The Confession (19 page)

“So she knows,” I said, wishing I had a shirt on. Or a parka. I felt entirely too exposed. “What can she tell us?”

He gave a quick nod, then reached for my hand.

“I need you to look at this. Tell me if it means anything to you.”

I swallowed.

“You found something?”

“Maybe.”

He turned back to the counter and opened a folder he'd been looking at when I walked in. I tensed as I saw the color pictures, but these were different from the ones I'd stumbled upon before. Nobody was highlighted in these. Instead, they were shots of what looked to be the interior of a hotel.

“I took these earlier and had them printed before I came back. Does anything look familiar?”

I scanned through a photo of a pristine lobby. Plush white couches lined the walls, crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. There were half a dozen glass tables shoved against a front desk that looked like it was made of solid black marble. A sign on the other side of the room hung on an easel:
PARDON OUR DUST. UNDER RENOVATIONS
.

There was nothing familiar here.

I turned to the next picture. The inside of a room, centered around a huge, antique four-poster bed. The white comforter on the mattress was topped with a mountain of fancy pillows. A sliding glass door gave way to the veranda.

It looked like something from a dream. Something I'd seen in a movie. My eyebrows drew together. Alec's arm tightened around my waist. I felt him watching me closely.

The next picture was a hallway. Just a hallway. Just like any other hallway, with doors lining the walls. But there were candleholders attached to the walls, coiled silver snakes, whose mouths opened to narrow glass sconces.

I dropped the picture on the floor and took a quick step back.

“Anna?” Alec grabbed my elbows. “What is it?”

Silver snakes.

Black stars.

My dress, ripping, as I fell forward.

“I'll carry her.”
A voice I couldn't quite pin.

“Let go,” I said.

Alec released my arms.

“No.” I shook my head, trying to bring back the shard of memory that had been so clear just moments before. “No, that's what I said. ‘Let go.'”

I closed my eyes and saw a white sky with black stars.

“Shit,” I muttered.

Alec led me to the bar stool, watching me worriedly.

“Take your time,” he said.

“Black stars.” I forced my breath to steady. “I don't know why I keep seeing that.”

“It's all right.”

“I remember the candleholders,” I told him. “At least, I think . . . It's hard to tell. It's like I saw them on television or something. Silver snake candleholders. I was so tired. I could barely walk. I kept falling. He said he would carry me.”

“Who's he?” Alec's voice had hardened.

“I don't know.”

“Max?”

“No.” I would have recognized Maxim's voice. It was someone else. I tried to focus on it. “Someone younger, maybe.”

“Okay,” he said. “Okay, that's good. Take a deep breath.”

I wasn't sure who needed it more, him or I, but I did as he said anyway. One breath, then two. Again, until the memory faded. I stared at Alec the whole time, letting his dark eyes center me. Letting his hands on my shoulders keep me grounded.

“Where is this?” I asked.

“Miami,” he said.

“M
iami?”
I asked.

“Yeah.” He sat on the stool across from me. “That's where I went yesterday. I've been trying to find a match for the shots Max had taken with you on the balcony. Flight records show his jet was already overseas that week, and he couldn't have gotten you on a commercial plane without an ID, so I figured wherever it was had to be within a drivable distance. I ran a search of all his properties within a thousand miles and dug up any of his old friends or rentals he's used before. This is a place he invested in years ago. I didn't recognize it right away because I'd never been there—Bobby covered it.”

I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I'd been taken all the way to Miami. That was almost a five-hour car ride.

“Janelle and I flew down in the afternoon and checked into a hotel down the street. She tipped off the media.” He rolled his shoulders back. “Reporters were already waiting at the hotel when we arrived.”

I tried to shake off the sudden rise of jealousy that rose up. Alec had been there for me, but it still stung a little to think of the media adding more fuel to their supposed love affair. Even if it was a fake relationship, I didn't want the world thinking he was with another woman.

“You got on a plane?” For as much as Alec loved planes, he hated flying. The only way he'd gotten through our last flight together was my well-timed blow job.

He scowled. “I did. And there was turbulence.”

How this man had ever thought pilot lessons were a good idea was beyond me.

I laced my fingers in his. “I wish I'd been there to distract you.”

His hand gave a sudden squeeze, and his dark eyes shot to mine. I smirked, unable to help myself.

He coughed.

“If Max saw you on the news, he'll know you figured out where he took me,” I said.

“Exactly,” said Alec, recovering quickly. “I hope it scares the shit out of him.”

Victory surged over the dread. Alec was sending his old boss a message. I didn't know what he'd do with it, but I couldn't think of that yet.

Alec shuffled aside the papers to reveal the last photo. It was the veranda with the iron railing. Palm trees leaned in the background. There was an empty chaise recliner on the tiles.

“It's nothing personal.”

Maxim Stein's voice whispered in my ear.
Nothing personal.
Fucking bastard. My nails dug into my palms.

“Did he rent a room there?”

“No,” said Alec, expression grim. “The hotel is temporarily closed for renovations.”

Which meant limited staff, if any. Still, there had to be construction crews on-site. Somebody had to have seen something.

“I need to go there,” I said. “See if anyone recognizes me, or if I recognize anyone. There should still be security footage from the elevators . . . something . . . We have the location where it happened, we just need to pin him to
when
it happened.” Then we could show that he'd violated his parole, and if it came down to it, we could offer proof from the hospital that I'd been drugged as well.

Alec shook his head. “All the cameras are down while they're remodeling. From the shape of the balcony in the pictures, I think he took you to one of the six suites on the east side. I searched all of them, but the place has been cleaned. Really cleaned. I couldn't even pick up a print. Whoever helped him knew what they were doing.”

“But the pictures,” I said. “They were taken from a distance. Maybe someone saw the photographer.”

I was grasping at straws. Miami was packed with tourists snapping pictures.

“I thought of that,” said Alec. “There's a hotel next door that's open. Janelle checked the guest list for those nights, but there was no one that matched the profile of the bastard that took you from the bar. No one remembers seeing Max either.”

I stood, unable to sit any longer. “Son of a bitch.”

“Right.”

“How did Max even get there? I thought he was on house arrest.”

“I don't know.” Alec's mouth turned down. “I'm still working on that.”

I paced the length of the narrow kitchen. “So what? The trail just goes cold now?”

“Not yet,” he said. “Max is smart, but he's arrogant, and that makes him lazy. That's why he kept me around—so I could deal with the details. I guarantee he missed a step somewhere, and when I find out what it is, we're going to string him up for it.”

I felt his confidence spark in the center of my chest.

“Janelle is still there asking some questions. We'll know something as soon as she does.”

“Damn,” I said. “She really does make it hard to hate her.”

He smirked. “She's not that bad.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Let's not get crazy. She did still steal my boyfriend.”

He chuckled. “She didn't steal anything. You left me.”

“Technicalities.” I waved him off.

“That technicality nearly broke me.”

The mood had turned serious fast. He hung his head, rubbing the back of his neck. He seemed unsure what to say next.

I melted onto the stool.

“You never came,” I said quietly. “I thought you were done with us. You'd moved on.”

He reached for my hand, slowly flattening it against his large palm. His fingers stroked the inside of my wrist, sending shivers up my arm.

“There is no moving on,” he said. “There's just surviving.”

“Alec.” I leaned closer. He so rarely voiced his feelings, especially outside the bedroom. The impact was not lost on me.

He scowled. “When I was gone before, I could still hope you were waiting. But when you ended it, God, Anna. There was nothing left. I told myself it was better that way, but nothing made sense without you. Mike told me you were doing well, which fucked me up even more. He said this cop—the one who'd been at the bridge that night—kept showing up at the salon to see you. I drove there one day and saw you two leave together. You were laughing. You looked so fucking happy. I swore I'd keep my distance if it meant somewhere you were laughing like that.”

He blurred as the tears filled my eyes. I let them fall, unwilling to let go of his hands.

“And now you're back, and you keep crying.” He laughed dryly.

I giggled, and wiped my cheek on my shoulder. I shifted onto his lap, and he wrapped his arms around me.

“Marcos is just a friend,” I said. “Anyway, he wasn't coming to the salon to see me, he was coming to see Derrick.”

Alec contemplated this a moment. His brows rose.

“Huh. That's good news.”

I snuggled closer, my hair over his shoulder.

“What happens now?” he murmured against my neck. His fingers had found the end of the towel and slowly inched it up my thigh.

The weight of those words hung over us, heavy and illusive. What
did
happen now? Were we together? Not according to the rest of the world, who was convinced he was with Janelle. Even a secret relationship seemed strange at this point when Maxim had pounded such a wedge between us.

Each second brought more unease. What did I expect to happen here? What did he want? We couldn't be seen in public together, much less date. And what about our future? He didn't have steady work, and mine was in limbo. Massage wasn't a career for me anyway, it was a job. I had things I wanted to do—continue with CASA, maybe even get my social work license renewed. I couldn't do those things if I was stuck in a safe house.

I should have told him all this. Laid it all out on the table. But I took the coward's path.

“I don't know,” I said. “I'm sort of living day by day right now.”

He gave one slow nod, and if he didn't believe me, he didn't call me on it.

“I'll take whatever you can to give me,” he said.

I turned my face to kiss him on the jaw. “What if what I can give you is baked ziti?” I asked. “With lots of cheese. And a spinach salad with strawberries. And some grilled asparagus. And maybe a piece of cheesecake.”

His brows rose. “That's very specific.”

“Would you be agreeable?”

“Very.” This time when he laughed, I laughed with him.

“I want to cook,” I said. “I have had many orgasms and one icky flashback. I demand a feast.”

He smiled, genuinely, and it warmed away my insecurities.

“Let's find a supermarket, and then I'll make you the best midnight snack you've ever had,” I said.

He considered this a moment, and I watched as he checked the clock.

“Matt's taking a break until morning, but it's late enough. There shouldn't be too many people out.”

I batted my eyelashes at him.

“All right,” he said. “You okay with just me?”

I grinned. “Always.”

*   *   *

We took the rented SUV. My seat had been covered with a stack of unopened mail, junk mostly, which Alec told me was from the PO box he'd taken out when he'd moved above the restaurant. I tucked it into the side compartment on the door as we made our way back out into the rain.

The water made the streets glisten, and fogged up our windows so fast even the defrost couldn't keep up. Somehow, Alec managed to find a supermarket in St. Pete that was still open, and parked in the back of a lot.

He turned off the car, but the rain was still pelting so we waited before getting out. My hand was on the console, and he took it, weaving our fingers together. I reveled in the contrast—he was large where I was small, rough where I was smooth. Our bodies fit together in every way possible.

“This all right?” he asked, glancing down at where we touched. The rain whipped against the windshield.

“Yes,” I said. “You don't have to keep asking if I'm okay.”

He pulled my knuckles to his mouth and planted a gentle kiss there. The stubble on his jaw rubbed against the back of my hand, and I had the sudden desire to feel it scrape against my tender breasts, and the insides of my thighs.

The windshield was completely steamed, the sound of the rain the only evidence that a world outside the windows existed.

“Can I ask you something?” he said.

“Yes.” I don't know why his question made me nervous, but it did.

“Why didn't you let me put my mouth on you?”

The nerves increased by two hundred percent. When I tried to withdraw my hand, he held tight and sucked one of my fingers in his mouth. Shocked, I gave a small whimper and sank in my seat.

“Focus.” He smirked as his teeth scraped the pad of my finger. A sharp throb ricocheted through my body, making my stomach contract and my thighs squeeze together. Demanding Alec had been absent in our lovemaking since we'd come back together. His return made my nipples instantly harden.

“Did he touch you there?”

Max, he meant. But I couldn't wonder what
had
happened to me. Not while Alec was turning the heat up in my veins.

“No . . .”

“Then why?”

“I . . . I didn't want you to stop.”

He moved to my thumb, biting the flesh at the base hard enough to make me jump.

“Why would I stop?”

I couldn't take my eyes off his mouth. The perfect shape of his full lips, opening, his wet tongue sliding up my palm.

“I needed . . . inside.” I could form sentences. Really.

“I would have given you what you needed.”

His mouth found the sensitive place on the inside of my wrist. My pulse began to flutter.

“You kept backing off,” I managed. “I needed your . . .” His tongue made a slow, wet circle on my skin. I closed my eyes.

“My what?” His voice darkened. The rain slapped against the car, heightening the sensation.

“Your . . .”
Words, Anna.
“Possession.”

He sighed tightly, the sound ending with a soft growl.

“There's more than one way for me to possess you,” he said, his words a dark threat wrapped in velvet.

Keeping one hand in mine, he reached across the console with the other and touched my knee. Very slowly, his fingers trailed up the bare skin of my inner thigh, stopping when he reached the hem of my shorts. His eyes flashed with raw desire, and my breath hitched in my throat. I leaned toward him, unable to fight the pull, and he leaned in, too, meeting me halfway.

“We good?” he asked.

When I nodded, his fingers dipped beneath the frayed fabric, glancing off the edge of my panties as they rounded the swell of my thigh. His thumb found a ticklish spot on my hip and pressed down, making me slide farther into the leather seat.

“How about now?” With agonizing precision, he made his way back toward my center, and adjusted his wrist, so that he could feather his fingers over my satin panties.

“You want it?” It took everything I had to taunt him. Already I was spreading my legs to give him more access.

“You know I want it,” he said, voice sharp enough to bring my gaze back to his. His finger slipped under the panties to my wet center and probed deeper.

“Oh,” I managed. “Oh God.”

“I miss the taste of you,” he said. “How soft you are. How every movement makes you react.” He pressed inside, and I threw my head back, biting down hard.

“You get off on it,” I said between my teeth.

“Hell yes, I do,” he said, adding a second finger and twisting. “You want to hear a secret? Making you come . . . It's a power trip, and I fucking love it.”

“And just when I was starting to think you were a nice guy.” I yelped as his thumb found my clit.

He laughed, the low sound rolling through my body.

“Don't fool yourself,” he said. “I've got nothing but bad intentions right now.”

“Is this the part where you get bossy?”

He'd leaned closer, his voice a low rasp in my ear.

“This is the part where I fuck you with my tongue, Anna. Right here in this car.”