by J. A. Dennam
“It was burned out that night,” she repeated aloud. Knowing now the sound of the car door had been in her head, she could still hear the ghostly reverb of the pulled handle.
It was working. Being here, re-enacting the event she’d pieced together from bits of outside information…
“The passenger door opened.” Danny closed her eyes again, squeezed them tight. The passenger door opened. Someone slid into the seat beside her. Derek? No, it wasn’t Derek. It was a woman, a stranger.
She opened her mouth to protest the invasion. The woman’s arm snaked toward her as she gnashed her teeth. A small arc of blinding blue.
Pain.
Danny drew back violently as if the current had just moved through her in a very real way. She shrank into the corner by the door, as far away as she could from the woman in her vision. There was no one there. She was still alone, a solitary individual in the riverfront parking lot.
But ew width="4the vision was still fresh.
The hood of the woman’s jacket was pulled up and over her hair, concealing the length. The dome light had not come on. But her striking features were clearly visible against such a porcelain white complexion. Slanted sexy eyes, full red lips, dark wedged bangs…
“Huge boobs,” Danny finished out loud, seeing the woman as Austin had described her.
“Holy shit,” she breathed, her body still tingling from the shock. “That was Rena!” And the woman had come at her completely unprovoked. “I hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet.”
But why? Why would Rena want to harm her? “Unless that isn’t where our encounter begins,” Danny thought out loud, using her voice to coax the unfolding details along. “No,” she concluded, repositioning her hands on the wheel. “I had just pulled up. The space beside me was empty until she pulled in.”
The maroon sport-utility came to a stop. The engine fell silent. In rapid succession, the driver’s door opened, closed. Then the Challenger’s door opened, closed.
Definitely premeditated.
Danny was so preoccupied with her new revelation that she failed to notice the white truck enter the parking lot.
“What the hell,” Austin exclaimed, bracing against the dash. “That’s Derek’s car!”
Mac, overcome by a sudden case of heebie-jeebies, rolled his eyeballs toward the man beside him. “Now, that’s creepy,” he stated baldly. How had his boss known to come here? Until now, the trip to the river had seemed like a spontaneous excuse to keep him from a good night’s sleep.
“Cut the lights and pull in beside it.”
Mac did as he was ordered and maneuvered the truck to a stop, cut the engine.
“It’s Danny,” Austin voiced next to the glass.
The two men exited the truck. Austin knelt at the open window beside her and curled his hand over the sill. She was in a trance of some kind, white-knuckling the steering wheel.
“Aw, hell,” Mac said beside him, the man bent over, taking in her wide spooked eyes. “I’ve seen that look before.”
The familiar voice penetrated her thoughts in a gentle way. Danny blinked and relaxed her fingers in order to let the blood flow through them. “I’m fine,” she said breathily, struggling to convince herself more than the two men who had appeared out of nowhere beside her.
Austin narrowed his gaze. “That’s what you said before you started throwing your shoes at me.”
That particular voice woke her up completely. “Austin?” Danny blinked again, turned and focused on the two faces beside her. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t like her strange behavior. Not one bit. “More importantly, what are you doing here? In this car? At this time of night? Alone?”
Danny peeled her fingers from the steering wheel and balled them in her lap. “I couldn’t sleep.”
The admission, spoken so piteously, revealed so much more. Her intense grief was overshadowing her judgment. “Look…” Austin began, situating himself more comfortably on his knees, “I know you’re hurting, babe, but you can’t be out here like this. Didn’t you get any of my messages? My ‘don’t let your guard down’ lecture?”
Babe. He’d called her babe. “I have to if I want answers.”
“Answers…” Austin thought about it, looked around and took in the line of trees before her, the river. The car. The walking bridge where the witness had seen two figures struggling by the rushing water. Suddenly, his heart grew heavy. The weight she’d been carrying was written in every hollow of her haunted face. He leaned in closer. “Danny…you don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Not for me. I don’t need to know. Not anymore.” Her eyes scoured his, but failed to find the animosity that had clouded them since the night in the tree house. He reached over and traced a thumb over the ridge of her cheekbone. “You’re a lot of things, Bennett. And that includes a fighter, thank God. I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. But you aren’t the kind that would knock a woman into the river.”
No, she wasn’t. Her memories confirmed she hadn’t attacked Rena. It had been the other way around, but he’d loved the woman so much. And now that Danny understood the level of pain he’d been forced to endure because of her death, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him. “How do you know?” she asked instead, the question a test of sorts.
Her face slightly turned into his touch despite the conflicting emotions that swam in her eyes. Austin silently vowed to end her conflict before the night was through. “Blind faith, I guess.”
Pass. His answer brought a sad smile to her lips. “Wow, Cahill. You’re making progress.”
But something in her remained guarded, told him it wasn’t enough to change the status of their relationship. Too little…too late.
Mac reached the same conclusion, but brought up the possibility of another obstacle. “Hey, Monkey. You aren’t seein’ that young noob you work with, are ya?”
Austin swiveled his head to glare pointedly at the man for asking. Danny’s brows came together. “You mean Shaw?”
Mac ignored his boss’s glower and pressed the issue. “Yeah!”
“He’s not a noob, he happens to be very skilled. And what does he have to do with anything, anyway?”
“Well.” Mac folded his arms impudently. “It would be a damned crime if you were seeing him. He’s not right for you.”
“Oh, jeez,” Austin rolled his eyes, desperate to end the man’s ramblings.
“For your information,” Danny brought up riotously, “I don’t date members of my crew. It’s unethical.”
“Didn’t stop you and Boss from hooking up.”
“Okay, you get back in the truck!” Austin boomed, shooting up from the ground. “She’s got enough on her mind without you harassing her about her love life.”
Mac backed away with his hands in the air, the look on his face anything but humble. “Just saying.”
As soon as the man was confined, Austin turned back to Danny, prepared to pick up where he’d left off. But the truck lights came on and he glared at the stars while the windows slowly came down behind him.
“Stifling in here,” Mac mumbled slyly, and turned off the battery.
What the hell? Since when had the guy become a meddling old woman?
“Why did you bring him?” Danny asked sourly, just as annoyed.
“Because I was drunk…or stoned…or something,” Austin answered, pulling the door handle and swinging it wide. “In no shape to drive.”
“Then why on earth did you even bother coming out here this time of night?” She took his outstretched hand without question.
He pulled her out of the car and gently shut the door behind her. “Because my twenty-year-old bottle of booze told me to.”
“You were drinking? On medication?”
Hand flattened against the small of her back, he pushed her toward the row of trees. “Which is why I may have been stoned. Not really sure.”
“You should take better care of yourself than that. Yo
u’re still healing.”
“And I’ll say the same to you. You’re grieving, I know that, but Derek wouldn’t want you out here alone in your PJ’s like a sitting duck.”
“Just because you held hands before he died doesn’t make you an authority on what he would or wouldn’t want.”
Be Ne heldfore she could protest, he had her by the shoulders, gave h
er a little shake. “Brett is out here somewhere. My P.I. is pretty positive he’s behind our accidents.” He clapped a hand to his chest in dramatic fashion. “So do me a favor and go home. Or come home with me. Whatever. Just quit making unwise decisions, that’s all I ask.”
“Says the man who makes midnight trips to the river because his,” she quoted with her fingers, “‘bottle of booze’ tells him to. At least I have a genuine reason for being here.”
“I told you, I don’t have to know what happened. I’m not even sure I want to know.”
“Well, maybe I’m not doing it for you!” she snapped indignantly and turned toward the water.
Danny closed the distance with only a few steps. The riverbank. Aside from the symphony of nature, all was as quiet and peaceful as could be. The tamed water moved in stealth-mode like a silent conveyer.
Dark thunder…in her ears as her body became one with the raging current.
A shiver ran through her. Danny touched the skin of her arms, remembering.
Every nerve was still fired up from electricity when she hit the water. More shock as her skin met the unbearable cold.
Chapter 28
Warm, calloused hands, large and soothing, closed around her upper arms from behind. Danny shivered again under the transition from the icy cold of her vision to the gentle heat of the present.
“Are you getting somewhere?” Austin asked, more out of sympathy than the need to know answers.
Danny drew in a deep, troubled breath, exhaled slowly. “I have a lot to work out.” It was all she was willing to tell him, but she couldn’t hold back her curiosity. He was here. And he was the only one who would know. “Austin…you told me that Rena acted sort of crazy when you were kids. But as an adult, she was perfectly normal.”
He slid his hands down and up the length of her arms as he watched the quiet movement of the water. Where his fiancé had drowned. “She’d grown up,” he said fondly, envisioning Rena’s striking blue eyes.
She shouldn’t say it. Her hesitancy made the next question eek out slow and quizzical. “Are you sure?”
The hands on her arms stilled. Hating herself for going there, Danny pulled away and put some distance betre a adween them. “I’m sorry. You knew her better than anyone, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Is there something you want to tell me?” Austin asked, suspicion keeping his feet rooted to the ground.
“No.” What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. It was in the past. Whatever she remembered would stay there. “Just trying to get a feel for the kind of person she was. Maybe it would trigger something, that’s all.”
The storm behind his eyes calmed somewhat. “If it hasn’t happened yet, then let me take you home. You need sleep, Danny, you’re too wound. Just let it come on it’s own, don’t force it.”
She’d rather jump back in that river than attempt to sleep in her bed again…at least for this night. Her bare toes dipped down the edge of the rough grass. The flood had cut away more earth, the bank of dry dirt and rocks below her foot steep.
“I can’t sleep…not now.” The back of her eyes began to burn as her thoughts moved to a dangerous place. “When the nightmares started to come, Derek helped me through them, no matter what time of night it was. Poor guy. Between me and Melanie, he didn’t get much sleep. Always trying to take care of us, of our demons.”
Austin had no trouble picturing it. The two of them had been closer than twins. Her pain was unbearable, he knew. “If I could convince you to come home with me…”
“That wasn’t a veiled attempt to enlist your help,” she said quickly.
“I know…”
“I can’t go home with you. I shouldn’t even be around you.”
“Because you don’t trust me? Or because of your family?”
She turned her torso to meet his turbulent gaze. Hesitant, she said, “I trust you.” Then, in a confused state, she shrugged slightly. “For some reason.”
Well, that was promising. “So…you’re not answering my calls and keeping your distance because of your family.”
A small laugh. “When Pop found out about us, he couldn’t ship me off to college fast enough. As long as I promised never to come near you again. I told him it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Because she thought he resented her. And he’d tried. But his anger was amplified not by resentment, but because of her strangle hold on his heart that he couldn’t break loose. They had so much working against them a relationship should never be possible. “Yet, here we are,” he concluded smoothly. Their futures were locked whether she knew it or not.
Thinking about that for a moment, she nodded sadly. “You’re right. I should go home.”
That wasn’t the response he was hoping for. “Really, Danny? You don’t find it strange that I knew to come here?to cme here?
“You could have followed me.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “But I didn’t and you know it. Something…or someone…called me here. I mean, I literally could not ignore this voice in my head that said, go to the river, go to the river.’”
Danny considered laughing at his woo-woo hands, but instead folded her arms as well. “And you really think it was some kind of, what…celestial bidding?”
“And why not? You know as well as I do Derek wanted me to watch out for you.”
She did know. “You don’t have to feel obligated because of it. He was scared for me. But I can take care of myself.”
Austin sighed heavily. “Says the girl in the PJ’s by the river.”
Danny looked down at her camisole and cotton pajama pants. She hadn’t even thought to change before making the trip. Before she could respond to his crack, he was there, his broad chest filling her vision. There were only a few inches between them. A jolt went through her system when he reached up and took her chin.
Oh, no. If he did what his eyes told her he was about to do, she’d be helpless to keep her promise to her father. “What are you doing?” she asked in alarm.
“Showing you that I feel anything but obligated,” he said fervently, and lowered his lips to hers. Derek’s advice had been not to push. But, dammit...someone had to and he was tired of waiting.
The kiss delivered a heady mixture of passionate demand and gentle care. Danny slipped into a floating state of bliss the moment it started. Feeling every emotion within her, Austin wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders and pushed deeper into her mouth. Her troubled thoughts vanished, leaving only an intense need that was powerful enough to seep into the empty abyss her brother’s death had created.
When he ended the kiss, Austin skimmed his lips over her closed eyelids. His voice came out rich, husky. “I’m hopelessly in love with you, Bennett. And I need you to let me back in.”
Oh hell, her joints were going liquid soft. Her head lolled back between her shoulders, giving him access to do with her as he wished. It was hard to think when his mouth moved over her face like that. “I don’t…” She swallowed, tried again. “I can’t…I don’t…” She gave up. “…know what to say apparently.”
“As long as it isn’t ‘take a hike,’ I can handle it.”
Her thoughts were devoured all over again under the heated pressure of his lips. She met the conquering demand of his tongue with equal fervor, slipped her hands up the sides of his rock-hard abdomen. His body flinched slighlinched tly when she inadvertently touched his wound, but when she would have pulled away apologetically, he tightened his hold.
Mac watched from the front seat of the truck and grinned like a romantic fool. The couple’s silhouettes were
merged, locked together as one. They were kissing each other as if he wasn’t there, wasn’t watching every passionate second. “Damn,” he whispered, deathly afraid he was becoming emotional.
Something moved in the rearview mirror, tore his attention from the reunion by the riverbank. It was a shadow…no, a person. Moving stealthily across the parking lot toward the rear of Derek’s Challenger. Crouched low, the intruder was obviously taking extreme precaution not to be noticed.
Mac’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
The intruder watched, wetted his lips. Though he’d never had a chance to taste that mouth of hers, he imagined what flavor it was. The bastard sucking on it now would be taken care of soon enough. Then, if the opportunity presented itself, he would get his turn.
With ultimate care, he crept from one corner of the Challenger’s rear end to the other, drew a Swiss army knife out of his back pocket. Ever so quietly, he pulled out the longest blade and positioned himself beside the rear passenger tire. He drew back his arm and prepared to jam the sharp blade through layers of tread and steel belts.
A tap on his shoulder startled him into looking around. His eyes widened just as a meaty fist slammed into the center of his face.
“Hey boss!” Mac yelled, eyeballing the man who lay cooled on the asphalt. “I really don’t want to interrupt you two, but I got something here you might want to see!”
Austin had heard the thump of fist on flesh even from that distance. Shit! The last thing he wanted to do was stop kissing the woman in his arms, but gut instinct told him Mac had just stumbled upon someone unsavory.
His arms were still around her, but she released a long groan of disappointment when his mouth lifted from hers. She could feel the lengthy shaft of his manhood pressed against her abdomen and her body throbbed with the need to let him inside.
“We have company, honey.” Austin watched her, loving how oblivious she was to her surroundings. Loving that he affected her that way.
Slowly, Danny woke from her sensual stupor. “Company?”