Second Chances (8 page)

"No, that would be the last thing he'd send me," he joked. He reached over and firmly turned her around so her back was to the box. "I'll take them home to my daughter. She'll enjoy opening them."

"How old is she?" Her gaze widened in surprise. "Does she live with her mom? How often do you see her?"

He answered patiently, having forgotten the universal reaction women had to finding out about Chelsea. "She's almost three, going on twelve. Chelsea lives with her mom, but comes over regularly. Some weekends she stays with me." Love swept through his voice. He adored his delightful tyrant. "You needn't sound so surprised, children are normal in a marriage."

"Sorry." She laughed, backing up a step. "I'm glad you're so close to her. Too many children are growing up without their fathers today. I didn't mean to get personal."

He barely resisted tugging her closer. They'd caused enough gossip this weekend as it were.

"Are you ready to go?" Karina's question brought him back to their surroundings.

"Is it that time already?" He looked around, surprised. When had it gotten so late?

The lobby had the depressing look of the morning after a party. It was deserted, with coffee cups and dirty plates littering the space. Papers and boxes were stacked against one wall. Lonely piles of luggage dotted the lobby. A few stragglers were still saying their goodbyes. It even smelled old and stale, empty.

Susan and Paul were making their way over to them. Paul held out his hand. "Thank you for taking such good care of my wife. She plans to attend your evening lectures, so we'll see you again." He turned to face Karina. "I understand that you and Susan have some big plans that she wants to talk to me about. Presumably, we'll also be seeing you again."

"Most likely. We'll definitely be staying in touch."

The women winked conspiratorially at each other and hugged once more in farewell.

"I'll miss Susan," Karina said, her gaze locked on the couple as they left. "Hopefully we can make our idea work. But there's lots of research to do first," she admitted, a hint of anxiety in her voice.

"What idea?"

"We're thinking about going into business together."

After that, she'd volunteer no more. No matter what question he asked. She'd only say that until the research was complete, she didn't want to do anything that might jinx it. Now that was a woman for you. Worrying about jinxing something still in the idea stage.

Frowning, Brian turned his attention back to the room, only to catch Mark grinning at him. He glared back. Mark's grin only widened.

Walking over to join them, Mark smirked. "A beautiful woman beside you and apparently another one sending you flowers. Tell me Brian, what am I doing wrong?" He smiled down at Karina. "Honey, you don't want to spend any time with this guy. You want to spend it with me," he teased. "When are you going to come and visit us?"

She smiled up at him. "You're such a sweetie. And watch what you say—you'll never know if I might just move here."

"You're looking at moving here. Why?" Mark asked. Linking arms with her, he added, "It's a wonderful idea and yes,
we
want you to move closer. What I mean is, what's making you think of changing cities like this?" Peering down at her closely, he added, "This has something to do with Susan, doesn't it?"

Brian stared down at her, thrown off-balance—again. She was looking at moving to Victoria as well? Another new tidbit of information.

She nodded happily at the men but refused to elaborate.

"Well, keep us posted." Mark dug into his shirt pocket. "Here's one of my cards. Let me know when you're coming and I'll scout out something new and different in the coffee world." Mark reached out and pulled Karina into a warm hug. "I'd love to have you closer."

Brian watched as his best friend connected with Karina on an easy, comfortable level. A level he wanted to reach but couldn't get to, yet. They had some personal stuff to deal with first.

"Take care and email me that you got home safely. Okay?" With that, Mark kissed her quickly on the cheek. "Brian, I'm loading up the car now. I'll give you a call tomorrow. See you." With a jaunty wave at them both, he headed out.

"Now I'm really going to be sad. I'm going to miss everyone." Tears were already starting to well up in the corners of her eyes.

"You'll just have to come and visit us." He slid an arm around her shoulder, nudging her toward his stack of boxes. "Come on, let's get your stuff."

After he made arrangements with hotel staff for the courier pickup of his workshop materials, they waited at the entrance doors until Brian's car was pulled around.

"Wow! Here I had you pegged as a BMW man. But a Porsche, now that shows a completely new side to you."

Brian held open her door, giving him an excuse to stand close. He was able to catch her dark, sexy fragrance as she moved past him and he closed his eyes briefly, forcing himself to back away from temptation.

"This is a relatively new purchase. I felt a little more splash in my life wouldn't hurt." Sheepishly he added, "My last car was a BMW."

They both laughed.

"Do you ever get hate mail or nasty phone calls, or things like that? This thing with Ian just seems a little too easy, as if there might be more to it than that."

"Yes, I've received a couple. Why? Is Ian's intrusion still bothering you?" He asked in surprise. He handled the purring car, with quiet confidence. Efficiently pulling in and out of traffic, he brought the sports car onto the freeway. He stole a glance at her, wondering just how her legs would look below the hem of a dress or short skirt. On the other hand, he wouldn't have wanted to miss seeing those thighs hugged by very touchable suede slacks, either. The dashboard glowed, giving him just enough light to keep his imagination alive, but not enough to satisfy it.

"Do you think they could've been from Ian?"

Startled, he took his eyes off the road to look at her. "It's possible but I doubt it. His actions tonight appeared to be more of the spur-of-the–moment kind. Besides the police already have all the letters. If they are from Ian, they'll find out."

"Glad to hear it." She stretched out her legs, crossing them at the ankles. Damn, she looked good. Forcibly he brought his attention back to the road. The rain had stopped and traffic was calm, making for an easy drive. "Do you remember him from university?"

"What? No. I don't." Ian had been so upset in his rant, it'd been difficult to look directly at him, let alone try to figure out if he knew him from somewhere. "You do?"

"Yes, he asked me out several times. But he always gave me the creeps and I tried to avoid him whenever I could." She hesitated, then added, "He was in the same pub as we were that last night."

"Really? I don't remember much about that night. Honestly."

An uncomfortable silence filled the car and he bit back a groan. That wasn't
at all
what he meant. "Let me clarify. I barely remember the pub, but what happened afterward…yeah, I remember every single minute of that."

He gave her a warm smile, relief flowing over him as she returned it.

As for the Ian mess… "I really don't think we'll ever hear from Ian again."

She slipped off her shoes and turned towards him, tucking her folded legs underneath her. The dusky interior just barely gave form to the dainty feet resting on the edge of the seat. Her knees were inches from his thighs. Her perfume surrounded him in the tiny space. Heavy and aromatic, it hinted at sultry nights of passion. Memories flooded his thoughts. Damn.

"I understand you're getting ready to start another book."

He forced his attention back to the conversation, hoping that would slow his pulse and reduce the painful tightness in his pants.

"I'd like to, yes."

"Is it hard for you?"

"Not really. I start to crave writing if I'm away from it for too long." In the back of his mind, already half defined, was an outline for his next book. He loved writing. There was a sense of accomplishment in knowing that he'd actually created something that could help others. It made his work come alive.

Ever since he was a young boy, he'd known he belonged in the world of words. He'd completed his Journalism degree and had even worked for a couple of papers, editing and writing for various dailies. It hadn't taken him long before he'd struck out on his own.

He pulled up to the airport drop off. "We're here." He smiled at her in the shadowy interior. "I'll grab your bag."

"Thanks." She smiled back.

Outside, the sky was clear and full of stars. He removed her bag from the trunk and placed it on the sidewalk. She walked to the end of the car and stilled.

He followed her gaze. That damn florist box was in the car.

"Brian, would you mind opening up it up? You don't have to tell me who it's from, just tell me that it's not from
him
."

He leaned on the black roof and peered at her. "You actually think Ian is going to send me flowers? Really?"

She shrugged, the gesture tinged with helplessness and anxiety.

Silently, he reached into the backseat and pulled out the long box. He laid it gently on the shiny hood. He might as well do as she asked. Besides, he was more than a little curious, himself.

He looked up at the duskiness of early evening that had started to lower itself onto the city. There was an alien feel to the world. The airport was normally unbelievably busy, but right now, everything was quiet—too quiet. Silence reigned, out of sync with the rest of the world.

"Okay, just for you." Without looking away from her, he removed the lid. The heavy aroma of the flowers wafted freely into the night.

"Oh my God," she gasped in shock.

That got his attention.

A dozen black roses nestled inside the florist box. A card rested on top. Scrawled on it in bold black writing, were the words, 'I'll be back.'

T
he next morning Karina was still upset. Even her beloved cats hadn't helped much, stalking around her in disdain. She'd cuddled and cried over them, before hauling them, still indignant, to bed with her.

Once snuggled in, all she could think about was Brian. He was so forceful. He handled everything expertly. She couldn't stop watching the way he controlled the car last night, coaxing it to perform the way he wanted. He was so careful, his touch so sure. The same way he'd handled her body so long ago. Chills ran up and down her spine. Passionate memories made her shiver in delight.

This morning she'd emailed Mark, making sure he knew about the flowers and threatening note. She'd been blunt, letting him know just how scared she was for them. Mark had answered within the hour. He was planning to talk to Brian.

Then she'd emailed Susan. The response was still on her computer screen:

Did he kiss you goodbye?

Typical romantic question. Karina had tried to write a reply several times, but the answer only upset her. Because of course, no, he hadn't kissed her goodbye. Whether he'd wanted to or not didn't matter because she hadn't given him a chance. She'd been too upset over the flowers. She'd grabbed her bags and walked inside—alone.

Earlier she'd bitten the bullet and sent Brian a note via email, thanking him for the ride. She'd kept it short but friendly and added her phone number. Now it was a question of waiting to see if a response came.

The phone rang and Karina's heart jumped into her throat. It couldn't be Brian already, could it?

"Karina? How was it?"

Cat. Karina laughed, the sound tinged with both disappointment. "Oh my God! It was unbelievable." The words tumbled freely for the next half hour as she caught her friend up on the remainder of the weekend. Karina chose to deliberately focus on the positives, leaving out Ian and his strange behavior.

When she hung up, her mood was lighter and happier than it had been all day. That was what friends were for.

Several hours later, she lugged her heavy grocery bags into the elevator, slumping against the back wall. It was amazing how exhausted a person could be after doing absolutely nothing for an entire day. Finally, she'd had to just get out for a bit, and had run to the store to pick up coffee beans. Somehow that had turned into three full bags of food. Nothing made sense today.

She checked her phone messages to find one call but the caller had hung up. Disappointed that there was no message from Brian, she decided to put on coffee.

Rejuvenated by the caffeine hit, she first checked to see if Brian had answered her email. He hadn't. However, Susan was up and running. She'd made several phone calls to gather information, even garnering Paul's support for the business idea.

Now it was Karina's turn to do some fun stuff. Her fingers danced across the keyboards as she started her research, focusing first on educational materials for elementary schools.