01 Untouchable - Untouchable (41 page)

“
No, Micah…”

“
Gwen was right when she had
you sing that song in the restaurant. She knows me and she knows
what I’m capable of doing. I’m worse than David. At least he would
have just shot you. But me? No, I’ve got to torture you first and
make you think you’re in love.”

“
I think you’re wrong,” I
said softly. “There are two people inside you and they are ripping
you apart. One is the person you’ve been raised to be and the other
is the person you’ve always been, but never let exist until
now.”

He was shaking his head, looking
down.

“
You’re punishing yourself
for jealous thoughts, but if you had the choice you would never
hurt me.”

The head raised and the eyes flashed
even in the dim surroundings, “I left you tied up like an animal. I
was satisfied with what I’d done until I went into our old bungalow
to go to sleep and found your note with the car keys on top of it
telling me that you were staying of your own free will. That was
why I went back over there, to make sure you were still there and
that you hadn’t changed your mind and run away. When I saw what I
did to you…”

“
You mean when Evan saw what
Micah had done.”

“
You’re gonna have me
believing pretty soon that I’m a freak show and there are two guys
living inside me, aren’t you?”

“
No, it’s just one guy with
the good and the bad taking sides.”

“
I have never been confused
in my life. Everything has always been simple. I do my job, collect
my pay, invest my money, manage my businesses and wait for the next
job to come along. I had a weird feeling about this job when I took
it, and from the minute I met you, I knew my life was going to
change if I got close at all.”

I opened my little box of dinner and
took a small bite. I could tell that it pleased him that I actually
ate something. “If I’m going to eat then you have to too,” I said,
hoping our night was finally going to lighten up.

He shook his head as if he had no
interest in the food he insisted we buy. I dug my fork into my
container and held a bite out for him to taste. He gave me an odd
look, but he finally opened his mouth and accepted the small amount
of rice. “I didn’t feel like eating either,” I confessed. “But,
taking that first bite can change everything. It’s good,
right?”

He nodded and then gave a small smile.
“That sounds kind of prophetic.”

I moved from where I sat across from
him to sitting beside him. We shared my container of rice, and by
the time we were done, his arm was around me and we were as close
as we had been before our afternoon had been overshadowed by his
jealous revelation. Did it worry me what he said about the fact
that he’d rather I was dead than in another man’s arms? Yes. Was it
going to change how I felt about him? No. He was working through
emotions he’d never dealt with, and I had to believe that he didn’t
really mean what he’d said; he simply didn’t know how to handle the
emotion when it hit him.

We got back to the bungalow by eleven
and went into the new unit. “There isn’t any reason, at least not
tonight, for us to be in separate units, is there?” I
asked.

“
No, but even under the car
covers, those two vehicles are like neon signs going right to the
front door of bungalow eight.”

“
Well, then, I’m glad we’re
in nine, Mr. Gavarreen,” I smiled.

“
I have to slip over there
and grab a few things tonight, but I’ll be back. He handed me his
key to unit nine, but I didn’t understand why.

“
Just a precaution,” he
explained. “If someone is waiting for me inside there, I don’t want
them to have a key to get in here with you.”

“
Oh. That makes sense, but
…”

“
I’ll knock at the door and
I’ll say something in French so you’ll know it’s okay to open
it.”

The other unit was completely dark, we
had drawn all the drapery and now I was worried that it was a
perfect place for someone to hide undetected. “Be careful,” I
whispered as he left me. I locked the door behind him and waited
impatiently.

When the knock came at the door, it was
followed by, “Si vous m'aimez, ouvrez la porte.”

I opened it immediately.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

We went to sleep in two separate beds
because he said it was better for us, for now. But, when morning
came, I felt that familiar weight of his arm wrapped around me. I
snuggled deeper into his grip and felt it tighten; I knew he was
awake without looking. “You changed your mind,” I whispered, still
facing away.

His glorious mouth found my neck and my
ear, “I woke up around two a.m. and you were crying. I thought you
were awake, but when I got next to you, I realized you were
dreaming.”

I was silent, trying hard to recall
anything from my dream state, but I couldn’t. I was so exhausted
that all I remembered doing was going to sleep. “Did I say
anything?” I finally asked.

“
I could only make out a
couple things, one was ‘I love you,’ you said it several
times.”

“
And?”

He was pausing, so I had to assume he
didn’t like the other thing he was able to understand. I gave him a
soft nudge with the back of my elbow to let him know I’d like for
him to continue.

He pulled back my hair and kissed the
bared skin. Every time he put his lips directly to my neck, I felt
little shock waves through my system. “You asked…” his voice
getting that deep husky quality as if he was trying to keep his
emotions in check, “You were asking me to kiss you, and to please
not hurt you.”

“
Oh,” I was afraid to say
more. A true kiss had been taboo between us because I had made it
my last request, but there was more than that to the kiss. I knew,
and I think he did too, that if it hadn’t been off-limits, we
wouldn’t have been able to stop ourselves when logic and morals
told us we must. “So what do we do today?” I asked, changing the
subject.

“
I’ve got to get to Jack and
Ricky soon. I spent part of yesterday afternoon tracking them down,
but the problem is that they’re staking out the hospital. They’re
certain you’re going to show up there to see your mom, but I wasn’t
able to get any clean shots. They know I’m around so they are being
extra cautious.”

“
That’s what you were doing
yesterday?”

“
Yeah, I’ve got my rifle
with the silencer, but I just didn’t get the right
opportunity.”

“
How…” I couldn’t imagine
him with that big rifle and no one seeing him and calling the
cops.

His face buried deeper into my neck and
I was losing my train of thought.

“
What?” he
whispered.

“
How do you keep from
someone seeing you?”

“
Experience and training,”
was all he would say.

“
And Jack and Ricky? Are
they smart enough not to get noticed?”

“
No they’re pretty stupid
when it comes to shooting someone. They aren’t carrying silencers
on their pistols, so they’ll either have to shoot you at close
range and run, or drag you off somewhere to finish the job without
an audience.”

“
What about Sharon? Have you
been able to find out what she’s been up to?”

“
Yeah, she is dividing her
time between sacking Robert and Jack. Robert’s just too ignorant to
figure out he’s being used.”

“
Serves him right, I guess,”
I said, unable to keep the bitterness out of my words. “He is using
my mom in the worst way possible.”

“
I got a call from my
attorney yesterday. I’ve had him checking on how Robert is doing
with his Power of Attorney and he thinks it may only be another day
or two before the judge grants his request.”

“
Doesn’t her doctor have to
say she’s incompetent?”

“
It’s usually a panel of
doctors but yes, her doctor would be the most influential in the
case.”

“
Then he won’t get what he
wants. Doctor Figarrio should be able to see a
difference…”

“
If he truly did what you
asked and it isn’t some ploy to placate you until Robert has what
he needs.”

“
No,” I said, rolling over
and looking into those beautiful eyes. “He was serious, I could
tell. I’ve got to call this morning and ask if he’s starting to see
a change. She’s had twenty four hours to start clearing out her
system.”

He had that intent stare going on and I
was wondering what it was he was thinking, but I was also learning
that if I pressed him for things that he wasn’t ready to tackle, I
could end up with a problem—a problem like the handcuffs
yesterday.

At that moment, my stomach gave a
rolling growl. I laughed and apologized. “I’m hungry.”

He pulled me in close and buried that
gorgeous face into the base of my throat, planting a kiss on my
chest. “Me too,” he replied, but it didn’t sound like he was
speaking of food. He sighed and rolled out of bed. That was when I
noticed he was in his boxers.

“
Ah…” I turned away and
pushed my face down in the pillow. I hadn’t expected my internal
reaction and I knew I couldn’t handle the view. I could feel the
flush of heat sweep from the center of my solar plexus outward head
to toe. The board shorts had been hard enough to handle, but the
boxers were just a little too revealing.

I felt his hand on my back. “What?” he
asked, but his mirth was evident in the tiny question.

“
Nothing,” came my words,
almost completely muffled by the pillow. “Just get some pants
on.”

“
You said as long as I
had…”

“
I know what I said but—but
I can’t—can’t handle it. Please,” I said raising my head off the
pillow, but not opening my eyes or turning to look at him. “You’re
very—exposed—and I… Wow—does this ecstasy stuff say in your system
for a while?”

I could feel him coming
closer.

His amusement seemed to be growing
deeper as he nuzzled the back of my neck. “It seems you and I have
similar needs, Annalisa.”

“
Yeah well right now,
I
need
you to have
pants on!”

“
Oh, Baby,” he crooned in
that sexy, soft voice.

That was all I could take. I’m not even
sure how I got out of the covers and onto my feet as fast as I did
but I made a bee-line for the shower. I could hear him laughing as
I flung my clothes from inside the shower over the top. I grabbed
the handle for the cold water and turned it on, taking away my
breath when it met my excessively heated skin.

“
Do you want some help in
there?” he asked, just to vex me a little more.

“
Go away, Micah,” I
snapped.

I could hear him laughing, and then I
could hear it fade as he left the room. I don’t know how long I
spent under the cold water, but I finally understood his
frustration level when I had caused him to run for the shower. I
wondered how, if the physical needs are really this consuming, he
survived the night I was out of my proper mind—and my
clothes.

When I exited the shower I could smell
the coffee; he was evidently back with our breakfast. I wrapped the
towel tightly around me, since I hadn’t bothered to close the
bathroom door when I went charging for the shower, and glanced into
the bedroom. Thankfully he wasn’t in there. I closed the door, and
locked it—he was still laughing at me.

I dressed and gave my wet, tangled hair
a quick touch with the brush and then went out to where he sat at
the dining table. I was trying not to return the big smile on his
face, but I couldn’t help it. “Don’t say a word,” I
warned.

The eyebrows went up, but he was still
grinning. He had brought four Danishes this time and I was so
hungry I could have eaten them all, but would have to show I was
satisfied with half. I had inhaled both of them and finished my
coffee in a matter of moments.

“
Wow,” he exclaimed as he
watched me rise from the table. “Just thinking about sex gives you
quite an appetite.”

“
I wasn’t thinking
about—ugh!” I groaned as I snatched up his cell phone. “I’ve got to
call…”

“
Whoa, Baby,” he was saying
trying to take the phone out of my hand.

I was so flustered I was ready to fight
him for it when he simply told me I had the wrong phone. “Oh,” I
said, quickly putting it in his hand as if it was too hot to touch.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean…”

He handed me his personal phone, but he
didn’t release it immediately when I tried to take it. “You have no
idea,” he began, “what kind of a turn on it is to watch you turn
on. The shower didn’t seem to help you, did it?” He finally
released the phone.

“
Not really,” I whimpered.
“I never understood when friends that I’ve known said they couldn’t
wait for marriage. It still seems so wrong, but I never knew it
could be so—so hard. If we had—you know the other day—would this be
easier now?”

He pulled me into those arms and the
heat began to rise once more. “For us?” he whispered, “I’m starting
to believe this must be what happens when love and needs mix—and
I’m afraid it would be even stronger if we had slipped.”