Ransom Beach (Stephanie Chalice Thrillers Book 2) (30 page)

The sister's English was weak, but her words were understood. "Manny, he write a little bit."

Thorne looked down in amazement. I could see her throat tighten. She unfolded the paper and read aloud the solitary word written upon it. It was not a quatrain. It was something far simpler and yet far more miraculous. Manny had written, "Mere", mother.

It was about 10:00
PM
when we arrived back in Paris. Thorne went back to her room and we did the same. We ordered up dinner and showered while we waited for it to arrive.

We sat down to dinner in our robes, wet hair, starving, depleted of every ounce of emotion we possessed, and ate as if we had never tasted food before in our lives.

And then we slept as if we were dead, past breakfast and past lunch.

After we woke we spent a few hours running around the city, trying to soak up as much of Paris' charm as possible. The city was gorgeous, with its grand boulevards and monuments. I wanted to stay out all night but tomorrow as they say was another day, a very special day. We were due back at the hotel before dark—it was, after all, Christmas Eve.

Thorne had taken a private room for the occasion. What an amazing woman. She had come through so much in the last two days and was still standing as tall as a giant. She and Alicia had pulled together a spectacular dinner. Manny came too, giggling throughout the night, playing with friends from the orphanage. He picked at the exquisitely prepared main course only to gorge himself on dessert. He showed us that he loved chocolate mousse, wearing it on his face long after the meal was done.

There was just one thought on our minds as we walked back to our room, holding hands, grinning like kids, knowing we'd be all over each other the moment the door closed behind us.

I couldn't wait.

It had been forever. It felt like forever, perhaps longer.

I pressed my mouth against Lido's in the elevator, backing him against the wall, clawing at his sport coat.
"Off,
I want it off," I insisted with my lips still
Krazy-glued
to his. His coat was on the floor and I had his shirt pulled out of his pants when the elevator stopped. A mature French couple caught us in the act. My first impulse was embarrassment, but then, this was Paris. They smiled at us and stepped away to catch the next car.

No time to waste. I dove back in. I was moaning. Lido was moaning. I was hoping we didn't set off the fire alarm.

The doors opened onto our floor. We stepped from the elevator but did not part. Lido slammed me into the wall and then I returned the favor.

"Open the door! Open the damn door!"

Lido slipped the key into the lock and we fell into the room. We were on the floor, kissing, peeling clothes, and desperately trying to kick the door closed when my cell phone rang. We paused for a second, looking at each other in disbelief.

Amazing how the mind works. I was in the deepest throes of passion but my guilt-o-meter was still working. I realized that it was Christmas Eve and I hadn't talked to Ma. Lido read it in my eyes as I fished the phone out of my evening bag. The caller ID read MA.

I was gasping for breath as I answered the phone. I put it on speaker so that Lido could hear it all.

"Hey, Brat, it's Christmas Eve, you can't call your mother?"

I rolled my eyes. Lido chuckled. He was a good sport, horny but a good sport all the same. "We just finished dinner. I was going to call you as soon as—"

"As soon as you finished screwing your brains out?"

"Ma. "

"Ah, come on, I know what's been going on...enjoy. Call me in the morning," she said. "Here's your brother."

Lido smirked. He was running his fingertip over my bosom when Ricky came to the phone.

"Hi, Stephanie, did you buy me a present?"

"I'll bring you lots of presents, Ricky, but you can't have them until I come home." I shrugged. I mean what was I supposed to say?

"Did you buy me the Eiffel Tower?"

"The Eiffel Tower?"

"I want one for my keychain so every time I open the door I'll remember you went to Paris."

Pang.

"That's so sweet. I'll get you a nice one."

"Okay, thanks. Ma says I should get off the phone so that you and Gus can play. Bye."

I chuckled and then Ricky's voice disappeared. "Ready?" Lido asked. He was alongside me on the floor, staring deeply into my eyes.

I closed my phone and tossed it away. "Oh yes, baby. Oh yes."

In The Stephanie Chalice Mystery Series

Don’t Close Your Eyes

Ransom Beach

The Brain Vault

Stephanie Chalice will return in Our Honored Dead

Summer 2012

A resident New Yorker, Kelter often uses Manhattan and Long Island as backdrops for his stories. He has written three novels featuring street savvy NYPD Detective Stephanie Chalice: DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES, RANSOM BEACH, and theTHE BRAIN VAULT.

BookWire Review wrote of the character, Stephanie Chalice, “Chalice’s acerbic repartee is like an arsenal of nuclear missiles.”

Early in his writing career, he received support from bestselling novelist, Nelson DeMille, who reviewed his work and actually put pencil to paper to assist in the editing of the first novel. DeMille said, “Lawrence Kelter is an exciting new novelist, who reminds me of an early Robert Ludlum.”

His novels are quickly paced and feature a twist ending.

For more information, please visit the author at:
www.lawrencekelter.com
, or contact him by email at: [email protected].