by K. J. Dahlen
She looked into his eyes, “But what if—”
Chase stopped her from speaking by kissing her. He hadn’t planned on kissing her but he did. When her mouth came open in shock, he slipped his tongue inside and the kiss went from lukewarm for comforting to blazing hot in an instant.
He wrapped his arms around her tighter and tasted her essence. She tasted like chocolate and heavy whipped cream. He could taste the coffee she’d recently drank but he didn’t mind that. He was enjoying her flavor too much to mind anything.
Then as suddenly as he kissed her, she pulled away from him. Pushing against his chest, Chase let her go. She scrambled off his lap and stood there. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. She couldn’t or wouldn’t look at him but she didn’t run away either. “I think I should go to bed now,” she whispered and made to move away.
“You don’t have to run away,” Chase told her softly. Reaching out to capture her hand, he held onto her for a moment. “I would never keep you against your will. I wouldn’t hurt you either. I’m not that kind of man.”
~*~
She nodded then without saying a word she walked into the bedroom, softly closing the door behind her. She didn’t shut it tight though.
Making her way over to the bed, she laid down. The cool sheets soothed her heated body as she laid there staring into the flames from the fireplace. Her mind was so jumbled and she didn’t know where one thought ended and another began.
She lifted her fingers to her mouth. They brushed over her lips barely touching but just enough to relive the touch of his mouth on hers. She could still feel his tongue mimicking an act older than time itself.
Pressing her legs together, she couldn’t help but wonder what his body would feel like against hers. Skin to skin, chest to chest, his body pressing up against hers. Oh, my god! I’m having erotic thoughts about a stranger. What kind of woman does that make me?
“I don’t even know my own name and I’m thinking about jumping his bones?” she whispered out loud. “What kind of person am I?” She closed her eyes and tears fell down her cheeks. “I shouldn’t be thinking about that anyway. I have to figure out who I am, who this Ian is and what happened to him.”
She tried to think but her thoughts were too heavy. The list of questions kept going round and round in her head and she was getting nowhere fast. At long last, her mind allowed her to fall asleep.
~*~
When Chase entered the room to feed the fire, he looked at her for the longest time. He noticed the dried tear stains on her face and shook his head. He covered her up with the quilt on the bed and brushed her forehead with his lips before moving away. Putting more wood on the fire, he took his time before finally moving to leave. He didn’t dare look at her again, instead he pulled the door closed behind him, but he didn’t shut it all the way.
Chase laid down on the couch. He’d taken off his shirt and loosened his jeans. A blanket covered his chest. All the lights were off and he was watching the fire burn. As he stared into the flames, he couldn’t help but wonder about his guest and what she’d gotten him involved in. How she had gotten from Coven Glade to almost his back door, he didn’t know. He could only guess what really happened in Coven Glade. The house they showed on the news report didn’t look like the typical drug house. This house looked like every other suburban house. There were even flowers planted in the yard. Most drug dealers didn’t worry about landscaping their yards. Like he told her earlier, something about this didn’t make sense to him. He needed more information as to why the police were looking for her. So many scenarios were running through his head it was giving him a headache. He closed his eyes for a moment.
He awoke a little while later to the rhythmic sounds of the rocking chair rocking. He laid still in the dark, not wanting to move until he had a better feel for who was in the house. The glowing embers from the fire told him several hours had passed but still, it wasn’t hard to figure out who was sitting in the chair. Then he heard a different sound. It was the gentle sounds a woman made when she was crying quietly.
The sound tore into his heart like a hot knife through butter. He couldn’t stand to hear a woman cry. He never could. “Are you all right?” he asked her gently so as not to startle her.
“No, I don’t think so,” she told him quietly as she stared into the glowing embers. “Would you like to know what I remembered tonight?”
Chase frowned. “Sure.” He had no idea where this was going but he knew whatever she remembered would fill in some of the mystery surrounding her.
“I don’t know if I remembered everything clearly but I do remember entering an alley. I think I was following someone but I can’t remember why or who. I could hear more than one person talking, but I was too far away to understand what they were saying. I just remember the sound of voices up ahead. I think I tried to get closer to the voices and I then I saw two men, one man was holding a gun on another man. They were arguing about something in the box one of them was holding. Then one of the men turned and began coming toward me. I heard a gun go off and I saw the man coming toward me fall to the ground. The other man came over and turned him over and I remember looking down at him and seeing a red stain on his shirt. I was so shocked I couldn’t move. I remembered the man who shot him talking to someone else behind him, but I couldn’t see the third man. He was standing in the shadows. I couldn’t see his face but I heard him speaking to the other man, I just can’t remember what he said. It’s all kind of in a fog in my head. I don’t know if any of this is real or not. But if it is real… I think I’m in a lot of t-trouble.”
“Have you ever seen the man who was killed that night?” Chase asked.
“Yes, he was the man the police said was Ian Carter.” Her voice was whispery and low with fear. “But if Ian was murdered in the alley, why would the police say he died in the house we saw on TV last night? I don’t understand. None of this makes sense to me.”
He wanted to tell her to go on, but he also knew the tale was a hard one to tell. He had to wait until she was ready to finish telling him what she remembered.
She wiped the tears away from her cheeks and after a few minutes, continued with her memories, “I was too far away to hear what they were saying. I only caught the tail end of the conversation. They were talking about the box this man Ian had in his hands. After the man shot him, I knew I couldn’t stay there. If they had seen me, they would have murdered me too. When I turned to get away, my foot kicked into a bottle and it shot across the alley. The killer must have heard the noise because he called out, ‘Who’s there?’ I was so scared I took off running. Somebody shot at me but missed. I made it as far as my car, but I knew the killer was right behind me. I could hear him running to catch up to me. I knew I had to get out of town, so I got in my car and drove. I don’t remember driving this far, but I must have. I do remember seeing headlights following me the whole way. I sped up to try and lose them, but with every corner I drove around, they were right behind me.” She paused to catch her breath as she trembled.
Chase clasped his hands together and waited.
“The car following me pulled up beside me, and I felt it bump into my car. I almost lost control. I sped up but so did the other driver. He bumped my car again and I felt myself sliding off the road. I couldn’t see anything. Then I must have hit a tree. All I know is that I was falling fast then then I stopped just as fast. My forehead hit the windshield, and I was dazed for a while. I shut off the engine as well as the lights and tried not to move. I remember hearing voices from above me. When I looked up, I saw headlights from another car. I saw the shadow of two men standing at the top of the rise and I felt a moment of panic. I could still see the headlights, so I didn’t dare move. I just waited in the dark for the man to go away. When they finally did, I tried to get out of the car but I must have passed out.” She exhaled a shuddering breath.
“Do you remember anything else?” Chase asked. “Wait a minute, you said they. You said there was
more than one person in that alley? Did you see the other man’s face?”
“I think there was another man there. I heard them both talking but I don’t think I ever saw his face though.” She shook her head. “It’s just so damn confusing; it’s like its right there waiting for me to remember but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Have you ever had the answer to a question on the tip of your tongue? It’s like I have butterflies floating around inside my stomach, and instead of the feeling going away, it’s getting stronger and stronger.” Huge tears flowed down her cheeks as she stared at him for a moment then asked, “How is it I can remember seeing a man shot to death but I can’t remember my own name?”
Chase was at a loss as to whether to press her to think until she could remember everything. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.” He shivered in the coolness of the room. He stood up to add more wood to the fire. He wanted to say something but he didn’t want to pressure her. That wouldn’t give either one of them the answers they needed. Instead, he would have to wait for her to remember what happened in that alley, if she ever did.
He really hoped she would remember who Ian was and what went on in that alley, for her own sake. Not to mention she needed to clear her name, whatever that happened to be.
~ * ~
Her eyes followed him as he moved around the room. For the first time she really studied the man who’d saved her life. When he bent over to throw another few logs on the fire, she saw the muscles in his forearm ripple as he tossed the wood on the glowing embers. His long legs and lean torso looked strong. For a moment, she wanted to get up and wrap her arms around him.
Shaking her head, she wondered why. When she didn’t even know her own name, she was having intimate feelings for a man she didn’t know. She knew she had to get away from this man before she did anything inappropriate. She had to wonder about her feelings for Ian. If the man was her lover or boyfriend, how could she be having intimate thoughts about someone else? “I think I’ll try and get some rest now. I’m sorry I woke you.”
Chase turned and smiled at her.
She caught her breath at the sight of him when he turned around. His firm, smooth chest was covered in soft dark hair that tapered to his waist. His arms rippled with muscles and his waist was trim. The belt he wore was unbuckled but still in the loops on his pants. He looked so good and she had a feeling she would feel safe in his arms. How she knew she didn’t know.
“Hey, no problem. You needed to talk and I’m glad I was here to listen. It’s good that you’re starting to remember things too.”
Nodding her head, she stood up to make her way back to the bedroom.
Before she could go through the door, he called out softly, “We could always give you a name. I mean temporarily, until you do remember.”
She paused then asked, “What name would you chose, if you had a choice?”
“I think I’d call you Eve,” he whispered.
She turned to glance at him. “Why Eve?”
“Oh, I have my reasons,” he replied without explaining any further.
Her cheeks heated as she went to close the door behind her. As she did, her eyes caught sight of him again. She felt wanton, warm thoughts, needing his arms around her. Her core was heating up and she knew she couldn’t be thinking about him. This was wrong, she knew, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted him like she’d never wanted any man before. She wanted him but she couldn’t have him. She pushed the door almost closed but not quite all the way shut. She couldn’t help but wonder why he chose the name Eve, then she wondered if he would mind if she called him Adam? After all, it was only fitting. He was a stranger to her but so very temping.
When she lay down on the bed, the coolness of the sheets was welcome. Her head was still hurting as was her heart. She just didn’t know why, not yet. She knew she had to clear her head. The butterflies in her tummy were hard without her understanding what they were trying to tell her. She closed her eyes, drifting into an uneasy sleep.
A while later, she began tossing and turning. In her dream, she saw the shadowy man chasing her again, and this time he was getting closer and closer. She stood was frozen in fear as he closed in on her. Her legs were shaking and she opened her mouth to scream as his shadowy arms grabbed her. Another scent filled her nostrils and it made her sick to her stomach. She could smell the overly-sweet aftershave of the man in the shadows. She still couldn’t see his face but she knew he was there and it frightened her. He began shaking her, and she felt his fingers digging in to her arms.
She opened her eyes and he was there. He was shaking her awake. The fear she felt was real. She screamed again and he pulled her closer to him. She tried to pull away from his embrace but his hand held the back of her head against him.
“Hush sweetness, you’re safe here. No one is going to hurt you,” he kept saying.
She calmed down as she breathed in his scent. It wasn’t the sickly sweet scent of her nightmare but instead a clean, musky scent. She opened her eyes to Chase sitting on the bed holding her close to him. “What happened?” she finally asked when she realized she was back in the bedroom.
Chase released her. She was disheveled and the bed covers were all over the place. He smiled slightly. “You must have been having a nightmare. You were calling out to Ian then you were screaming. I tried to wake you up but you fought me all the way.”
“Oh my god,” she said. “I thought you were the killer.” She glanced at Chase. That’s when she noted he wasn’t dressed in anything more than a pair of boxers. Closing her eyes, she couldn’t rid her mind of the memory of his sitting on the bed almost naked. Then she shuddered when she thought of why he was sitting there. “I was dreaming the killer was closing in on me. I was reliving the scene in the alley. I watched as the man murdered Ian—I knew if they knew I-I was there I would be next. Then I was running away from him and he was chasing me. He kept getting closer and closer. I was so scared I couldn’t move. That’s when he pulled me into his arms. I could smell his aftershave. It smelled sickly sweet. I thought I was going to be sick. Then I was struggling with him. I could almost feel the menacing threat to my life. I thought my life was over. When I opened my eyes, all I could see was a man in the shadows and I tried to get away. It wasn’t until I could smell you that I realized I was struggling with you.”
“I hope you know I wouldn’t hurt you, Eve,” Chase told her in a serious tone then he chuckled. His eyes twinkled when he stated, “And I really hope you’re not telling me I stink.”
She shook her head. “No you’re fine, so fine,” she whispered. “You actually smell pretty good to me and you’ve been nothing but kind to me. I know you wouldn’t hurt me.” She took a deep breath basking his warm presence. His scent sent her senses into overdrive.
“Can we go back to your nightmare a moment?” He frowned as if trying to remember something. “You said the man in the shadows had an over-sweet aftershave. What does that mean exactly?”
Eve shrugged. “I don’t remember anything beyond that flash of memory and that’s what’s so frustrating. That night the wind shifted in the alley and for a moment, I caught a whiff of aftershave so strong it almost made me sick. I don’t know how else to describe it.” She glanced at him and took a deep breath. His scent rose in her nostrils and it pleased her to say, “You smell clean and fresh and a little bit musky, but the man in the shadows…” She couldn’t go on instead she shivered in dread. “It’s hard to explain the smell.”
Chase didn’t know whether to be flattered or feel rejected. “I do wear aftershave you know. I wear Brut.”
Eve shook her head. “Brut blends in with a man’s natural scent.” She pushed her hair from her eyes. “This aftershave is different. It mixes with the man’s scent turning it oversweet and nauseating.”
“How do you know so much about men’s aftershave?” Chase was curious.
Eve shrugged. “I guess I’m li
ke most women. I know what I like a man to smell like, and I’ve always liked the scent of Brut.”
~ * ~
Chase sat up. He wasn’t sure what any of this meant but it sounded like Ian was involved somehow in the dealing or trading of illegal drugs. “Is that all you can remember?”
She nodded. Picking at the threads of the quilt she asked, “Why can’t I remember? What the hell was I doing in that alley witnessing a murder in the first place? Do I know this Ian character?” Eve looked over at him. “Am I in the drug trade? Do I sell drugs for a living? Is that why I was following him into that alley? Was I there as backup to a drug deal?”
Chase wanted so badly to shake his head but he couldn’t. He had to be very careful about what he said, “I don’t think you do any of that. I think maybe you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got mixed up in something bad.”
“But why would someone run me off the road or send the police after me?”
“Because they can’t afford any witnesses who could identify them,” he told her truthfully. “They can’t be absolutely sure you didn’t see the third man in that alley.”
“I don’t know. That could be possible. I do remember that Ian was shot by a man wearing a blue uniform. His face isn’t real clear yet. I don’t know if it was the shadows or if it’s stuck somewhere in the fog that used to be my brain.” Eve shook her head. “I know I’ve heard the name Trainer before too, but I can’t remember where or when. You said earlier that you don’t trust Grayson Trainer. Why is that? I mean is there a reason you don’t trust him or is it that you just don’t like him?”
“The whole family is bad. The old man, Seth is just plain mean. He’s treated his wife and kids like dirt most of their lives. When he wasn’t smacking them around, he ignored them altogether. Seth is a drinker and when he’s drunk, he gets nasty. He has no respect for other people or the law, which is surprising since both of his sons are cops.”