Was that a glimmer of pride that she saw in the way he drew the ends of his lips up into a sexy smile? He spoke softly, too, but fortunately, even though this place wasn’t nearly as noisy as the Haven, there were enough people talking around them to cover what they were saying.
A very pleasant female server came over just then, much more professionally clad than Kelly at the Haven in a black dress with a belt at the waist, dark stockings and black shoes with low heels. Kelly regarded her with a touch of envy, but only for a moment. It was time to order their drinks.
Kelly shot a snide grin toward Alan. She had only glanced at the drink menu, but she knew what she wanted: a glass of champagne. Expensive champagne.
After all, she was now celebrating. Whatever the reason for Alan’s test, she had passed and then some.
She had proved she could be flexible. Rise to any occasion.
But somehow she just prayed that what she was doing—what they were doing—would have results soon. Very soon.
What would Dora tell her about Eli tomorrow? Anything at all? And if not, surely she could reveal something about Stan. Kelly could hardly wait.
For now, though, that champagne sounded wonderful. Alan ordered some, too, and shortly they were toasting each other.
That was fine for now. But Kelly couldn’t wait until they were able to toast their success in bringing Stan down, avenging Andi and saving Eli.
* * *
Their meal was great. Alan ordered salmon, and Kelly ordered a mixed seafood salad. They didn’t talk any more about Dora or their plot to get the answers they both sought. Instead, they discussed portions of his work that he could talk about in public, places where he had lived—mostly East Coast, around the DC area, and places in California where it would be fun to sightsee, many of which he figured Kelly had seen...before.
Kelly smiled each time Dora passed by to show other patrons to their seats. Alan wished he could be in on their conversation tomorrow, but that wouldn’t make sense.
He would discuss questions for Kelly to ask on their way home later.
Their server came by a few times to ask if all was well—and to pour more champagne. They took their time, but eventually they were done eating.
When the server brought their check, Alan gulped and made a face as if horrified by the amount, then he grinned. “It’s okay. I asked for it with my attitude before. And you earned this meal and more.”
Was he mistaken, or was Kelly’s return smile suggestive? It sure looked that way, and he was glad he was still seated when his body started to react.
He handed over his credit card. Once he’d gotten the receipt and added a generous tip, he stood and approached Kelly to pull out her chair for her. Gentlemanliness was certainly called for in a place like this. But she didn’t wait. Instead, she took a few steps away from him quickly, as if to show who was in charge. She maneuvered along an aisle between tables until she reached one of the wide windows that looked out over the ocean. He joined her. It was dark outside so the water wasn’t really visible, except for some reflections of light from above, but the view still added to this place’s character. He put his arm around her briefly for show, enjoying the feel of her against him.
On their way out she stopped to talk to Dora at the reception stand, thanking her and saying she looked forward to seeing her the next day.
Kelly was a trouper, Alan thought. She was doing everything right. He could have ruined this evening for both of them by embarrassing her, but she came out on top.
And the idea of her being on top...well, that generated some especially hot ideas—not that any would necessarily come to fruition, darn it. Not tonight, at least, since any interest that Kelly might have shown was probably payback for his earlier attitude. She would simply say no now.
Wouldn’t she?
He drove slowly on the way back down the mountain, despite how well the streetlights illuminated the road. They discussed her approach the next day for extracting any information Dora happened to have about Stan—and Eli.
“Just stay fascinated about this town and its people and places, and make your inquiries subtle but enthusiastic,” Alan advised.
“Yes, sir.” From the corner of his eye, he saw her give a not-very-professional salute. “Don’t worry. I’ll do fine.”
He felt certain she would.
When he pulled up in front of her apartment building, he found a parking spot on the street. As a security guy, he had an urge to walk her upstairs. Additional urges, too. But maybe she wouldn’t want anything like that—
“Would you like to come upstairs with me?” she asked in a husky voice. She still sat in the passenger seat, and he saw her eyelids lower in a fully sensual gaze.
“Yes,” he said. “I would.”
* * *
Was this going to become a habit? Had it already?
The day had been busy enough that last night seemed a long time ago, at least in some ways. But inviting Alan to join her upstairs brought it all back to her.
Was this a bad idea? He’d played her a bit today, even tested her, and now they walked briskly up the wide, steep steps to her apartment, with her leading the way as if she was eager to get him up there.
Which, if she was truthful to herself, she was. It was part of their ruse to the rest of Blue Haven, after all.
And if that was the only reason, she could also pretend she hadn’t done anything contrary to the Identity Division’s orders.
At her floor, she stepped into the hallway feeling more out of breath than usual after that short trek. It had to be anticipation causing her respiration to increase and grow irregular.
Alan was beside her in an instant, and she hurried past the first door until she arrived at her own apartment, reaching into her purse for her key.
In moments, they were inside her small living room. Alan closed the door behind him.
“Would you like me to make us some coffee?” She tried to keep her breathing normal.
“Here’s what I’d like.”
She was suddenly in Alan’s strong arms as he pulled her close against his hard body. His mouth came down on hers and robbed her of any further breathing, at least for a moment. She threw herself into that kiss, hugging him tightly to her, teasing him just a little with her tongue until his responded by entering her mouth with quick, sensual thrusts resembling sex.
She suddenly couldn’t wait, wanted it immediately. “Let’s go—” she tried to say against him, but didn’t need to speak any further.
He didn’t let go of her, though, but held her tightly to him as they hurried down the short hallway to her bedroom.
* * *
A while later, Alan lay beside Kelly, pleased and sated and feeling as if this was exactly where he wanted to be.
He exorcised any feelings of guilt—again. At least for now.
“Are you staying the night?”
He liked how her tone was soft and throaty, suggestive and inviting. He wanted to say—no, shout—yes.
But although he had remained here the night before when they had first engaged in such mind-blowing sex, he couldn’t just move in here or even pretend to. He had a conference call scheduled with the ID Division early in the morning. Since it was Sunday, he only had to walk through Government Plaza, which should be pretty much unoccupied, a couple of times on patrol for his cover job. And he definitely wasn’t going to get on the phone here.
Sure, he could stay for a while...but he knew exactly where that would lead. He needed some sleep tonight, and so did Kelly. She would need to be awake and alert, too, for her get-together with Dora.
“I appreciate the invitation,” he finally said, not sure whether it had in fact been an invitation or just an inquiry, “but I’d better get back to my place. I’ve got some things scheduled tomorrow, and so do you.”
He turned onto his side to look at her. She, too, was on her side, and remained on top of the covers, as well. She was still bare, and he had an urge to reach over, captu
re one of her breasts in his hand and begin playing once more.
But he didn’t.
“True,” she said softly. And then she sat up and rolled off the bed. Her back to him, she reached into the nearby small closet and pulled out a robe, which she used to immediately cover herself. “So would you like some coffee now?” Her tone had become almost normal, no hint of what they’d done, what she had sort of invited him to do again.
“No, thanks,” he said. “I’d better just get on my way. But maybe we can get together again soon.”
“I’d like that,” Kelly said. She walked him to the door, and after a final good-night kiss, Alan found himself smiling as he left.
Chapter 14
She felt relaxed. She felt wonderful.
But Kelly still did not fall asleep easily that night.
She lay in bed mostly on her side, her head resting on the softness of two pillows, her comfy pajamas on over her still-sensitive flesh.
No, she wasn’t sleeping alone in the nude. But she couldn’t help thinking about and rehashing her latest sexual encounter with Alan. Wondering what it would have been like had he decided to stay the night.
And when she forced her thoughts off that delightful musing that simply wasn’t to be, it segued over to the other very different matter engaging her mind, as always these days: Eli.
How would she handle her meeting with Dora the next morning? She had a lot of ideas of questions to ask regarding Stan, Dora’s relationship with him, and what she knew about him and his home life, such as it was. But could Kelly be subtle enough to drive the conversation there without arousing Dora’s curiosity?
Was young Eli asleep now, comfortable in his own bed?
Was he safe?
How was his father treating him at this moment?
Kelly hadn’t had to think long and hard about coming here to help Eli when she’d realized long-distance that he was in trouble. She’d just done it. But now that she was here, she’d hardly seen him, hardly spoken with him—and hadn’t yet learned enough about his current status and what she could do to help him.
She hadn’t been back in Blue Haven long, but it was beginning to feel like an eternity—at least regarding her sweet nephew.
And how could she help to get his horrible father away from him?
She’d been allowing herself the distraction of Alan, not that she could avoid it, or wanted to.
But maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to find another path tomorrow toward accomplishing what she had come here for.
* * *
Fortunately, although Alan did not sleep long that night, it was a deep enough sleep to allow him to wake feeling somewhat refreshed despite the early hour—five thirty. Here on the West Coast, his call was scheduled for 6:00 a.m., when many of the ID team members would have been awake for at least an hour in the DC area, even on a Sunday.
At the moment, he was in his townhouse’s small but luxurious kitchen, sitting in his underwear at the round wooden table in its center, sipping on coffee he’d brewed.
It reminded him of Kelly’s offer to make some for him last night.
Everything was likely to remind him of Kelly that day, but he had to make sure he remained professional in his thoughts and comments about her.
Comments shouldn’t be a problem, at least not too much. Thoughts? After their amazing sex last night, as well as the night before, that was a whole different issue.
Both Alan’s immediate superior officer, Director Walt Jones, and Judge Treena were to be in on this call. Alan knew what it would be about—a status report on how he was doing in obtaining usable evidence against City Councilman Stan Grodon, and another kind of report about Kelly Ladd, what she was doing and how successful Alan was in getting her to start complying with the promises she had made and return to the identity they had created for her.
Alan was not used to taking on an assignment and being unsuccessful, but at the moment he was batting close to zero.
Oh, sure, he’d developed an adequate working relationship with Stan. The guy seemed to trust him as a security provider. They’d had conversations, though mostly about meetings and who’d be there and how strong the security should be.
Nothing on a more friendly level, which wasn’t a surprise. And so far there’d been little Alan had seen, few people he had run into, that might help him in his quest for eyewitness testimony against Stan, or better yet, hard evidence of his murdering, and disposing of, his long-missing wife.
And telling his superiors about his working with Kelly to seek out that evidence wasn’t the best idea. He would have to be careful about his comments, too.
He took another sip of coffee, sighed and stood. He could at least start getting ready for the day. He wouldn’t be on official duty at Government Plaza, but was scheduled for a couple of walk-throughs to ensure all looked in order. Dodd would be doing the same, so he’d be able to compare notes with his fellow security guy.
But unsurprisingly, no city council meetings were scheduled, so the likelihood of his accomplishing anything of importance to his real assignment was limited.
He went into the bathroom and shaved the dark shadow off his face. If he’d had no security duty at all that day, he’d have left it, since it was comfortable and many women liked that look these days.
He wondered what Kelly would think of him wearing a hint of a beard...
By the time he was finished, he was expecting the call to come at any minute, so he strolled back into the kitchen, poured hot coffee into his empty cup, added milk and only waited for a few seconds before his phone rang.
“Hello?” he said.
“Alan, this is Judge Treena,” said a familiar female voice, strong and incisive.
“I’m here, too,” said Director Walt Jones.
For a minute or so, they traded small talk about the weather. Since it was fall, it was warm on the West Coast and cooler in DC, and a lot drier here than at the ID Division headquarters.
Then they started getting into the reasons for the call. They went over all that Alan had done. He kept it upbeat and positive. “I’m working on other angles to learn more from some of Grodon’s assistants and coworkers,” he assured them.
“And Kelly Ladd?” Judge Treena said in a barbed tone that raked over Alan’s conscience. “What’s she doing?”
“I’m still finding her useful.” Alan looked at the ceiling as he spoke. Useful? Yeah, she was that and a whole lot more. “And no one recognizes her, so the Transformation Unit has done a great job.”
He didn’t want to lay it on too thick, but a little compliment wouldn’t hurt.
“Mmm-hmm,” the judge grunted. “So you’re failing to follow orders, too, and get her back here?”
“My first job is to collect evidence.” Alan allowed his own tone to go brusque. “I’m to use all tools I can, and for now Kelly Ladd is among them. If she ever stops, I’ll make it a priority to get her back to the location of her new identity.”
“Then we don’t need to send another operative there now to get that moving?” That was Director Jones.
“No, sir.” Alan sucked in his breath. “Everything is under control.”
It had to be. He would make sure of it.
He also had to do more. Step things up.
He hoped Kelly would learn something useful today in her meeting with Dora Shallner. And maybe, just maybe, he would run into someone new whom he could discreetly interrogate at Government Plaza.
* * *
First thing after waking up that morning, Kelly sat at her small kitchen table and booted up her laptop, as she often did.
These days it wasn’t simply to check her email. No, she got into her assumed persona and looked at Eli’s Facebook page, where she had seen the allusions to pain that had scared her—and brought her here.
Recently, at least since her arrival, Eli’s posts tended to be typical teenage stuff, about school and friends and sports—sometimes in a teasing or silly tone, but nothing like the s
uffering she had detected before, not even around the time she had seen him at Government Plaza with a bruise on his face.
If his posts had always been like that, she wouldn’t be here, and wouldn’t have known about that bruise. But she wasn’t about to leave again until she was certain he was okay. And, to whatever extent possible now that she had returned, she would help Alan find whatever they could to connect her horrible brother-in-law to poor, missing Andi’s disappearance.
That would undoubtedly help Eli, too.
She logged in to Facebook under her cutesy ID that suggested she was a teenager like her nephew, and immediately checked his site.
Oh, no. There were no typical teenage topics or references as there had been recently.
Instead, Eli had just posted a little frowny face and said, “Weekends can suck. Where’s Monday?” No explanation, not even to his friends who’d responded with questions. He had simply pressed Like to their comments.
What was going on?
Would Kelly learn anything today with an attempt as remote as getting together with a woman Stan seemed to have an interest in?
Kelly had an urge to call Alan to ask his advice. No, more to cry on his shoulder.
She did neither.
But she did get ready for her meeting with Dora later, not only dressing for it, but also priming her psyche to do all she could to learn something helpful.
* * *
On her drive up to the Blue View, Kelly tried to keep her breathing slow and even despite the eagerness and anxiety she felt.
Okay, she told herself. She had to be friendly and act really, really interested in the possibility of getting a job as a server at that upscale restaurant.
This time of day there wasn’t much traffic heading up the mountainside toward the restaurant and adjoining shopping area, so despite that anxiety Kelly had no excuse for not getting there fairly quickly.
“I can do this,” she said aloud as she parked her old clunker car in the nearly empty parking lot. “I will learn something to help Eli.”
When she exited her vehicle and pressed the lock button on her key fob, she stood for a moment gazing at the chalet structure, now silhouetted against an azure sky instead of the growing twilight of last night. She looked down at her plain blue dress that she thought exemplified the person she wanted to portray that day: a wannabe server in a high-class restaurant instead of an ordinary town café. She wasn’t too shabbily clad, but she wasn’t overdressed, either.
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