TICK TOCK RUN (Romantic Mystery Suspense) (33 page)

“No rush.”  I struggled to remember why I’d wanted to be on my own.

Lee removed his jacket and, using a long throw, tossed it onto the sofa in the dining room.  His gaze swung around the room before coming back to me. 

My heart caught for the second time this evening.  Just being in the same room as him, made my body sizzle.

He sidestepped me.

I twisted around to face him, my back lightly pressing against the cool fridge. 

He stroked the arm of my dressing gown, and it slipped to one side.  His gaze fell straight to my shoulder.  “What happened to you?  You’ve cut yourself.”

“I fell in the road.”

“What?  When?”

I pulled my sleeve up over my shoulder and pinched my gown together across my chest.  “I was checking inside vehicles along the street after the photo arrived.  I slipped and a car drove by.  It’s just a graze.”

Before I spoke another word, he jerked my sleeve back down and began examining me for further cuts.  He had the unmistakeable look in his eye of someone who was boiling up with anger.  “Jesus, Chelsea.  Did the car hit you?”

“No.  I dodged out of the way.”

“They could have killed you.  What the hell were you thinking, chasing after them?”

“I just wanted to know who dropped the photo off.”

Lee ground his jaw side to side and his eyes shone with enough fury to release a flare.  He breathed in deeply through his nose, then kissed the skin around my sore shoulder before pulling my sleeve back up.  “Perhaps waiting isn’t the right thing.  I should phone the police tonight.”

Trying to meet his eyes was like following a bouncing ball.  “And say what?  I don’t know if the blackmailer was driving.”  I had to calm him.  He seemed to have taken the near miss on my life to heart, far more deeply than I thought he would.  He looked ready to storm out of the house and beat someone up.  I stroked his shoulder.  “It could have been anyone.”

Eventually, he looked at me.  “Who else would it be?”

“A neighbour, a visitor...  I was on the ground.  The driver might not have seen me.  Besides, what is the point in killing me?  If I were dead, Laura wouldn’t get the photo.”

“Don’t talk that way, Chelsea.  Dead.  Hell!  It makes me feel sick to the stomach.  Someone tried to run you over.  Even if it was a neighbour, which I doubt, the situation caused this.  Did you get a look at the car?  The driver?  License plate?”

“No.  The headlights were bright.  I couldn’t see.”

He stroked my arm lightly, then clenched a fist.  “Ugh.  I should’ve been here.  Or you should have come to my house like you said you would.  Don’t go chasing anyone ever again.  You hear me?”

I nodded, changed tracks to diffuse his anger.  “What do you think our chances are now, of proving who’s doing all this?”

He sipped his drink and lifted a hand to my face.  “Let’s wait and see what the photo tells me, tomorrow.” 

“Okay.  But what if you don’t find anything?”

He breathed out heavily, staring into my eyes.  “Christ!  I could have lost you tonight.”  The back of his finger glided down the length of my nose then circled my lips.  I wasn’t naïve.  I knew exactly where this would lead. 

He brought his face closer and pressed a palm on the fridge at the side of my head.  Waves of his warm breath brushed across my face.  He swept his parted lips near mine, as though testing my reaction. 

I gasped involuntarily.  I couldn’t resist him much longer. 

He turned my face to the right.  “I’m gonna catch this filthy scrote, Chelsea.”  His voice lowered to a steely whisper.  “No one tries to run you down.”

I’d completely forgotten my question.  I just wanted him to touch me.  I needed him.

He placed a solitary kiss on my neck.  It tingled, sending a delicious sensation running through me.  Then, a shower of warm kisses flooded my neck.  My pulse drummed faster with every press of his lips.

I slid my arm round his back, letting my fingers glide over his clothing.  He must have tugged my belt because my dressing gown fell open.  Cool air washed over my chest and stomach.  I stood still, front-naked bar skimpy black pants. 

After breaking away to set both cans on the bench, he entwined his fingers with mine.  His face drew closer until his lips caressed mine, in long, breathless kisses.  The warmth of his mouth and intoxicating sweet scent filled my head.  Slowly, he bent down, trailed his lips down the central line of my body, feeling his way with roaming hands.  He parted my dressing gown further and tasted every inch of me down to the band of my knickers. 

“You’re in my head all the time,” he said, softly, running a finger along the elastic inside my pants.  He looked up.  “Do you still want me to go?”

Totally into him, I had no intention of asking him to leave, if anything I was about to trap him in my house. 

Hot with desire, I spread my fingers through his glossy hair, dark against my skin.  I stroked his shoulders.  They were smooth and soft.  In this moment, I was conscious of nothing except the silkiness of his skin touching mine. 

He glanced up from my navel.

A scrumptious tremor rippled through me seeing an excited glint in his eyes. 

He raised his eyebrows in question. 

“Yeah.  You should definitely leave,” I mocked, gripping his shoulders to drag him back up. 

“I’ll be on my way then.”  He rose from his knees, cupped my face and kissed me hungrily. 

I needed him.  No, more than that.  I physically craved him.  And, I yearned for a time-slip to calm in this spinning week of chaos.

The harder and deeper we kissed, the more I forgot about our problems.  I grabbed hold of his top, whipped it over his head.  It dropped to the floor as I pulled his lips back to mine, wanting more. 

In one fluid motion, he ran his hand over the curve of my shoulder.  My dressing gown flowed over my skin and dropped to my feet.  He touched my bare breasts, cupping their fullness.

Melting from the taste of him, I reached out for his hand.  In just my knickers, I pulled him to the open door and through to the dining room.  I glanced over my shoulder.

His gaze travelled up my body.  A cheeky smile brightened his handsome face.  The possibility of spending time together, uninterrupted, appeared as though it would, at last, become a reality.  At this precise moment, everything seemed perfect. 

The desire became too much. 

He tugged my arm.  “To hell with the bedroom.  Get back here.”  He drew me to him with a wicked impatience that made it impossible to resist, let alone care about more comfortable surroundings.  I saw only
him
.

We staggered back into the kitchen, and came to a stop at the worktop where he whirled me around as though showcasing me in a strictly dance.  After shoving tea towels, mugs and plates aside, sending some crashing to the floor, he dragged my pants down to my ankles, leaving me standing in front of him, naked.  We kissed.  Our lips separated when he lifted me onto the kitchen bench. 

He looked into my eyes.  “Have you got a...?”

“In the junk drawer,” I said, sliding it open. 

His hands slid over my ribs, down my bare skin, and then nudged my thighs apart.  While running his tongue over my hard nipples, he unbuckled his belt in a hurry.  He stepped between my thighs, pressing his hips against me. 

I pulled his zip down.  “God, I want you.”

He kissed and licked my neck.

I gasped, tightened my legs around him, and then cupped his face in my hands. 

Lust sparkled in his sultry eyes.  He rubbed his growing hardness against me, flashed a smile, and brought his lips back to mine.

CHAPTER 26

A
gentle warmth tickled my cheek.  I forced one eye to open.  Lee hovered above my face, leaning over the bed, eclipsing the morning sun.  He was already dressed.

“Morning gorgeous.”  He planted his puckered lips on mine.  “Hmmm, you taste good.  But, I’ve got to go.  I have a date with a photograph, and a stakeout to organize.” 

I pushed up on one elbow.  “What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you later, if it pays off.  You said you would stay at my house last night, didn’t you?  Remember? When you were in Laura’s lounge.”

I nodded.

“So, Mark thought you wouldn’t be at home last night.  I think that’s why the photo was dropped through
your
letterbox.”

“Oh hell!”

He stroked my hair.  “Exactly.  That’s why I need to get out of here.  Stuff to do.”

I groaned and grabbed his arm.  “Stay a little longer.”

“I’ll phone you later.”  He lifted the bed covers off me.  His adoring gaze flowed over my body, ending when a cheeky smile curved his lips.  “Last night… well, I think we need to do that again, don’t you?”

“Yes.  Right now!”

He laughed, kissed me one last time, then tore himself away.  Moving with purpose, he marched to the door, glanced back to wink, then disappeared out of my bedroom.

My only consolation was reliving last night’s lust marathon in my head.  I rolled over in bed, biting the corner of a pillow, unable to shift the blissful smile from my face at the memory. 

Slowly, dreadful reality edged its way back in and I banged my fist on the mattress.  Lazing around in bed a bit longer, feeling on cloud nine, was more than tempting.  But I couldn’t.  Laura needed my support and I wanted to give it.

I got myself ready, grabbed my bridesmaid dress, and drove to Laura’s.

            When I arrived, I gave her a big hug in the hall.  “Morning.  How are you holding up?”

            “Not too bad.  I’ve not received…” Laura changed the conversation when the stairs creaked.  “I’m so excited about tomorrow!”

Paul came downstairs and I greeted him. 

When he moved into the kitchen out of immediate earshot, Laura whispered, “I could do without a houseful of guests today.”

If we cancelled the party, the guests, as well as Paul, would bombard Laura with questions that I knew she couldn’t handle. 

I patted her shoulder.  “We need to act as though all is well and good.  I’ll hang up my bridesmaid dress for a start.”

I carried my belongings upstairs and thought about tomorrow while unpacking.  I intended to do everything humanly possible to avoid a showdown so her dream wedding could go ahead.  Stand guard at the church door.  Frisk Mark, and every other guest, for photos.  Down to their underwear if necessary.  Even the pensioners. 

Laura spent the next few hours cleaning obsessively while Paul paced in and out of rooms.  When I suggested we go for a chat in the garden, Paul entered the kitchen and spoke with enthusiasm about their honeymoon, which made it impossible to discuss the problem at all.  His hands groped Laura, pretending to rub sun cream into her skin.

She giggled.

I thumbed through magazines while waiting for Paul to leave the room.

The doorbell chimed and I looked up from reading the latest ‘Hello’ magazine.  Laura threw the dishcloth in the sink.  She took a deep breath, rubbed her face and somehow managed to sculpt an enthusiastic expression for the visitor.