Everything She Wanted (14 page)

“I’m staring right at them.” The hate in Kate’s voice made even Ben turn to look down at her. “We don’t have the evidence yet, but we will find it.”

Christina
glared at Kate, then locked her gaze on Alex. “I see Donald in him. Too bad he’ll never know his father. Let’s hope the person who killed Donald doesn’t go after him.”

Christina reached out to touch Alex’s head. Kate smacked her hand away.

“You scratched me,” Christina shouted, holding her wrist, the diamond tennis bracelet sparkling in the light.

“Don’t you dare touch him.” Kate held
Alex close and turned him away from Christina.

“Let’s go,” Christina ordered Evan and Mr. Cagney, walking away without another word.

Ben waited for them to leave, brushing his hand up and down Kate’s back to soothe and reassure her.

“What a piece of work,” Detective Raynott said when the group was out of earshot.

“Yes. But she gave me just what I wanted,” Kate said.

“What are
you talking about?” Ben asked.

Kate held up her hand. “Her DNA. I scratched her.”

“I’ll call one of the lab guys to come up and collect it.” Detective Raynott went to a desk and picked up the phone to make his call.

Ben smiled down at Kate. “Nice work. I’d have never thought to do something like that.”

“She made it easy. Now we’ll know exactly whose blood is on the knife.”

Ben cocked his head and stared off in the distance. “I don’t understand. I really thought it belonged to Evan. I mean, he had the bruises on his torso and face, a limp I thought meant he’d been cut or stabbed in the leg. Christina doesn’t have a mark on her. She doesn’t exhibit any signs she got hurt.”

“Blood will tell.”

Chapter Fifteen

K
ATE SAT ACROSS
from Ben in the elegant restaurant suddenly wary after their encounter with the Faradays at the police station. What she thought would be easy to prove turned out to be a complicated mess.

“I feel like I’m missing something.”

Ben reached across the table and covered her hand. “We’ll find the evidence and put him behind bars.”

“I thought
the blood would be the last nail in his coffin. We know he did it.”

“Christina had a lot to do with it too.” Ben frowned. “I’m not so sure she was actually there.”

“But the blood?”

“It could be hers, but it doesn’t make sense. If they both went there and Margo kicked Evan’s ass, why doesn’t Christina seem to have a mark on her?”

“Did you see the odd look in her eye when Evan was
cleared because the blood didn’t match him? It’s like she got something over on us. I could almost hear her taunting us that they got away with it.”

“We’ll figure out how.”

“Maybe she paid someone off in the lab to falsify the results.”

Ben linked his fingers with hers and squeezed. “Maybe. Let it go for now. You need to eat and get some rest.”

“Let’s hope it’s uninterrupted. I
swear, between Alex getting up in the middle of the night and the security alarms going off at odd times I’ve barely slept.”

Ben frowned and looked away before turning back to look her in the eye. “Now that they know Alex is Donald’s sole heir and you control everything, or at least you will once everything is settled, they’ll come after you even harder. I’m worried.”

“They can’t get into
Haven House. They’ve tried. I’ll be fine.”

“If something happened to you or Alex . . .” Ben’s gaze fell on Alex sleeping in his car seat atop a high chair beside the table.

“Ben, you’re sweet to worry about us. I’m worried, but I can also take care of myself. I’ve been doing it a long time.”

“I’ve seen your skills. Well, some of them. They didn’t help your sister.”

No, they hadn’t.
That thought turned her insides cold. A man determined to see another person dead would stop at nothing. Evan knew how to fight. He’d been in enough skirmishes to not be deterred by her abilities. He’d come after her. He’d keep coming to get back what Donald gave to Alex and not him.

“He won’t stop, Kate,” Ben said, echoing her own fears. “Besides . . .”

“What?” she asked when he didn’t
continue and looked away.

“I want to protect you and keep you safe. I want you to trust that I will.”

She covered their joined hands with her free one and squeezed. “Ben, you are doing so much for us. For me. Letting me stay at Haven House . . . it means so much. Alex and I would be vulnerable at my condo without all the security you have at the shelter.”

“You’re safe there for now,
but how long can that last. I can’t hide you there forever.”

“One thing at a time. Let’s focus on the investigation. Donald will be laid to rest tomorrow. We’ll settle the estate with Christina.”

“Are you up for a fight with her?” Ben asked.

“Not really. Do you think a judge will uphold Donald’s wishes and enforce the prenup?”

“It’s kind of a gray area. She had multiple affairs.
His lawyer has the evidence to back that up to substantiate Donald’s claims that she violated the terms of the prenup. However . . .”

“Donald was having an affair with my sister. They had a child,” Kate finished Ben’s thought.

“Exactly. So, you and I can work with Donald’s lawyer to either fight hard to keep everything, or negotiate a settlement.”

“Maybe if I pay her off, she’ll go
away.”

Ben pressed his lips together. She’d gotten to know him well enough to understand that small gesture meant he didn’t really think so.

She let out a deep sigh, resigned that she’d have to fight. Her whole life had been a fight. What she wouldn’t give to turn this whole thing over to Ben and let him handle it. Huh, she trusted him to handle it. That was certainly new. But Christina
and Evan wanted her dead. She couldn’t let her mind go to that dark place that she believed they’d try to kill Alex too. Still, that ominous thought disturbed her thoughts and filled her nightmares.

“Kate?”

She gave Ben a halfhearted smile. “I’m okay. Just tired.” She raked her fingers through her long hair and pushed it over her shoulder to lie down her back.

“What are your plans
for Margo? Will you hold a ser­vice?”

“Alex and I are her only family. Her coworkers sent a card and flowers to the house. I’ll have to go to her office and clean out her desk.”

“Kate, honey, the funeral home contacted you today. Her ashes are ready for you to pick up. You need to say goodbye.”

“I can’t. How am I supposed to do that after everything we’ve been through together?” The
tears flooded her eyes and spilled over, but she didn’t completely give in to her grief. She held it at bay for long periods, but thinking about scattering Margo’s ashes as she wanted left Kate’s insides cold. The sense of loneliness she felt since her sister died amplified inside of her, making her heart ache too much to bear.

“Kate, honey, breathe.”

“I can’t. Not without her. She was
my best friend. The one person I could count on always. She promised we’d grow old together.”

Ben slipped from the booth, came around the table, and sat beside her. He hooked one arm around her back and pulled her into his chest. She leaned into him, trying to stop the flood of tears and emotions. He smelled fresh—­soap and a light, crisp aftershave, like a cold dawn in a meadow. She focused
on him and the warmth he enveloped her in, safe in his arms. The hesitancy she felt with other men to get close and share her true feelings didn’t exist between them. It never had, since the night he stayed at her place and held her while she wept, then fell asleep in his arms.

“This is not at all what I expected.” She never thought she’d fall for a guy, but if she did, she expected it to
be exciting and tumultuous, filled with fun dates and ups and downs that proved they could work through anything. She never expected that falling for a guy meant she’d simply just fill with this overwhelming need to be with him and know everything about him. She never thought that it meant she’d feel like she knew the most basic things about him without even asking. Like despite him being a lawyer
and needing to win, he knew how to compromise. He’d shown her that when he suggested they come to a settlement with Christina. For her safety and Alex’s, he’d give up the fight and have her pay off the woman responsible for taking the most important person in her life. Well, besides Alex. Ben wanted her to do that for her son, so he didn’t lose his mother. Kate didn’t want that to happen. She wanted
to make a life with Ben.

Oh, God, how did this happen? She loved him.

At least, she thought she did.

She pulled back and stared up at his handsome face. His dark eyes stared back at her filled with concern and something she didn’t quite recognize. Maybe she just didn’t want to admit that she saw it there. Lurking behind his own fear.

She brushed her hand over his soft, dark hair
and touched her fingers to his cheek. She confessed something she’d never let anyone know. “I’m scared.”

Ben didn’t say a word, just leaned in and kissed her. His lips were warm and soft against hers. He held her close, wrapped her in his warmth and that something she didn’t want to name but felt all the same. Without words he told her how he felt, shared his fear, and the same certainty she
felt that she needed him in her life.

Yes, she could face down the Faradays, taking on the responsibility of overseeing Alex’s inheritance, being a mother, learning to live her life without her sister. But she couldn’t face a future without Ben. Without her son. They meant more to her than she ever thought possible.

Told you so
, she heard her sister’s voice in her head. Okay, maybe Margo
was right about finding someone to love and being happy. Her sister found it. Why couldn’t Kate have the same thing with Ben? Did he want to build a life with her and Alex?

The second the thought entered her mind, Ben answered it with a hungry kiss, sliding his tongue along hers, tasting and tempting her to pay attention to everything he didn’t say with words.

“You two are about to set
this place on fire,” a woman said from behind Ben.

Ben ended the kiss and pressed his forehead to Kate’s. “Settle into it. We have all the time in the world.”

Not giving her a chance to say anything, he turned and smiled up at Elizabeth. “Hey, we missed you when we came in.”

Elizabeth cocked up one eyebrow. “That’s because you only have eyes for her.”

Ben tilted his head and a
lopsided grin made the dimple in his right cheek appear. “Busted. You remember Kate.”

“It’s nice to see you again.” Elizabeth set two plates of chocolate cake in front of them, then stared down at Alex. “I hoped he’d be awake.”

“He had a long afternoon at the police station,” Ben said, brushing his fingers over Alex’s hair. The sweet gesture touched something deep inside of Kate.

“What did he do to end up in custody, steal your heart?” Elizabeth teased.

Ben chuckled. “Well, he did that. His mother too,” he said with an easy smile. “We went to exchange information with the detective working the case.”

“If you need Sam’s help, he’s ready and willing anytime.”

“He’s not working undercover?”

“Not these days. The kids hate it when he’s gone for days and weeks.
Me too. Sam doesn’t like it as much anymore either.”

“He wants to be with his family,” Ben guessed.

“Yes.”

“I’ll give him a call if things heat up. Right now, we’re waiting on some lab results and to see what the Faradays want from Kate.”

“Money,” Kate said. That simple and that complicated. With so much at stake, she needed to figure out what Donald would want her to do—­how far
would he want her to take this? He’d want her to protect Alex.

­“People always think money will make everything better. All it does is make things more complicated. It’s not so much the money, but the greed. That’s what makes ­people do things without thinking about the consequences or who they hurt.” Elizabeth spoke like she knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Elizabeth was almost
kidnapped and ransomed a few years ago. Sam stopped the guy before he could take Elizabeth and . . .”

Kill her, Kate finished Ben’s last words in her mind.

“Sam is an FBI agent. He was assigned to protect me after a serial killer shot him in front of my house and I became the only witness who could identify him.”

“Wow, that makes what I’m going through with the Faradays seem tame by
comparison.”

“They’re just warming up, Kate,” Ben warned.

“I have the same feeling myself.”

“Eat cake. Chocolate makes everything better. If that doesn’t work, go back to kissing. Ben, you look happier than I’ve ever seen. You two make a great ­couple.” Elizabeth glided away, saying hello to her other customers in the restaurant.

Ben forked up a bite of cake and stuffed it into
his mouth, avoiding looking at her.

“Why haven’t you been happy, Ben?” She couldn’t help but ask. She hated to think some woman broke his heart and he’d been pining away for her. The thought of him with another woman burned her gut and cracked her heart.

“My friends think I work too much and don’t take enough time for myself.”

“Are they right?”

“For the most part. Work is great.
My business has expanded over the years. I’ve built Haven House and sustained it with donations and city, state, and federal funding. It’s a legacy that will live on without me. I’m at that point in my life when I want more. My friends want me to have more.”

“They’re all happily married with families, so you’re the odd man out, and they want you to join the club.”

Ben laughed. “Basically,
yes. The thing is, I want to be a part of that club. Not going to a club and meeting women who only last for a flicker of time instead of becoming a flame that lights up my life.”

She didn’t know what to say to such deep and meaningful words.

“You know that moment we shared a few minutes ago?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I want more of that. With you. The way you looked at me. The way it
made me feel. The honesty of it.”

“This feels like it’s going too fast and too slow all at the same time. My head spins whenever you’re near and my heart . . .”

“What?”

“Wants more. Of you, of everything you make me feel, even when I try not to feel it. Everything seems so complicated for me right now. It seems so easy for you.”

“It’s not easy leaving you each night, trying not
to call you ten times a day while I’m at work, giving you the time you need to grieve, settle into being a full-­time mother, and figure out what you want from me. Just my help. A few fun dates. Something more and permanent.”

“That’s the part that scares me.”

“A relationship?”

“No, how much I want something more and permanent with you.”

“Good to know. We’re on the same page. We
can both relax.”

“That’s the last thing I can do around you.”

“That’s because you want to sleep with me, but we haven’t known each other long—­at least in this way—­I get it.”

“Are you always this blunt, or are you teasing me?”

“No. And no. I just don’t see any reason for us to do the whole half-­truths and flirting thing to know what we each want and will happen. Soon.”

“Soon?”

“God, I hope so. You’re killing me just being this close.” He leaned in and kissed her softly. “Kissing you makes me dizzy. Making love to you will probably kill me, but I’ll die happy.”

Kate reached for him, planting her hand over his thumping heart.

“Want to feel it jump?” He didn’t wait for her answer, just leaned in and kissed her again, taking the kiss deep.

She lost herself
in the pounding of his heart against her palm, the feel of his lips pressed against hers, the slide of his tongue into her mouth. He tasted like chocolate and need. So addictive she forgot where they were, what she wanted to say, everything but him.