Possessing Elissa

by Donna Sterling

  “V-visiting a girlfriend?”

  Jesse halted his forward advance and stared at her. She was the only person, the only one, who had given him the benefit of the doubt and hit on the truth.

  “A girlfriend who was afraid to say that she’d invited you up to her room?” guessed Elissa hopefully.

  He shook his head, dumbfounded. “I don’t understand you, Elissa. Why would you give me the benefit of that doubt when you just accused me of hatching schemes, conning you for some unspecified purpose and breaking into your hotel room?”

  “I didn’t accuse you,” she protested, now thoroughly confused. Because she had accused him...and at the same time, hoped it wasn’t so. “But Jesse, you’re standing right here, in my hotel room, and I didn’t invite you. I didn’t let you in. Why and how are you here?”

  Again he stared at her in silence

  She wanted very much to slap him. Why wouldn’t he defend himself? Why wouldn’t he answer her questions and give her some hope of believing he wasn’t as bad as everyone warned? “Where did you go last night? Why did you leave?”

  “Do you really think that I would have voluntarily left you last night?” His gaze suddenly held her transfixed. “In case you’ve forgotten what we were doing when Suzanne interrupted, let me assure you, I haven’t.” His voice roughened in a way that set her pulse to pounding. “We were about to kiss. I was about to pin you down on that sofa and remind you just what we’ve been missing. I fully intended to finish what we started, Elissa.” His gaze settled on her lips, then rose to her eyes with bold, sensual longing. “Make no mistake... I still do.”

  An answering warmth rose within her, making her all too conscious of the bed just one room away. Regardless of where he’d been last night, he was with her now, and they were alone. Temptation beckoned with alarming appeal.

  Damn him! Damn him for bewitching her so...with nothing more than softly uttered words and a heated gaze! “Are you saying someone forced you to leave, and you didn’t even have a chance to let me know?”

  His maddening, unreadable stare slid back into place. He obviously couldn’t think of an excuse for leaving without a goodbye.

  Her suspicions flared once again. “Are you involved in some kind of fraud? Do you have accomplices? Is Suzanne one of them?” Raising her hands to her head, she spun away from him, frightened by her own inability to think of rational answers. “I’m starting to sound paranoid. You’re doing this to me, Jesse. Dean was right about you. You are dangerous.”

  “Deen said I was dangerous?”

  “A heartbreaker, he told me. A reckless, womanizing—”

  “Yeah, but...dangerous?”

  Elissa glared. In soft deadly accents, she swore, “I’ve never met anyone more dangerous. You have me doubting myself, and that’s where I draw the line.” Coming to a decision—a surprisingly painful one—she announced, “I never want to see you again. Never. Now, get out.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” He crossed his arms with arrogant stubbornness.

  She squared her jaw. “Then, I will.” With self-righteous fury she stormed into the adjoining bedroom.

  Jesse followed her. “Damn it, Elissa, let’s talk.”

  “I tried to talk to you.” She snatched up her overnight bag from the luggage rack. “It didn’t work.”

  “You didn’t try to talk to me. You demanded answers, and I admit, I don’t have many of them.”

  She whirled around to face him, holding up one hand like a traffic cop. “Don’t say another word. You’re not going to embroil me in whatever scheme you’ve hatched. Thank God I learned your true nature before I got any more involved.” With her overnight bag in hand, she headed for the bathroom.

  Jesse stepped in her path, his anger visibly building. “You’re forgetting one very important thing.”

  “I hope to forget everything about you.”

  “I’m talking about Cody.”

  She blanched. “I’d rather die than let you near him.” As she marched toward the bathroom door, she felt his rage growing behind her.

  Before she reached the bathroom, an odd heat swept over her—a dry, invisible inferno that swirled around her, blasting her skin, clothes and hair like dragon’s breath. And in the sudden fury of that hot cyclone, the bathroom door slammed shut with an ear-splitting bang.

  Intense silence followed.

  The wind ceased, but the unnatural heat grew even hotter. Elissa stood stock-still, gaping at the closed door. He had slammed it. He had slammed the bathroom door from clear across the room!

  Into the silence, Jesse growled, “One thing I will not do is stay out of your lives.”

  The quaking began in Elissa’s knees and quickly spread to the rest of her body. He had slammed the door without touching it. Slowly, she turned to face him.

  The heat, she realized through her shock, was radiating from him. For a moment, the briefest moment, he seemed to shimmer and waver, like a desert mirage. Then the heat lessened and the shimmering aura abated.

  Fear, like none she’d ever known, possessed her.

  His voice, low and quiet, shook through her like a muted roar. “I’m Cody’s father, and nobody can change that.”

  She heard not the words, but the threat in his tone. “Jesse,” she managed to whisper, wanting to calm him, needing to exert some kind of control. “Please...”

  But the anger still blazed in his eyes, and he seemed fixated on one thing—whatever point he was trying to make. “You will not use my son as a weapon to get back at me for any wrongs you imagine I’ve done you.”

  “The d-door,” stammered Elissa, “h-h-how...”

  “A child isn’t a pawn. Cody won’t be used like that.”

  Jesse’s eyes continued to smolder, and Elissa suspected he was unaware of his anger’s effect—the heat, the slammed door, her mind-numbing fear. His attention seemed concentrated entirely on whatever it was he was saying.

  “Do you understand me, Elissa?”

  “Yes!” she cried, nodding, although her mind hadn’t grasped anything beyond the fact that he’d slammed the door from across the room and nearly roasted her with his fury.

  “Good.” The anger in his eyes slowly dissipated until they had cooled into an unreadable ash gray. He frowned. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

  “I’m not,” she swore, clutching her overnight bag to her chest like a shield.

  He studied her for a silent moment, as if he hadn’t been glaring at her steadily for a seeming eternity. “Yes,” he corrected her softly, “you are staring at me. Like...like I’m the devil himself.”

  She felt her eyes widen and her heart slow to a beat that shook her.

  She fought off the onset of hysteria. She had to get a grip on herself.

  “Elissa, what the hell’s wrong with you?” The concern in his gruff voice softened the rebuke as he stepped closer.

  She dropped her bag and jumped away from him, her back hitting into the closed bathroom door. “I’m fine. Fine.”

  Puzzled, he halted a short distance away. “I’m sorry if I yelled, but he was born three months ago. And I haven’t seen him yet.”

  The stark, simple longing in his eyes broke through her terror. Was he talking about Cody? Of course he was. Who else would he be talking about? Born three months ago, hadn’t seen him yet. Yes, he meant Cody. Her Cody.

  “Do you have...a picture?”

  She nodded. Yes, she had a picture.

  “Do you have the picture with you?” he gently prodded.

  Again, she cautiously nodded. Unable to move away from the door supporting her, she pointed with a trembling finger toward the dresser where her slim leather purse lay.

  “May I see it?”

  “Yes. Yes, of course.” Realizing he expected her to physically procure the picture, she forced her rubbery legs to move, to carry her, past Jesse and across the bedroom.

  As her body resumed normal motions, her mind kicked into overdrive. What kind of man slammed
doors without touching them... elevated the tempera-ture... popped in through locked doors...vanished into thin air...couldn’t be heard by phone operators... couldn’t be seen by Suzanne...traveled thousands of miles in record time without a verifiable aircraft...had been declared legally dead....

  Elissa swallowed a sob as she reached for her purse. Was she losing her mind? Was she?

  From her side view, she saw Jesse sit down onto the unmade bed, his knees spread in typical male fashion, his muscled forearms resting across them as he watched her. “Do you need help finding the picture?” he offered, a frown in his dark, intelligent eyes and on his blatantly sensual lips as she stood absently holding her purse.

  “Oh, no, no, I’ll find it.” She opened her purse and fumbled through it. Her wallet—the picture was in her wallet By rote, her fingers sought it out and flipped through the photos until she came to the most recent one.

  Jesse rose and extended his hand. “May I?” She suddenly didn’t want to give it to him. This was Cody he was wanting to see. Her maternal instincts rose up in protection.

  He reached with his hand—a large, long-fingered hand, bronzed by the sun; an appealing, masculine, seemingly human hand—and plucked the wallet from her. She watched in dry-mouthed desperation as he looked down into her baby’s face—the chubby dimpled cheeks, the dark hair that stood straight up, the cola-colored eyes that sparkled in merriment.

  Jesse didn’t offer the usual compliments as he pored over the photo. But after a moment, the harsh planes and angles of his dark, commando face softened. A vertical groove deepened beside his mouth. “He looks like you.” His soft, hoarse comment held a note of reverence.

  “His chin’s like yours,” she admitted in a whisper. “See that cleft?”

  He studied the photo closely, his concentration intense. A husky little laugh soon escaped him. “I see it.”

  And when he raised his gaze to hers, she recognized the glow of paternal pride...and something stronger; something that glazed his eyes with a sheen she hadn’t expected to see.

  Warmth blossomed within her and very tangibly around her. A strong, peaceful warmth that nourished her spirit like a sun-washed day, blooming flowers and simple happiness.

  She knew then. Beyond a doubt. He wouldn’t hurt Cody.

  Jesse cleared his throat. “You, uh, have another one of these? I mean, can L..keep this?”

  She nodded, fighting not fear this time, but affection—and attraction—for the father of her baby. She watched as his big, blunt-tipped fingers cautiously removed the photograph from its sheath. What was she to think of this man who handled his baby’s photo with such tender care? Who was he? What was he?

  “I want to spend time with him, Elissa,” he said. “I want him to know me as his father.”

  It seemed a reasonable request. Except the fear she’d felt only moments before hadn’t entirely receded. She wasn’t even sure what kind of being he was. “When?” she hedged.

  “I want to stay with him for the rest of my leave. To act as his father. It may be my only chance in a long time to...now, what’s the term?...bond with him.”

  “Bond with him? For the rest of your leave? At my house?” she asked in growing alarm. She imagined doors slamming on their own, the temperature sharply rising, the neighbors talking about her invisible house-guest...

  “Do you have a problem with that?” inquired Jesse.

  The truth trembled on her tongue—that his unnatural powers and sudden disappearances scared her, worried her, made her doubt her own sanity. But before she could phrase it in an inoffensive way, a coolness hardened his gaze.

  “So you do have a problem with that.” A muscle tensed in his jaw. “Then, I’ll just have to take Cody to my house.”

  Elissa gasped, her fear reactivating with full force. “You can’t take Cody! I won’t let you. I’m his custodial parent. I’ll have a warrant sworn out to keep you away.”

  He ventured nearer, his face close to hers. “And do you think it will?”

  She felt it growing again—the unnatural warmth emanating from him in waves, building along with the anger in his eyes. She realized with terrifying certainty that no power on earth would keep him away.

  “A baby that young can’t be separated from his mother for very long,” she explained in a frantic whisper. “I’m still breast-feeding him. He needs me.”

  “Then, you’ll have to stay with us.” Although he didn’t smile, she sensed he was pleased with the solution.

  “But I have a job. A business. I can’t just drop everything and leave. I’m not istdependently wealthy.”

  “I intend to pay you enough child support to give you the choice of staying home with him. Or staying at my home with him, as you will this month.” His stare grew harsh. “I’ll give you three days. If you’re not at my house with Cody by Wednesday—” his eyes darkened “—I’ll come for him.”

  They stared at each other—he adamant, she appalled.

  “Thanks for the picture,” he finally murmured. And he extended her wallet to her.

  Elissa knew then what she had to do. If she were to even consider bringing her baby near this man, she had to touch him—firmly, solidly, so there could be no doubt that he was, at least, a flesh-and-blood being.

  Holding her breath, she reached to take back the wallet. As her fingers curled around the leather warmed from his grasp, she pressed the back of her knuckles into his palm.

  The callused hardness was exactly as she remembered from the night they’d spent together. Vividly she recalled the exquisite roughness—and the surprising gentleness—of these hands on her skin. Blessed relief coursed through her.

  But before she could pull her hand away from his, that reassuringly human contact began to change. Or rather, her perception of it did. An odd warmth generated from the point of contact and traveled up her arm. She lost sight of where she was, what she was doing; forgot her intent and her questions. A sweet blindness stole over her and plunged her into a dimension of feeling—sensation at its purest.

  Memories surged of moments they had shared, with every sensation magnified. Taste, touch, smell, sound...an intimate caress, a kiss, a smile, a groan. Snatches of conversation that had meant little at the time. Colors shone brighter, deeper; emotions ran stronger than their tentative relationship would justify. Coursing beneath the vivid sensations was a current of forceful determination, stronger than any Elissa had known. All this in a blinding flash.

  But at the edges of perception hovered a curious pain; an imminent danger. A darkness pressing in, trying to blot out the brilliance, trying to foil the determination.

  With a cry, she snatched her hand back from Jesse’s. The disconnection jolted her, like an electrical shock. Dull red blotches floated before her eyes, as if a camera had flashed too close to her face. Gradually, her vision cleared, and she found herself holding her wallet in both hands and staring at Jesse. His palm remained outstretched, and his face reflected the same shock she had felt.

  Slowly he withdrew his hand. But the pain, the darkness, was now in his shadow gray eyes. Hoarsely he whispered, “Wednesday, Elissa. My house. You and Cody.” He turned, and with an odd, lagging stride, pushed open the bathroom door, then closed it behind him—manually this time.

  Elissa wasn’t sure how long she stood there, gazing at that closed door. Questions, fears and possibilities tumbled through her mind as she waited for him to rejoin her. She paced through the hotel suite, the fragrance of coffee drawing her to the sitting room. She poured herself a cup and, after a few sips, decided she’d waited long enough.

  Approaching the bathroom door, she called, “Jesse?”

  No answer. She called again and briskly knocked. No reply. She tried the knob. The door pushed easily open.

  There was no one inside.

  And on the cold, white tile of the bathroom floor lay the photograph of Cody. Wherever Jesse had gone, he obviously hadn’t taken it with him.

  5

  ELISSA LEFT T
HAT HOTEL room a woman obsessed. During her train ride back home, her teary-eyed reunion with Cody and her long, sleepless night, thoughts and questions about Jesse haunted her incessantly.

  She spent Sunday researching paranormal phenomena via her Internet connection and the public library. Theories and studies answered none of her questions, or even began to alleviate the ache in her heart when she thought of Jesse.

  He’d seemed so strong and vital. She didn’t want to think of him as some disembodied spirit. She wanted him to be a flesh-and-blood man, in the same live body that had held her, laughed with her, made love to her. She didn’t want him to be dead.

  Was that the crux of the problem—a psychological one? Were these encounters the result of her deep-seated desire to keep him with her? No, she couldn’t believe that. None of the encounters had gone the way she would have dreamed, if they’d been products of her own wishful thinking.

  Monday afternoon, after her young day-care charges had all gone home, she visited the private college where Dean and she had graduated. With Cody snoozing in her arms, she entered the stately brick building that housed the humanities department and hurried down echoing corridors to the cramped office of her favorite professor.

  Dr. Lehmberg lounged in her worn leather chair with her feet propped up on her neat desk. She wore a tweed jacket with elbow patches, dark jeans and hiking boots. Her ginger hair hung down her shoulder in a thick braid. Rimless glasses dominated her unadorned face as she looked up from her cup of plain yogurt and waved for Elissa to be seated.

  As Elissa removed Cody’s blue knitted cap and loosened his sweater, careful not to wake him, she wondered how the petite woman regarding her from behind the desk had ever managed to intimidate students without so much as raising her voice. But during Elissa’s time here, few students cut Lehmberg’s classes, failed to turn in assignments or disobeyed any mandate issued in the course of her teaching.

  The professor’s sedate gaze settled on Cody. “Yours?”

  “Mine.”

  She nodded with wordless approval. “I heard you left Central High to have a baby. Planning to go back?”