Caught in Darkness (6 page)

Tobias sighed and slumped against
the nearest wall. “True.” He was silent for a beat before he lifted his eyes
back to Richards and asked, “Do you wonder about Hunter? I mean, he comes out
of nowhere and now he’s sticking his nose into our business…seems odd.”

Richards scoffed, waving a hand
dismissively toward his companion. “Ignore
him,
he’s
just fresh meat looking to make his place in the Family. Maybe he thinks
standing up to us or ‘cracking this case’ will get him in better with Robert. It
doesn’t matter.”

Tobias frowned thoughtfully, gaze falling
back to the floor, but said nothing.

“What matters,” Richards continued
after a brief moment, fists curling tightly at his sides, “is that damned human
bimbo. I’m
gonna
make sure she knows exactly who
she’s screwing around with—and then I’m
gonna
drain
her dry.”

****

Veronica couldn’t help but feel a
little excited and a little self-conscious as she stepped into the restaurant
at twelve-thirty. She knew that they weren’t really meeting for a good reason,
but that didn’t stop her from smiling. And it certainly didn’t stop the
butterflies in her stomach from taking flight as soon as the first whiff of
marinara sauce and baked cheese wafted over her. Now, do I find a table or wait
in the lobby?

The thought had barely crossed her
mind when she turned her head and found her gaze focused on a dark figure
sitting in a corner booth. But this dark figure was the good kind of dark
because he was the man she was looking for, and despite his seemingly-permanent
sunglasses she knew he was looking right at her. She took a deep breath and
started toward the booth, trying again to remind herself of what they would
actually be talking about. They weren’t about to have a pleasant, lighthearted
conversation and it would do her good to remember that.

He slid smoothly out of the booth
and stood as she approached the table, and her heart tripped. The man had
honest-to-goodness manners! Some jaded part of her had just assumed that any
man who qualified as ‘sexy’ (and there was no doubt that he owned the category)
was pretty much allergic to good manners.

“Thank you for meeting me,” Seth
said, his deep, rich voice sliding effortlessly from his lips to her ears and
washing over her.

She offered him a warm smile and assured
him, “It’s not a problem,” as she slid into the indicated side of the booth
seat. “Thank you,” she added.

Once she was seated Seth reclaimed
his seat, and then he did the most unexpected thing. He reached up and slid his
sunglasses off of his face, calmly folding them and setting them to the side of
the table.

Veronica was breathless as she
watched, telling herself not to stare despite knowing that that was exactly
what she was doing. Not only had she not expected him to do that, but she
couldn’t have predicted the eyes beneath those all-concealing lenses if she’d
tried. And she had tried.

Seth Hunter’s eyes were a fierce,
striking black. Or what she would have labeled black if black irises were even
possible. And she supposed the darkness of his eyes could, arguably, be creepy
or unsettling, but she felt none of those things. It was as if his eyes were
piercing straight to her soul, and they held her captive without effort. They
were the perfect eyes for the man sitting before her.

The waitress bounced over to their
table, casually asking if they knew what they wanted to drink and
simultaneously tearing Veronica’s attention away from Seth’s newly-exposed
eyes. In the time it took her to gather herself, Seth ordered a cup of coffee
and placed his meal order as well. Fortunately, when the waitress turned some
of her attention to Veronica, she was ready and easily ordered an iced tea to
accompany her spaghetti and meatballs. It was a large meal to order for lunch,
but she didn’t care; she loved their spaghetti.

Once the waitress was gone Seth
turned his attention back to Veronica and asked, “Do you mind if I ask you
about that ‘small paranoia attack’ you mentioned earlier?”

That was what she’d needed. It was
almost disturbing how quickly that simple question managed to put her
priorities—and her focus—back in order. And she wouldn’t allow herself to be
disappointed about it, either. Instead, she nodded and explained the two
instances from the night before. “And if it weren’t for that second one,” she
added, “I wouldn’t even have given it another thought. But there was something
about that man walking away…I swear he wasn’t there when I walked out to my
car.”

Seth was nodding slowly, clearly
mulling something over in his mind. It was a moment before he offered, “It is
always possible that your mind was playing tricks on you last night. After what
you overheard your subconscious was likely dwelling on it even while you
thought you were focusing on other things.”

“I get that,” Veronica replied with
a slight nod. “But there’s still a voice in the back of my head telling me that
I know better.” She paused, studying him, and realized that she had nearly
missed a cue in his body language. “And you agree, don’t you? You don’t think
it was just a case of hyper-active paranoia either.”

His dark, serious eyes locked on to
hers again and he shook his head. “Honestly, no. I don’t think you were being
overly paranoid.” There was another beat of hesitation before he added, “I went
looking for them last night, and none of them were home. They didn’t attempt
the burglary, but then again, Robert didn’t go out. I thought that would make
finding them a little easier, but whatever they were doing…they were out
somewhere.”

Veronica collapsed into the back of
the vinyl booth cover. She wasn’t surprised to hear that, but she hadn’t really
wanted to hear it, either. It was a long minute before she found enough of her
voice to say, “So then one or more of them could have been following me.”

“Unfortunately,” Seth declared with
a scowl. His pause was shorter this time before he said, “I realize we don’t
know each other very well, but if you even think you see one of them again I
want you to call me immediately.”

A frown dipping her lips, Veronica
asked, “But why? If I think they’re following me then shouldn’t I call the
police?”

There was something off about the
set of his jaw before he answered, “You could do that, too, of course.”

She got the distinct impression
that he didn’t particularly want her involving the police, which made no sense.
Weren’t people supposed to call the police when they thought their life was
being threatened? Unless…. Eyes widening, Veronica asked, “Do you think they
have some sort of connection to the police?”

Seth met her gaze again and evenly
replied, “I don’t know them well enough to say for sure, but from what I know
about them I’d have to say no.”

Well now I’m even more confused. He
clearly didn’t want to involve police, but apparently he didn’t have a good
reason for that preference? Or did he just not have a good reason that he could
tell her about? And, more importantly, why did that possibility only make her
want to assure him that he could trust her?

“Seth,” Veronica began, leaning
slightly forward on the table, “if you’ve got a reason for wanting to leave the
police out of things, just say so. I trust you.” And she did, as crazy as it
sounded. She trusted him implicitly.

Their gazes held for a long minute
before Seth quietly admitted, “I can’t tell you why, though I’d like to, but
yes…I’d rather you leave them out. Just call me and let me handle it.”

Releasing a breath, Veronica sat
back properly and nodded. “Okay,” she said. She had opened her mouth to add
more, but then the waitress was back with their dinner-sized lunches and the
focus shifted.

Chapter Four

Veronica couldn’t help but wonder
what it said about her that she was sad when her lunch with Seth came to an
end. It wasn’t like they were on a date (though he did insist on paying), and
even if it were a date, it was an arguably poor one since they spent the
majority of it discussing whether or not she was being stalked by a
could
-be-murderer. But, as Seth walked her to her car, she
found she just didn’t care. The more time she spent in Seth Hunter’s presence
the more she wanted to keep spending time with him. It was almost disturbing.

Seth fell back when Veronica
stepped toward the driver’s side door of her car, clearly trying to respect her
space, so she turned to face him properly with a smile. “You really didn’t have
to pay,” she said again.

“It was the least I could do,” he
assured her, an almost smile lighting his lips.

Oh, those lips…. All of a sudden,
Veronica had the strongest urge to step up and kiss him. As impressive as
everything else about him seemed to be, she just couldn’t imagine that his kiss
would be anything less. The need to find out was devastating.

His nostrils flared as a light,
warm breeze kicked up, and she saw his eyes drop to her lips as her tongue
darted out to wet them. He didn’t say a word, but his jaw tightened and she couldn’t
help but wonder if he might have been fighting the same urge.

Could I be so lucky?

The lone cloud overhead, which had
been blocking the sun, drifted past and allowed the sunlight to shine properly
down on the parking lot. Almost simultaneously Seth squinted and reached up,
lifting his sunglasses from where they were hanging on the collar of his shirt
and returning them to his face as he said, “I should let you go.” He paused,
his hands slipping into his pockets again, and asked, “Will I see you tomorrow?”

Laughter lifted her lips once more
and she replied, “Unless you magically curb your caffeine addiction.”

A shadow of a grin tipped his lips.
“Highly unlikely,” he assured her.

“Until tomorrow, then,” Veronica
declared, extracting her keys from her purse. Seth nodded silent agreement
before turning and striding away. She remained still for a minute, simultaneously
disappointed in how the not-quite moment had played out and enjoying the view before
her more than she should. And as she watched him walk away she found herself
wondering what kind of car he drove. What does it matter what kind of car he
drives? Shaking her head at herself, she turned finally and stepped up to her
own car. He made the strangest thoughts pop up in her head.

She was barely in her car, seat
belt clicked into place, when her cell phone began buzzing from the confines of
the purse on the passenger seat. When she dug it out she instantly recognized
Mandy’s laughing face on the screen and put the phone to her ear, saying, “Hey,
Mandy.”

“Hey, are you busy? I found myself
with an afternoon off, and I can’t remember the last time we went to a movie
together,” Mandy declared.

Laughing lightly, Veronica replied,
“As a matter of fact, I am officially free. When’s the showing?”

“Half an hour.”

“I can do that. Meet at the theater
in fifteen?”

“Deal,” Mandy agreed.

As Veronica dropped the phone back
onto the passenger seat she couldn’t help but reflect on how much busier her
day was becoming than she’d anticipated. But that was okay, especially
considering the company she was getting to keep. Although if she was still
thinking about Seth when she met up with Mandy her friend was bound to notice,
and how would she explain that? Then again, she was starting to think
explaining would be easier than putting that gorgeous, well-mannered man out of
her mind.

Though the movie was only barely
two hours it ended up being well past nine before Veronica pulled back into her
driveway. She eased her car up the drive until it was parallel with her small
rental house and cut the engine, a smile seemingly engraved on her lips. She
wasn’t entirely sure that she’d stopped smiling since lunch.

“Whoever he is,” Mandy had begun as
they walked out of the ice cream shop, hands wrapped around single-scoop cones,
“he must be gorgeous.”

“He is,” Veronica admitted, knowing
it was pointless to deny that she was still somewhat distracted. She’d found
herself comparing the hero of the movie to Seth and, unsurprisingly, the hero
had come up short. “But it’s not what you think.”

“Oh?” Mandy asked, both eyebrows
raised
. “You’re not giving it up without making him earn it,
are you?”

Veronica had paled, nearly choking
on her ice cream, and quickly managed, “No! No, it’s not…we’re not together.”

Mandy’s expression relaxed at that
and she’d offered a grin as she teased, “But you want to be ‘together’ with
him, don’t you?”

The only struggle Veronica had had
with answering that was how honest she should really be, because the answer was
yes. There really wasn’t even any point in denying it, at least to
herself
. She’d been attracted—on a surface level—to him
since before she’d even known his name. Needless to say, she was more attracted
to him now than she’d been a week ago. Not that it’ll ever happen, she reminded
herself as she stepped up to her front door and stuck the key in the lock. But,
hey, a girl could dream.

Veronica pushed the door open
easily, but she didn’t register the strange niggling feeling in the back of her
mind until after she’d closed it behind her. Her hand paused over the doorknob,
and something told her not to lock it just yet. The hair on the back of her
neck was standing up and suddenly there was a rapidly-growing pit in her
stomach. The smile fell from her face as she tried to look around the open
living room and kitchen areas of her house. She felt like her insides were
shrinking and her instincts were screaming at her to turn and run as fast as
she could.

She was frozen as she realized
that, somehow, she just knew that there was someone else in her house.