“I had a good time. You’re great company.”
“So are you,” she said after a pause. “I had a good time too.”
The tone of her voice suggested that fact surprised her. And it probably did. Kind of tough to relax for a few hours when you’re looking over your shoulder at every turn.
He rose and began collecting the plates, but she reached over and put her hand on his wrist. Cool soft fingers and yet they burned his skin like coals.
“I’ll do it,” she said huskily. “You already did so much.”
“You sure you’re going to be okay?”
She nodded and released his wrist. He wanted to take her hand back so she kept touching him. He liked her hands. Small and so dainty and feminine. She had slender fingers with tapered nails. And the pads of her fingertips were smooth and infinitely soft.
“I’ll be fine, and again, thank you for doing so much to make me feel better. I really appreciate it.”
He wondered what she’d do if he told her he wanted to kiss her. Not that he would. Tell her, that is. If he was going to kiss her, he’d want her to have no warning. No time to think. But he didn’t want to scare the hell out of her either. So he stood there, watching her mouth and wondering what she’d taste like.
“If you need anything, don’t hesitate, okay? I’m just down the beach. And I mean anything. If you get scared, I’ll come over. It’s not a problem.”
For a long moment she simply stared at him, her heart in her eyes. They gleamed shiny in the soft moonlight and her lips were drawn almost as if she were in pain.
“I stopped believing they made men like you,” she said in a voice that made him ache. “Thank you for proving me wrong.”
He almost went back and kissed her anyway. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he turned and walked down the beach to his cottage. He stopped midway to look back and she was still standing there, moon splashing silver on her skin.
He lifted his hand in a wave and then traveled the rest of the way in the dark.
When he entered his cottage, he groaned as he caught sight of the sat phone where he’d left it on the kitchen counter. Donovan was going to kill him. Better to get it over with sooner rather than later, and he was eager to hear what his brother had dug up on Sarah Daniels.
He dialed the number and waited as it rang. A moment later, a decidedly feminine voice bled over the line.
“Hello?”
“Sophie? What the hell are you doing answering this line?” Garrett asked. “Everything okay there?”
“Hi, Garrett.”
“Still pregnant, sweetheart?”
She made a sound that came out as a grunt. Maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut.
“Where’s Van?”
“He’s asleep at the computer,” his sister-in-law said. “Ethan and Rachel came over after you called earlier so he never went back to bed.”
“How is Rachel doing?”
“She seems to be doing well. She and Ethan went swimming. Sam wouldn’t let me go. He said if I started to drown there wasn’t a life preserver that would fit around me.”
Garrett snorted. “What an ass**le. Want me to kick his ass for you?”
She laughed and Garrett smiled. “Rachel kicked him for me. I couldn’t lift my leg that high without falling over.”
“You take good care of yourself and my niece. I’ll expect a phone call the minute you go into labor.”
“I think the entire world will know when the day finally comes,” she said tiredly. “I mean, I don’t think even elephants are pregnant this long.”
“Poor sweetie. Make Sam give you a foot rub.”
“Donovan is stirring and I need to wipe up the drool off the desk. Do you want to speak to him?” Sophie asked.
“Yeah, thanks. Take care, okay?”
Muffled sounds came through the phone and then Donovan’s irritated growl and Sophie’s laughter.
“For someone who was in such a goddamn hurry, you took your sweet time calling back.”
Garrett winced. “Sorry, Van. Something came up. You got anything for me?”
Donovan sighed. “Actually, no. I’ve been on it all afternoon. If something happened to her, it’s not on record anywhere. I have a contact in Boston who is doing some more digging for me. He’ll poke around her neighbors, acquaintances and coworkers to see what he can come up with but we have to be careful because she has a lot of damn people looking for her.”
Garrett sighed. No record. Meaning whatever had happened to her went unreported. He wanted to put his fist through the wall. Had she been in an abusive relationship? Was she a victim of random violence?
“Do me a favor, Van. Look up any past relationships. Boyfriends, casual dates, whatever. I need some blanks filled. Resnick either didn’t tell us the whole story or he doesn’t know it himself, which is hard to believe since he’s such a meticulous bastard.”
“What are you really looking for, Garrett? Help me out here. I need to know what I’m searching for.”
Garrett rubbed a hand over his face. “I think she was attacked. Maybe raped. I feel pretty sure it was by someone she trusted. So I don’t know if she was abused, if some guy she was with beat the hell out of her or sexually assaulted her. There’s something going on here beyond her witnessing someone being murdered.”
“Christ,” Donovan muttered.
“Yeah, tell me about it.”