Deadly Obsession (31 page)

Did she love Nic? She drew back far enough to see his eyes. Eyes that said she was beautiful, sexy, and smart. Eyes that swirled with passion and desire. Eyes that devoured her. She’d loved Todd, but in all their years together, he’d never made her feel the way Nic did. The way he always had. It didn’t matter what danger he was in, she couldn’t deny her feelings anymore.

Nothing—not even her fears—would get between her and the man she loved.

Nic set a plate of crepes in front of Lauren and smiled at her surprised expression.

“You made me breakfast?”

“It was my turn.” He shrugged. “Dig in.”

Her cheeks colored slightly and she tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth. He squirmed in his seat and wondered if he’d ever learn not to wear tight jeans around her. “Need something?”

“I’m not sure how to eat a crepe.”

“I’ll show you.” He forked one off the stack and dropped it onto his plate. “Do you like things sweet or really sweet?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows.

“Uh… really sweet.”

“Great. That’s how I like them too.” He picked up the bowl of brown sugar and spooned some onto his crepe in a line down the center. After handing her the bowl, he waited while she did the same. “Fold it in half along the sugar. Now roll it.”

Her lips puckered into a pout. “Yours is rolled up all nice and tight. Mine’s a sloppy mess.”

He laughed. “You’ll get the hang of it. Now for the best part.” He picked up the syrup and poured a generous amount, then handed her the bottle.

She scooped up a drop that was sliding down the neck of the bottle. As he watched her pink tongue dart out and curl around her finger, licking up the stray drop, Nic’s blood pressure spiked. His eyes glazed over as he recalled the feeling of that same tongue curled around his….

Lauren’s brows shot up. “This is the good stuff, isn’t it?”

Nic blinked, then blinked again, trying to clear the image from his mind so he could focus on her question. “Yep, pure maple syrup from Québec,” he said, his voice much raspier than the topic warranted.

“This is so much better than the grocery store crap I have at home.” Her mention of home dampened his ardor, reminding him her vacation would be over in just a few short days. He had to find a way to keep her in L.A. Maybe he’d be lucky, and she’d get a call about her photos soon.

“Nic?”

Shrugging away his thoughts, he focused on Lauren. “Sorry, where were we? Oh right. The moment of truth. Cut a piece from the end, but be careful not to let it unroll or all the sugar will fall out.” He waited for her to follow his instructions so they could have their first bite together. “Now eat.”

As she chewed, her mouth curved into a slow smile. “These are awesome.”

Awesomely sweet. He grinned and handed her a glass. “Here have some milk before you go into insulin shock.”

He turned as he heard steps behind him. Kaden entered the kitchen, rolled up papers in his hand. “What’s that wonderful smell?”

“Nic made breakfast.”

Kaden arched a brow but said nothing as he took a seat across the table.

“What?” Nic asked, his tone defensive even to his own ears. Just because Kaden had never seen him do more than crack a beer and open a pizza box didn’t mean he
couldn’t
cook. It only meant that he
didn’t
.

The asshole didn’t take the bait though. Kaden just laughed and served himself. Nic ignored him and changed the subject. “So, I spoke with Detective Anderson this morning. They don’t have any leads on Summer, but they’ve decided to go through all my old fan mail.”

Lauren froze, the fork midway to her mouth. “Your fan mail? Why?”

“I think they’re reaching, trying anything and everything to find clues.” She put down her fork, the bite still on it, and took a sip of milk.

“Speaking of clues.” Kaden pointed to the papers he’d brought in. “My ex emailed me Summer’s cell phone records.”

Nic looked up, smiling. This was good news. “Did she figure out where Summer’s phone is?”

“Yep. But that part’s not so great. Her phone last registered here in L.A. on the day you got out of the hospital, at three ten in the afternoon.”

“After we got home,” Lauren said. “So, she could have been the one to leave the note on the mirror.”

“The records also show that Summer made a call Thursday night at ten forty.” A spark of hope ignited in Nic’s chest. It fit with the timeline the police put together from the witness statements. Kaden finished preparing his crepe and took a bite. His eyes opened wide and he pointed to his plate. “This is good.”

“Thanks. Anyone want coffee?” Nic grabbed three mugs out of the cabinet and the carafe of coffee, then returned to the table. It would take him more than milk to get through this conversation.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled the rich scent, then took a sip. Delicious. When he opened his eyes, Lauren was staring at him, lips parted, a drop of syrup trickling from the corner of her mouth. Unable to resist, he leaned to the side and licked it with his tongue, continuing until his mouth met hers. The taste of crepes on her lips was intoxicating, and he couldn’t help tugging on her bottom lip with his own teeth this time. She made a small sound of pleasure that had him hard in an instant.

When he heard a snort, he let go of Lauren’s lip and flicked his eyes in Kaden’s direction. The man was shaking his head and grinning from ear to ear. He gave Lauren another small kiss, then sat back.

Her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes stayed glued to her plate as she ate her breakfast. She looked so innocent sitting there, flustered from his kiss. There’d been nothing remotely innocent about that babydoll she’d worn last night. He had to stifle a groan.
Christ
. She’d known exactly what it would do to him. He was worse than a horny teenager. Men his age were supposed to have some self-control. But with her, he didn’t have an ounce.

“Do you want to call it?” Kaden asked.

“Call what?” He glanced at Lauren, and she wore the same confused look he was sure was on his own face.

Kaden, the bastard, laughed again. “The number Summer called from the bar is in the report. Do you want to try it?”

Nic took a sip of coffee to clear his head. “Yeah.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Kaden stopped him. “Let’s use mine. The fewer people who have your number, the better.” He took out his phone, flipped through his papers, then punched in a number. “I’ll put it on speaker.”

Within moments, they heard a recorded message. “The number you dialed is not a working number. Please check the number and dial again.” They sat in disappointed silence, staring at the phone.

Nic recovered first. “What the fuck does that mean? How can it not be working when we got it from the phone company records?” Seeing Lauren wince, he muttered a quick, “Sorry.”

Christ
, if she knew how much he swore in his head, she’d probably make him wash his brain out with soap. To keep from digging a deeper hole, he grabbed another crepe, dumped brown sugar on it, rolled it, smothered it with maple syrup, and stuffed a huge piece in his mouth.

Kaden started applauding. “Man, preparing that crepe took you all of twenty seconds. Must be some kind of record.”

Lauren who’d been drinking her coffee, snorted. Nic paused in his chewing as her eyes grew wide and she ran, arms flailing, to grab some paper towels off the counter. “Oh God!” she said, laughing. “It went up my nose.”

Nic resumed his chewing and swallowed his mouthful as he got up to check on her. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“That’ll teach you to laugh at your boyfriend,” he teased, joining her at the counter.

She coughed not so delicately into a wad of paper towels and then looked up at him. “My
boyfriend?
”

He practically growled at her. “What else would I be? You’re my girlfriend, so I’m your boyfriend.”

Light danced in her eyes. “Your girlfriend. My boyfriend. I
really
like the sound of that.”

“You seem surprised.”

“I hadn’t thought of us that way.”

“Why not?”

She averted her eyes. “You’re… who you are, and I’m who I am.”

“Exactly.” He turned her chin so she had to face him. “You’re Lauren James and I’m Nicolas Lamoureux. You’re my girlfriend and I’m your boyfriend.”

“Well, when you say it like that….” She grinned. “It sounds right.”

His hands cupped her cheeks. “It is.” He kissed her soft, warm lips.

“Okay, kids. Now that you both know who you are, can we get back to work?” Laughing, they returned to their seats.

“So, what do we know about this number? What’s the area code?” Nic asked.

Kaden picked up the report. “305. It says here, that’s Miami.”

“Do you think your ex can find out which carrier owns that number?” Lauren asked. “Maybe they can tell us if it was a phone with a regular service contract or if it was one of those prepaid throw away phones. We might even be able to figure out where it was purchased.”

Nic turned to Kaden and grinned. “You see why I like her?”

“Absolutely,” he said, helping himself to another crepe. “While we’re on the subject of numbers, did the police trace any of the messages you got from the stalker?”

Nic shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Do you still have the second one?”

“You bet. I’m keeping everything.”

“Can you forward it to me?”

“Are you thinking that the messages were sent from the number in the records?”

“They might be. We need to cover all our bases.”

Nic picked up his phone and forwarded the message to Kaden without opening it. He didn’t need to. The words would be etched in his brain forever.
You’ve been naughty. Lose the bitch
.

“Can you forward it to me too?” Lauren asked. “I’d like to analyze the photo using my editing software. I might see something useful.”

He didn’t want her seeing it again, but she was right. At this point, they had to follow every lead. “One thing I haven’t figured out is how NicsBitch always knows where I am.”

Kaden looked up, his mouth full. After chewing vigorously and downing the bite with half a glass of milk, he said, “It’s got to be more than simply a case of being in the right place at the right time.”

Lauren sat up straight and her eyes widened. “I just thought of something. When Jason started first grade, I got him a GPS-enabled cell phone and put an application on it that lets me know where he is.”

“How can I know if there’s a tracking tool on my phone?”

Lauren held out her hand and he gave her the phone. “If it’s an authorized tool, it’ll be in your applications folder or even on your home screen. But if it’s real spyware, it won’t show up anywhere.” She expertly navigated through the menus. “You do have a couple location-based applications including Family Map. I can uninstall them, if you want. Doesn’t mean there’s nothing stealth though.”

Nic caught the glum expression on his friends’ faces. “Hey, you two. Don’t look so disappointed.” He forced optimism into his tone. “This might be a good thing. If there is a spy app on my phone, it’s a direct link to the stalker. The detectives can use it to hunt the stalker down. And maybe your ex will come through with some useful information that will make all the pieces of the puzzle fit.”

“Right. And let’s not forget your fan mail.” A grin broke out on Kaden’s face. “There’s always the off-chance the cops will find
something
interesting in one of those letters.”

Nic’s fan mail!
Oh God. If the police found the letter Lauren had written to Nic a couple years ago, she’d die. He was in his office talking on the phone with Vivian about the location shoot for his upcoming movie,
At Last
. She had the living room to herself, to pace. She cringed. Her letter had described, in graphic detail, one of her Nic The Lover fantasies. What had she been thinking sending him that? With any luck, the police wouldn’t go back more than a year, and her guilty secret would stay hidden.

The trill of her cell phone interrupted her self-flagellation.

“Ms. James? This is Helen Combs. I’m the assistant to the editor at
Vanity Fair
magazine. Vivian Carmichael sent us some photos you took of Nic The Lover. We’re very interested in your work.”