Little Belle Gone (31 page)

“It’s just past twelve. We should grab lunch while we are down there. The cafeteria is terrible, but it’s cheap and it’s close. “ He caught up to her and instinctively placed his hand firmly on the small of her back. Before she could think, she leaned into the touch and they both seemed to shiver simultaneously before stepping apart again, the strength of their reaction startling. Elizabeth came face to face with her desperate need for his touch. Matt, his face blushing and his eyes darting around the room to see if anyone had seen their contact, seemed to be struggling with the same need. Clearing her throat, Elizabeth took a jerky step forward, then another, Matt following behind closely. They couldn’t speak as they waited on the elevator to come, too tense to even chance a quick look at each other. When the car doors opened on an empty elevator, Liz’s heart slammed against her breastbone. Alone in an elevator was more than she could have hoped for.

Matt flashed her a mischievous grin as he slid into the elevator first. She filed in behind him as he did something she didn’t understand. The wicked look still flashing in his azure eyes, he held both the lobby button and door close button down until the doors slid shut. Releasing the buttons, he immediately turned and swept her into his arms, his questing mouth finding and taking hers with astonishing need. She fell into his kiss, wanton lust filling the car around them. Her mind went quiet, filled only with the taste of his mouth, the feel of his tongue and the sinful way his hands slid over her, cupping her breasts, her bottom, with unhindered desire. Pulling away slightly, she tried and failed to ask the question that faded in and out of the dim light in her mind. His lips found hers again and as he pulled her against his thighs so that she could feel his ardent desire. She groaned and arched into him even further, molding her body against his. Her arms flew to his neck, her slender fingers tangling in his hair. In that moment he was life, the very air she needed to live. He lost his balance and fell against the elevator wall, bringing her with him. He moaned as she shifted her hips against his manhood. The thrill of the moment snapped her free of his intoxicating kiss. Pulling back again, she found her voice, though his mouth still hung temptingly close and delightfully slack, only a whisper away from her own. “What if it stops to let someone else in?” Her eyes flicked to the counter above the double doors as it ticked from twenty one to twenty.

“It can’t. I used a trick I learned in the military for direct floor-to-floor travel. It won’t stop again until we reach the lobby.” His lips grazed over hers, but didn’t take them. She smiled against his mouth, reveling in the warmth of his breath on her skin.

“How simply marvelous,” she whispered as she took his mouth. She kissed him freely now, and with all the mornings pent-up need. Part of her mind, still relatively coherent in the midst of her consuming passion, remembered another moment they spent in this elevator. When she had gotten such a thrill from merely brushing against him, from feeling his lips lightly on her forehead. Now she was having to chant in her head that she mustn’t remove his clothes, or allow him to remove hers. She wanted to, fervently. Their kisses deepened dangerously as he turned and pressed her back against the wall, sliding his hands to her hips and pinning them back. He ground into her and they moaned together. Her mind went silent, dark and decadently blank as she pressed her flesh against his. Her eyes flicked open for a second, almost an involuntary motion, but enough for her to catch sight of the ticker above the doors. She pulled away again, sighing sadly. When Matt’s eyes opened lazily, she motioned with her eye brows toward the counter as it ticked from three to two.

Sighing, Matt pressed his forehead to hers briefly, “It was nice while it lasted.” He frowned a little as she stepped from between him and the wall. Straightening her blouse and making sure her bun was still in place, she watched out of the corner of her eye as he tried valiantly to tuck his aroused flesh secretively away in his trousers. A feat made more difficult by his impressive size. She couldn’t help but snicker lightly behind her hand as he turned to her in exasperation, a question hanging in his flushed expression. She nodded and he turned, smiling sheepishly at her as he squeezed her hand one last time before the doors slid open.

The second Elizabeth stepped into the lobby, she wished they could simply go home. She wanted them to be alone again, with every fiber of her being. Taking a deep, reassuring breath, she moved toward the front desk before Matt’s hand caught her wrist. The unexpected contact, mixed with her thoughts of them alone, cause a telling blush to run rampant over her face. As she met his gaze, she caught a familiar flicker light up his eyes before it disappeared behind his serious expression. “Maybe we should grab our lunch, then the files. We can eat at our desks, this place is a little too crowded for my taste.”

“Sounds good.” She smiled shyly at him as he lead her into the cafe. They made their way through the line, scooping small helpings of only the most edible looking concoctions onto their resealable plastic plates. Matt paid the bill as she grabbed some utensils, and they made their way back toward the elevators. Elizabeth stopped in front of the reception desk and waited for the young officer to look up from his book, but it didn’t seem to be in her future. Matt, growing impatient, cleared his throat and the young man nearly fell out of his chair. Elizabeth smiled warmly and said, “I’m Detective Cord, you have something for me?” Unable to speak from the fright he had just sustained, the young man motioned to a navy blue, lidded, file box resting on the edge of the counter. Along the side, in deep gold letters, was written ‘Targstead Realty Group’. Elizabeth placed her tray on top of the box and lifted it into her arms. Nodding to Matt they returned to the elevator bank. Part of her hoped they could repeat their ride down, but they were soon joined by an over weight short man she recognized as another homicide detective. Though he was far more interested in the sloppy gyro he was slurping than in them, it was clear he was headed to the same place. When the elevator doors opened and he pushed past them into the car, her suspicions were confirmed.

She and Matt slid into the car and around behind the man, perfectly happy to stand directly in the middle of the small box and eat his strong smelling Greek concoction. Matt had to clear his throat three times before the older man reluctantly pushed the button for the twenty seventh floor. It was a long ride up, but Matt kept her entertained by nudging her elbow and making mocking gestures toward the large man’s back. More than once Elizabeth had almost laughed out loud, barely able to stifle the mirth his simple expressions were bringing her. All her joy was shattered as the doors opened onto their floor.

There, directly in their path, was Moreano. The second he saw the wide smile on Elizabeth’s face his expression soured. Her grin vanished in an instant, only adding to the rage in his eyes. Luckily, he seemed to be in a hurry at the moment, unable to stop long enough to berate them. Scowling as they exited the elevator, he slammed past them and nearly broke the plastic cover on the button as he punched it. He stood glaring fiercely at them as the doors slid closed. Once he was out of sight, Liz realized she was shaking. Matt leaned lightly against her side and she looked up at his face. He seemed shaken, too. With a flick of his dark head, he motioned her back to their desks and she followed, fear welling up inside her once again.

Elizabeth sat at her desk eating her passable meal, watching as Matt did the same across from her. Their eyes seemed locked together, tension pulling at every muscle in her body, making her ache all over. She wanted to speak, tell him she missed his nearness, but she didn’t dare. Such an admission would only increase the aching need their moment in the elevator had left in her abdomen. She knew Moreano was out of the office and no other detective would care if they were less than strictly professional, but she was simply too afraid. She was all too aware of how close the elevators were, and since they had no idea of where he had gone or when he would be returning, that kind of contact, even fleeting, would be far too dangerous.

Knowing these truths did not make the desire any less. Elizabeth, losing her appetite for the lack-luster food from unrequited want, tucked her plastic fork inside the container and slid it away from her. She could no longer tolerate the smell of stale vegetables and too much salt. Sighing, she propped her head in her hands and pulled her gaze free of Matt’s entrancing eyes.

“What’s wrong? The food upsetting you?” His teasing smile made the knot in her stomach tighten painfully. Smiling sadly, he nodded. “Yeah, we probably should have just gone somewhere.” Closing his container too, he stood. She watched the long length of his torso move beneath his charcoal pinstripe suit as he stretched his arms over his head. Wicked thoughts overtook her mind and left her fully flushed and squirming in her chair. Too slowly, her addled mind caught firmly in the tumultuous sea of her desires and unable to function properly, she realized that he had done it on purpose. His grin, too wide and too wicked, washed over his entire body. His eyes were blue flames that licked over her flushed flesh, only fueling the raging inferno within her. As if to make things worse, his voice, deep, melodious, and so very tempting, husked out, “Why Detective Cord, is something wrong? You look positively troubled.”

He was using her words against her, taunting her desire freely as she had done to him only a few hours earlier and as much as it irked her, it thrilled her as well. “Oh hush, you! You just wait, these walls can’t protect you forever.” She winked at him slyly and relished the flash of excitement and reckless want that rushed across his face, setting his eyes ablaze again and causing his lips to part temptingly. She had only meant the jab to affect him, but his reaction, pure and plain as it was, had a strong mirror in her. Her pulse began to race and her knees began to grind together, trying desperately to hold in the heat spreading rampantly down her thighs.

He moved around the desks, drawing very close to her as he lifted her partially full lunch container into his hands to join his own. The movement afforded him the chance to get dangerously near to her. His warm breath on her cheek made her shiver. “How very wonderful that moment will be, Mara darling.” The soft, raspy whisper of her intimate nickname left her completely undone. Having lost her resolve entirely, she turned, determined to drag him into a deep, full, seeking kiss, but he apparently knew what his words would lead to. Pulling away suddenly, he moved just out of reach, winking at her full pout. Her heart fluttered and in that moment she wished more than anything she was free. Free to be who she wanted to be, do what she wanted to do. He made her happy, made her want to be happy all the time. A bright star, the way she felt when they were alone and she was in his arms.

She watched for a second as he moved away toward the break room. Sighing longingly, she turned back to her desk and grabbed the real estate records, pulling the box over to sit centered in front of her. Removing the lid, she retrieved a rather hefty tie front file folder from its depths, then another, small folder of the same type followed. The larger one had an expertly printed label denoting that it contained all of the New York City properties, while its smaller sibling contained those that occupied the more rural regions of New York state. Grinning to herself mischievously, she stood from her chair and placed the larger of the two squarely on Matt’s desk.
Punishment
, she mused inwardly, for how brutally he had just teased her. Returning to her chair, she unwound the cord holding the small binder together and pulled a rather large stack of papers from within. Each page, or stapled pair of pages, was a detailed property summary containing all the pertinent information on each individual listing. Realizing that there were several hundred listings propped on her thighs, resting against the edge of her desk, she leaned back into her chair and began thumbing through them one by one. Deciding to start with the properties Mark represented in the Hamptons, she found the header section she needed and initiated her sort. As she was pulling the twelfth summary free from the stack, another coffee cup, steaming and aromatic, appeared next to her shoulder.

“That looks tedious.” Matt’s face grimaced. She turned a bit in order to look up at him squarely, while not causing the precariously pinioned pile of papers in her lap to cascade all over the floor at her feet.

“I guess you should get started then, huh?” His expression went blank as his eyes darted to the large file folder weighing down his desk.

Sighing, he looked back down into her clear blue eyes and said, “Really? Is this my penance?” Elizabeth couldn’t hide the quick smile that parted her lips. Matt leaned in farther, baring down on his hands and drawing even with her shoulder. The motion, given her current predicament of being covered over in paper, would have appeared to a colleague like he was trying to read over her shoulder. Now, so very close to her ear, he said, huskily, “It was worth it.” Then, without another syllable, he was gone, moving around to his own desk, just out of reach as she made a move for his lips. He had done it again. He had robbed her of her common sense and left her swimming in her attraction.

Shaking her head clear, Liz tried to focus intently on her task. When all of the Hamptons listings had been successfully pulled, she returned the remainder to the folder and began a more in-depth study of the sorted files. Reading each summary one at a time, she worked her way through the small stack. Fourteen in she found the one she was really searching for—the summary sheet for the property on Sanders Avenue, their crime scene. Sitting up straight again, she read each line. The file contained information on required repairs and maintenance requests, key box codes, showing times and dates, but nothing that was of use to her. For a moment she feared requesting these files would be little more than a tedious and time consuming waist, but then she saw it. At the very bottom of the page, little more than a footnote, was a single form line listing the properties previous owners.