Behind Closed Doors (23 page)

Before he’d left for work, it couldn’t have been more perfect. He woke up with Elizabeth naked in his bed and would have been content to just lie there with her all day.

Why couldn’t he go back to that?

It was now just after eleven, and he was standing in front of his office, staring down Abigail Carter. She’d shown up ten minutes ago ranting, raving, and refusing to leave.

Apparently Detective Stephens had called her regarding an alibi for Saturday evening, and Mrs. Carter was not pleased someone she felt was beneath her, namely Elizabeth, was disturbing her world. Again.

It didn’t matter that Elizabeth had not contacted her or that Abigail had been the one to track her down in the first place. To Abigail Carter, she was perfectly within her rights to call and disturb the life of the woman who’d “murdered her little boy.”

Chris tried very hard to rein in his temper on that one. She was delusional if she thought her “little boy” was innocent in all this, but she made Elizabeth out to be a gold digger who’d manipulated her son into marrying her.

When Chris couldn’t get the woman to leave immediately, he had Elizabeth call Detective Stephens while he waited outside with Abigail. It was over ninety degrees already, but there was no way he was letting that woman stay inside with Elizabeth.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, his mom pulled up just as Detective Stephens did.

“Hello, Christopher.” Then she noticed the detective. “Well hello, detective.”

With the distraction, Abigail tried to sneak back into the office, but Chris quickly stepped in front of her. “I don’t think so.”

She huffed and walked back down the sidewalk.

Chris strolled over and properly greeted his mother, giving her a quick hug. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but what are you doing here?”

“Well, I just thought . . .” Glancing over her son’s shoulder at Abigail, she lowered her voice, “. . . I just thought with everything that Elizabeth might need some cheering up, so I baked some brownies. Chocolate always makes things better.”

Chris smiled. He had no idea where this thing with Elizabeth was going, but it made him happy to know that his family liked and accepted her.

“I’m sure she’ll love it. Thanks.”

As his mom went inside with the brownies, he walked over to where Detective Stephens was glaring down at Abigail. “Explain to me again why I shouldn’t haul you down to the station.”

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” she insisted. “I have every right to see my daughter-in-law.”

“Mrs. Carter, you’re walking a very fine line. Why exactly are you here to see Ms. Marshall?”

“Marshall? She doesn’t even have the decency to keep my son’s name!”

The two men just stared at her as she teetered on the verge of hysterics.

Then she suddenly seemed to compose herself. It was an amazing transformation. He’d seen Carol do something similar, but not with as much grace. One second she looked as if she were going to spout snakes from her head, and the next, she was back to being the well-mannered society lady, full of composure and not a hair out of place.

Thankfully, Stephens wasn’t fooled. “I think that what name Ms. Marshall goes by is nothing you should be concerned with. I’ll ask you again, why exactly are you here?”

“I told you. I wanted to see my daughter-in-law.” Her voice was now dripping with false sweetness.

“Well, considering I received a phone call from Ms. Marshall regarding your unexpected visit, I would conclude that her employer does not wish for you to interrupt his place of business, and he’s perfectly within his right to ask you to leave. I might also point out that this is private property, and he could have you arrested for trespassing.”

Abigail glared at Chris briefly before returning her attention to the detective. “My apologies, Detective Stephens.” Then, without further ado, Abigail Carter pushed her shoulders back and walked between them. “Good day, gentlemen.”

She got into her Lincoln and drove away.

“I don’t trust her,” Chris said.

“Not as far as I can throw her,” Stephens agreed.

“So what do we do?”

“Not much we can do, yet. So far her alibis have checked out, and although showing up here was ballsy on her part, all you could get her on was the trespassing, and I’m not even sure that would stick given the right lawyer.”

Chris nodded. “Thank you for coming.”

The detective paused as he got into his car. “Let me know if she shows up again. Maybe I’ll bring a uniform and scare her a bit, just for kicks.”

Chris was still chuckling as he walked back into the office. He would pay to see Abigail Carter in handcuffs.

Elizabeth jumped when the door opened, thinking for sure Abigail had somehow gotten past Chris and was coming after her. That woman was a force of nature.

It was Mary Daniels.

“Hello,” she said, concern in her eyes as she pulled up a chair and set a covered container in front of Elizabeth before pulling her into a hug. “How are you and who is that nasty woman outside?” Removing the plastic lid she declared, “I brought chocolate!”

She laughed as Mary picked up a brownie and handed it to her. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem. Chocolate is the solution to all the world’s problems.”

The brownie was filled with delicious chocolate chunks and after a few bites, she did feel better. Maybe there was something to that chocolate euphoria thing after all, and after a few minutes of indulging, she explained the situation to Mary.

“I should probably feel sorry for the woman losing her son, but considering the circumstances, I don’t,” Mary said matter-of-factly.

Just then Chris walked in. “Is she gone?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yeah. For now, at least.” He pulled up a chair and for a few minutes, they forgot all about Abigail Carter.

Finally, Mary stood and said, “Well I should probably get going. I promised your dad I’d go with him this afternoon to find a new pair of sneakers. I don’t know what it is, but that man usually hates shopping.”

“Maybe he just wants your lovely company, Mom,” Chris said, standing to give her a kiss on the cheek.

She swatted his arm. “You’re as bad as your brothers, you know that? I don’t know where you boys get it from.”

Chris laughed. “Does the saying ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’ ring any bells?”

“Walk me to my car, Chris?”

He should have known what his mother had up her sleeve the minute she asked him to walk her to her car. Instead, she caught him by surprise. Maybe he could chalk it all up to Abigail Carter’s unexpected visit this morning, but he doubted it. It was more likely due to the cloud he was still floating on from waking up with Elizabeth in his bed for the second morning in a row.

“I’ll expect the two of you to be on time for dinner this Sunday. One o’clock sharp.”

“Wh-what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You cannot tell me there’s nothing going on between you two.” When he didn’t deny it, she said, “Now that that’s settled, I’ll see you Sunday. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She slid behind the wheel.

Chris laughed, shaking his head. “Apple. Tree.”

Marilyn laughed right along with him as she started her car and pulled onto the street.

When he walked back into the office, Elizabeth gave him a message from Terry asking that he call right away.

Apparently, Carol had shown up on a job site this morning. She’d gone with the pretense of bringing the guys water, but had shown up wearing a denim mini skirt and white dress shirt tied up right below her breasts. Needless to say, his guys were distracted by her presence and that was before she “accidentally” spilled water down her front.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about Carol. He knew what she wanted, but that wasn’t going to happen. She’d burned him once, and it was never happening again.

Plus, he had Elizabeth now. Well—sort of. They hadn’t exactly discussed it.

Glancing out his office door to the woman on his mind, he watched as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Memories of last night filled his mind, and suddenly sitting in his chair was no longer comfortable.

He tried to change the direction of his thoughts, but now that he knew what it was like to have Elizabeth in his bed, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted her out of it. She was smart, beautiful, and cared about others. Her body was to die for. There was nothing about her that he didn’t love.

He didn’t know exactly when it happened or if it was even one moment, but there was no denying it. He loved Elizabeth Marshall.

As he watched her, he wondered how she felt about him. He knew she enjoyed his company, but he had no idea what, if anything, she wanted from him. How would she react if he told her he loved her?

Even though she was nothing like Carol, his old insecurities were still there. And if he thought what Carol did hurt him, Elizabeth had the power to ruin him.

The rest of the week passed without incident. Elizabeth continued to sleep upstairs with Chris. After those first two nights, it had just sort of happened without discussion.

When they’d gotten home Monday night, the baby doll had been forgotten. After the stress of the day, they’d worked together to make a simple dinner before climbing into bed and just holding each other. She thought it would have been weird to stay in Chris’s bed when they hadn’t had sex, but in some ways that night had felt more intimate than the previous two.

They did finally break out the baby doll Saturday night and it was even better than she could have imagined. He’d complimented her and kissed every inch of her as he’d slowly removed it. It had been a sweet torture that led to the most intense orgasm of her life.

It was now Sunday afternoon and they were on their way to Chris’s parents. Even though she’d been there before and met his entire family, this time it felt different. They hadn’t been together then. Now they were. Sort of.

She had no idea what she was to him. That wasn’t entirely true. He’d said she was important to him, but this was all so new to her. Did he feel the same way she did? She knew that he was more important to her than anyone had ever been. He held her heart in his hands, and she knew that if he chose to, he could crush her to the point she wasn’t sure she’d recover. The intensity of her feelings for him scared her.

Over the last week, they had spent most of their time together, and at work he was never far away. When they came home, they’d stop by her apartment for whatever she would need before disappearing upstairs to his place. They’d make dinner, watch television, and then make love. It didn’t really matter to her what they did. She just enjoyed being with him.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, attempting a smile. “I guess I’m just a little nervous.”

He frowned. “What are you nervous about? You’ve met everyone before.”

“I know. It’s just . . . things are different now.”

He didn’t deny it. “They are. But my mother wouldn’t have invited you if she didn’t want you there. It’s going to be fine.”

She nodded.

“Gage has a game today, so after we eat we’ll all huddle around the television and watch.” He gave her a small smile. “You should like that.”

She laughed. “I’d never turn down watching football, though it’s sort of neat actually knowing one of the players.”

“Gage was always a standout player, and his high school coach had encouraged my parents to send him to camps whenever possible, given his potential. It’s paid off though. Now he’s one of the best in the league.”

“He’s the youngest in the family, right?”

Chris nodded. “Yes. It’s Paul, me, Trent, and then Gage. There’s a five-year gap between Trent and Gage. We always tease him about that.”

Over the last week, Chris had been laughing and joking around more. She loved it.

“How far apart are you and Paul?”

“Two years. It’s almost the same between me and Trent.”

“I can’t imagine having three little boys in the house all under the age of six. Your mother is a brave woman.”

“She is.” He smiled, obviously proud of his mom. “She’s amazing. She also didn’t take crap from any of us.”

“So tell me more about your brothers. I know some about Trent.” Chris snorted and she ignored him. She already knew he was trying to forget that she’d been out of a date with him. “I know nearly nothing about the other two. Are either of them married? I mean, I know Paul has a little girl . . .” She let her voice trail off, hoping he’d pick up the conversation.