Yours for the Night

by Samantha Hunter

  She relaxed, and nodded at him. Pushing her food aside, she sounded resigned. “Yes. You’re right. But don’t feel sorry for me. I like my life.”

  Her voice was stronger now, and she sighed. “Anyway, I wouldn’t ask my father for money for protection or for anything else. I make a nice living at the magazine, but not enough to afford something like personal security. I’ll just have to deal with the situation the way most people would, through the police, or on my own.”

  Jack squeezed her hand again.

  “Thanks for telling me, Raine.”

  She just shrugged. After a moment, they stood and gathered their plates, setting them back on the counter, and headed back out into the cold. To the police station. Jack hoped that the stalking situation wouldn’t get worse; she had been through enough already. But whatever happened, he planned on being there.

  * * *

  DURING THE AFTERNOON, Jack got to know a very different side of Raine. At the hospital, she dropped off the roses and suggested that the nurses save a few for themselves at the nurses’ station, and split up the bouquet to bring a rose to patients who needed the lift. She had taken an ugly gesture and had turned it into a giving one. To say he was impressed seemed shallow; he was deeply moved.

  On the way up the stairs of the police station, he found himself reaching to clasp her hand, enjoying the way it felt small but strong in his, and noted that she didn’t pull away. Anyone looking at them would have thought they had been together for years.

  He glanced at her as they walked down the hallway, and she looked like a woman with a purpose, her stride strong, her eyes direct. She didn’t look frightened, and he added admiration to the list of new feelings he seemed to be quickly accumulating for this woman. At the main desk they asked for the detective they’d talked to on the phone, then took a seat, waiting for him to come down.

  Raine looked around, feeling very much out of her element, but intrigued all the same. She had never been in a police station before. It looked pretty much like any office building, but had a different sense about it. There was something in the air; the weighty presence of authority, the stale smell of coffee, and a weird sort of tension.

  Normally at this time of day she would be working on an article, wrapping up a meeting or tracking down research. But her life continued to veer far away from normal. She felt a draft of cold air wash by her, and watched two policewomen walk through the doors she and Jack had just entered.

  They were average-looking women, but they had an aura of power around them. One was slight, with brown hair and ebony skin, and the other thin and muscular, with long, auburn hair pulled back tightly under a cop’s hat. The auburn-haired one glanced at Jack as they passed by, and Raine detected her glint of appreciation before they continued on and disappeared down the other end of the hallway on the other side of the desk.

  The smaller woman had been wearing a wedding ring—married—would she have children? Raine made a mental note—this was her next article pitch. She wanted to know about these women, their personal and professional lives and relationships, how they made it all work. She wanted her readers to think about women who put themselves at risk daily to help others. Her mind turned to the nurses at the hospital—maybe she would broaden it out to writing about women in emergency services....

  Her line of thought was cut short by a booming voice saying a hearty hello to yet another cop that was passing by, and she looked up to see a man walking toward them.

  Raine felt a smile tilt up as he walked over and extended his hand. There was no way you could not smile at him. He was at least six feet tall, probably in his late forties, she thought absently. And he was like a huge…leprechaun. Not fat, but muscular and wide. His green eyes twinkled at hers, under a thick shock of hair that was a riotous mass of salt-and-pepper curls surrounding a full, friendly face. He was a handsome man and he sure filled up the room.

  She eyed his gun and holster and felt as if she was in a movie. His huge hand wrapped around hers, squeezing in a friendly way; then he shook Jack’s hand as well, a little more firmly.

  “Hello, hello.... Just follow me right back here where we can talk. I’m Detective Delaney. I’m glad you found time to come down. Like I told you on the phone, there isn’t much we can do except take a statement, but if things heat up, that could come in handy down the line. It’s wise to have everything documented.”

  The thought brought her back to the moment, and she felt the weight of why they were there return. Following the detective down the hallway and into a small office, Raine sat in the one chair he pulled out from under a pile of papers and boxes, while Jack stood beside her.

  Jack met the detective’s eyes briefly. He knew he was being sized up. Crazy boyfriend? Jack knew his posture clearly declared: “Mine.” Detective Delaney nodded, more to himself than to Jack, smiled and turned to Raine, his voice professional and friendly.

  “So, Ms. Covington, it appears you have a bit of a situation at work?”

  She nodded and reached into her briefcase, pulling out a sheaf of papers, and handed them to the detective. “These are all the emails—the last one is the worst—and the card from the flowers.”

  He took them, and looked them over, not showing any reaction until he read the most recent email, his mouth turning down disapprovingly.

  “And you said you suspect the person who sent you these has also intruded into your bank accounts?”

  Raine explained about the returned checks, again. She was tiring of the story, but went over it detail by detail, and had written down the dates, and creditors, handing him that piece of paper too. He sighed and looked at Jack.

  “Do you have any proof these things are related, the flowers, and the bank accounts—any sort of computer evidence you could find?”

  Jack shook his head. “Nothing from the emails—it’s a dummy account, impossible to trace back to the original source. But it’s the same guy.”

  Delaney sighed and nodded. “Well, that would seem logical, though we need proof for us to take any action. We’ll get your statement down formally, have you sign it, and keep the papers you gave us here. Then it will just be a matter of wait and see.”

  Raine sat forward, placing her hands on the edge of the desk. “What can I do? I need to do something. I can’t just sit around waiting to see what happens next.”

  Delaney sat back and gave her a serious look. “Well, waiting isn’t really a choice—the ball’s in his court. But you might consider living somewhere else for a while, changing your email accounts, notifying your creditors and banks. Basically, you have to make it difficult for him to get at you, if he tries again.”

  Jack knew that made sense, but he couldn’t stand watching how pale she got as the detective spoke. “Why don’t you just do your best to scare the life out of her, Detective?”

  The cop’s eyes narrowed, and he nodded.

  “Sometimes these folks get bored and move on, sometimes not. Fear can be your best friend now—makes you pay attention to things. Warn your workplace to be very cautious about deliveries of any sort. Don’t work alone late at night, walk to your car with someone, check it before you get in. It pays to be careful.”

  At their silence, he continued. “So, let’s put this down in a formal statement, and then you can get out of here and go enjoy the rest of your day, or what’s left of it.”

  Raine answered his questions, and it didn’t take too long to finish the report. They needed copies of all her bills, and then she just had to wait. Relief flooded over her when it was done. They all shook hands again, and parted ways.

  It was dark outside now, and a burst of frigid wind met them when they opened the door. She disengaged her arm from Jack’s hand, not liking how he was pushing her along. He let his hand fall without comment, but slowed his stride slightly.

  His jaw was set, and she had no idea why he was in a mood. Maybe he was just tired of dealing with her problems. She didn’t blame him, she was sick of it, too. But a little t
hread of hurt wrapped itself around her heart at his sudden coolness, though she tried to school her face and voice not to show it.

  “If you want to take me back to the office, there is some work I have to do. Nothing got done today, obviously.”

  “Fine.”

  In the car, he didn’t say a word. He was afraid for her and the only way he knew how to handle it was to get angry as hell. He knew he shouldn’t be taking this out on her, and tried to get a grip. He took a deep breath, willing his mind to calm.

  “I have some things I want to check,” he said. “I can bring my laptop up and work from your office.”

  “That’s not necessary.”

  “It is—don’t argue. As the good detective pointed out, you shouldn’t work alone at night. So you’re not going to.”

  Raine raised her eyebrows at the peremptory tone of his voice, and while she knew he was right, she didn’t like anyone bossing her around. She was tired, and just wanted to get to the end of this very long day. She didn’t have the energy to put up with Jack’s domineering attitude tonight. Her voice was clipped.

  “Listen, I appreciate you going through all this with me, and I know it has cut into your day as well. I can wait to catch up on work tomorrow, so you can just drop me at my car and we can both get home early tonight.”

  He pulled to the side of the street, and put the car in park, gripping the wheel tightly, trying not to be so incredibly pissed at the woman sitting beside him. That queen-bee attitude just pushed him over the edge he was trying to hang on to.

  When he looked at her, she drew back, shocked by the sharpness of his eyes.

  “No—you listen.” He leaned in. “I don’t like someone breaking into my networks, I don’t like them harassing you or anyone else, I don’t like that the cops can’t do crap about it, I don’t like the way that cop looked at you, and I don’t like that prissy little tone you always use when you think you are calling all the shots.”

  Unsure of how to respond to his litany of complaints, she tried to control the fact that she felt a little breathless, and went for the easy one.

  “I do not have a prissy tone.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Oh yes, you do, princess. And you use it whenever someone steps on your pretty little toes, or gets closer than you want them to. Like now. Like the morning we woke up together. Remember that, Raine? Remember how we made love, how hot it was? Do you remember how I felt inside you, how I made you come?” He gripped the steering wheel a little harder. “God knows I think about it every day. Every night.”

  He watched her lips part as she caught a breath and simply stared at him. He liked reminding her of what they had shared, didn’t want it leaving her thoughts any more than it had left his. She wasn’t so cool and prissy now, he thought.

  He turned and reached out, cupped her cheek in his palm, rubbing his thumb over her silky skin. She flushed and went hot under his hands. He saw the flash of desire in her eyes, and knew that she remembered every detail, just as he did. He smiled, satisfied, and gentled his tone.

  “We’ll go back and work together for a while, okay? I want to help, Raine. Let me.”

  She nodded, and turned her face into his palm, rubbing her mouth against his skin. When he drew his hand away, she could see that it wasn’t steady, and she smiled.

  9

  SPICY SCENTS OF GARLIC and ginger filled the office, and little white Chinese food containers were scattered everywhere. Raine had not had Chinese food in a very long time; they’d practically bought half the take-out menu, and had been quietly working and eating for the last several hours. Stopping her research for a moment, she picked up a container and scraped out the last of the lo mein noodles at the bottom, feeling sated and relaxed for the first time in over twelve hours.

  It was almost nine-thirty at night. Time to leave, she supposed. She watched Jack, lost in deep concentration as he tapped away on the keyboard of his laptop, occasionally grunting or cursing to himself. She hated to interrupt him, to break the easiness they had fallen into. She enjoyed the happy hum of work that had settled over the office.

  She never really worked with anyone around and had thought she would find it distracting, but they were enveloped in a companionable silence that was not the least inhibiting. In fact, there was something about working together that helped her get into a better groove. She wondered if it would be that way with anyone, or if it was just that way with Jack.

  Jack heard Raine shove away from the desk, and out of the corner of his eye could see her beginning to pack up. He had mostly been puttering, contacting some friends about his quandaries about the network break-in and cleaning up some bugs in a program he was testing. After checking over the entire network, he couldn’t find anything wrong—not even the little oddity he had been struggling with before.

  “Here, let me help with that.” He got up and helped her fit all the small containers into one larger bag for disposal. Raising an eyebrow, he surveyed the desktop. “Wow. We actually ate all that? No leftovers. Damn.”

  “Why? Are you still hungry?”

  “God, no, I just like Chinese leftovers—good snack at three in the morning.”

  “Or for breakfast.”

  He nodded, grinning at her. “Oh, well, maybe next time.”

  Raine felt a little squeeze in her chest—did he mean next time they ordered Chinese? Next time he ordered Chinese? Or next time they had midnight snacks or breakfast together? Although technically they had never had snacks or breakfast. She took a breath and stopped the whirl of overthinking—bad habit, analyzing everything. It had probably just been a meaningless comment. She was a little overwrought.

  Out in the parking lot, Jack chucked the garbage into a Dumpster and then walked to his car, reaching in to start it, before closing the door and turning back to her, snowbrush in hand. A light layer of snow had fallen, and everything around them sparkled.

  “I’ll follow you.”

  “Hmm?” She had been too busy watching his lazy, sexy walk to pay attention to what he was saying.

  “Home. I’ll follow you home. We can check your place, make sure everything is okay, and then I’ll head home.”

  Raine started to protest, then realized she wasn’t really completely comfortable going back to her dark house alone, and felt relieved he’d offered. She took a deep breath, hating the situation. She had never been afraid to go home. Her little house was her sanctuary, and now she had to be paranoid about walking in the door. Hopefully, it would be over soon.

  “Okay. So you remember where it is, in case we get separated?”

  “Yes. But we won’t.”

  She looked at him from underneath soft lashes, her eyes a mix of emotions. “Thanks, Jack—you are being way beyond nice to me. But I am thankful. It would be hard to go back there alone at this time of night.”

  Jack nodded, considering.

  “Maybe you should take Delaney’s advice and move out for a while.”

  She shook her head definitively. “No, it may be a little creepy to think I have to watch my every step for a while, or be careful about things I take for granted, but I am not being driven out of my house by some lunatic who may or may not even be around here.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself, looking around them into the cold, stark night. “Besides, where would I go?”

  “You are friends with Gwen, right? Good enough friends to stay with her?”

  “Oh, yes—Gwen is one in a million. She would probably sleep on the floor and give me the bed. But she has a small apartment, just one bedroom. And she is, you know, involved right now.”

  “Yeah, I saw that, with Neal Scott.” He smiled at her surprise that he knew. “I caught them in a, um, clinch in the office a few nights ago.”

  Raine smiled. “Yeah, Gwen is crazy about him. Though I never would have thought of them as each other’s type. Considering the circumstances, my staying there would be a painful inconvenience for her, and I don’t think the situation really merits i
t.”

  His eyes turned very serious. “Raine, until we know exactly what the situation is, you should just be extremely careful. I’m sure if Gwen and Neal want to fool around, they can go to his place. They didn’t seem to care about using the office floor the other night.” He smiled, but saw she wasn’t going to bite.

  Her voice brooked no argument. “No, I want to be home. In my home. I am not going to let this situation get to me any more than I already have. It’s already disrupted my work life, and I am not going to let it make a shambles of my home life.”

  Jack grimaced, but understood and admired her resolve. Still, he wished she wouldn’t be quite so independent at the moment.

  “Then I guess you will have to get used to me dogging you home every night. And if I can’t, I’ll make sure someone can.”

  Raine observed the stubborn set of his chin, the glint in his eyes that was just short of begging her to argue with him, but she decided to take a different route this time.

  “Okay. I think I can handle that—if you will let me make dinner for you one night when you—how did you put it?—dog me home.” She grinned, feeling absurdly happy, given the discussion and the situation.

  Jack felt everything inside him melt as she looked up at him with a smile that he couldn’t have imagined in his dreams—she was like pure sunshine, and, for that moment, standing here in the bitter cold, he was warmed.

  As she looked up at him, her features softened and her eyes became pools of clear green. He didn’t know if she leaned into him, or if he pulled her close, he only knew he couldn’t wait another minute for her. He leaned forward, offering a soft kiss, licking the spicy taste of dinner from her lips. Then he covered her lips more fully with his, gently at first, but when she sighed into his mouth, he plunged as deeply as he could. He’d forgotten how passionate she was—no, not forgotten, heaven knew—but his memory had not quite served the reality justice.

  When she dragged the tip of her tongue along his lower lip, he pressed her closer, and she felt him, hard and ready, rubbing against her hip. Her body responded, and she felt her lower abdomen tighten and ache. They stood in a fog of heat and car exhaust that was piping out into the cold air, oblivious to everything but each other.