Cafe in the Park (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

Chris would have smiled if he could. Emily was exactly right. He just might have hunted this Peter down, and given him a good scare.

Peter left rapidly.

Chris heard the apartment door close, Peter’s footsteps descending the stairs quickly, and then the front doors open and close. Shortly after, Chris picked up a car engine. The man was gone. He crouched low and his anger left him with a low grumble. Emily chose him even if he was the mountain lion at the time. His low rumbling sighs turned to a purr.

Emily stroked his head and talked to him. “Thank you. I don’t know how bad things would have got, but I didn’t want him touching me after all.” She knelt by his side and looked into his eyes as he turned his head to her hand wanting more stroking.

“You’re so tame. Your eyes are beautiful, like emeralds.”

Chris saw her start to consider what she’d said. He could almost sense her thinking.

She stroked him, but she was preoccupied. She stood up. “I’m in love. In love with a man who probably tells all his conquests he loves them. I don’t think I’ll get over him quickly. That’s why I was with the guy you scared away. I was trying to replace Chris. Sadly, I’ll never be able to do that.”

When Emily said his name, Chris, snuffled. He moved, shuffling closer to her. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and comfort her, but he wasn’t a man. He knew that when he was a man again, all he could do would be try to prove to her that Veronique was nothing to him.

Emily stared at him. “If Chris arrived now, I’d welcome him. I’d fall into bed with him. I wouldn’t be able to help it. Isn’t that pathetic?”

Chris shook his massive head. It alarmed Emily and she drew back. He scented fear in her at his sudden movement and crouched low again, his head on his paws.

Emily sighed. “Sorry. It’s been a long night. Off you go to your night adventures.”

She walked away and into her apartment.

Chris remained there on the roof where she’d left him. The noise of the shower started. Emily was washing away her experience and maybe even her sorrow over him. He wondered sadly if she’d turned her cell phone on. He stood and leapt away, over the rooftops, through the park, skirted the river, and crossed the bridge there in two bounds. His house loomed in the darkness by the rock face.

The balcony window open, he entered his sanctuary. He shifted and fled to his bathroom to wash away his misery and worry that the man would go back to harm Emily. Calmer, he reasoned that Peter wouldn’t go back. He’d think the mountain lion lived on the roof, in a kennel like a pet dog.

Chris took his laptop to bed and sat there waiting for it to boot. He found an online florist and ordered flowers for delivery to Emily. When he filled in the form for the words on the card, he wrote,
Emily, give me one more chance. I love you. Things are not what they seem. Please call me. I’m begging you.

He pushed the laptop to one side of his huge bed and lay down. He wanted to sleep so that the night would go more quickly, but it was dawn before his thoughts jumbled and he drifted to sleep.

* * * *

Chris startled awake. He grabbed at the ringing cell phone on the bedside table. His first thought was that Emily was calling him. It was Art.
Of course, Emily wouldn’t have this number.

“Hi, Chris, I’m sorry to give you this news, but Veronique is at the door.”

Chris sat bolt upright. His voice shook with a mix of shock and fury. “How the hell does she know where I live?” Then he jumped out of bed. “Where is she?”

“We’re in your kitchen now. She rang the doorbell just as I got coffee going. You have that real estate appointment.”

Chris walked to his wardrobe and grabbed out fresh jeans. “I’ll be right there.” He pulled on his jeans, dragged on a T-shirt, and stormed out of his bedroom.

When he got down to the kitchen he was cold with rage, but knew he had to handle the situation as if Veronique had no hold over him. That would be the only way to get rid of her.

He stood for a few seconds outside the kitchen door calming his heartbeat. She’d no doubt hear it and take advantage. He prowled into the kitchen.

Veronique sat at the table with a cup of coffee in front of her. Art leaned against the counter looking annoyed as hell, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Why are you here and how did you find my address?”

Veronique smiled sardonically. “Your drummer told me after I sucked his cock.”

Art’s gasp reached Chris’s ears. He gave his friend a glance.

“So that leaves the other question unanswered. What do you want?”

She smiled. “A place to live. This place is nice.”

Chris sighed. “Not a chance, Veronique. Don’t get the idea you can live here.” He struggled not to shift and suffocate her with his massive jaws. “You’re in luck. I’m about to buy a new property, an apartment in the next town. It’s by the river. This will be it though. I won’t tolerate any more of this nonsense. I’ll gift you the place, settle a few more thousand on you. I just want peace. Can you respect that? We were over long ago. There’s not a spark of love left in me for you. You left me, remember? You knew I looked for you and stayed away. I’ll help you this one last time, but then you must leave me alone. Do you agree?”

He waited as she drank some coffee before answering.

“I agree. She must be very special for you to go to these lengths to keep her.”

Chris picked up the bitterness in Veronique’s tone as she referred to Emily. She was lying. He caught the scent of it. He could only hope that she took the help he offered and tired of this game.

“It will only take a few days to get the deeds to this riverside apartment. The place is new and there are no complications to the sale. I deal with this agent a lot. You’ll have the place and another check by the end of the week. Give Art your cell number. I’ll call at the end of the week with the address.” Chris went to her and took the coffee cup away from her. “Go now.” He placed the cup on the sink draining board and left the kitchen.

He was shaking as he went into the room he called his sanctuary. He hunkered down by the sunken pond and watched the fish swim for a few minutes. Emily was there in the room with him. Her scent lingered on the sofa, and then he saw her bra. It was there on the low table. He’d not given it back to her and she hadn’t asked. He picked it up and held it gently.
Emily
.

The cell phone he used to call Emily was in his other jean pocket.
I must give her all my phone numbers.
He walked slowly to his bedroom, sorrow weighed on him. The jeans he’d discarded last night before shifting to go to the restaurant lay by the balcony window. He didn’t remember them being there. They were supposed to be hanging over the chair next to his bathroom door. Chris sighed, thinking he was probably mistaken. He’d been distraught a few times over the last two days. He found the cell in the back pocket of the jeans and sat down on the end of his bed with it in his hand. It was eleven a.m. and Emily might be having a coffee break at work. She might talk to him after the mountain lion incident, if she liked the flowers, or recognized the desperation in his request to see her. He called her.

She answered almost immediately. “I got the flowers. I’d like to see you. I’ll be home tonight. Will you come over?”

Joy rushed through him. Emily was giving him another chance. “Thank you so much. I have lots to tell you. I have to explain things to you. I can’t lose you, Emily, not after waiting so long to meet you. I’ll be there about seven thirty, is that okay?”

Her tone revealed her mood. Emily was happy and as he heard it, his own happiness grew. They ended the call and Chris slipped the phone in his back pocket. He would buy the apartment for Veronique, give her a check for a hundred thousand dollars, and never think about her again.

Chris sang snatches of a song he liked as he drove to Emily’s place that evening. His happiness at seeing her again buoyed his spirits. He’d stopped and bought candy, the biggest, prettiest box he could find in the store. He parked along the street and bolted to the door of her apartment building. Without stopping, he took the stairs to her apartment two at a time and came to an abrupt halt outside her door.

He rang the bell.

The door opened. Emily stood there looking beautiful. Her long hair caressed her bare shoulders. The shoestring straps of her dress met the low neckline at tiny bows of ribbon. It was short and showed off her bare thighs. She wasn’t wearing shoes. Chris waited for her to ask him in.

“Chris, it’s so good to see you, but I need answers. I need the truth.”

She reached out to hold his free hand and tugged him inside.

The touch was like an electric shock. It spiked a jolt of sexual attraction up his arm, across his chest and down into his stomach. His cock throbbed. Chris followed Emily until she stopped in her living room and turned to him.

He held out the box of candy.

She took it and put it down on the armchair nearby.

He wanted to hold her close so badly he might die waiting for the privilege.

She stared at him. “Take off the sunglasses.”

Chris took them off and tossed them on the sofa.

Emily moved swiftly to him and hugged him close. “Chris, I’m counting on you telling the truth this time. Please don’t lie. It’s so hurtful. I’m on the verge of walking away from our relationship. I will if you lie again.” She drew back from him. “Sit down.” She waved at the sofa.

Chris sat. He put out his hand to have her sit with him. For an awful moment, he thought she wasn’t going to sit next to him, and he needed that closeness so much.

Then she took his hand and knelt beside him, looking into his face as he spoke.

“Veronique is harassing me for money…lots of money. She’s trying to split us up. Emily, she means nothing to me. It’s the truth when I say I haven’t seen her for years, and then she suddenly shows up out of the blue. She says she’s fallen on hard times and wants help, but she’s not to be trusted. I warned her away from you this morning…” He had to stop talking as Emily called out.

“This morning, you were with her this morning?” She sat back on her heels away from him. “Why, Chris?”

He sighed. “She showed up at my place. It was a shock. The drummer apparently told her where I live. She wouldn’t have been able to find out otherwise. I’m fairly off the grid as far as location is concerned. My business is done electronically, or on the phone, or I meet people in their offices.” He took Emily’s hand in his. “I’m buying her a place to live and giving her money, that way I hope she’ll leave me alone.

Emily stared at him. “You’re kidding, right? She’s blackmailing you, isn’t she? What does she know about you, because this is ridiculous?”

His shoulders slumped. “Nothing bad. I’m not a criminal. I’ve never hurt anyone, not since I was a soldier.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “When was that? You must have been very young.”

Chris hadn’t meant to let that slip. He found it hard to continue.
Maybe I should get it over with, tell her what I am, but then what if she tells others, or leaves me?

“Emily, can we make coffee? It’s been a long day for me and I’m so sorry I hurt you. I don’t know what to say to make it right. Veronique is threatening to make sure we split up. I couldn’t take that. I’ve been so very lonely. I want to spend my life with you. I thought I’d found someone to love forever.”

With a sudden movement, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Chris took the kiss, before he held her, and rested his face against hers for a moment.

“Okay, let’s make coffee.” She stood and waited for him to join her. “What if I talk to her, tell her she’s not going to win, that I love you, that she’s not going to be able to split us up?”

His spirits lifted at her words, but of course, Emily didn’t know the full story.

“You still love me? What if there was more? What if she told you something incredible about me?”

Emily took his hand and they went into her kitchen.

The light was failing. Night was drawing in, but Chris was too upset to think about his crossover mountain lion traits that meant his eyes might flicker emerald.

He tried to help making coffee, but Emily made instant.

“Why don’t you tell me? Just get it over with. Then she will have no power. You won’t have to give her apartments and money.” Emily finished pouring boiling water on the coffee granules. She put the electric kettle down and held out her arms to him.

Chris went into them and held her close. He whispered. “I can do it. I have money. I’m wealthy and I don’t care about that. I care that she would split us up, that she would stop you loving me.” He kissed Emily’s ear, her cheek, and murmured with pleasure as he kissed her lips. “I do love you. It’s killed me these last few days that Veronique has endangered the best thing to happen to me in many years. Your love, meeting you, it’s saved me. I was about to lose my mind to loneliness.”

Emily slid her hand along his jaw. She held his face, tenderness in her touch. “Tell me anyway. Tell me so that she has no more power. If you want to help her, do it, but tell me the secret, Chris.”