“That’s exactly what we have, Kat.” He pressed into her and hardened, stirring to life inside her. “What the hell do you call this?”
She released a small moan of pleasure and then shook her head. “This…this was just…”
“What?” Eli fought it, but the anger was setting in, erasing the incredible pleasure. “Tell me what you think this
just
was.”
“Sex.”
“You’ve never been a liar, Kat. Don’t start now. No way was this just sex.”
“Then what was it?” she challenged.
“This was two people making a commitment to each other in the most elemental way possible.”
Her eyes went wide with horror. “No.” She shoved at his shoulders. “No, Eli. Let me up.”
Eli eased out of her, gritting his teeth at the residual pleasure. He sprang to his feet, now angrier than he’d been before. Grabbing their clothes that he’d flung across the room, he dropped hers beside her. “Deny all you want, Kathleen. Pretend you don’t feel anything. Act like you just enjoyed a casual fuck. I know different. And you damn well do, too.”
Turning his back on her, he slid into his pants and stalked away. If he stayed, he’d say things he would regret. Having their first time together turn into an argument sure as hell hadn’t been in his plans.
Chapter Thirty-four
Kennedy took another sip of her iced herbal tea, hoping it would settle her queasiness. She’d read somewhere that being sick past the first trimester was a good sign of a healthy baby. If that were true, then this darling one would be the healthiest baby born in Texas. Which, despite the discomfort, was just fine with her. She’d gladly put up with nine months of nausea to have a healthy, happy baby.
She took another sip and then squinted at the computer screen. Her eyes were a little bleary, but something about this particular news piece had caught her attention. A niggling thought at the back of her mind made her keep coming back to it.
She twisted her neck to relieve the tension and then smiled as Nick came up behind her and began to knead her shoulders. She let her approving moan tell him he had hit the right spot.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then sat down beside her. “How about we call it an early day? Start fresh tomorrow.”
She glanced at the open door. “It’s only a little after three. Kathleen and Eli will be—”
She stopped when he shook his head, a little smile playing around his beautiful mouth.
“What?”
“I went looking for Eli. Figured after his revelations today, he might need someone to talk to. Knowing him, I thought he might head to the gym to work out some of that anger.”
“And?”
“Let’s just say I stood outside the door and listened for about ten seconds and left.”
“Why?”
“Because he and Kathleen were working out together.”
“So? Why would that—” She broke off and found herself blushing a little. “Oh.”
Nick laughed and leaned forward for a quick kiss on her mouth. “Yes. I’ve got a feeling we won’t be seeing them again today.”
“I’m glad. It’s so obvious they’re crazy about each other. About time they admitted it.”
“So what do you say? Want to head home? Take a little siesta of our own?”
“Sounds lovely. Besides, if I have to look at one more hideous thing about Mathias Slater today, I’ll probably have nightmares.”
“Hey.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “Is this too much? Digging back into the guy who destroyed your life can’t be easy. It was selfish to even ask for your help.”
“Thank you, but no, it’s not too much. Mathias can’t hurt me anymore. What evil that man perpetrated is in the past.”
“And he’s in hell, where he belongs.”
“Yes.” She kissed the hand holding hers and then twisted back to her laptop. “I’m at a dead end on this anyway. The thread kind of petered out on me.”
“What were you pulling on?”
“Something Kathleen said a few days ago got me to thinking.”
“What did she say?”
“About how Mathias couldn’t have started being evil so late in life. That there must be decades of things he did that we know nothing about.”
“That’s probably true, but that’s way too much crap to wade through without knowing what we’re looking for.”
“I know, but all the research we’ve done hasn’t turned up anything substantial, so it makes sense that if the threats are related to something Mathias did, maybe it’s not anything recent. Right?”
At his nod, Kennedy went on, “Mathias covered his ass probably more than anyone will ever know. So I started digging for crimes that didn’t have his name attached to them, but looked like something he could’ve been involved with.”
“Holy hell, Kennedy, that would take years to sift through.”
“Yes, but I looked specifically for something that smelled like a cover-up but wasn’t recent. Crimes that might fit Mathias’s MO.”
“That’s an interesting thought, but again…a lot of shit. Did you find anything?”
“Yes and no. I found a lot of crap”—she grinned—“as you so succinctly put it. But nothing that screams a Mathias Slater cover-up.”
“But?”
Her grin got bigger. “You know me so well.” She slid her laptop around so he could see the screen. “Most small-town newspapers don’t have online archives. This one did.”
His eyes quickly scanned the information, not that there was that much to read. “This is some little town in Nebraska. Several robberies occurred on the same night. No names are listed but the suspects are referred to as ‘youths’.
“Crazy. Right? But I keep going back to it.”
“Why?”
“Because of this.” She pulled up another article from the same little town. It had a newsy hometown feel, mentioning various goings-on in and around the town. His eyes zeroed in on one line that mentioned that the Slaters from Dallas, Texas, were visiting relatives outside Omaha.
“See? These robberies happened during the time frame Mathias and his family were there.”
Nick gave a slow nod. “He would’ve been young back then…might’ve even been before he and Eleanor married.”
She sighed and then slumped in her chair. “It was decades ago, though. So crazy. Right?”
Instead of agreeing with her, Nick began to click on more sites. The gleam in his eyes told her he was on to something.
“What? You see something?”
He held up one hand. “Just a sec.”
As he worked on the laptop, Kennedy took another sip of her tea. Then, propping her arms on the table, she rested her head on them and gazed dreamily up at her husband. A year and a half of marriage and she was more in love with him than she’d ever thought possible. Not a day went by that she didn’t marvel at how blessed she was. When she’d lost Thomas and their baby, she had thought her life was over, that finding information on Mathias Slater to put him away would be her only purpose in life. She’d never believed she could find happiness again. Now, with Nick, she was unbelievably, ecstatically happy. And in a few months, she would be a mom.
Showing that after more than two years off the job, her husband still had a cop’s observant eyes, he kept his gaze on the computer screen as he said, “You keep looking at me like that, we’ll be going to find the nearest guest bedroom and have that siesta you promised me.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Why don’t we—”
“Hot damn.”
She sat up straight. “What? You found something?”
“Yes. Maybe.” His eyes blazed when he looked at her. “Mathias was supposed to spend the summer with relatives in Dorman, Nebraska. Six weeks into what was supposed to be a three-month stay, his father came for him.”
“How old was he?”
“Twenty.”
“Over eighteen. He would’ve been charged as an adult. How could he—” She cut off at Nick’s cynical look. “Of course, his father paid to get him out of trouble. No wonder no names were mentioned. I wonder if all the boys had parents who paid.”
“Either that, or the others were minors.”
“So do you think this is something, or are we just whistling Dixie?”
“You do have a sweetly seductive whistle.” His phone chimed with a text message. Glancing down, he read it and then reached over to close her laptop. His eyes twinkling with amusement, Nick held out his hand and stood, pulling her to her feet. “That was Eli. He said something’s come up. Wants to call it quits for the evening. Start back again tomorrow.”
She beamed up at him. “Gee, a whole night off. What will we do?”
“Oh, I think we’ll find something.”
She leaned into him. “We make a good team, don’t we?”
“In every way possible.”
Standing on her toes, she pressed a kiss to his mouth. “I love you, Nick Gallagher. You’re my heart.”
All the love in the world in his eyes, he said quietly, “And you, Kennedy Gallagher, are the very beat of mine.”
No matter how often she told herself that hiding in her room for the rest of the evening was a cowardly thing to do, Kathleen couldn’t make herself leave. Every dire warning she’d given herself had come true. She had known that staying here with Eli, working side by side with him every day, would be dangerous. This was one time she hated being right.
She paced back and forth across the bedroom floor. A sensible, reasonable person would have showered by now. She still wore the workout clothes she’d put back on after—
Shoving her fingers through her hair, she shook her head. Stupid, silly, sentimental Kat. Eli’s scent was all over her. When she showered, it would be gone. And all she would have was the memory of something she could never have again.
The tears started before she even realized it. Everything blurred, and with a hopeless sobbing sigh, Kathleen fell across her bed.
In her weakest moments, she had dreamed of how it would be if they’d made love. She had imagined it would be enjoyable, memorable. What lifeless words for the utter magnificence of what had happened. Eli had said their lovemaking had been making a commitment in the most elemental way possible. Despite her denial to him, she agreed. That’s what it had felt like.
She had hurt him with her lies, her refusal to accept what she felt, what he felt. Hurting Eli was the last thing she wanted to do. But if she didn’t continue to deny these feelings, if she accepted what her heart wanted to accept, what then? How many times did it take for her to see that when she loved, she lost? Everyone in her life, beginning with her mother, who she had adored, was gone. Everyone. If she lost Eli, too?
No, she couldn’t take the chance. Could not risk her heart. Losing him would destroy her.
She would do her job, help him find out who was trying to kill him, and then she would be gone.
But until then… She closed her eyes and allowed herself to relive the most intensely beautiful moments of her life. Moments that could never be repeated.
Chapter-Thirty-five
Eli had spent a miserable night alternating between hurt and fury. Knowing that Kathleen was across the hall and all he had to do was walk a few steps and confront her was of no use. More than a couple of walls separated them.
He tried to force the regret away, but it kept getting in the way of his self-righteous anger. He had known damn well she wasn’t ready for more, wasn’t prepared to face her feelings, much less his. And what had he done? He’d railroaded her into an ultimatum. Was it any wonder she’d shut him down?
He was groggy and out of sorts. However, he wasn’t about to change his routine. Breakfast with his daughters was the highlight of his day. Everything always seemed brighter after spending a few minutes with them, even if it was only through a webcam.
After breakfast, he had a morning full of meetings at his office, then it would be back here at home for another afternoon of research, conjecture, and more damn guessing games.
If there was one advantage to sleeplessness, it had given him plenty of time to come up with a plan. He was tired of the non-action. Tired of waiting around. This shit had to stop. And the only way to stop it was to bring the bastard out in the open, trapping him in his own game.
After showering, Eli dressed and then walked out of his bedroom. Kathleen’s door was closed. The temptation to knock and have it out with her was great, but he resisted. Until the threat against his family was neutralized, perhaps it was best to back away, pretend yesterday hadn’t happened. When things were calm and his life didn’t resemble a nightmare, he’d pursue her to the ends of the earth.
Feeling slightly more optimistic with a plan in place, Eli pushed open the kitchen door, looking forward to having breakfast with his daughters. He didn’t expect to find that Kathleen had arrived ahead of him and was already seated. Even though she usually joined them for breakfast, somehow he had assumed she would skip today. It showed him, more than anything else she could have done, that she wanted to be with him…with them. Whether she was ready to admit it or not, they were already a family.
Throwing her a small smile, he settled at the table, prepared to have breakfast with his three favorite girls.
They sat across from each other, she and Eli, pretending for his daughters’ sake that everything was fine. And even though Eli had smiled at her a time or two during breakfast, Kathleen knew things were far from fine.
“And Gammie bought us new shoes and socks and pillows and a truck.”
She’d been listening while Sophia listed all the things their grandmother had purchased for them. From the sound of it, Eli’s mother and sister had been making up for lost time by purchasing everything two little girls might want. But the last thing was different.
“A truck?” Kathleen said.
Sophia nodded emphatically. “Gammie said no, but Aunt Lacey said Texas girls should have a truck. Mine’s blue. Violet’s is green.”
“That sounds really pretty.”
Thrilled to have an audience, Sophia said, “I’ll go get it.” Before Kathleen or Eli could protest, she’d jumped from her chair. While Sophia went to get her truck, Violet started with her own litany of gifts her grandmother and aunt had purchased.
“It’s not really all that much, Eli.” An older woman appeared on the screen behind Violet. In her mid-sixties, Eleanor Slater was still a beautiful woman. Fragile-looking, with skin stretched tightly on her face, she had a delicate, refined air about her. When Kathleen had first met her, via their video calls, she had seemed stressed, uncertain. The longer her grandchildren stayed, it seemed the more relaxed and happy she became.