Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Raleigh was a dream come true. Not only was she beautiful, but she was smart and tough, too. He admired her more and more. Okay, he’d only known her a short time, but she impressed the hell out of him. What he knew about her, he liked. A lot. He was going to enjoy getting to know more. Much more.
After stuffing themselves silly, Raleigh insisted they take a walk.
She couldn’t sit in the truck again until she digested some of the food they’d eaten.
Dylan went along happily, and they walked along the boardwalk in downtown Brooklyn.
Other couples were strolling along the wooden walkway as well.
Families with kids and dogs in tow. Friends sipping coffee and chatting.
It was a typical night in New York. “The view of Manhattan from here is almost as good as the view going over the fifty-ninth street bridge,” Dylan said.
“Agreed. I love that view. It makes New York seem glamorous somehow. Like it lives up to its reputation.”
Dylan chuckled. “Until you get close enough to see the reality.”
“Exactly.” She sighed. “New York is not bad it’s just a lot sometimes.”
“You are not wrong.”
It was good to see Raleigh relax. Her eyes twinkled when she laughed, and her cheeks had color in them again, the good kind, the kind that came from joy rather than anger.
He’d seen her be everything from terrified to angry to sad this weekend.
She looked beautiful no matter what, but nothing could hold a candle to the sight of Raleigh laughing.
Her hair had natural streaks of blond and red in it, which had shimmered in the candlelight of the restaurant.
He was drawn to her in a way he’d never been drawn to anyone before, not even Jenn.
“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked as she grabbed his arm. They’d walked down the pier and stopped to lean on the railing overlooking the river.
“I was thinking about Jenn.” He saw immediately that it had been the wrong thing to say.
Raleigh let go of his arm and turned to face the water. “I see. It must be hard for you to know she’s getting married to someone else.”
He cursed under his breath as he gently turned Raleigh back to face him. “It’s not what you think. I realized something, thanks to you.”
She crinkled her brow. “Me?”
“When I picked you up the other day, thinking of Jenn was still painful. I think I tied the incident at work in with her, so I confused the pain of that with losing Jenn. Like I missed her more than I really did. Does that make sense? Somehow, this weekend has turned it around for me. Seeing everyone again, seeing Jenn…made things clearer.”
He brushed some loose hairs from across Raleigh’s face.
“And I was right. Nothing will be the same again. Now, everything can be better. I don’t think I ever really loved Jenn.
She needs to be the center of someone’s world, and I could never give her that.
I think dating me was an act of rebellion against her family at first, and then I don’t know, I think she felt safe when she was with me.
Like she could let her guard down a bit and just be herself.
When I broke it off with her, it shook her up.
She is high maintenance and a needy person, and I don’t want that in my life.
I’m glad she’s marrying Andrew. I don’t think we would’ve made it. We weren’t a good fit.”
Not like we are. Being with Raleigh just felt right in a way that his relationship with Jenn never had. He silently thanked his cousin Lauren one more time for bringing Raleigh into his life.
“Well, I’m glad something positive came out of this weekend for you,” Raleigh said as she brushed more hair out of her face. She lifted onto her toes and kissed him.
The kiss was unexpected but most welcomed.
Her lips were soft, and they tasted like the chocolate ice cream she’d had for dessert.
He pulled her closer as he slanted his mouth over hers and deepened the kiss.
He ran his hands down her back. They stayed like that, wrapped up in each other for a long time, tongues dancing, bodies wound together.
Finally, he broke off the kiss. “If we don’t stop now, we’re going to end up getting arrested for indecent exposure or public lewdness.”
“Hmm, might be worth it,” she whispered with a chuckle.
“Adventurous, huh? I’ll be sure to remember that, darlin’.” All kinds of interesting images shot through his brain. Oh, yeah, he had plans for Raleigh. “Why don’t we head back?” He was suddenly in a rush. He wanted this, what was between them, to continue.
“Okay,” she agreed. “But I want to say one thing first.”
He still had his arms around her. It was hard not to lean down and capture her mouth again, but he sensed what she wanted to say was important.
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you. Not just for coming this weekend, but for standing by me. I know you might have had your doubts in the beginning, but you came anyway. It’s been a long time since someone had my back.”
“I—”
She touched her fingertips against his mouth.
“No, I want to finish. The fact that you stuck it out even when you doubted me says more about you than you can imagine. And telling me that you had me checked out was tough to hear but you were being honest. I can’t tell you how much that honestly means to me.
I know you believe me now about the stalker and that you will protect me.
Dylan, that support…it’s one of the things that’s keeping me going. ”
He wanted to tell her how much this weekend had helped put everything into perspective for him. Her bravery in dealing with her stalker was one thing, but that she chose to stay when practically everyone didn’t believe her and she had no support, well, that was something else. “Raleigh, I—”
There was movement behind them at the beginning of the pier. Dylan wasn’t sure what grabbed his attention, but his instincts were screaming at him.
“Dylan?” Raleigh asked.
He didn’t respond. He studied the crowd.
There were lots of people milling about.
Couples like them. Families with small children and dogs.
His eyes scanned back and forth. There. There was a lone man—person really—too far to tell if it was a man or not, dressed in jeans and a hoodie.
The hood was up and Dylan couldn’t see the person’s face in the ebbing light but he knew, he and Raleigh were being watched.
“There’s a suspicious character at the end of the pier. I think it’s your stalker.”
“What? Where?” Raleigh craned her neck to see.
He grabbed her chin, and leaned down, as if he was going to kiss her, trying to look like he hadn’t spotted the guy.
“No, don’t look. This is what we’re going to do.
We’re going to stay with the crowd and work our way down the pier.
We’ll see if we can get close enough to identify him without letting him know we see him. Okay? Think you can do it?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Dylan put his arm around her and then they strolled back down the pier.
He kept her pulled in close while he kept one eye on the hoodie.
He silently cursed his lack of weapon, not that he could have done anything in a crowd like this anyway, but the weight of his sidearm would make him feel more comfortable.
They slid in behind a large group of tourists snapping pictures and he lost sight of the figure in the hoodie. When they finally broke free, looked around but the hooded figure was gone. He scanned the boardwalk but didn’t catch sight of his quarry.
Dylan swore.
“What?” she asked. Her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking.
Damn, he’d freaked her out. “I lost him.”
“Did you see who it was? Was it Clark?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. He was too far away and in that hoodie I couldn’t even tell if it was a man or woman.”
Burning anger lurked in her eyes. He knew it wasn’t directed at him—she was tired of being scared. He’d seen this response in victims before. At a certain point, the anger overcomes the fear, and they start to resent being afraid all the time.
“I’m so frustrated with this. I can’t even get one night to relax and enjoy myself. It’s agonizing.”
“Hey now! We’re making progress. It doesn’t seem like it, but we are. You just got to be patient. It’s hard, I know, but your safety is the most important thing, okay?”
She scanned the pier and then turned back to him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she dropped her head to his chest. He gathered her in.
“It’s okay, honey. You’re allowed to be angry and scared. It’s normal.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
He kissed the top of her head. “What do you say we go back to the truck and head for the hotel? We’ll grab your friend something from one of the food trucks over there. Why don’t you text him and ask him what he’d like.”
She nodded again. “Sounds good.” She turned from his embrace, and they started walking back along the pier.
She shivered, so he put his arm around her and pulled her close.
Raleigh got out her phone and within a few minutes they had a shawarma deluxe platter all wrapped and ready to go.
Bags in hand, they returned to Dylan’s pick up.
“We have to stop in at Risk. The guys there will take the note to the lab for us.”
Raleigh nodded but didn’t comment. She was once again lost in thought. Dylan didn’t blame her. It truly sucked to be stalked. Being at someone else’s mercy was a horrible feeling.
Dylan wound his way through the maze of one-way streets and pulled into the parking lot in front of a large warehouse that extended out over the water.
“Risk is here?” Raleigh asked.
“Yeah. Impressive isn’t it. Risk bought the warehouse years ago when this was still a bad neighborhood. Now it’s full of bistros and coffeeshops. His office space is amazing.”
“Wow. Wait! I’m such an idiot. Gabriel Risk. I didn’t connect the dots. My brain is fried. He’s the Gabriel Risk.”
Dylan frowned. What do you mean?”