Chapter Ten #2
Maya smiled at him, then glanced at Leah. “Where did you find him?” She waggled her eyebrows. “He’s hot.”
Owen opted to act as if he hadn’t heard her comment.
“He’s helping with the investigation,” Leah explained.
Maya’s expression blanked. “Is he a cop?” She stared at Owen with something like fear or uncertainty.
“Not a cop,” he explained, leaning closer to ensure she heard him. “I’m a private investigator.”
Maya nodded, her expression still obviously uncertain.
“We need to find Isla,” he said. “We believe she is in danger and needs our help. If you or any of her other friends sees her, please let her know that we can help.”
Maya shifted her attention from Owen to Leah. “Do you really think she’s in trouble?”
Leah moved closer to the other woman. “Absolutely. You don’t want to know what they did to Raymond. I have to find her and warn her.”
Owen had to hand it to her, Leah was playing it just right. He put his arm around her and moved closer into their huddle. “We will make sure she doesn’t end up like that poor SOB.”
Maya nodded slowly. “I’ll get the word out to everyone who knows her.” She frowned then. “Are you at the apartment?”
Leah nodded. “Where else would I go?”
“Of course. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Maya hugged Leah again. “You be careful too. I thought for sure you and Raymond were both done for.”
“Me too,” Leah admitted. She peered up at Owen. “But I had a secret weapon.”
He smiled at her, but the look in her eyes made any amusement her remark had garnered vanish, and something entirely different settled in. Electricity was crackling between them, jumping wildly like the dance floor lights.
Rather than draw back, he kissed her. Slowly, briefly. The lightest of kisses. But the fire generated from his lips touching hers threatened to burn them both down.
Leah turned fully into him, stretched her arms up around his neck. His went around her waist, and the feel of her body pressing into his had his mouth deepening the kiss.
In the background, he heard Maya say, “See you around,” but slowing this kiss down, much less stopping it for anyone, was out of the question.
Leah pulled back, her eyes wide with surprise and no small amount of desire. “We should mingle.”
Before her words could filter through the haze of want blinding him to every single thing but her, she had grabbed his hand and was tugging him forward. He followed, struggled to relax the need roaring inside him.
Control…he had to regain control. This thing buzzing between them made doing his job inordinately difficult. He could not compromise her safety…or the case.
For the next half hour, they wandered through the crowd, stopping to dance when a song Leah liked vibrated from the speakers. He spotted at least one of Lambert’s people. The guy parked at a table looked far too uptight and watchful to be a regular patron.
By the time Leah announced she was ready to leave, Owen was incredibly grateful. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this pretending to be a couple without making a serious mistake. His whole body hummed at the sound of her voice, the touch of her hand.
When they emerged onto the sidewalk in the night air, he relaxed marginally, sharpened his focus on their surroundings.
A few people strolled the sidewalks on either side of the street.
A car—not the black sedan—rolled slowly past. Lambert had people here.
Leah’s hand squeezed his, and she glanced up at him with a dreamy smile.
This, he decided, was going to be a long night.
She held on to his hand until they were in the car heading back to Chestnut Place.
There was no talking…just the distinct sizzle of electricity still flowing between them. He had maybe fifteen minutes to regain some semblance of control.
Gerard/Morris Apartment
Chestnut Street, 11:45 p.m.
LEAH’S FINGERS FUMBLED twice in her effort to unlock the door. Though Owen waited behind her, the smell of his aftershave was driving her mad.
If they hadn’t been in the middle of that club, she was certain that kiss would have ended up going way, way further. She had never been kissed like that. Ever. Even now, she could scarcely breathe thinking about it.
The truth was…she had wanted way more than just that kiss. Still did.
Finally, the key turned and the door unlocked. Owen placed a hand on her arm to remind her that he needed to go in first. If anyone was waiting inside, he wanted to be the one at the front of the line.
Leah closed and locked the door behind them and then sagged against it. Her body was on fire. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had sex, but she wanted it now. Wanted it in the worst way.
When he was about to head into the hall toward the bedrooms, she couldn’t take it anymore. “Wait.”
He turned around, worry in his expression.
She pushed off the door she’d just locked, let her purse drop to the floor and walked straight up to him.
Her arms went around his neck, and she rose onto her tiptoes until her lips locked with his.
He hesitated, let her do what she would without reacting, which only made her more desperate.
Her fingers threaded through his dark hair, her breasts rubbed against his chest—sending fire shooting straight through her.
Finally, his arms went around her and he pulled her tightly against him.
She made a sound of want, and he reacted, lifting her off her feet and moving toward the bedroom.
Her legs went around his waist, and he staggered to a stop, pressed her against the nearest wall.
He glided one hand over her thigh, moving toward her bottom.
She cried out. He deepened the kiss. She nipped his lower lip, and he repaid her in kind.
He lifted her away from the wall and moved through the door to her room.
She wanted to rip that T-shirt off his body…
wanted to feel his skin beneath her palms. When he reached the bed, her feet dropped to the floor and her hands went instantly to that tee, tugging it out from his jeans.
He removed his belt, all the while kissing her.
They were doing this…yes, they were. If he stopped now, she would absolutely die.
His fingers went to her hair and worked the elastic from it, letting it fall around her shoulders. He traced the length of it down her back.
Her own fingers struggled with working his tee upward. His hands moved away from her long enough to pull the wad of cotton over his head and drop it to the floor. Her hands went instantly to his chest, glided over his skin…feeling the heat and the pounding of his heart.
Her tee came off next, and then he was easing her down onto the bed. She relaxed into the softness of the covers, and he climbed on top of her, his knees on either side of her hips, keeping his weight off her body.
But she wanted to feel the weight of him…she wanted to…
Her elbow brushed against something cool on the covers. She froze.
“You okay?” he whispered breathlessly.
“There’s…” She tried to reach whatever it was with her hand but couldn’t get in the right position. “There’s something in the bed.”
He was off her instantly and yanking her up and away from any potential threat. The bedside lamp suddenly came on, and she blinked her eyes to adjust to the light.
A faceted heart-shaped glass object sparkled red against the white covers. Another smaller piece, and then another and another, spread out around it. Leah rushed to her bedroom window and opened the curtains she kept pulled across it.
“The wind chime.” She walked back to the bed and turned on the lamp that sat on the opposite side of where she slept.
There was enough light then to see the near-invisible strings that connected all the pieces of colored glass.
“It hangs in my window.” She glanced back at the window, then at the bed once more.
“It was in the window when I closed the curtains to get dressed before we left for the club.”
“Where did the wind chime come from?” Owen asked.
“Isla—Alyssa. She gave it to me my first Christmas here.”
Their gazes collided.
“She was here.” His words echoed the thought that had just entered Leah’s mind.
“Does the wind chime carry some particular significance?” he asked, not waiting for her confirmation.
Leah shook her head slowly, racked her brain—the one that was still whirling with desire.
“No… I…” She thought of the day they’d bought it.
A few days before Christmas, at the artisans’ market.
“We were shopping at that craft market on Ravenswood. I saw it and fell in love. She bought it and said it was an early Christmas present.”
“Is the market open now—in August, I mean?”
Leah shook her head. “It’s a seasonal thing. It probably won’t open until October.”
“But you know the place,” he said.
She nodded. “We can go there in the morning.” Leah stared at the wind chime for a moment before turning back to him. “Do you think she’s trying to lure me into a trap? Or send me a message?”
He reached for the tee she had torn off him. “Either one is possible. We’ll need to be careful.” He handed it to her. “Thanks for lending me the shirt.”
She hugged it to her chest. Felt the warmth of his body that lingered in the fabric.
“You’re welcome. Thanks for helping me get word to her friends that we’re looking for her.
” There was so much more she wanted to say, but instead, she asked, “Can we not tell Detective Lambert about this until we see what it means?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“I do.” She looked away for a moment before meeting his gaze once more. “I’m sorry. I guess I got a little carried away tonight.”
He reached out, swiped his thumb across her cheek. She leaned into his touch, wanting more, but it was his eyes and that smile that made her hungry to pick up where they had left off.
“If you’re agreeable, we can do this again…soon,” he promised.
“I am most agreeable.”
He smiled. “Good.”
When he’d left the room, she drifted to her bathroom and washed her face, then brushed her teeth. Instead of wondering what her lying roommate had in store for her now, she couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt to be in Owen’s arms. And those kisses. Mercy, the man knew how to kiss.
She tugged on the tee she’d lent him, reveled in the smell of him that had permeated the fabric. Next time, she was not stopping for anything. When she climbed into bed, she hugged herself and thought of how it felt to hug him, to slide her hand over all that muscled terrain.
The idea that he was so nice made her smile.
The last time she’d been so taken with a man, he had been a total thug.
She shook off thoughts of Chris and how old and weak he had looked in that hospital bed.
No matter how he’d gotten himself where he was, she couldn’t help feeling sad for him.
He could have done so much more with his life.
But what happened to him wasn’t her fault.
If Perez hadn’t gotten the truth out of her, he would have gotten it out of someone else.
All these years, she had felt guilty about telling Perez that it was Chris who had taken his money and drugs.
But now she finally understood that none of that was her fault.
The alarm icon on the digital clock that stood on the bedside table dragged her from the past. The time was correct and wasn’t blinking, so the power hadn’t gone off.
But she never used that clock for an alarm.
Her phone was her alarm for everything. She sat up and checked the settings.
The alarm had been set for ten in the morning. What in the world?
Then she smiled. She understood now. This was Isla’s way of telling her what time to come.
Then her smile faded. Not Isla. A liar. A betrayer. Possibly a murderer.
Leah would see her at ten, and then she would have answers, one way or another.