge of a wildlife preserve.”

  “Where’s Fort Towell?”

  “South central Colorado, down by a town called Alamosa in the San Luis Valley.”

  “How long will it take us to get there?”

  “Probably two and a half hours.” His gaze dipped to the swell of her breasts, revealed by the scoop neck of her gown.

  Her hands tightened on the sheet. She wanted him to kiss her, wanted to know if his feelings were the same as they had been last night before they’d gone to sleep. But he wanted slow, and she’d promised.

  He looked away, stood. Walking to the window, he glanced at his watch.

  “I’ll shower and dress.” Kit slid out of bed, her nerves shimmering. How could he notch up her pulse with just a look? “It won’t take me long. Do we have time?”

  “Yes.” He turned, kept his gaze trained carefully on hers. “I’ll jump in once you’re finished. It’s early enough that we should get there by mid-morning.”

  “And what about Ape Boy?”

  He grinned at her use of the nickname he’d given their tail. “We’ll keep an eye out. Once we get to Fort Towell, we’ll stop for directions to the cabin. I only have an address. We’ll also make sure we’re still alone. Anyone following us will find it a lot harder to hide in such a small town.”

  “What if we don’t see him? We didn’t yesterday.”

  “If he’s still tailing us, we’ll spot him.”

  “And what if he’s not?”

  “We’ve either lost him or he’s following
Liz and Tony.”

  She swallowed against the possibility, then told herself not to borrow trouble. She turned and walked into the bathroom.

  An hour later, they were ready and in the car. While Rafe filled up with gas at a convenience store on the way out of town, Kit bought two large, steaming cups of coffee and two sausage biscuits.

  Leaving Pueblo, they drove south on I-25. As Rafe smoothly maneuvered the Corvette through early-morning highway traffic, she savored her coffee and watched him. Broad shoulders made the most of the moss green T-shirt he wore today. Beneath the aroma of roasted coffee, she caught a whiff of the hotel soap he’d used.

  Her gaze slid over the flex of sinew on his forearm as he shifted gears, moved down to muscular, denim-clad thighs and scuffed boots. He was one gorgeous man.

  He kept one hand on the wheel as he drank his coffee. His gaze switched frequently between the rearview and side mirrors. Kit regularly checked her side mirror, but she saw nothing suspicious.

  They drove in the opposite direction of most morning traffic, and the number of cars thinned quickly. If the bald guy was still following them, and if he was still in the silver sedan, he’d be easy to spot on this flat stretch of land.

  Wildflowers along the side of the road provided an occasional splash of color against greening farmland. Just to the west and behind Kit’s shoulder were the Wet Mountains, a subrange of the Rockies, their gray-purple face and snowy peaks wreathed in clouds. Kit’s gaze kept returning to Rafe, as did her thoughts.

  She was glad he’d finally opened up to her about his resentment. For the first time in the days since they’d begun working together, he’d let her in.

  Why had it taken her so long to see the way she’d put him second to her family? It had finally hit her after they’d made love, after he’d withdrawn from her.

  At first, she’d been angry and hurt, but that had soon dissolved, leaving her to stare at the cold, hard truth. His distance from her had allowed her to see that she’d always done the same thing to him. When they’d been together before, she had only committed fully to him when they’d made love, holding back at all other times. She thought she needed to be self-sufficient, and she had been. So much so that Rafe had believed she never needed him.

  Shifting her gaze out the window, she admitted the real reason she’d left him in the first place. He’d wanted to relieve her of some of the responsibility she carried, and that had frightened her. She’d felt threatened. Because if she had let go, she realized, she would’ve felt she was giving up a part of her identity, the part that had taken over and become a surrogate mother to Liz.

  It wasn’t just being with Rafe, but also the past ten years that had taught her that. During those years, she’d battled giving up that responsibility a fraction at a time. Could she live her own life without taking on her sister’s? There was a balance somewhere, and Kit wanted to find it.

  Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her purse. “Maybe it’s Liz,” she said to Rafe. “Hello?”

  “Kit?”

  “Yes.” Her head came up and she grabbed Rafe’s arm, mouthing, “Tony.”

  She slid closer to Rafe, leaning over to hold the phone so they could both hear.

  “This is Tony. Tony Valentine.”

  “Of course, I know it’s you, Tony.” She bit back her impatience and the flare of worry that he, not Liz, was calling her. “Is everything okay?”

  “Liz is fine, yes. I wondered if you guys would meet me?”

  “Absolutely. Where?”

  Rafe’s gaze sliced to her. He shook his head as if he couldn’t hear.

  She angled the phone toward him, her shoulder flush with the hard line of his. Their heads touched.

  “I’m in a little town called Fort Towell. I left Liz back at the cabin asleep.”

  “But she’s okay? And you’re okay?”

  “We’re both fine,” Tony reassured her. “She needed to sleep, and besides, she doesn’t blend too well.”

  Rafe chuckled.

  Kit grinned, her anxiety lessening somewhat. “Tell us where to meet you. We’re already on our way there. We found out about Eddie’s cabin.”

  Tony gave them directions to a place called Pet’s Diner, right off US-160. “I’m driving an older model Ford pickup. White.”

  “Okay.”

  Rafe motioned for her to give him the phone.

  “I’m going to pass the phone to Rafe. He wants to talk to you.”

  She took Rafe’s coffee cup then she handed him the phone.

  “Tony, Rafe Blackstock. We’re less than two hours away. Keep a low profile. You’ve been doing great at that.”

  Kit dug a pen out of her purse, then a receipt. On the back of it, she jotted down the name of the diner.

  Rafe said, “Good. Put that evidence in a separate place from the computer. Right.”

  After another pause, he said, “Have you noticed anyone following you? That’s good. Okay, we’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

  He hung up and handed the phone to her. “Tony said he hadn’t seen a tail, but he left Liz at the cabin in case he did. He’s protecting her.”

  “He darn well better be. He got her into this mess,” Kit muttered, stuffing her phone into her purse.

  “Are you sure?”

  She looked into those steady black eyes. “No. You’re right. She got herself into it. She probably just jumped right in the car with him and took off, no matter what he said.”

  “Kinda like her sister,” he teased.

  “Hmph, you needed me and you know it.”

  He chuckled, his eyes sparking with humor and a softness that made her stomach dip.

  She was supposed to be with this man. Only him. Would she ever be able to tell him?

  He’d made no promises last night—neither of them had—but Kit felt encouraged. They’d reached a level beyond what they had shared before.

  For the first time, she’d let him in, really let herself depend on him, and though it was intimidating, it was also freeing in a way she’d never expected or experienced. That mix of emotions played through her. She was thrilled Rafe hadn’t rejected her, but could she be what he needed this time? Could she really let go of the responsibility she’d carried for so long?

  She was going to try with everything in her. She didn’t want to lose him again. If anyone walked away, this time it would be him.

  And that was a possibility, she told herself. The thought unleashed the same swelling panic in her that it had before, but she fought it down.

  Less than an hour later, they took the US-160 West exit off I-25 and drove west through Walsenburg. Seventeen miles took them through La Veta Pass. The flat prairie began to roll and dip, becoming a valley. After several minutes, Rafe pointed out a sign declaring that Fort Towell was less than an hour west. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, visible only as bluish-gray summits while they’d traveled south, rose to their north, looking close enough to touch. Clouds haloed the peaks; the sun beamed through, splashing gold onto slopes of evergreen trees.

  Kit noted that, while she and Rafe had driven in silence at times, it had been comfortable. She slid a look at him, her heart clenching.

  Memories washed through her—his burning kisses, the bone-melting stroke of his hands on her flesh. She’d never stopped loving him and wanted to tell him that, but now wasn’t the time. He didn’t trust her not to walk away again. Those three words wouldn’t mean anything until he did. If he ever did.

  Knowing these thoughts would drive her crazy, she focused on her sister. “What’s the plan once we meet up with Liz and Tony?”

  “First, we’ll make sure Alexander’s goons aren’t around, then we’ll see just how safe their cabin is. If necessary, I’ll move them to a motel somewhere. I’ll call Uncle Wayne for backup and also connect him with Tony. By now, Craig’s delivered what he found to the FBI. Wayne will tell me how he wants to proceed. I’ll either take them back to Oklahoma City or meet my uncle somewhere.”

>   “You sure are going to be busy.” She arched a brow, unable to resist jabbing him a little. “What about me? You’re not planning to ditch me, are you?”

  She had only meant to tease, but the words too closely mirrored her secret fear. An awkward silence grew between them.

  “No,” he said quietly, then shifted his attention to the road. “We’ll do all that, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Uncle Wayne will probably want Tony in protective custody, possibly Liz, too. Will you be all right with that?”

  Kit smiled as she realized she really would be. “At least I’ll know where she is and that she’s safe.”

  “True.”

  Since the beginning, she’d been nervous about the outcome—they were talking about Liz, after all—but she’d never doubted Rafe would find Liz. Never doubted he’d keep her, Kit, safe. She had every confidence he would see this through to the end with her, but what about afterward?

  He glanced over. “How well do you know Tony?”

  “Not well. He’s a likable guy and smart. Computer smart, anyway.”

  “Bad influence?”

  She shrugged. “At first, I thought he’d be the one man to make Liz feel settled, but I was wrong. I was disappointed when he went to prison. Sure made Liz the more steadying influence in that relationship.”

  “There’s obviously something still between them.”

  “Yeah.” Kit ran her fingers through her hair.

  “Think she’ll see him once this is over?”

  “I don’t know. She obviously wanted to before all this started. It may depend on whether he goes back to prison.”

  “Are you okay with it if she gets back together with him?”

  “Do you think it would matter if I weren’t?”

  His lips twisted. “I imagine you’re anxious to see her.”

  “I’m anxious to smack her, but that’s never done any good.”

  He chuckled. Kit angled into her seat so she faced him, her gaze following the golden wash of sunlight over his features, his muscled arms. “I’m just glad they’re okay.”

  “She always seems to land on her feet.” Rafe passed a car, then moved into his lane again.