"Okay." She sounded grateful for whatever time he could give her. "I'll be ready when you get here."
"Hang in there, and I'll see you in a while."
He disconnected the call, belatedly remembering he had some very interesting information on both Ray and Mia's neighbor, Will, to share with her in terms of them being suspects in her case. Cameron had been crazy-busy since Monday, and he hadn't seen Mia since leaving her place Sunday morning, so tonight would give him the opportunity to bring her up to date on what he'd discovered so far on both men.
AS usual these days, Cameron was running late. His interviews ran longer than he'd anticipated, and he'd picked up Mia twenty minutes later than scheduled. He was starving to the point of getting a headache, so he'd made a quick stop at a fast-food joint for a burger and soda. Mia had already eaten dinner, so she ordered just a drink.
He'd scarfed down his meal in a few bites as he drove to Trish Shelton's offices, which didn't leave a whole lot of room for conversation with Mia. Luckily, he arrived just as Trish was leaving the building and getting into her car, and he tailed her to the same restaurant she'd gone to the week before. He parked the company's Ford Excursion across the street where it was dark but still afforded him a view of the front entrance of the place.
Cutting the engine, he turned toward Mia, who'd been uncharacteristically quiet since he'd picked her up. Then again, he was certain she had a lot on her mind, which they'd get to just as soon as he made a quick assessment of Trish's after-work meeting.
"I'm going to lock you in the truck while I go inside for a few minutes to find out who this woman is hooking up with," he said, taking the keys out of the ignition. "Stay put until I get back and then we'll talk."
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." She smiled, but he could see she was still very troubled by the pictures she'd received earlier-and he'd yet to get the chance to look at.
He got out of the vehicle, locked her in, and engaged the alarm for good measure. Then he crossed the street and entered the restaurant. Before he could stroll past the hostess stand, the young woman standing behind the podium stopped him.
"Party of one for dinner?" she asked and reached for a menu.
Cameron leaned an arm on the edge of the stand and flashed the hostess a flirtatious grin that usually worked to his advantage. "No, actually I'm meeting a friend for dinner, and I'd like to check to see if he's arrived yet. Do you mind if I take a quick look around?"
She returned his smile with a shy one of her own. "Sure, go right ahead."
Permission granted, he casually scanned the dining area until he caught sight of Trish sitting in a booth-surprisingly, with the same woman she'd met there the week before. They were both into their conversation and the wine that had been delivered to the table, and Cameron couldn't help but wonder what the relationship was between these two women.
Maybe it wasn't another man Doug Shelton had to worry about, but another woman. Considering what Cam had learned about Mia's neighbor Will earlier that week, this new development with Mrs. Shelton wouldn't shock him at all.
Not wanting either woman to spot him, especially when this case wasn't over yet, he started back out of the restaurant, only to be waylaid by the hostess again.
"Did you find who you were looking for?" she asked, eager to help.
"No." Cameron stopped for a moment so he didn't appear to be in a rush to leave. "Maybe he's running late. I have a few calls to make on my cell phone, so I'll check back in a few minutes."
He exited the establishment and jogged back across the street to the Excursion. He wouldn't be returning inside the restaurant again because he'd already discovered who the focus was of Irish's rendezvous tonight. Last week, he hadn't been concerned about the mystery woman Irish had met with. Now, Cameron had to find out who the other woman was, and if the two of them were possibly involved in an intimate relationship. Something was definitely going on with Irish if she had to lie to her husband to see this other woman.
And just like the last time, he'd stick out this surveillance until they left the restaurant and he could take his pictures and be sure Trish drove home afterward. Despite his suspicions of Irish's relationship with this woman, he needed concrete proof to back his inkling and something more incriminating than the two of them having a private dinner together.
He slid back into the driver's seat and made himself comfortable, because it would be a while before Trish and her date would be leaving the restaurant. So he focused on a different form of business instead.
He glanced across the darkened cab of the truck to Mia, who'd waited patiently for his return. "So let's take a look at those pictures you received today."
Reaching into her purse, she withdrew an envelope and handed it to him. He switched on the overhead light, examined the outside, which looked exactly like the envelope she'd been sent before, without any indication of who the sender was.
As he pulled out the pictures, he noticed that Mia averted her gaze to glance out the passenger window, as if she couldn't bear to look at the photographs again. He flipped through each one, disgusted by the slanderous phrases written across each picture. The photos were just as grainy as last time and seemed to be taken from a distance, but Cameron easily recognized the sexy outfit Mia had worn Friday night, which told him her stalker had been at The Electric Blue that evening.
"Is that how other people really see me?"
Mia's softly spoken question redirected his gaze back to her. Her brows were furrowed, and her expression held a wealth of doubts. She'd obviously had too much time to think about the pictures and the obscene words on them, and she was coming to some pretty unpleasant conclusions.
He felt bad she had to deal with this crap. He wasn't sure how to answer her question, but he was curious to hear her thoughts on the issue. "Is that what you think? That this is how other people view you?"
"I don't know." She shrugged, reached for her soda, and took a quick drink. "I'm just trying to make sense of all this, and why someone feels the need to slander me in such a degrading way. They obviously feel, for whatever reason, that I'm a tramp and a slut. It makes me wonder if that's the image I project."
He cast a quick glance at the restaurant and switched off the overhead light so they were sitting in relative darkness once again. The few extra moments gave him time to formulate a response that was truthful but not hurtful.
"You're a very sexy woman, Mia. You dress and act the part, you're flirtatious, and you don't hold back. I suppose someone could feel very threatened by that outward display of sexual confidence."
She set her drink back in the holder as she thought about his reply and then she smoothed her palms down her denim covered thighs. "Do you see me that way?"
He turned in his seat toward her, and even in the dim shadows there was no mistaking the insecurities in her gaze. She'd obviously had time to reflect about all this, and he sensed that his reply was very important to her.
Again, he had to tread a fine line so as not to hurt her with his reply, but at the same time he also saw this as an opportunity to make her think about her reckless, brazen behavior and how it might affect a person's perception of her. And he ought to know, because he'd spent years believing she was much wilder than she really was. Only in the past few weeks had he been privy to Mia's softer, more vulnerable side enough to realize that her wild antics were mostly a ruse.
"Do I think you're a tramp or a slut? Absolutely not," he said with conviction, knowing without a doubt she wasn't a woman who slept around, despite her flirtatious, teasing nature. "But I do think you deliberately project an outward image of being this hot, tempting party girl as a way of keeping yourself from letting down your guard. You don't want anyone to get too close for fear of getting hurt, and being bold and aggressive does the trick."
A startled look flashed across her features, as if he'd manage to tap into dormant fears, but it was quickly replaced with the defiant lift of her chin. "What makes you say that?"
She rolled her eyes-clearly her way of dismissing his too-accurate observation. "Nice psychoanalysis, sugar," she drawled.
The fact that she'd reverted to calling him "sugar" was a sure sign she was feeling emotionally threatened by just how close he was to unearthing the truth.
"You spend enough time with a person and you begin to see who they really are inside. No walls, no pretenses. Just honest actions and real emotions that are gradually revealed." He caressed the pad of his thumb along her jaw and was pleased when she didn't physically pull away from him. "And you, Mia Wilde, are an intriguing, multifaceted woman I find very exciting."
She looked away, breaking the hold of his gaze on hers. "Can we get back to the pictures, please?"
"Sure." He didn't think she'd appreciate him pointing out the fact that she'd been the one to veer their conversation off course, not him. But he knew he'd said enough, maybe even gone too far, too soon. But he didn't regret a word. Not if it managed to eventually get her to open up to him and let him past those personal barriers of hers.
"Someone who was at The Electric Blue Friday night took those photos of me," she said as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "And neither one of us saw anything."
"You're right." He took one last look at the pictures before putting them back in the envelope, then tucked them inside the middle console so Mia didn't have to see them any longer. "But I don't think it was your neighbor Will."
"Why not?" she asked curiously.
He sat forward again, slid his seat back as far as it would go, and stretched his long legs out in front of him. "Because I came across some interesting information that pretty much rules him out as a potential suspect."
"What did you find out?"
Out of his peripheral vision he saw a couple exiting the restaurant, and he checked to be sure it wasn't Trish before dropping his bombshell on Mia. "Your neighbor is gay."
Her silver-gray eyes widened in startled shock. "He's what!?"
"Not gay as in happy," he said in a light, teasing tone. "But gay as in homosexual. He prefers men."
"I get it. I just can't believe it." She shook her head, still looking stunned. "I never knew."
"No, he certainly doesn't have a flamboyant, look-at-me-I'm-gay personality. I'm guessing he didn't want many people to know about his sexual preferences and tried to keep it a secret."
Her gaze narrowed. "Then how did you find out?"
He laughed at her skepticism. "Digging up dirt on people is my job, remember? I ran a check on him for basic information, which is normally a good starting point for an internal investigation, and it came up that he has an exclusive membership to a private gay club called Rainbow V.I.P."
"Oh, wow," she breathed and sank back against her seat. "I guess that explains why I've only seen him with guys and not women. I just thought they were friends of his."
Friends or lovers, apparently. "I honestly believe, despite the camera he has, he doesn't have any interest in you, other than as a possible photo subject."
Confusion etched her features. "What makes you say that?"
"He's taking a beginner's photography class, so that's probably why you've seen him taking pictures with his camera. He's strictly an amateur. And as far as I can see, he really has no motive to stalk you or send degrading photos, so for now I'm dismissing him as a possible suspect."
She nodded in understanding. "I agree. So where does that leave us now?"
He'd given that plenty of thought. "Well, your friend Carrie wasn't there Friday night, so that leaves Ray… or Gina. Or even someone we haven't even pinpointed yet."
"Gina?" Doubt tinged Mia's voice. "She'd never do something like this."
"I believe that also." As far as he was concerned, Gina wasn't high on his list of potential targets. Staring at the restaurant, he did a quick mental review of last Friday night and the events that took place at The Electric Blue. "You know, there was one point when Ray wasn't with Gina for a good ten minutes Friday night, which would give him the opportunity to vandalize your car. He came back with drinks, but that doesn't mean he'd spent the entire time at the bar." He hadn't followed Ray that night because he was protecting Mia, and he hadn't been about to let her out of his sight.
"Well, I haven't made any secret of the fact that I completely distrust the guy." Her loathing for Ray was unmistakable. "By the way, have you been able to find out anything on him?"
"Not nearly enough." He speared a hand through his hair in frustration. "I've tried to do a basic background check on Ray, and it's as though he doesn't exist before coming to Chicago, which leads me to believe he's taken on a new identity for some reason." And that very real possibility didn't sit well with Cameron, because it meant the guy had something in his past he wanted to hide.
Mia sighed. "So now what do you do?"
"Dig deeper, but it might take some time and work." He planned to pursue Ray until he uncovered his past, no matter how long it took. "I'm going to get to it as fast as I can. We just hired a new guy at the office, so now that Steve and I are passing off a few cases to him to handle, I'll make it a priority. But in the meantime, stay away from him."
"That goes without saying," she said wryly. "I'm just grateful he hasn't been spending much time around the apartment, though I wish Gina would dump him before he does something even worse."
"I know. It's tough seeing someone you care about being hurt." Reaching across the space separating them, he gave her leg a comforting squeeze. "Just hang in there for a little while longer, until I get some concrete information on Ray. Hopefully I'll be able to find out something that makes Gina change her mind about him."
She nodded gratefully, and they were quiet for a few moments. Cameron took advantage of the break in their conversation to scan the restaurant's parking lot to be sure he hadn't missed Trish's exit. After spotting her car, he glanced at his watch. She'd been in the restaurant for nearly an hour now.
"So this woman you're watching tonight… she's cheating on her husband?"
Mia's inquisitive question had him switching his attention back to her. "Supposedly. He believes she's having an extramarital affair, and everything he's told me about her behavior are classics signs of infidelity. So far I haven't been able to gather any solid evidence to verify that she's fooling around on him."
"Do you get this kind of case often?"
"Unfortunately, infidelity cases are common." He exhaled a rough breath. "And they're the cases I hate the most."
"I can understand why," she said quietly. "I mean, why stay together if you're not happy in the relationship and you have to have an affair to make up for whatever is lacking in your marriage? Why not just go your separate ways instead of hurting the other person like that?"
He smiled to himself, because her values reflected his own. Yet another trait about Mia that drew him, way beyond just the physical aspect of their relationship. "I agree, but that's not how everyone thinks or feels."
A large, noisy group of people leaving the restaurant had him glancing back across the street. He scanned the small crowd for a familiar face, but there was still no sign of Irish.
He shifted restlessly in his seat, certain Mia was growing just as impatient with all this downtime. He was used to it, but she wasn't. "I'm sorry about the long wait," he said apologetically. "Surveillance is boring, tedious work, and there's no telling how long this will take."
"I'm in no hurry to go back home, and there's nowhere else I need to
be."
Cameron watched in fascination as a slow, seductive smile curved the corners of Mia's full lips and her gaze turned smoky with desire. He knew he was in big trouble when she lifted the console between them, which enabled her to lean in closer and nuzzle the side of his neck with that incredible mouth of hers.
"In fact," she murmured huskily as she tunneled her hand beneath his T-shirt and grazed her fingers across his taut belly, "I can think of a very pleasurable way to pass the time. You game?"
He swallowed back a groan. Hell, he was already rock-hard with wanting her, but for as much as he'd love to fool around with her, he was being paid very well to watch and follow Trish.
"Mia, we can't do this," he forced himself to say before he changed his mind and dragged her to the back of the truck and had his wicked way with her. "I'm working."
"I don't see that as a problem. You work, and I'll play… with you." Her hand molded to the hard length confined beneath the fly of his jeans, and she nipped playfully at his lobe, sending a shock of arousal straight to his already aching groin. "Keep an eye on the restaurant, and let me blow you."
She followed that provocative comment with a gust of warm, damp air into his ear that made him shudder. God, she knew exactly how to get to him, and it was all he could do to keep from coming right then and there.
"That hardly seems fair to you," he rasped, desperately trying to hang on to the last thin thread of his control.
"I'm not asking for anything in return." She began unfastening his jeans, relieving the pressure against his erection, but creating a stronger, undeniable kind of tension and anticipation instead. "You've done a whole lot for me. I want to do this for you."
Obviously, there was no discouraging her, not when she was so intent on seducing him. Yes, they were in a public place, but they were parked in a darkened, secluded area and no one would see what she was doing unless they walked right up to his window. So when she reached into his briefs and eased his straining dick out into the open, he lost the will to fight what he wanted so badly… and she was more than eager to give.
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