Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
AMELIA
Iwas taking out the trash? She sighed. Fucking brilliant, girl.
Her heartrate sped up as she looked down at the old, stained t shirt and yoga pants she wore. This was not how she wanted this encounter to go.
All her expectations of reliving that one night of passion again one day did not include a shirt she’d worn since high school to clean her condo.
A.J. was supposed to call her, not drop in unexpectedly. Not one person had been to her condo since she’d moved in, meaning there had been no reason to worry about what she wore at home.
Then she remembered the obvious. “Um… how did you find my address?”
A.J. shrugged. “I’m a detective. The hyoid was broken, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. “It was—as expected. I didn’t think you were serious though. About dinner, I mean. And, you still didn’t answer my question.”
His embarrassment became evident as deep flush rose up over his fair skin. “Internet.” He shifted his weight. “I didn’t mean to be a creeper…I suppose I should have just called. I’ll leave you to it.”
With a nod at her bag of trash, A.J. turned back to the elevator.
Amelia pursed her lips, trying to decide if she should listen to her head or her heart. Deciding on the latter, she put a hand on his arm. “It’s fine. You don’t have to leave.”
The delicious scent of spice and peppers assaulted her senses. Amelia’s stomach let out a loud growl making him laugh. “Is that Mexican food?”
They still stood in the hallway—Amelia holding her bag of trash and A.J. loaded down with dinner and what appeared to be groceries.
“Fajitas, guac and chips with salsa. If you don’t like those things, we won’t be able to work together anymore.”
She ran her tongue over her lips, mouth-watering. “I love those things so I guess were safe.”
He motioned toward her condo door. “Are you going to invite me in before it gets cold?”
Amelia looked at the trash bag in her hand then the Mexican in A.J.’s. A second loud growl emanated from her midsection.
“Fine. Come on.” She led the way to her door and let them both in, dropping the bag of trash just inside before closing and locking the door behind them. “I suppose you want an update on the autopsy findings. You really could have just called me. Or emailed. That’s how it usually works.”
“Yeah, I know. But I owed you this dinner and… we have some things to discuss. We can talk while we eat.” A.J. set the bag of Mexican food on the little kitchenette table then proceeded to the kitchen and began unloading the grocery sacks.
“What’s all that stuff?” Amelia leaned against the doorframe between the kitchen and dining area.
“Supplies.” A.J. opened the refrigerator and motioned to the lack of contents inside. “Because I knew you wouldn’t survive this snowstorm without them. Don’t you ever grocery shop?”
He added several containers to the empty fridge and put some snacks in an empty cabinet.
Offended, she frowned. “I just buy what I need. I haven’t been here long enough to stock anything. It’s just me and the cat; we don’t need much.”
“You have a cat?” A.J. glanced around, grimacing.
On cue, her twelve-year-old tortoiseshell cat, Rita, entered the space and began rubbing against his legs, purring.
A.J.’s eyes widened in what she could only describe as terror as he tried to extricate himself from Rita’s affections.
Amelia chuckled. “Is the big, bad detective afraid of a fluffy little kitty?”
“I’m allergic—or something?” He laughed, nervously. “Does it bite?”
This time she dissolved in full on laughter. “Do you?”
Crap. Once again, that did not sound the way she had intended it to.
The cat completely forgotten, his entire demeanor changed as he stepped closer; essentially boxing her in against the counter. “I have been known to nibble occasionally.”
Amelia drew in a breath. The fire in his eyes told her he definitely knew exactly who she was and remembered that night as well as she did. It was time to come clean. Thankfully, A.J. made it easy.
“Amelia?” He reached up and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. He sounded tentative. A little nervous even. “Do you know who I am?”
His voice had turned deep and husky when he said her name. A familiar whisper of seduction. She ran her tongue over her parched lips once more. All she could do was nod.
A.J. ran a finger lightly along the collar of her shirt. “I knew it was you the moment I saw you at that crime scene but you didn’t seem to recognize me.”
She placed her hands lightly against his chest, absorbing the familiarity of it.
The rate of his heart beat was steady although a little rapid—matching the pace of her own.
Exhaling slowly, Amelia spread her fingers over the canvas of the coat he still wore.
“Oh, I knew who you were. I spent ten years reliving that night, comparing every date I had to that night.” She motioned around them.
“Notice how I still live with just a cat?”
Moving her hands to the buttons of his coat, she slowly undid each one as A.J.
put his hands on her hips and lifted her to sit on the kitchen counter.
Amelia pushed the jacket off A.J.’s shoulders and let it fall to the floor.
He picked it up and tossed it over a chair in the dining area.
Feeling suddenly exposed emotionally as much as physically, Amelia crossed her arms over her torso.
A.J. leaned back against the opposite counter of her small kitchen, copying her position as he crossed his arms over his own chest, studying her intently.
A weird mix of desire and discomfort flooded through her as she waited for him to speak. The silence dragged on so long it became uncomfortable so she blurted out, “I think I know who the killer is. Well, sort of, anyway.”
Her admission surprised him. It was evident in the shift of his demeanor and the curiosity that created a light of intrigue in his eyes.
But he didn’t comment on that. Instead, he said, “When I walked in to that crime scene yesterday, I wanted to tell you then who I was but you didn’t act like you knew me.
I just assumed that night meant a lot more to me than it did to you. ”
Amelia took a deep breath to steady herself but failed.
Her hands shook as she reached up to smooth her hair; a nervous action she’d done her entire life.
“You were wrong. I thought about that encounter so many times over the last decade that I lost count years ago. It took everything I had not to show I knew exactly who you were.”
He stepped in closer, taking her hands in his. “I have a confession to make. And you might not like it.”
She pulled her hands from his, frowning. “What? Are you going to tell me you killed that guy or something?”
He laughed. “No, nothing like that.”
Amelia relaxed a little. “Then hit me with it.”
“I may have used my detective skills to figure out who you were ten years ago.” He exhaled. “I had to know.”
She jumped down off the counter and paced away from him.
“So, you took an anonymous one-night-stand and turned it into a fishing expedition. What was your end game?” She stopped pacing and stared at him.
“What? Have you been stalking me all this time? You never reached out. You never let me know who you were. I had no idea your real identity until you walked into that bedroom.”
He held his hands up in surrender. “I swear, I did not stalk you. I had no idea what had become of you after the party. I tried to reach out via social media but you are apparently a ghost online.”
Amelia sighed, relaxing some. “Medical school is hard. I worked long hours, slept a few here and there, and had no time for looking at cat videos and recipes online.”
A.J. moved closer, attempting to pull her into an embrace. She stepped back, out of his reach, not quite ready for that.
Sadness peaked through his expression but he kept it in check.
“Seeing you again has been the most confusing yet amazing thing to happen to me in a very long time. I was going to try very hard to pretend we’d never met.
Our impromptu meeting at the diner taught me that ignoring the attraction I have to you wasn’t going anywhere.
In a moment of madness, or maybe desperation, I decided to come here tonight and bare my soul. Now I am just feeling like a fool.”
Amelia hated the sound of defeat in his voice. “Don’t feel like a fool. I’m kind of glad you did it. Saved me from having to make that choice.” She let out a little laugh. “I just wish we could have eaten before I do this.”
Stepping in close to A.J., she stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his lips. Scooping her up in his arms without breaking the kiss, he carried her back to the kitchen counter and set her down in the same spot as earlier.
His lips moved from hers to the base of her neck, his breath hot against her skin as he murmured, “No worries. Fajitas reheat well.”
She actually giggled. Amelia wrapped her arms around his shoulders, running her fingers up his spine until they were buried in his hair.
A.J. shivered under her touch, emboldening her even more.
Amelia hadn’t felt this brave since that night at the costume party.
Obviously, A.J. brought out her wild side a little.
“Wait.” Amelia pushed against his chest to get a little space.
A.J. frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Have you thought about this? Like really thought about it?”
He laughed. “It’s all I’ve thought about since the moment you walked back into my life.” He leaned in again, pressing tiny kisses along her jaw until he reached her ear. Drawing the lobe in between his teeth, he nibbled lightly causing an onslaught of desire to pool low in her abdomen.
“I meant—” Amelia sucked in a breath as A.J.’s hand slid under the hem of her shirt. “What happens… if… we both… spent a decade building that memory up… and then…”
His fingers ran along the edge of her bra, his touch almost sending her over the edge right then and there.
“There is no way—” He ran his tongue lightly over her lips as his other hand slid up the back of her shirt. “There is no way this could be anything but amazing.”
She actually believed that based on the fire spreading through her veins and the heat building in her core. All the rational, scientific arguments fled her mind the moment A.J.’s tongue passed through her lips.
“Fuck it,” she murmured, reaching down and pulling his shirt out of the waist of his jeans.
He chuckled, breaking contact just long enough to pull her shirt off. “Not exactly the romance I was hoping for but we can work on that next time.”
Before she could utter the words “next time?”, he had her lips covered again while his fingers burned trails across her own burning skin. Amelia wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing against him with passion she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
It was wrong on so many levels. Their professional relationship could be destroyed. Maybe her reputation too. She just didn’t seem care. A ten-year itch needed scratching, for both of them, and she wasn’t standing in the way.
Neither was his stupid belt. Her fingers fumbled with the buckle as her phone rang.
Despite having a cell phone, Amelia also had a landline on the kitchen wall that was ringing.
Shoving his shirt up and off of his body, she trailed her fingernails over the hard planes of his chest. “So much better without the cape and tux,” she whispered.
The phone stopped ringing when the answering machine picked up. “You’ve reached Dr. Amelia Sundry. If this work related, catch me at the office. Otherwise, leave a message.”
After a long beep, they heard a deep voice speak into the machine. “Ameilia… “ She froze as the voice continued. “Did you like the gift I left you…If not, don’t worry, there will be more.”
Click.
The call ended. Amelia and A.J. froze, staring at each other with echoing questions in their eyes.
“Amelia?” he asked. “Who was that?”
“I have no idea…”
Watch for the full novel to be released later in 2026!