by Caryn Carter
On top of that, there were the two cruise tickets. His nails dug into his palms. What the hell was he thinking, defending her like this when that one thing alone was all the damning evidence he needed? There was no way in hell that a trip for two, booked to leave practically the minute Kevin Pitre got out of jail, was a coincidence.
As far as her being afraid of Kevin, that too, was undoubtedly a big fat lie just to throw Nick off the trail. He felt sick inside. He was worse than a phony. He was a class-A fool who didn't deserve to carry a P.I. license.
"I'm sorry, son," Vince said, his voice edgy. "There's no reason for me to chew your ass out just because I've got problems. I know you won't let up on that woman just because you've temporarily run up against a brick wall."
Nick passed a hand over his forehead. "You're right, this is just a temporary set-back. Do whatever you can. In the meantime I won't give up on her." He started for the door, but before he opened it, turned back to Vince. "Keep me informed about Gloria and remember if you need anything, just ask."
Vince came from behind the desk, caught up with Nick and clapped him on the shoulder. "You're like a son to me, Nick, you know that don't you? No matter what comes between us, no matter what disagreements we have, we're like family."
"I know that, Vince." The emotion in the older man's voice touched Nick. He gave Vince's hand a hard squeeze before he opened the door and stepped out into the hall.
In the front office, he stopped at Inez's desk. "I have some things to take care of by telephone. It may take me a while. I'll let you know when you can put calls through."
He hurried to his office. The lunch with Bella was off. There was no way he could go through with that now. He'd go back to her house and turn the power back on since there would be no more trysts aboard the Cindy Marie.
Finally, he was thinking straight after the conversation with Vince made him re-focus his priorities. If Bella's house was clean, he'd have to look for another route to take--and he had to find one soon because time was quickly running out.
* * * *
A warm glow of contentment permeated Bella's entire body. She readily admitted to herself however, that it was more than simply being sated from terrific sex that had her in such a blissful state. What she was feeling went far beyond bliss. She was totally satisfied, in every way, with the man with whom she had shared such a never-to-be-forgotten experience.
>From now on, whenever she found herself engaged in girl-talk that centered on sex she would know she was leagues ahead of the pack. She was certain not one of her friends had ever had sex with a man as wonderful as Nick Fuller.
"Did I miss something?" Steve had come up to stand in front of her desk without her even noticing. She looked up.
"Pardon me?"
"You have a smile from one ear to the other. I thought maybe I missed something funny."
Bella felt the heat crawl up her neck and into her cheeks. She quickly dipped her head. "Just...
"Delicious like brownies or hot fudge sundaes?"
She pretended to study a travel brochure lying open on her desk. "Umm, not quite. But close," she added quickly, wishing Steve would find something else to distract him. Fortunately, the telephone rang and since Marjorie had the afternoon off and she and Steve were the only ones in the office, he walked over to his desk to answer it.
He put the caller on hold, looked over at Bella, "It's for you. Personal."
Bella picked up the phone and listened without saying a word. She felt the blood drain from her face. She looked up at the clock on the wall above the door. It was only thirty minutes until closing time. She hung up the phone, retrieved her purse from the bottom desk drawer and started across the office with instructions for Steve as she walked.
"Close up for me, please. I have something that needs my immediate attention." At the door, she turned, and as an afterthought, added, "And I'd appreciate it if you'd plan on opening up in the morning because I may not be in until later in the day. I'll call you tonight and let you know for certain."
* * * *
The first thing Nick noticed when he pulled up in front of the Let Yourself Go Travel Agency was that Bella's car was nowhere in sight. He certainly hadn't expected that twist of fate.
Staying out of contact with her all day hadn't been easy, but he'd felt it was the only way to clear his mind and his body of the consuming need to be with her, to hold her, to have sex with her over and over again.
Now that it was late in the evening he figured he could trust himself to have one last dinner with her. He'd convinced her to leave her things on the boat this morning and pick them up after work. Of course, at the time, he'd fully intended to accompany her back there and they'd have another session of hot sex. All that was changed now.
He killed the engine and sprinted out of the car just as Bella's male employee closed the door behind him. Unable to remember the man's name Nick came right to the point when he reached the front door of the agency.
"Has Bella left already?"
"Yes. Half an hour ago. Can I help you with anything?" He held out his hand to Nick. "I remember you from the other day, but I'm sorry I can't remember your name."
"Nick."
"Steve."
"She left half an hour ago, you said? Did she happen to say where she was headed?"
Steve slipped the office key in his pocket and gave the doorknob a sharp turn to be certain the door was locked.
"No. She didn't say, but she left in a hurry. She was white as a ghost after she got the phone call."
Nick's heart lurched. "Did it have something to do with her mother?"
Steve gave his head a shake then took a pair of RayBans from his shirt pocket and slipped them on the bridge of his nose.
"Don't really know, she didn't say. Just got her purse and headed for the door. Said she'd call me tonight about opening up the office for her in the morning."
Nick's chest felt like a coal miner's clogged with dust. He coughed to clear away the tightness in his throat. "Was the caller a man or a woman?" He knew he had no damned business asking such a question, and he wondered when Steve was going to tell him to take a hike. Obviously, the guy trusted him though, because he didn't hesitate to tell Nick the caller was a man.
For a second, Nick lost his breath. Could the man have been Kevin?
Nick willed himself to breathe normally before he thanked Steve for the information and hurried back to his car, his thoughts racing faster than his feet. He had Vince on the phone before the car door closed behind him. "Any word from your contact about Pitre's release?"
"As a matter of fact, I just got off the phone with him. The bastard is due to get out any day. He may even be out on the street as we speak."
Nick couldn't remember later whether he'd told Vince good-bye before he hung up the phone. His only thought at that moment was that Bella had made a complete fool of him and he needed to right the wrongs he'd made this past week when he'd gone soft on her.
There was little room for doubt now that it had been a giant mistake to seduce her. Having sex with her might have gained him access to her house more easily than if he had not, but it had also made keeping emotional distance from her more difficult.
Getting emotionally involved with Arabella Quinn had not been part of his plan. He hadn't even considered it when all of this had begun. Until moments ago, it hadn't dawned on him just how deeply he was involved with her. He had been under the illusion that his only concern in seeing her was to keep her physically occupied with him and the dynamite sex they had so that she didn't question the need to stay on the boat.
He had tried to convince himself that because he found her nicer than he expected her to be, his scheme had been easier to execute and the time he spent with her more pleasurable than it otherwise would have been
Well, he could bury all that crap with a short shovel now, because even though he was breathless from the anger that was crowding his throat, the thought of never seeing her again was like a
scalpel slicing through his heart.
Harnessing his growing anxiety, Nick drove within the speed limit on his way to the boat. Getting stopped for speeding would only delay reaching his destination and he couldn't afford that. Still he reached the harbor in record time, slammed on the brakes, threw open the door and sprinted the length of the pier, stopping only when he came to the locked main saloon door. After opening it with shaking fingers he headed straight to the master stateroom.
His heart bumped against the wall of his chest. He dreaded what he would find inside. Since there had been no sign of Bella's car outside, either she had never shown up at all, or she had already come and gone. It was the latter he feared.
He knocked first. Hard. He knocked again. No answer. He inserted his key in the lock and opened the door. He didn't have to look farther than the chair where he'd last seen her overnight case. It was gone.
And so was she.
Chapter Thirteen
Nick hadn't pulled an all-night surveillance in a long time--he hadn't needed to--but this job was different. This job was personal and he wasn't about to trust it to anyone but himself.
After a quick stop at home for a thermos, which he filled with coffee at a local doughnut shop, he headed for Bella's house forcing himself to eat the two cake doughnuts he'd picked up along with the coffee. At any other time he would have devoured half a dozen, but tonight the doughnuts were simply something to stave off his hunger.
First, he drove slowly through the neighborhood, slowing even more in front of Bella's house to see if anything looked out of the ordinary. Everything was pretty much as it had been that morning when he'd left, except for the newspaper lying on the front porch. A sure sign Bella hadn't been home yet.
Not knowing whether to be relieved or concerned that Bella hadn't returned, Nick headed for the playground where Vince had parked his car when he was surveilling her. He switched off the motor and set out on foot for Bella's neighborhood.
He figured he should be able to walk through the neighborhood at least once without drawing suspicion, and depending on whether anyone was out or not, he might be able to repeat his tour a couple of times while he waited for night to fall.
On his third pass, Nick thought he detected a suspicious look from a woman several doors down from Bella's house. He decided this would be his last round until he could park close enough to her house to watch it under cover of darkness.
Three hours later, Nick was beginning to wonder if he had been on a wild goose chase. He had fought the idea that it was Kevin who had called Bella, but he was ready now to admit he was wrong. Everything pointed to the fact that it had been Kevin on the telephone and Bella had skipped out with him without going back home. That thought sickened him more than any other. He couldn't believe she would leave town with her mother in the hospital.
He punched in the code for Vince's home number and held his breath until Vince answered.
"Did you get any more word on Pitre?"
"Nothing since we last talked. Why?"
He could hear the weariness in Vince's voice and a heaviness settled in Nick's chest at the thought of the burden his friend and partner carried. "She may have given me the slip today," he told Vince.
Nick waited for the stream of oaths to subside before he assured Vince he would stay on the case until Arabella Quinn was found. And, he hoped, with Kevin Pitre at her side, since the only thing better than catching Bella would be to catch Kevin and the money with her.
"Where are you now?" The weariness in Vince's voice seemed to have increased in just the past couple of minutes.
"Keeping an eye on her house."
"I can back you up if you need me. I don't have too much on tap tomorrow," Vince offered.
"Thanks, but I can handle this." He assured Vince he'd call for help if it became necessary.
"If Pitre shows up and they look like they have the money, or if you suspect they're on their way to pick it up someplace, promise you won't try to tackle it alone. I want to be there. We can get help from the Department if we need it."
"I won't do anything stupid, Vince. If something comes up that I can't handle alone, I'll call for backup."
He ended the call knowing Vince was uneasy with the plan, but he couldn't let that bother him now. His focus had to be on staying awake and alert, ready to take whatever action was needed when, and if, Bella showed up.
At daybreak, stiff from a full night of sitting in the car, Nick drove a block away to an apartment building, parked his car and walked back to Bella's neighborhood. He made three slow turns around the block until the neighborhood began to wake up. Then he went back to the car, stopped at a nearby convenience store and did a quick cruise around the neighborhood again before he drove back to the playground and parked.
He answered a call from Vince at five o'clock, told his partner there was nothing to report, and that he'd stay in Bella's neighborhood for a few more hours. He promised Vince he'd let him spell him then so he could grab a few hours of sleep.
At six-thirty, when Nick was making a routine pass of her house, he saw Bella pull into her driveway. He stopped a few houses down from hers and watched while she got out of the car. She was alone. He stepped on the gas and pulled into the driveway behind Bella's car just as she prepared to open the front door.
At the sight of her, Nick was slam-dunked with a desire so intense it wiped everything out of his mind except the need to make love to her again. The fact that Kevin wasn't with her fueled his desire even more and he was out of the car and on the porch just as the door swung open.
Wide-eyed with surprise, Bella stepped backward into her living room. Nick followed her inside, relieved her of her overnighter, tossed the newspaper on the nearest chair, and took her in his arms. He kissed her deep, delving his tongue into the warm interior of her mouth when she welcomed him with a fervor equal to his own.
Releasing her so they could both catch a breath, Nick pulled her back quickly against his chest. "Where have you been? I've been out of my mind with worry." The words flew out, unchecked and uncensored and in large part true, because now that she was alone, he could admit his concern over her whereabouts had been largely for her welfare, as well as for his own need to know she wasn't yet out of his life.
Bella chuckled softly as she tried to wiggle out of his embrace. "If you give me room to breathe, I'll tell you."
His arms relaxed a little around her and Bella took a step backward so she could look into his eyes. "I'm sorry. I know I should have called. I meant to."
"Where the hell have you been?" He could afford to let the anger out now that she was safe.
"To see my sister, Carmella." She stepped closer into his embrace and now it was she who sought his mouth in a kiss.
"I didn't know you had another sister," Nick whispered, and much as he wanted to lose himself in her kiss, moved away from the temptation. There were still things he needed to know.
"We don't talk about her often, and we see her even less." She spoke against his lips while her fingers slipped open button after button on his shirt.
Talk about where she'd been and who she'd seen could wait, he decided as he kicked out of his shoes and pushed her skirt down over her hips.
"I've thought of hardly anything else but getting back inside you," he groaned, finding the elastic band of her panties and slipping his finger inside her.
She sank down on him with a heavy moan of pleasure, her fingers still unbuckling and unzipping.
"Feel good?" he asked, accelerating the rhythm of his finger.
A shudder rippled through her body. She sunk her teeth gently into his shoulder. "It feels like heaven. But I want more than this."
He shook from the thrill of her words and the way the urgency in her body passed to his. "I want more, too," he said, amazed that he could even think much less talk.
"Then give me more."
She didn't have to ask, he was more than ready to oblige her. He slipped his finger out of her, and slid
ing his arm under her buttocks, wrapped his other arm around her waist, stepped over the skirt that was bunched at her feet and scooped her up. "Which room?" he asked hoarsely, refusing to let the pretense that he didn't already know which room was hers turn his heat down.
"Second from the left."
Fortunately, the door was already open and it was a quick walk to the bed where he lowered her to the floor and slipped her blouse off her shoulder, followed it with her panties and slipped his finger inside her again.
"You're wet," he moaned, his cock swelling at the revelation of her instant readiness for him.
"I've been this way ever since I met you."
Talk like that was going to send him over the edge before he even got inside her. Reluctantly, he slipped his finger from her again, ignoring her protests. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty uncomfortable with my pants still on."
While she none too gently massaged the thick bulge of his fly he dug in his back pocket for his wallet, tossed it on the bed, then reached for the snap at his waist. She pushed his hands aside.
"I always like to finish what I start," she said, lowering his pants and briefs together. Sinking to her knees she worked the pants down to his ankles. His heart missed a beat. He knew from past experience what was coming next and his body tensed in anticipation.
"You're wet," she said, flicking her tongue over the head of his penis to catch the drop of moisture that had escaped.
"I've been like this ever since we met," he said, echoing her earlier admission. With an understanding moan, she closed her mouth over the velvety tip, wanting nothing more than to fall back on the bed and open her legs for him.
He bucked against her mouth, sucking in his breath and holding it when she tugged at his penis drawing his climax nearer and nearer. Thrusting his fingers into her hair, he tried to disengage her mouth from around him. His head pounded and his heart felt about to burst from his chest.
"Not this way," he moaned, gently pressing her head back until her lips yielded their hold on him. He helped her to her feet. "I want to come inside you."