Silence greeted her from the other end of the line.
She crossed her legs and turned in her chair. ‘Hello?’ she repeated. ‘Is anyone there?’
This time she heard something. Not quite background noise, but it wasn’t words.
‘I’m sorry, we seem to have a bad connection.’
As soon as she said it, she knew it wasn’t the truth, because the sound became clearer. There was someone on the line. She could hear them breathing. It wasn’t heavy breathing. Someone was just out there, listening to the sound of her voice.
A bad vibe went through her, and she looked at the caller ID.
For a moment, she was confused. Then her fingers clenched around the phone. She stood up quickly. It was her own name on the screen. ‘Who is this?’ she demanded.
The tattoos on her computer screen caught her attention, and a tiny bit of hope flared. ‘Mel?’
She heard a sharp grunt against her eardrum, but then the call was cut off abruptly.
The silence was almost worse.
She put the receiver down and took a step back. Her thoughts raced. Her stranger? No. Or at least she didn’t think so. He wouldn’t give her his name, but he spoke to her. A random crank call? Maybe. They hadn’t asked for Luxxor, and she hadn’t given out the company’s name, either. She didn’t do that.
She spun on the balls of her feet when she heard someone behind her, and her hands came up in the defensive position.
‘Hey, Rielle. I’m going to head out a little early tonight.’ Sienna was busy re-clipping her barrette into her hair. ‘Jason and I are going to a Caps game.’
Rielle let the air out of her lungs. Nina had already headed out, too. She glanced at the phone and a prickly feeling caught her between the shoulder blades. ‘I’ll walk out with you.’
Sienna blinked, but then nodded. ‘Good, you’ve been working too hard anyway.’
Rielle would hardly call what she’d been doing after hours work. Except that, around here, that’s exactly what their work was.
‘I just don’t have much waiting for me at home,’ she confessed. ‘Give me a second.’
She sat down again, eyeing the phone like a snake, and began shutting down her computer.
Sienna cocked her head. ‘Are you getting a tattoo?’
‘What?’ Rielle cringed when she realised the webpage that was still up on the screen. ‘No, not me.’
She grabbed her purse from her bottom drawer. ‘I’m ready.’
‘I was going to say…those were a bit buff for you.’ Sienna’s brow furrowed as they walked into the hallway. ‘Are you OK? You seem stressed.’
Rielle locked the door and gave the handle an extra jiggle. If an office was empty in a building, would anyone break in? ‘I am,’ she admitted.
Why not? In the past few days, she’d caused a commotion within Luxxor by going out with a man who didn’t seem to exist. She’d had sex with that same man in her boss’s office and had helped him evade company Security. Yes, she was stressed. She wasn’t acting like herself at all.
‘You should talk to Nina. I’m sure she’d get you some help if you let her know you’re overloaded.’
They stepped onto the elevator, the same elevator where her stranger had kissed her until her stomach had dropped. She hadn’t caught up with it until she’d made it to the first floor. ‘It’s not work. I like to keep busy.’
‘Then what is it?’ Sienna frowned when she came to the obvious conclusion. ‘Your mystery man?’
Rielle shrugged, but then bit her lip. Sienna was her friend as well as her coworker, but Rielle was a private person. What had happened between her and her stranger had definitely been private.
‘Has Detective Morgan found out anything more about him?’
‘No, but I think maybe he should stop.’
‘Why?’
‘The mystery man is gone.’
She hadn’t believed him when he’d said goodbye, especially after that kiss, but three days had passed and she hadn’t heard from him.
And how twisted was that? He was a stranger who had waltzed into and out of her life. He’d taken liberties she never should have allowed. He should scare her. He should make her question her judgement. She shouldn’t miss him.
‘Are people still asking you about him and that photo?’
‘No…’ The photo.
The elevator opened onto the first floor, but Rielle didn’t move.
No, it couldn’t be. It was more than a stretch.
But it had been the first thing she’d thought of when she’d seen her picture staring back at her from the society page. She let out a shaky breath. Could the crank call have been about that?
‘Rielle?’
Her chin snapped up.
Sienna’s eyes narrowed, and her expression darkened. She caught Rielle’s hand and tugged her out of the elevator. Instead of heading to Security to check out, she pulled her aside.
‘What is going on?’ her friend asked pointedly. ‘Did you see him again?’
Rielle shook her head absently. She was jumping to conclusions. Her brain had just been wired to go to bad places. It was one call – from Rielle Sands.
‘Because I saw the pizza box in the refrigerator.’
That brought her attention back around like a whip.
‘You never order food in when you stay late. You grab takeout on the way home.’ Sienna folded her arms across her chest. ‘Did he drop by again the other night?’
Rielle looked at her, dumbfounded. They’d been so careful to leave no evidence behind. She was being outed by pizza? It wasn’t as bad as Nina finding her panties under her desk, but it was incriminating.
‘Oh, my God.’ Sienna’s eyes widened. ‘He did!’
‘Don’t tell Nina. Please.’
‘Then he was here again? He got by Security?’
‘But…You acted like you knew…’
‘I was just guessing. We eat like birds around here, and that pizza was tempting.’ Sienna raked a hand through her hair, bumping her barrette askew again. ‘Oh, Rielle. What have you gotten yourself into?’
Rielle’s chin dropped. She shouldn’t have said anything. ‘I don’t know.’
She’d been making so many bad decisions.
‘Did he do anything?’ Her friend caught her by the arm. ‘Are you OK?’
‘I’m fine. Really.’
‘What did he want? Is he harassing you?’
Oh, God. Could it get any worse? Rielle took a short walk and came back. ‘He just wanted to…talk.’
Sienna gasped. ‘You like this guy.’
‘I just don’t think we need to go hunting him down.’
‘The tattoos! You two weren’t talking.’
Rielle’s cheeks flared so hot, she knew they had to be bright red.
‘Oh, my God. Rielle, nobody can find out any information on this guy. He’s like a ghost. He’s not someone you should get involved with.’
‘I’m not.’ Honestly. It had been three days now, and he’d been exactly what Sienna had called him. A ghost.
‘He’s dangerous,’ her friend insisted. ‘Has he even told you his name yet?’
‘No.’ But he wasn’t dangerous.
And that was a flat-out lie.
She remembered the scars she’d found on his body, including the bullet wound on his chest. Her fingers curled into her palms.
OK, the man was dangerous, possibly lethal. She didn’t know if he fell on the side of good or evil or if the two could even be distinguished any more.
But he was protective of her. Of that, she was certain. He’d broken into the office to make sure she was OK, and she’d felt him watching her until Security had tucked her into the back seat of their car to drive her home. Between then, they’d made crazy, passionate love…had hot, sweaty, urgent sex…
‘Wow,’ Sienna said quietly. ‘You are hung up on this guy.’
Rielle realised she’d gone away in her thoughts for too long. She rubbed her hand over
her face. ‘He’s got me so messed up.’
If he was a bad man, wouldn’t she have been able to feel it? To sense it somehow?
But wasn’t that what all the clueless neighbours said in newscasts when people turned out to be heartless thugs? He’d broken into their office. He’d hacked into their computers. He had so many secrets.
‘Oh, hon.’ Sienna wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. ‘I know all about falling for a bad boy.’
‘I don’t even know if he’s bad.’
Sienna smiled conspiratorially. ‘You just know he’s very, very good.’
Rielle shot a worried look at Security.
Sienna sighed. ‘I want you to be happy, but you have to be careful.’
‘I always am.’
Or she used to be.
The reminder made her stop. ‘You go on ahead. I need to talk to Mr Howard.’
Sienna lifted an eyebrow. The man was the Security night manager.
‘About something else.’
Her friend watched her until she decided she was telling the truth. ‘OK. You relax tonight.’
‘I will,’ Rielle lied.
She’d try, but too many worries were piling upon her. There was her stranger, and then there was the new concern that had just reared its ugly head.
Out of the two, it was the latter that made fear knot in her stomach.
She marched straight to the Security desk. ‘Hello, Mr Howard.’
‘Good evening, Rielle. Do you need a ride home?’
‘N– yes, that would be nice.’ She abruptly changed her mind when she remembered the sounds of those breaths in her ear. ‘And it might not be anything, but I just received a strange call upstairs.’
The big man’s eyes hardened. ‘You tell me everything about it.’
Another call came the next day. The following day there were three. It didn’t matter who answered on Luxxor’s end, the caller remained silent. Somehow that was creepier than if he’d said anything at all.
Other odd things started to happen, too. One of the escorts who drove a grey SUV similar to Rielle’s thought she was being followed home one night, and the alarm on the side door by the freight elevator had randomly gone off one day. The most frightening thing, though, was also the most obscure. When Rielle picked up Nina’s dress from the dry cleaners, she found it had already been paid for. She’d been touched by the sweet gesture until she’d found the note that had been left behind.
‘I will always find you.’
Those five little words had sent a chill down her spine. Was that flirtation or a threat? Her stranger hadn’t been with her when she’d dropped off the dress – but a photo of it had been published in the paper. Somebody had to have called around to DC dry cleaners until it had been found. That wasn’t a sweet gesture.
It was obsession.
Her stranger was just that to her, a stranger, but she knew someone else who was that compulsive. That controlling. The gut instinct she’d felt when she’d first seen the newspaper photograph returned. It was reverberating stronger and louder.
Was it her mystery man causing the commotion? Or was Eddie back?
Rielle used her lunch hour to go for a long walk. Dressed in yoga gear and tennis shoes, she intended to work up a sweat.
The tension that had been building inside her needed to break.
She inhaled the fresh spring air and set off with a swift stride past the Washington Monument. She was headed to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. They were in full bloom, and she could use the serenity.
It had been two weeks now, and the calls had continued to come.
She’d finally broken down and had phoned her schoolteacher friend Alison in Baltimore – who had run into Eddie just a few days before. She knew about their past. She’d never say anything to jeopardise Rielle, but she had said he seemed happy and relaxed, although creepy as ever.
It was his happiness that made Rielle even more uneasy.
Today, she’d had to get out of the office. She’d needed somewhere she could breathe – somewhere the phone wouldn’t ring. She was getting so that she flinched every time someone called, which made her job difficult. She was the office manager. It was her job to greet people and make them feel welcome. Instead, she was looking at everyone with suspicion.
Mr Howard and his Security crew were taking the matter seriously. They’d been keeping track of the calls, including the dates and times. Unfortunately, they weren’t having much luck tracking down the person behind them.
Because each and every crank call identified the caller as Rielle Sands.
Rielle blew out a long breath and pumped her arms faster.
There was no describing the sick feeling that came over her when she saw her name on her own caller ID screen. It was as if the caller wanted to make sure she was aware that he knew her name, and that this was about her.
Whatever ‘this’ was.
She was afraid she knew. She’d shared her fears with Nina and the Security team, but they both had a preoccupation with her mystery man. They were sure there had to be some connection.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t feeling a connection at all. He’d fallen off the radar ever since the night they’d made love.
She hung a left when she made it to the water and began to power walk along the path that circled the lake. The beauty of the season was in full bloom, and it demanded her attention. White and pink blossoms weighed down every tree within sight. The sight made her shoulders relax from around her ears, and her pace slowed.
Every day she was having a harder time fighting what they told her. Her stranger hadn’t dropped by the office after hours, although admittedly she’d been leaving when everyone else did. She hadn’t wanted to be alone if one of those calls came in.
But there was no way around the fact that the calls had started right after he’d disappeared.
But why would he crank call her? They hadn’t ended things badly…if they’d ended things at all. If he wanted to hear her voice, he had her cell number.
She’d nearly called him a dozen times herself.
But she didn’t know him. She didn’t know his name. All she knew was that he carried scars on his body and could seemingly come and go into secure buildings with ease. He was not the person she should be turning to if she felt scared.
But she wanted to.
A cherry blossom fluttered down from a tree, and she brushed it out of her hair.
Could he be the one harassing her? Had a good roll in the hay blinded her to his darker side?
She shook her head, and her long ponytail flopped. OK, three rolls. It shouldn’t make a difference.
She blew out a breath of exertion. She really didn’t want it to be him.
She wove her way in and out of a crowd of tourists. Cherry blossom season was a big attraction for DC. The trees themselves had been a gift from Japan, and each year the city had a festival to celebrate. Sienna was going to participate in the Cherry Blossom Run, and Nina was involved in the Pink Tie Dance. Tourists had been swarming the place for weeks, and, now that peak blooming season was upon them, people were everywhere.
And she felt like each and every one of them were watching her.
A prickle went down her neck right before her cellphone rang. Stepping off the path, Rielle dug into her pocket for it. She’d told the office where she’d be going. Had something urgent come up?
She looked at the glass screen, and her heart slammed against her ribcage.
Rielle Sands was calling.
This time on her cellphone.
The prickle between her shoulder blades became a cramp as she looked at the people surrounding her. The phone continued to play her ringtone as she turned in circles. She stopped it by swiping the call away. She didn’t need to hear someone inhale and exhale in her ear. She was breathing hard enough as it was.
But the caller refused to be ignored.
The song started to play again.
She refused the ca
ll and muted the ringer. She stuffed the phone back into her pocket.
Her breath was coming too raggedly. She was starting to hyperventilate. Bending at the waist, she braced her hands against her thighs and concentrated on slowing down. She hated the sounds of her own breaths. She pushed herself upright, put her hands on her hips and tried to rein in her fear.
She nearly climbed out of her own skin when a hand settled on her shoulder.
‘Rielle?’
Instinct triggered. Her body reacted. She’d had enough classes that the motor skills took over, and she exploded into action.
She stomped on her aggressor’s foot and brought her elbow back with such force, she felt the impact go up her arm. Turning fluidly, she lifted her arms and braced her weight evenly on the balls of her feet.
She attacked just before she recognised the man who’d come up behind her.
He reacted just as fluidly.
He blocked her blow, and she heard her knuckle pop. He counterattacked with a move so fast it was a blur. She stepped back, trying to keep a distance between them, but she was soon caught up in a clinch that barely allowed her to breathe.
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ a familiar voice said into her ear. ‘What’s going on here?’
Rielle knew she shouldn’t. She should stay on guard, but she couldn’t. The pressure and tension of the last two weeks snapped, and she sagged against him.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you.’
‘Who did you think it was?’
She shook her head, her throat suddenly clogging. Wrapping her arms around him, she buried her face against his chest.
The bare arms around her relaxed, and he cupped the back of her neck.
‘Rielle? What’s wrong?’
She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry I hit you.’
‘It’s OK. I shouldn’t have come up behind you like that.’
She took a steadying breath. ‘I barely moved you.’
His fingers gently massaged the muscles in her neck. ‘You did all right. You just hesitated. When you start a move, you need to commit and follow all the way through.’
She looked up at him. She was surprised again at his height and his sturdiness. He was a rock. She was lucky he hadn’t knocked her into next week, but he’d pulled back, too.
Courting Danger Page 9