by Unknown
“Wait . . . what?” Stevens said, his confused expression making Liv blush even more.
“Liv,” Neal breathed, appearing genuinely stunned and worried for her. “Why? Why would you say something so . . . strange? Move, why?”
Trooper Stevens rose from the sofa looking as worried as Neal did. “Miss Liv,” he said and half-smiled. “That isn’t going to be necessary.” He glanced about the room before settling his light blue eyes on her again. “Charming place you’ve got here, by the way, and on the water no less. I won’t ask what you paid to live here, but I’ll assure you it isn’t my intention to drive you away from such a terrific home.”
Liv offered him a wry smile and turned to face both men. “Not to sound like a complete bitch, and don’t take this the wrong way, but speaking of stalking, did this man mention the fact that he’s been after me for half a year to sign a recording contract with his studio?”
Stevens looked stunned before he turned in Neal’s direction. Neal dropped his startled look and replaced it with a narrowed gaze and red cheeks. Liv felt satisfaction from that and continued. “I’ve made it a point to remain as anonymous and hermit-like as possible until today. Thanks to him, my life is ruined . . . again.” With emphasis on the last word, Liv glared at Neal. “I have no choice but to pack up and move someplace else now. Somewhere as secluded and far away as I can get from my past.”
The urge to cry suddenly arrived, and Liv set a few fingers against her trembling lips, eyeing the native area rug beneath her feet. Both men jerked in response to those tears, and they both wore the same anxious expression. Their fidgeting made her exhale a quick laugh before she waved a dismissive hand and turned aside to avoid having to watch anymore of their flustered antics.
“He either chooses not to remember, or he’s saving the best for last,” she mumbled. Raising her gaze to the trooper, she said, “Regardless, I’m not going to stick around to find out what he’s got planned. I can’t be with him any more than I can stay here. Now please, if you’d both just leave, I really need to be alone right now.”
Chapter 3
The doorbell rang again, and before either man could react, Liv hurried from the room, not wanting to expose her unwanted tears to either of them.
Liv opened the door and looked first at the gun barrel aimed at her chest before eyeing the woman she had seen briefly in the recording studio parking lot. She flashed Liv a coy smile, looking overly pleased with herself. As the woman opened her mouth to speak, Liv grabbed her by the wrist and twisted the weapon away from her body. The gun fired into the air at the same time that Liv used her free hand to strike the woman’s neck, knocking her out.
Stevens and Neal rushed up behind her, and then Stevens shoved her aside, crouching before the unconscious stalker to check for a pulse. Neal set his hands on Liv’s shoulders and frowned while she stared at the obviously insane woman. He asked if she was alright, and Liv turned slowly, lifting her watery eyes to meet his worried gaze. She stared at him in a daze that must have set off an alarm in his head, because he pressed her against his taut chest and held her tight.
“I don’t know,” she breathed. “I’ve never had a gun pointed at me before.”
Stevens rose to his feet. “Let me call for backup and have her taken to the station. It’s likely that someone will post bond, but she’ll be charged with attempted murder before extradition. This gives you two at least twenty-four hours to figure out what you’d like to do.”
“You two?”
“Liv,” Neal said and gently coaxed her back inside the parlor. “I tried to warn you, didn’t I? I’ll apologize again, but I’ve mentioned before how it wasn’t my intention to run into you. I should have anticipated something like this, though. I’m sorry.”
“How did you find me, Neal?”
He smiled as he helped her into the red chair. “The ads on my email continued to change based on our correspondence. When I started seeing things from Michigan, then Traverse City, and then the recording studio, it wasn’t all that difficult to figure out. Still, I only knew it was the voice I was after, not you.”
Furious, Liv had to wonder how many of her other clients had similar experiences. She used an ad blocker and took for granted that everyone’s online experience was as pristine and nosy free as what she experienced.
“Well, now there’s no question about it. I’ve got to move.”
“Why?” Neal whined, sitting on the coffee table in front of her and smiling at her in a way she didn’t like or want him to do. “What is this about being a hermit and working hard to stay private? And, about the past . . .”
“Don’t,” she said and pressed a few fingers against his lips to keep him quiet. “Neal, I’m serious. It’s taken years of therapy and hiding to get me to where I am right now. Seeing you again didn’t manage to bring it all rushing back, but I’m starting to get more anxious as the minutes tick by. It won’t be long now before –.” She turned aside and frowned at the floor, not liking that she was being too talkative; a force of habit for reclusive types suddenly in the midst of people.
“Liv,” Neal said and latched onto her hand. He gently wiggled it before lifting it to his lips, pressing them against the tips of her manicured fingers. “I never got the chance to apologize, much less get to know you better. I don’t blame you for holding a grudge against me, either. Still, what happened back then should remain in the past.”
“Easy for you to say,” she hissed, yanking her hand free and wanting to walk away when Neal slid to his knees, preventing her from rising without having to rub half her body against his face.
“You misunderstand,” he assured her, and with the cutest puppy-dog expression she had ever seen on a grown man’s face. With a fake smile, she set a hand against his forehead and gently pushed his head back, making him smile, too. “I’m not making light of what happened, trust me,” he said after grabbing and holding her hand. “In all this time, I’ve been kicking myself and regretting the fact that I wasn’t there for you when you needed me most. I wanted to help you, Liv. Every time I came to see you, your mother refused to let me in. You had no phone for me to be able to call or text my apology.”
“She wasn’t my mother,” Liv grumbled. “Wait.” She tried not to smile but was surprised by what he had just admitted to doing, and it felt too good to ignore. “You came over? To the house. After . . . after what happened to me?”
Neal took a deep breath and gritted his teeth. “I’d rather not talk about that incident, Liv. The bitch who hurt you was properly dealt with by the authorities, and so was the bastard who hurt you even more. I met him when he got out of prison.” He turned his head aside, his memory serving up a reason to smile.
Liv smiled, too, still tickled to learn that he had visited the house in the days that had followed the madness.
He eyed her again. “I was sorry to hear about your father, and I attended the funeral, but guilt kept me from approaching you. Which was why I spent the next few weeks trying to see you at home. But then you moved. No, wait. Your mother told me that you were living with an aunt in another town. She wouldn’t tell me where, though.”
“I said she’s not . . . I don’t remember anything about those awful few days,” Liv admitted, embarrassed yet unable to look away from his interested gaze. “If she hadn’t posted those pictures on her home page, I wouldn’t have known about it, either. All I remembered was walking to the library to meet Andrea when I was shoved inside a car, had something awful tasting shoved down my throat, and then I passed out. And, I’d rather you never mentioned my mother to me again.” The look of shock he tried to hide made her laugh softly. “It’s a long, twisted story I’d rather not get into with you. Like I said, therapy and time have helped to get me where I am today, and I like it this way. You’re right about not looking back, too. I try not to Neal, but it’s a little hard with you here to remind me.”
His face constricted at the remark, making her feel guilty.
“That can
’t be,” he said in a quiet voice that worked to sooth her nerves and help her to relax. “Liv, I’d like to see more of you.” She hid her emotions well enough to make him think his remark had no affect on her when it did. “Now, getting back to my reason for being here. I hope you believe it wasn’t my intention to get you mixed up in this mess. It’ll be necessary that we stay together now, though. At least until I’m confident of your safety.”
“She’s going to jail,” Liv reminded him. The thought of having to spend any time with him sent a thrill up her spine at the same time it caused her heart to sink with dread. “I think the matter is resolved, don’t you?”
Neal shook his head in a way that made Liv anxious again. Then his eyes met hers, astounding her. “I wish it was that easy. Stevens said she’ll be out on bond in no time. When it was just me she stalked, it wasn’t much more than a nuisance, but now that you’re involved, we’ll need to stick close together for my peace of mind at least.”
“We,” she groaned. A derisive laugh escaped and she turned aside to gaze out a window that overlooked the lake. “I think it would be safer for us to be apart, not together. It’s you she’s after, not me.”
“That isn’t likely to be the case now. She’s already threatened to harm anyone who comes between . . . us.”
Liv frowned to see the upset look on his handsome face. He had gritted his teeth before uttering the last word and turned aside his head. She started to worry about his mental state and realized how awful it must be to have an undesirable always at your heels.
A few seconds later, Neal looked at her with a calmer expression. “I won’t be able to look after you if we’re not together, Liv. It’s my fault you’re in this predicament, and I won’t let another situation slip through my fingers. This time I intend to make everything right by you before we can afford to go our separate ways.”
It was hard for Liv to believe he was a modern guy living in a modern world. A rock star with a fan base, the it look, and starlets at his disposal. The British accent aside, he acted more like a knight on a quest than a twenty-first century dude who spanned the globe with groupies in a private jet and paparazzi always within a few hundred yards to track his every move.
That last part made her tense with anxiety to know that associating with someone of his magnitude could foil her attempt at remaining anonymous. All it would take to make the past come stumbling into the present would be for her to be publicly recognized. If the media linked her to a guy as famous as Neal Hendrix, they would soon dig up every bit of her past, to include the ugly incident that isn’t supposed to be online anymore. She didn’t trust tech savvy people capable of making those pictures resurface, and that would be the end of everything, including her career.
Before Liv could argue against his chivalrous plan and assure Neal that she was capable of taking care of herself, trooper Stevens re-entered the parlor. He told them that the local police had the woman in their custody now. Neal helped Liv to her feet, and they stood side by side as they gazed at the amused officer.
“Thank you for all your help,” Neal said, shaking Stevens's hand. Liv shyly smiled at him and did the same, though there was no reason to thank him since he didn’t do anything for her except bring into her cloistered life the one man she had fought so hard not to see again.
Stevens asked Neal for a business card and both men promised to stay in touch. The stalker would be extradited back to Illinois, but that would give Neal and Liv only so much time to figure out a plan of action. Trooper Stevens wanted them both to keep him informed, and he assured them that they would stay in contact with the Illinois authorities about the woman’s activities.
Chapter 4
Having looked forward to dining on the pot roast she’d heated in a slow cooker before going to the recording studio, Liv now stood in the main room of her house and tried not to think about anything resembling the adult equivalent of star-crossed lovers. It was difficult not to want Neal there, and yet it was the last thing she wanted to let him figure out was the case.
Neal had taken a tour of the house and now stood just a few feet away, casually perusing the things she had purchased over the years to decorate the main room. When he turned to face her with the arresting smile that never failed to make her heart skip a beat, Liv felt more blush heat her face and throat, making her anxious again.
“I’m starved, Liv. Let’s go out to eat.”
She started to point in the direction of the kitchen when she stopped and clamped her mouth shut. He was talking restaurant food, and the thought of eating out turned her stomach. Not that he needed to know about the horror stories of her childhood, but he didn’t seem to plan on doing anything without her.
“Neal,” she began, clasping her fingers in an anxious gesture. “Did you book a room in the city, or hadn’t you planned on staying this long?”
The quirk of a curious brow made her want to laugh. “I didn’t plan that far ahead,” he admitted. “As I said, I only came here to ask about the voice when the unexpected occurred.” He cocked his head and smiled with a child-like curiosity that had her holding her breath in anticipation of what he intended to say next. “If you’re worried about my intentions, you needn’t be. My being overly cautious doesn’t include any plans to take advantage. That flowery sofa in the room at the entrance seems comfortable enough.”
Liv’s brows rose that time, and she took a deep breath. Right. So, he intended to sleep over.
“I never meant to imply you had bad intentions, Neal. I’m capable of taking care of myself, so I’m not worried.” She giggled, feeling smug about her years of martial arts training when she heard him chuckle as well. Their eyes met, and the way he set an elbow atop the fireplace mantle and crossed a foot at the ankle made him seem sophisticated; captivating. “I’ve never had anyone spend any amount of time in my house,” she added almost absentmindedly, his presence was having that much of an effect on her now. “Well, there are my girlfriends, but that’s different. And no, I’m sorry, but I’d rather eat in if you don’t mind.”
Neal stood upright and lost the sexy smile. “I’d hate to put you to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble,” she said and glanced in the direction of the kitchen again. Before her stomach could grumble in front of him, she quickly explained about the pot roast and darted off to the kitchen, needing to check on the crock-pot meal.
After removing the crock-pot lid, Liv was able to smile again. Closing her eyes and taking a deep sniff of the aromatic air, she said mmm and set the lid back over the pot, turning it off.
Seeing Neal fill the doorway made her jump in her skin, having not heard him approach, and wondering how long he’d been standing there watching her. Being a loner created a few odd habits, and one was the frequent conversations she had with herself – aloud. Had she talked to herself again without realizing it?
Instead of using the formal dining room across the hall, Liv set two places at the breakfast table inside the spacious kitchen and sat across from Neal. Just as she had done earlier, he now leaned in to sniff the food and smiled as he sat up with a hearty mmm.
“Smells amazing,” he said, smiling as he set fork and knife to a generous slice of the meat, potatoes, and his own heaping helping of the roasted carrots and corn she had reheated in the microwave. “You like to cook?”
Liv watched as he slid the first bite inside his mouth. He did the mmm thing again, smiling as he chewed. This time he gently patted the edge of the wooden table and sat back as he swallowed, smiling brighter.
“Delicious!” he cried before shoveling another forkful into his mouth.
Relieved and flattered, Liv relaxed and took her first bite. “Yes, I like to cook” she answered after swallowing and sipping some wine. “I’ve always had to feed myself, so it wasn’t long before I had a lot of the recipes mastered. This happens to be a specialty of mine.”
“It’s incredible,” Neal said; savoring another bite before he sipped some wine. “So, do you m
ind if we play twenty-one questions while we eat? I’d like to get to know you better. If I ask anything too personal or start to remind you of something you’d rather not think about, just tell me and we can move on to the next round of questions.”
Not intending to be a party pooper, she said, “I already know everything about you, and there isn’t anything about me worth discussing.”
Neal paused his meal to eye her with that curious gaze of his, and then he sighed, cutting another slice of the roast and sticking it in his mouth. He smiled as he chewed, reminding her of a little boy. Then he frowned. “What do you know about me?”
Liv smiled, liking that it took him a minute to realize what she had said. “You’re a rock star, aren’t you? It’s a little hard not to know everything about you.”
Neal snorted against a fist, eyeing a cabinet above the sink. Then he straightened up and studied his meal before eyeing her above those long, upswept lashes of his; a hint of blush rising on his prominent cheekbones. “That was a lifetime ago, and I’d hardly call what I am now rock star material. I compose, Liv. I’m also on the lookout for new talent, which is why I’ve been after you to sign the contract. Your voice is what my latest music needs. Tell me, why are you so against signing on with me?”
“Because I knew who you were,” she said and paused to eat. While she chewed, she gazed at the handsome man who laughed at her from across the table. “Until you started e-mailing me, I was perfectly content with the way things were.”
“That’s another thing,” he said and set his utensils down to fold his arms atop the table. “You don’t honestly believe you deserve to hide away because of what that bitch did to you, do you?”
Holding her wine glass near her face, Liv narrowed her eyes with a mix of anger and curiosity at his reaction to what she was about to say. “I take it her hard-won efforts to keep us apart so that she could get with you instead didn’t work in her favor then?”