Authors: Yvonne Harriott
“Let’s be rational for a moment. How can the alarm systems be in perfect working order? Our clients are being robbed and their house up in flames.”
“You ran the test yourself and everything was fine,” Malcolm reminded him.
“Yes, but it wasn’t. I don’t understand it,” Beck said shaking his head. “The house in Jamaica Plains is a pile of ashes. What if they were home?”
Malcolm stared at Beck for a long while before he spoke again. “Don’t put this on us. My guys haven’t seen their families since this whole thing started. We’re all working 24/7 to find
Shadoe
. It’s not enough. I’ve told you that. If you let us get outside help as I’ve requested maybe we can alleviate some of the stress we’re all putting ourselves under.”
The room fell quiet once again. This wasn’t Malcolm’s fault and there was no point in taking out his frustration on the people who were trying to help him. Having his employees working to the point of exhaustion wasn’t good for business either.
“I’m sorry,” Beck said looking at Peta Ann and Mona. “You’re right, Malcolm, about the outside help. I had a meeting with Marklynn Brooks, from Brooks Investigations this morning.”
“You’d mentioned you were going to see them, but weren’t sure if they would help,” Malcolm said relaxing back into his chair.
“They’ve agreed to help us. Jamie Wright, Marklynn’s associate, is an expert when it comes to hackers. He’s coming on board. I need to finalize the details, but it could be as early as tomorrow.”
“He’s an ethical hacker then?” Peta Ann asked, brows raised in concern.
“Is there such a thing?” Mona asked.
“You’ll have to ask him that,” Beck replied, picked up the leather folder and stood up. “Are we done?”
Everyone around the table nodded in agreement. In his present mood they were probably all glad he was leaving.
When Beck returned to his office it was after five. After an afternoon of meetings, he was tired and on edge and needed to unwind. He picked up the phone to call the only woman that had been on his mind since the day began.
Wouldn’t it be nice to end the day with her in his arms?
• • •
Markie gathered the papers she’d taken from Sydney’s apartment and put them back in the box. She hadn’t intended to go through the entire box, but once she’d gotten started the time just slipped away. All she wanted to do now was to go home and crawl into bed. She was about to step out of her office when the phone started to ring. Any other time she would have let the call go to voice mail, but she couldn’t take the chance with Sydney missing.
She hurried back to the desk and picked up the phone. “Brooks Investigations.”
“You sound exhausted.”
Markie sat on the edge of the desk, smiling. “So do you. How did it go today?”
“Long. We can talk over dinner.”
She’d forgotten they were supposed to meet. As much as she wanted to see him, she had to wonder how productive their meeting would be if she were falling asleep on her feet. But to see his smiling face…
“I was on my way home but I could detour.”
“But you would rather go home and kick your feet up.”
“Yes, to tell you the truth. The eye looks bad. I’m starting to scare children,” she said remembering the little boy that pointed and gasped when she’d popped across the street for a deli sandwich earlier.
Beck chuckled. “How about this? I can come by your place and bring food. Then we can both kick our feet up. Should you fall asleep you’re already home.”
His argument was sound and well thought out and too good to pass up. And, she wanted to see him. What if he fell asleep? She wanted to ask, but shied away from the question.
Beck exuded a certain strength that drew her to him and she found that she wanted to be with him. Then she remembered what happened in her office that morning and made up her mind.
“Come by around seven,” Markie said and gave him her address.
Markie glanced at her watch as she hurried out of the office. Two hours. If she timed it right she would get home before Beck’s arrival with enough time for a quick nap. Wishful thinking she thought as she hit I-93. It was stop and go traffic all the way home to Quincy thanks to lane restrictions due to road construction.
When she pushed the key into the front door of her house an hour and half later, she felt drained. Everywhere hurt. Her back and her was neck. Even her eye started to twitch again.
With Beck coming over, she should remove the newspapers from the sofa, straighten up the small living room, and maybe run the vacuum over the area rug. That was as far as that fleeting thought went as she entered the house.
Kicking off her shoes, she struggled out of her jacket and headed for the bathroom. Shedding her clothes, she pushed back the shower curtain, turned on the shower and stepped into the tub. The hot spray felt so good. It soothed her aching muscles sending steam curling up to the ceiling.
Shutting off the water, she grabbed the towel, dried off and put on her robe then headed for the bedroom. She sat down on the bed, resting her head on the pillow and felt herself drifting off.
It was the vibration of her cell phone that pulled her from sleep. She jumped up and grabbed the phone. She cleared her throat. “Hello?”
“I’ve been knocking and ringing the doorbell for the last ten minutes. I think your next door neighbor is gearing up to call the police. She’s standing at the window glaring at me.”
“Beck?”
“Yes.”
“Hold on.”
Markie looked at the clock. It was after seven. Groaning, she raced out of the bedroom to open the door.
• • •
“Hi, I was about to…”
Beck lost his train of thought when Marklynn answered the door in a short black silk robe, tied at the waist. The robe stopped at mid calf showing off long shapely legs. Her hair fell in ringlets around her face. She looked soft, sleepy and sexy all rolled into one. And he stood there, like a kid with his first crush staring at her. He didn’t think she was wearing anything underneath the way the thin fabric clung to her body outlining her tall slender frame leaving nothing to his imagination.
“I…ahh…I fell asleep.”
She ran her hands through her hair then pulled the belt on the robe tighter around her waist. What he should do, is roll his tongue back up in his head and quit making her uncomfortable, he scolded himself.
“I can see that,” he said staring at her. This was not one of his finer moments.
“Come in,” she stepped back from the door. “You can put the food in the kitchen. Plates and glasses are in the cupboard above the sink. Utensils are in the drawer to the left of the stove.” She started towards the bedroom. “Give me a minute to change.”
“I brought chicken and pasta salad, mango cheese cake, a bottle of wine and…chocolate covered almonds,” he said not wanting her to leave.
Marklynn stopped, turning around slowly at the bedroom door. “I don’t think I like you and Jamie talking about me behind my back.”
He smiled as his gaze traveled the length of her body then settled on her face and he felt warm all over.
“The only thing he told me was your food preference. He said anything else would have to come from you.”
“Right.”
She didn’t believe him for a minute. She just shook her head and entered the bedroom closing the door.
By the time she’d emerged from the bedroom dressed in a pair of black leggings and a long white T-shirt, he had all the food laid out on the table and was leaning against the arch at the entrance to the kitchen door.
He missed the black robe.
• • •
At seven hundred and fifty square feet, the two-bedroom house was the perfect size for Markie. With Beck standing there it appeared tiny all of a sudden.
He’d shown up for their meeting that morning in a navy suit, white shirt and a navy tie. The jacket and tie were gone and the shirt unbuttoned, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows showing off strong arms.
There was something about the way his gaze ran over her body that made her feel like she wanted to jump out of her skin. It also made her forget the pain in her body and her throbbing eye.
When she tried to pass him at the kitchen door, his body pressed hers against the doorframe and a slow lazy smile settled on his lips. He wanted to play and was looking for a playmate.
His lips touched hers. Gentle at first, as if he was testing to see what her reaction would be. Then he started out with a slow long kiss that made her legs turn to jelly and she returned with a kiss that told him without a doubt he’d found his playmate.
Her arms circled his waist, pulling him closer still. It has been a long time since she’d allowed anyone to get this close to her, to touch her this way and she didn’t want him to stop.
She needed it. Needed him in ways she hadn’t wanted anyone before. She came to the conclusion that she could get use to the warmth of his kiss and his caress.
Leaving the world behind and allowing him to set the pace, she was lost in a wave of passion she didn’t want to end.
Nothing mattered but the feel of him and she wanted more. She pulled his shirt out of his pants, sliding her hands up his back under the shirt. His skin felt hot against her palms.
Nothing mattered but the taste of him and she opened her mouth accepting his tongue. His response was a groan of pure satisfaction as their tongues danced together. Then his stomach rumbled and she laughed against his lips pulling away.
“No,” he groaned out capturing her lips again, but it was her stomach that interrupted this time. “Let’s satisfy the food hunger first.” He touched his forehead to hers.
His eyes settled on her lips and with one final kiss, he took her hand and led her to the table pulling out her chair.
“Everything looks good,” Markie said, trying not to react to his blatant stare as she spooned the chicken and pasta salad onto her plate. She took up his plate. “What do you want?”
“You.” His gaze was bold. Hot.
The enamel plate slipped from her hand and hit the table landing on the silverware. “Oh, you meant the food,” he chuckled. “I can take what I want. Haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
She picked up the plate and handed it to him. He proceeded to fill it up with the chicken and pasta salad. Then he opened the napkin, placing it across his lap. She watched him put a fork full of chicken salad into his mouth and licked his lips.
“This is good. I can see why you like it.”
His eyes settled on her mouth again as he picked up the wine bottle and she realized he was a lefty. And a sexy one too. Everything about the man was sexy. And the kiss? Lord have mercy… She was still reeling from that.
“Wine?”
“Not yet.”
Markie looked down at the food she spooned on her plate. It wasn’t the wine she wanted or the food. It was Beck and he knew it too. His leg brushed against hers under the table and he smiled. He did it on purpose. Not once but twice.
She felt like she was on fire…a wild fire burning out of control. Reaching for the pitcher of water, she poured herself a glass. She finished it and poured another, but it didn’t put out the fire.
• • •
Sydney opened her eyes to a brown blur and realized she was face down on the floor. She couldn’t remember how she’d gotten there. When she tried to get up a sharp pain shot through her right side. Blondie must have zapped her again. Her knuckles felt sore and she worked her fingers to ease the pain. Perhaps her fist did connect to Blondie’s jaw after all before her lights went out.
She pushed herself up from the floor. That was when she saw the bottle of water under the cot. It must have rolled under during her scuffle with Blondie. She sat staring at the water, almost afraid to grab it. Wanting it yet thinking it was an illusion like her life.
As hard as she tried not to disappoint Nan and Markie it never seemed to work. She didn’t set out to disappoint them. It just happened. Like when she used Nan’s house as collateral against a loan. Nan said it was okay. When she couldn’t pay back the loan the bank came for Nan’s house. Markie stepped in and saved Nan’s house. She and Markie had never gotten past that.
How did her life get so out of control? How did she end up so afraid and alone?
It started because she was an insomniac, had been since Derrick’s death in Afghanistan. Don’t think about Derrick.
Focus.
Think. She forced herself to remember how she ended up in a storage room struggling to reach a bottle of water under a smelly cot.
Her assignment was to photograph the interior of Macy Henning’s newly decorated six-bedroom, three bathroom house for
Upscale Design Magazine
. It had a master bath the size of Sydney’s entire apartment. The designer—Anika Taylor, interior designer to the stars.
It was coming back to her now. She thought it would be better to photograph the house while Macy was on vacation. Macy was not only the homeowner, but also Derrick’s sister.
Arriving mid-afternoon that day…Friday, Sydney had taken most of the pictures required. When she’d lost the natural lighting needed, she’d decided to spend the night at Macy’s and finish up in the morning.
That night she couldn’t sleep and decided to explore the historic neighborhood of Jamaica Plains.
Derrick said she was good at photography and she loved him for saying it. It gave her the encouragement she needed. After he said that, she never went anywhere without her camera and that included strolling down a quiet tree-lined street.
Sydney wasn’t sure what was going on, but when she’d seen the two men loading what looked like paintings in the Beck Security Systems van she knew something didn’t feel right. The more pictures she took, the more the idea formed in her mind that she could make a career out of taking pictures and everyone would be proud of her, even Markie. Markie wouldn’t have to bail her out anymore.
Sydney didn’t think anyone had seen her behind the oak tree just four doors down from Macy’s house. When she’d taken enough pictures she ran back to Macy’s house, grabbed her car and hightailed it home. She’d downloaded the pictures from her camera to her computer that night printed a set and hid them. The following day she called Markie.