Kill Me Again (18 page)

“That's what it felt like when I saw the flyer. So I figured, why not try it, see if it's familiar.”

“And?”

He met her eyes and smiled. A real smile. “Yeah. I remember doing this when I was a kid, too. And I remember the Scout troop and the camping in detail now.”

“It's coming back, Aaron.”

“I think so, yeah. All but my adult life. I remember my parents from when I was a kid, and I know my father died when I was in fifth grade. Heart failure.”

“I'm so sorry.”

“I don't know about my mother, though. You know, where she is now. But that, the more recent parts of my life—it just feels like a word that's right on the tip of my tongue. It's closer than ever. Maybe within reach.”

“I'm so glad.”

“Me, too,” he said. “It's the first time I've felt sure it would return at all.”

 

He moved to the bow and used the rope coiled there to tie the little boat to the dock. She turned and did the same with the rope in the stern, looping it around one of the upright dock supports.

Freddy had moved from the shore to the head of the dock when he saw Aaron maneuvering the boat that way, but he wouldn't step onto it. Just kept lifting one paw, putting it onto the wood, then removing it again.

“Right,” Aaron said to him. “The big brave dog will ride in the boat, jump overboard, swim to shore, soak the captain—but he's too scared to walk out onto the dock.”

“Woof!”

“You're a big baby!”

Freddy replied again, but this time it sounded as if he were trying to talk. “Row-ow-ow-mow.” More or less.

“Don't get mouthy with me,” Aaron said.

He climbed out of the boat, onto the dock, and reached a hand down to Olivia. She stretched hers up to him, still smiling from his exchange with the dog, and he closed his around it. So big, his hand. Strong. When he pulled her up, she saw the sinews clearly in his powerful forearm, and she bit her lip against the surge of reaction.

Too late, though. He'd already seen it. It was in his eyes when they met hers again. He steadied her as she
pulled herself up onto the dock, and she felt the pull of him, like a powerful magnet she could not resist. His hand on her waist, then on her hip…it was delicious. Almost forbidden. And she found her own hand settling on his shoulder, because she didn't know what else to do with it. It must have looked as if they were dancing without music, still in their life jackets. She smiled at how silly that image was, and then the look in his eyes stunned her, caught her and held her.

He was going to kiss her.

“I…um…gosh, this is starting to chafe. I need to get it off,” she said, pulling free of him to mess with the buckles of her life vest.

“Yeah. Me, too.”

In seconds he was sliding his off, while she was still on buckle number one.

“I'll go over to the building, see if there's—Yeah, there's a sign. I can see it from here.”

He kept walking, and she finally found the magic catch and freed herself from what had been beginning to feel like a giant squid wrapped around her. Then she hurried to join him, shrugging the vest off on the way.

“I see,” he said. “And what if you didn't have a quarter in your pocket for the phone?”

She tipped her head to one side and pointed.
Phone is Free
was handwritten on lined paper and affixed to the top of the phone with silver duct tape.

“Oh.”

“So are you going to call them?” she asked.

“Let's grab the boat first.”

“Okay.” She turned and headed back down to the dock, trotting all the way to the far end, where she'd tied off the stern. She began unlooping the rope from the pylon, as Aaron, who'd followed her, began untying the bow.

“Ready?” he called.

“Ready.”

He began walking forward, towing the boat. She started following, then felt something odd on her ankle. She looked down, startled, to see the rope tightening around her leg.

“Aaron, wait! I—”

But that was all she got out before the rope pulled her leg right out from under her and her arms began flailing as she fell headfirst into the water.

She came up spluttering, pushing the water from her face with her hands. It was only about chest deep, but it was cold.

Aaron looked down at her from the dock, his face alarmed. “Liv! God, are you all right?”

He was on his knees, reaching down to her. She
reached up to grab his hand. “I guess.” She sniffled, choked, even threw in a shiver.

“Come on, I've got you.” He closed his hand around hers, and she gave one mighty tug, yanking him headfirst into the water beside her.

When his head popped back up, she was laughing out loud. Big, full belly laughs that threatened to split her sides. And she couldn't seem to stop. God, she didn't think she'd
ever
laughed like that.

“Very funny,” he said.

But she was still laughing, so he started laughing, too, and then he wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her hard against him, pressing his laughing mouth to hers.

And then the laughter stopped. It probably fled due to the heat. She opened her mouth, welcomed his tongue with her own, as the two twisted and twined around each other. His hand lowered to cup her buttocks, tugging her hips hard against him. She arched even closer, wanting him, wanting this, and refusing to think of all the reasons why it was a bad idea.

He'd saved her life, that night in her home. He'd been by her side ever since. He'd considered killing a man he didn't even know to protect her. He loved her dog. If she couldn't trust him, who
could
she trust? The old Olivia would have answered, “No one.” But this woman she was becoming since she'd been with him—the one who'd found her passion for life and laughter and the courage to face down any adversary—
that
Olivia disagreed.

His other hand slid down her back as his mouth plundered hers. He tasted her sweetness like a hummingbird at a lily. Both hands cupping her butt, he jerked her harder to him, and she felt his erection, even in the cool water, pressing against her. Then his hands slid lower, down the backs of her thighs, to where her knees bent, and he pulled them forward and up, wrapping her legs around his waist. Turning, he carried her through the water and up onto the shore.

She locked her ankles around his back, and he bent slightly to grab the rope on the bow of the little boat as they walked past it, barely breaking his stride. He pulled the boat up out of the water, releasing the rope when he estimated it was far enough ashore to be safe, and kept right on walking with her wrapped around him, still kissing her as if his life depended on it.

She certainly felt as if hers did. If he stopped, she was sure she would die.

He set her on the ground, then leaned forward, pressing her down onto her back in a soft mat of wildflowers and sweet grasses. Lowering himself on top of her, he broke his kiss to trail his mouth over her jaw, down to her neck. There he paused to nibble and suck and bite.

Every sensation imaginable shot through her, leaving her entire body tingling, with the hardest shocks of all reverberating deep in her center. She was no longer aware of exactly what was happening. There were his hands pulling at her clothes. There was the delicious instant when his mouth first covered her bare nipple and
she thought her head would explode. She screamed in pleasure, and he sucked even harder.

After that there was more tugging, more pulling off clothes, until her jeans were gone and she lay naked in the grass. He was naked, too, and kneeling over her. She let her gaze move over his body, from his broad, defined chest to his sexy-as-sin abs, to the erection that seemed to her like the ultimate compliment.

His eyes were moving over her body, as well, and she hoped he liked what he saw. She was no gym rat, but she hadn't let herself go. And the slight smile on his lips told her it was appreciated.

And then he put his hand between her legs, touched her, parted and probed her, even slipped two fingers inside.

“Unh.” Her head tipped back and her eyes slammed closed, so she could focus on sensation and only sensation. “I need you inside me, Aaron,” she whispered.

Then, finally, he was entering her. Lowering his body on top of hers, sliding his shaft into her, smooth and deep and without pause.

She felt her body being stretched to allow him entry, and when he slid back and entered again, the wet friction was so good she whimpered.

“Okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.
Hell
yeah.”

His smile was quick and bright, and it made her hotter than ever to see it. He moved in and out, entering with more force every time, quickening his pace even as her
body twisted into tight tiny knots that seemed unbearable. And still kept tightening…

…until everything in her dissolved under an onslaught of sensation. Her entire body vibrated, trembled, pulsed. Tiny bursts of sound exploded from her lips, driving from the very core of her, and her body was coated in sweat as her skin became hypersensitive.

Wave after wave of pleasure hit her. She was oblivious to anything else.

And then, slowly, as her body unclenched, relaxed utterly, and she blinked her eyes open, she was aware that he must have achieved bliss, as well, because his body was boneless, draped over hers.

She stroked his hair slowly, repeatedly, dragging her fingernails lightly over his scalp.

“I don't remember ever feeling anything like that before,” he said softly.

“Oh, gee, thanks, Mr. Amnesia.”

“No. No, I wasn't being a smart-ass. I honestly think I would. If it had been like that, I mean. I think I would have remembered.”

She smiled. “It was…that good for you, too?”

He lifted his head from her chest and looked into her eyes. “I'm really glad it was mutual, Liv, because, yeah. Yeah, it was that good for me, too.”

“I never—” she began. But then she bit her lip, shook her head. “As great as this is, we really have to get moving. I hate to, but…the meeting, you know.”

He nodded. “I know. Timing sucks, doesn't it?”

She smiled, shook her head. “The timing was perfect. Everything about this was perfect.”

His own smile was tender, and he kissed her once again. Then he sighed. “You're right, though. We need to get going. I need a shower before we leave for that meeting.” He rolled off her and onto his back, sitting up as he did. Then he began dressing. “And while I wouldn't mind a stiff drink to bolster my courage, I want to be sharp as a razor for this, so…not this time.”

“Call it a victory drink, then, and I'll join you when it's all over,” she said, amazed to find herself thinking she might make it safely back after all. “And for what it's worth,” she added softly, “I think you've just bolstered the hell out of my courage.”

He laughed, then sat there in the grass and watched her every move as she dressed. It made her feel pushed just beyond the limits of her comfort level, but she didn't turn away, and that was something of an unexpected rush.

When she finished dressing he got to his feet and quickly threw on his own clothes, then reached out to take her hand. Together, they walked to the payphone, and he dialed the number for the shuttle.

B
ack at the cabin, Aaron hit the shower, giving her the opportunity she'd been waiting for. As soon as she heard the water running, she dug the cell phone out of the bag he'd been carrying and started pressing buttons, cringing with every barely audible tone.

The automated phone-system voice answered, and she followed the prompts, keying in her home phone number and pass code, and then she paced the room in quick, agitated strides while she waited for the way-too-talkative robot to finish its spiel and let her listen to her messages. And then,
finally
…

“Olivia, it's Carrie. I'm worried to death. I haven't said anything about what we talked about, and I won't—unless it looks like I have no choice—but damn, girl, check in, would you? Be safe, okay?”

She deleted that message and went to the next.

“Professor Dupree, this is Dean Cranshaw. I understand there was a last-minute cancellation of this fund
raiser with barely any explanation, and that from a third party.”

She wondered who had phoned in to try to save her butt. Carrie? Bryan, maybe?

“Naturally I assume there is a good explanation, but I'm baffled by your failure to contact anyone to explain yourself. Please call me as soon as possible.”

She deleted that one, as well, thanking her stars she had tenure and a damn good reason for bailing out on the university the way she had. Maybe she would still have a job, if she survived this. Then the third message played, and her body tensed when she heard Bryan's voice.

Would this give her the answers she was seeking? She glanced nervously toward the bathroom door. The shower was still running. Good.

“Olivia, it's Bryan. I can't tell you how I know this, but the man you are with is
not
Aaron Westhaven. I repeat, he's not Westhaven. And the serial number of the steel plate in his head traces back to a guy who died during Desert Storm. Probably we got one of the digits wrong, but, the point is, he's not Westhaven, and we don't know who he is, and you could be in danger. Whatever this is, Olivia, it's big. The FBI are involved. So just…watch your back, okay? Watch your back—and if you did take off with this joker, then ditch him and come home just as fast as you can. At this point, I don't think I can keep this under wraps much longer if I don't hear
from you, and I'm not even sure if I should. Please, for God's sake, call me.”

She deleted the message and sat there, staring at the phone in stunned silence. Only very gradually, as her mind expanded to include the space around her again, did she realize the shower had stopped running and Freddy was nuzzling her hand, trying to get her attention. God, how long had she been reeling in shock?

She went into the cell's call log and deleted the entry for the phone call she had just made, then turned off the phone and dashed across the room to cram it back into the depths of Aaron's bag.

She straightened just as the bathroom door opened, and struck a casual pose, pretending to study an imaginary chip in her fingernail.

“Liv?”

She looked up as if startled. “You can't be done already.”

“No, but I need my shaving kit. There's a little bag inside the big one. Would you mind…?”

She turned quickly, her body between him and the bag, and moved her hand as if unzipping it, even though it was already unzipped. She found the shaving kit and left the bag open, so he wouldn't notice that it made a sound closing that it had not made when allegedly opening. Then she took the shaving kit to the bathroom door and handed it to him.

His eyes caressed her face.

She recalled the phone call and shivered in fear.
Because she knew all too well that if he wasn't Aaron Westhaven, he could be anyone. Even someone sent to kill her. Why else would he have come to town, looking for her? And with her card in his pocket, the card she'd sent to the real Aaron.

God, she thought, the real Aaron had never arrived. Had this man done something to him? And if so, what?

She faked a smile, but he frowned in reply, as if he could see that something in her eyes had changed. She smiled harder and shoved the shaving kit at him. “Hurry up, will you? I miss you out here.”

His worried expression relaxed. And the way he looked at her then made her heart hurt. God, she wanted to stop wondering about him. She wanted to
know
. She wanted the rest of this over with. Maybe there was a chance for that tonight, she realized, an idea taking shape in her mind.

“I won't be long,” Aaron said, then backed inside and closed the door.

She leaned closer and called, “I'm going to take Freddy for a quick walk while you finish up.”

“Okay.”

She ran to the bag and grabbed the phone again. Dialing rapidly, even as she dashed through the cabin, she quietly opened the front door and stepped outside. She didn't even have to call Freddy. He romped out beside her, happy as could be. She pulled the door closed behind her.

It was dark outside—and it being the middle of summer, that meant it was late. She would have to face Tommy all too soon. God, she was nervous. And now she wasn't even sure about her only ally.

The phone at the other end rang and rang, but finally a familiar voice answered. “Kendall.”

“Hey,” she said. “It's me. Olivia. I got your message. You really think he's—”

“I don't know what he is. Are you with him? Please, tell me you're not with him.”

“I am, but I'm fine. Look, there's something you don't know. A man broke into my house the other night, after I came to the hospital. He drugged Freddy—”

“No! Are you okay?”

“Yes, fine.”

“And Fred? What about Fred?”

“Freddy's fine, too. But still, this guy was demanding something I took for insurance when I left Tommy. And at the very least, I don't think he cared if he had to hurt me, Bryan. But Aaron—I mean, whoever he is—showed up. He beat the guy up, disarmed him, probably saved my life.”

“Yeah, ten to one it was the same guy who tried to kill him in the first place. Look, I know you don't want to think about this, but what if whoever sent your amnesiac also sent someone after him when he didn't do the job?”

“To kill him?”

“These guys play hardball, Olivia.”

“Yeah, but to
kill
him? Besides, that theory doesn't hold any water at all. How could he have failed to do the job when he only arrived in town that day? He hadn't even met me yet. No, there's something more going on here.”

“You need to come in, Olivia.”

“I agree. I also need my life back. We're meeting Tommy tonight to trade the disks I stole from him sixteen years ago for his word that he won't come after me.”

“That's insane, Olivia. To trust his word—”

“I
don't
trust his word.”

“Why on earth are you going, then?”

“Because I want to end this. Listen, here's what I'm thinking. Tommy will have weapons, and he
will
try to hurt me. I
know
he will. So I want you to show up before us, set up an ambush.”

“Tommy's a two-time loser,” Bryan said slowly.

“That's right, and this will be his third strike. Automatic life sentence. And then I'll never have to worry about him again.”

“I think you're brilliant, Professor.”

“Well, that's sort of my job, isn't it?”

“You realize I'll have to take your…friend in, too.”

“He's done nothing illegal, Bryan.”

“Nothing we know of.”

“You can't arrest a man for doing something you don't know of.”

He sighed. “He's wanted by the Feds, Olivia. I don't have any say in the matter. It's out of my hands.”

“Not if you don't tell them what we're doing. Look, if you want to talk to him, talk to him. But don't hand him over to anyone else. Or the deal's off.”

He was silent for a long moment. “I'll talk to him first. And I'll do the best I can about the rest. I promise. Now when and where is this meeting taking place?”

“Midnight, tonight. The old Campbell farm.”

“We'll be there. You be safe in the meantime, Olivia.”

“I will. Thanks, Bryan. And…look, I like this man. I think he's a good man. And whatever he was before, well, maybe that gunshot changed him somehow.”

“You can't know what will happen when his memory returns, though.”

“I know. I know. I just… Go easy with him, okay?”

“Olivia? You're not—”

“Gotta go before he gets suspicious. Thanks, Bryan.” She disconnected quickly, before Bryan could ask the question he was clearly about to.

And she didn't want to think about it any further, nor about how she would have answered.

Instead, she headed back into the cabin, deleted the number from the call log and replaced the phone, zipping the bag closed this time.

She felt terribly guilty for betraying the man she'd just made love with, but she knew—too well—what happened when you trusted a violent man. A ruthless man. An unethical man.

It had nearly cost her her life once. And while she
didn't want to think Aaron—or whatever his name was—was a man who deserved any of those labels, she had to take precautions when it came to her own life. She'd fought too hard for it to do otherwise.

 

They arrived early, and Olivia was stunned to find that the place she had chosen was not as abandoned as she had expected. Instead, there were several cars parked in an untended field, one with music blasting from its sound system. A bonfire was visible in the distance, and a dozen or so partying teenagers stood around it.

The place had been a dairy farm years ago. But the house was long gone, taken out by a freak twister in '95. The family had left, never to return. The farm had been claimed by the county for back taxes a few years later. The barn and outbuildings were sagging as the elements worked steadily, slowly, patiently to reclaim what was left of them. You could almost see it happening, as the vines and bushes rose up along the walls, their fingers reaching out to embrace the wood and creep even onto the rusted metal rooftops, as the moss crept up behind.

There were no longer any driveways, but you could tell where they had once been, because the grass and weeds grew thinner in those areas. One path curved inward toward the largest of the barns, then looped back out again. Another path forked off from it and went around to the side, to where the barn bridge, a now crumbling, earthen ramp, led to the hayloft above. Another ghost of a driveway showed in front of the house, and
still another took a twisting course through the field to the pond a few hundred feet from the main road and the foundation that showed where a house had once stood. The kids and their bonfire were out near the pond.

The meeting with Tommy was to take place closer to the road, near the barn.

Olivia hoped the kids were far enough away to be safe. Tommy wouldn't miss their presence and might think it was some kind of a trap. The bonfire was leaping high as its flames reached for the night sky. Their reflection danced on the surface of the water, like some kind of eerie optical illusion. The whole scene looked surreal. “Aaron” parked the SUV at the edge of the path nearest the road, farthest from the pond and the party, and sat there taking it all in. Then he looked at her and nodded. “I thought you said no one would be here? Or did you actually pick this spot because there would be people here? Witnesses.”

“No. God, I'd never put kids at risk like that. It's a weeknight, for heaven's sake. I had no idea they'd be here.”

“It's still summer vacation,” he reminded her. “Weeknights no longer apply.”

“I should have thought of that.” She was tense, worried, and already regretting her choice to tip off Bryan about this meeting. But Bryan was her friend. Or, like Carrie, as close to a friend as anyone in Shadow Falls was to her. He was a good man and a great cop. Nothing bad would happen to Aaron. Not unless he really
was some kind of a criminal and had it coming to him. Still, this was going to be hard. He would be hurt when he learned she'd talked to Bryan behind his back.

Olivia lifted her chin. She had to look out for herself first. She couldn't put her life at risk just because she was falling for this man.

God, she was, wasn't she? She was falling for him—falling for a man she didn't even know, despite the fact that it felt as if she knew him better than anyone ever could. The truth was, she didn't even know his name.

Then why does keeping things from him feel so wrong?

“Do you think the kids will be at risk?” she whispered.

He nodded. “Your risk goes down by them being here. Theirs goes up. It's a trade-off.”

“Forget it, then. Let's leave, let's call Tommy and—”

He put a hand on her thigh. “Easy, babe.”

Babe?
Lord, he
was
reading a lot into the sex they'd had, wasn't he? Could he really be starting to have…feelings for her, too?

“He's not likely to try anything with that many witnesses,” he said, keeping his voice low. “He couldn't kill them all, and that's what he would have to do to make it worth his while to kill any of them,
or
either of
us.
You made a good call, choosing this spot. Come on.”

“What?”

“Time to get you out of sight.”

“Already? It's still early—”

“Trust me, it's time.”

“But I told you—he has to know I would insist on coming.”

“Yeah, and I'm going to tell him I refused to bring you and see if he'll make the deal anyway. You can get what you wanted. You can see his face—but from some safe vantage point.”

She shook her head slowly as she opened the passenger door. “He'll never go for it. And he'll know I'm here.”