Where Dreams Begin (33 page)

He leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Sure, I’ll write you a glowing reference. But the next time you go off in some new direction, will you please signal to warn me first?”

She let him walk out of her house without begging him to stay. Considering what she’d witnessed of Luke’s temper on previous occasions, his reaction to her news had been mild, but she’d still hurt him, and that increased her own anguish tenfold.

When Catherine arrived at Toby’s Saturday morning, Rafael had already been at work several hours painting the angel who had resembled Violet in his drawing. Now she was complete to the last meticulous detail, and the resemblance was strikingly accurate. He climbed down from the scaffold to observe his work and greeted Catherine warmly.

“Good morning, Mrs. Brooks. What do you think of my angel?”

“She’s very beautiful, but I wish Violet could be proud to appear in the mural rather than frightened witless.”

“That’s her problem,” Rafael exclaimed. “Now the light is perfect this morning, and I want to take advantage of it. Got your camera?”

“Yes, I’ll get one of the angels right now.” Catherine was still seeking the best angle to shoot through the scaffolding when Luke walked up behind her. She went ahead and took the photograph before he distracted her completely, but unwilling to apologize, she waited for him to speak.

“Did you sleep well?” he whispered.

She turned around slowly. His sunglasses obscured his expression, but the sly smile which had always been her undoing tugged at his mouth.

“That’s classified information,” she responded coolly, “and to renew your security clearance, you’ll have to reapply.”

“That bad, huh?” Luke shook his head. “I didn’t sleep well, either. I kept thinking about how much you like to plan ahead while I don’t. I imagine we’re going to run smack into that difference over and over again. Unless, of course, one of us changes his point of view.”

“Is that even possible?” she asked.

He was dressed in the same tattered Levi’s he’d worn the day they’d painted his office, but his T-shirt was a souvenir from a beach city’s ten kilometer run. “I’d like to believe anything is possible,” he hedged, “but that would be admitting a better future might exist.”

“Careful, Dr. Starns, you’re straying dangerously close to my side.”

Again Luke dropped his voice. “I’m interested in a hell of a lot more than your side. Let’s try to make it to a movie tonight so we’ll have an excuse to hold hands.”

“I’d like that. Maybe we could just go into Old Town, stroll around until we find a place to eat and then see what’s playing in the theaters.”

“Are you suggesting we plan not to plan?” Luke teased.

“For the moment, yes.” She enjoyed this playful banter so much more than the unavoidable confrontations which constantly sprang up between them. “Now we better get to work before the kids start pointing and giggling at us.”

“Maybe we ought to just get that over with now.” Luke slid his arms around her waist and kissed her so soundly all the kids scattered around the porch and scaffolding began to hoot and holler.

Toby and Dave, who had just rounded the house carrying paint, nearly dropped their buckets in surprise. “What the hell are you doing, Luke?” Dave called to him.

Luke laced his fingers in Catherine’s and drew her along with him toward the house and the two men. “Catherine and I have been seeing each other almost since her first day at Lost Angel. I asked her to keep it quiet, but I should have been up front about it with you.”

Toby just laughed. “I knew it, but you remember what I said, Catherine. It still goes.”

Dave, however, regarded Luke with a darkly threatening glance. “You knew what my feelings were.”

“Yes, I did, but the choice was hers, Dave, not mine.”

Rather than reply, Dave left the yard and returned to Lost Angel before Catherine could say anything to ease his shock. Clearly he was furious with them both for carrying on right under his nose and lying about it.

“I hate secrets,” she blurted out. “Now, Rafael says it’s a great day to paint so let’s get to work.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Toby replied. “Just point me in the right direction.”

“We don’t need you out here,” Luke said. “Go pound on some metal in your studio.”

“That okay with you, Catherine?”

“Sure, Toby, we’ll call you if we need you.”

“You do that,” Toby called over his shoulder, and he left them to attend to his own work.

Catherine turned and nearly bumped into Tina Stassy. “Oh, Tina, I’m sorry. What do you need?”

“Those guys in the tan car over there are creeping me out. Why are they watching us?”

“They’re looking for suspects,” Luke responded, “but they’re in the wrong place, so they’re wasting their time and the taxpayers’ money. Now, what would you and Charlie like to paint?”

“We’re just hanging out here. I’m going to help Polly when we get to the flowers at the bottom. Polly’s real good with flowers.”

“Is that a fact?” Luke grabbed Catherine’s beach chair and carried it across the yard to where she usually sat. “Just make yourself comfortable, and I’ll try and stay out of your way. I brought donuts for the kids. Who’s ready for a break?”

Catherine watched as Luke produced a couple of cardboard boxes filled with donuts, and the kids all gathered around to grab one. Nick slapped Luke on the back and leaned close to whisper something that made Luke laugh, and Catherine was certain it must have been about her. If she knew Luke, which she did, he would tolerate such playful teasing today, but on Monday, it would be business as usual, and he’d demand the respect they both deserved.

The weather was beautiful, clear and yet not too warm, and if she just admired the mural and the kids’ ambition to complete it, it was a perfect morning. It was only when her glance drifted toward Luke, which was often, that she longed for so much more.

That night Catherine and Luke ate a mesquite wood-fired pizza and went to an off-beat romantic comedy which had gotten excellent reviews. It was a lighthearted evening, and she wanted it to end that way. She kissed Luke as soon as they’d come through her front door and did so with an enthusiasm that convinced him he’d been missed.

He ran his fingers through her hair to hold her close and returned her kiss with equal fervor before pulling away. “Hey,” he whispered. “I’m sorry about last night, but you must have learned by now I’m never angry for long.”

“True, but I don’t like your being angry at all. It frightens me.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t forget that upon occasion, you’ve been equally angry with me.”

“True, but that’s different.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, it just is.” She began to unbutton his shirt, and just as she’d hoped, one luscious kiss swiftly followed another. She leaned into him, savoring his every caress, as though love were a spell to be woven with pleasure, while he’d already captured her heart.

She ran her hand over his hairy chest and circled his nipples with her fingertips. “You have a handsome build, much better than those muscular monsters on the WWE.”

“What if I hurt a knee, couldn’t run and pudged up to two hundred pounds?”

She slid her hands around his waist. “We’d have to find another exercise to keep you in shape, maybe Pilates or yoga.”

“You’d keep me company?”

“Hmm. It might be fun, if you made it worth my while.”

“If I started now, could I build up some credits?”

“Are you suggesting a Sex Bank?” She muffled her giggles against his shoulder.

“Why not?” He dipped his head to nibble her earlobe.

She quickly removed her hoop earrings. “Too much paperwork.”

“Not if we kept a tally on the computer.”

She was quiet a long moment. “As goofy as it sounds, with the right infomercial, we might be able to sell a Sex Bank program on late night TV.”

Luke laughed so hard he had to cling to her to keep standing. “God, woman, I thought I’d forgotten how to laugh, but you’re a hell of a lot better than a therapist.”

She gave him a playful punch to the gut. “Hey, I’m serious here. Let’s go upstairs and work on ideas for the infomercial.”

He kept his arm around her as they climbed the stairs. “Who’s going to take notes?”

“Too early for that yet. Now I’m thinking a kiss ought to be worth only a point or two, while going down on a woman could have a sliding scale.”

As they entered her bedroom, Luke nearly tore off his clothes and hers too. “Do I get points for effort?”

“Bonus points?” She loved being able to make him laugh and tickled him as she pulled him down on the bed.

He sucked her toes, tickled her foot and sent kisses slowly up her calf. “Anticipation is such a great part of sex.”

“Won’t get you any points,” she warned in a husky whisper.

He slid his fingers into her and spread tender kisses up her thigh. “I should never have walked out of here last night.”

She moaned way back in her throat. “If you’d had any points, you would have lost them.”

He moved up and swept his tongue into her cleft. “You’re too wet to play hard to get.”

“No, I’ll leave being hard to you.” Their playful game blurred by desire, she raised her arms above her head and slid her legs over his shoulders. He created the most luscious warmth that rolled down her legs and left her too lazy with joy to offer another teasing word. When he crawled over her to claim her for himself, she welcomed him into the last quivers of her orgasm and sought the joy of his. He pushed the night into a magical realm, and when he left with the dawn, she uttered a small sigh in protest.

Luke seldom went into Lost Angel on Sundays, but he did that day. He checked his messages, then went looking for Dave. When he found him sitting on the front steps reading the comics with the kids, he nodded for him to follow.

Dave handed the newspaper to Polly, then caught up to Luke. “You got something for me to do, boss?” he asked.

“No, I just want to talk with you. Come on in my office.”

“I’d rather stay out here. The grass is doing pretty well, don’t you think?”

The side yard did look a whole lot better than it had just a few weeks prior and Luke nodded to acknowledge Dave’s work. “Fine, let’s talk out here. Catherine Brooks is a remarkable woman—”

Dave began to back away. “If that’s all you’ve got to say, then we’re through.”

Luke swore under his breath. “She can’t be the first woman you’ve wanted who liked someone else better.”

Abruptly ending his retreat, Dave came back toward Luke with a long, menacing stride. “No, but she’s the first woman since my life went to hell who looked at me as though it didn’t matter. She claimed she wasn’t interested in dating anyone, but I sure as hell thought that when she was, it would be me.”

“I’m sorry you were hurt. Neither of us meant for that to happen.”

“You and Cathy talked about me? What did you do, laugh about how stupid I was to dream of dating someone like her?”

“No, of course not.” Luke shut his mouth before admitting that he couldn’t have successfully fought his attraction to Catherine had he tried. “Look,” he began again, “Catherine is not only beautiful but bright as well, and any man would be interested in her. Had she wanted you, she’d be sharing your basement apartment, but damn it all, she chose me.”

“Yeah, like she had a choice,” Dave shot right back at him. “Well, what are you going to do now? Do you plan to marry her and have some little red-haired kids, or will you just brush her off once you’ve had your fill?”

Luke couldn’t even think of marriage without feeling sick to his stomach, but he couldn’t imagine his life without Catherine either. Torn, he feared Dave was uncomfortably close to the truth.

“We haven’t been dating long,” he said. “It’s too soon to make plans for the future.”

“Like hell. At least I’m open to marriage and kids, and when Catherine realizes you’re not, I may be her choice after all. Now, I won’t be coming to you for therapy any longer, and unless you’ve got work for me, stay out of my way. A job offer should come through for me soon, and I’ll move out the very next day.”

Dave’s hands were clenched in tight fists, and Luke could see he was close to taking a swing at him. While they might be an even match, Luke didn’t want to fight him when it would prove nothing and provide the very worst kind of lesson for the kids. He walked away rather than argue, but Dave had forced him to consider what he did have to offer Catherine. Afraid it wasn’t much, he drove down to the beach, yanked on his jogging shoes, and ran until he was too tired to do more than sleep.

Monday morning, Violet hid in the bushes until she saw Catherine drive into the Lost Angel parking lot. Then she came stumbling out into the sunshine, a heavy backpack slung over her shoulder.

Had it not been for her flowing blonde hair, Catherine wouldn’t have recognized Violet when her blackened eyes hid their pretty blue color and her mouth was too swollen to smile. “Oh, my God,” she cried.

Violet raised a hand to keep Catherine from coming too close. “Please, I’ve got bruises all over and if you touch me, they’ll just hurt worse.”

Catherine took the backpack as a hopeful sign Violet had left Ford Dolan, and she gestured toward the office. “At least come inside and sit down. Luke will know what to do.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Violet mumbled.

Pam Strobble took one look at Violet’s battered face and hit the intercom to summon Luke. “We need you out here.”

Luke immediately came through his door, but he stopped when he recognized Violet. He watched as she slowly eased herself down into a padded chair, then sent Catherine a questioning glance.

“She was waiting for me outside,” Catherine explained. “But I knew you were the one who’d know what to do.”

“How many times have we gone through this, Violet?” Luke asked wearily. “I’ve lost count.”

Violet pulled a tissue from her pocket and made a fluttering attempt to dry her tears. “Too many, but I’ve left Ford for good this time. I’m not going back, not ever.”

“Fine, let’s call the police.” Luke came on out into the office and leaned back against Pam’s desk.