Just for now, p.21
Just For Now, page 21
part #10 of MidKnight Blue Series
Dave spent the next few hours driving and listening to music. Finally he went back to the apartment he used when he was undercover. He dropped down on the bed and lay there in the dark, his eyes wide open. Nothing was working; he couldn’t get her out of his head.
“Damnit,” he growled.
Rolling over, he reached for his cell phone, knowing it was crazy but not caring at that point. He dialed Susan’s number, her own line at Joe’s. It rang a couple of times. Dave looked at the clock on the shabby nightstand; it was 11:30 p.m. He let it ring a couple more times, then decided it was a bad idea. As he went to press the END button, he heard her answer.
“Hello?” she said, her voice quiet and sleepy.
Dave was silent for a moment, not sure if he should just hang up instead. Eventually, he said, “Susan, it’s me.”
“David?” she asked, instantly sounding worried.
“Yeah,” he said hesitantly.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, everything’s okay,” he said softly.
“Thank goodness,” Susan replied. She sounded so young and so innocent.
She is young, you idiot, he told himself, thinking again that he had been stupid to call her.
“David?” Susan asked when he didn’t speak again.
“I’m here.”
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah…” he said, trailing off. “I just…” he started, then hesitated again, questioning the intelligence in telling her what he was thinking.
“Just what, David?” Susan asked softly.
“I just wanted to hear your voice,” he said. He felt like an idiot, but it was true. It had been almost a week since he’d left, and he found that he missed her.
Susan smiled, her heart soaring. He had a way of putting things that made her feel so special.
“I can’t really talk right now,” he said, suddenly feeling like he was indeed crazy for having called her from the apartment, and on his cell phone no less. Cell phones could be traced; he knew that.
“Okay,” Susan said, trying to tamp down on her disappointment. She knew that what Dave did for a living was dangerous, and that he had to be careful. She had missed him though, more than she’d realized she would.
“I’ll talk to you in a week or so when I get back,” he said, sounding vague all of a sudden.
“Alright,” Susan answered automatically, realizing he suddenly sounded like Christian did when he called from his business trips. The thought made her feel disappointed. Was she being brushed off so quickly?
“Bye,” Dave said briskly.
“Goodbye, David,” Susan said solemnly. A second later he broke the connection.
Susan lay awake the rest of the night, not sure what she had done wrong. She fought off tears, as well as thoughts of being used. Just because he hadn’t been able to talk just then, didn’t mean that he didn’t want to see her again. That was just her assumption. She told herself that over and over again, finally falling asleep before dawn, a half hour before her alarm went off.
Kyle and Rhiannon were working together on the inventory and the information they were getting back. They had spent hours poring over reports, trying to determine how best to proceed. It took a few very long days. One day they worked until 6:30, when Kyle stood up and stretched, looking at his watch.
“It’s getting late—let’s call it a day,” he said.
Rhiannon looked up at the clock, surprise clear on her face. She hadn’t realized it was that late. She nodded, standing up to stretch as well. As she did, she felt a muscle spasm in her shoulder, and she gasped at the sharp pain.
“You okay?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah,” Rhiannon said, reaching up to rub her shoulder. “I injured it pretty bad in the accident back then.”
Kyle nodded. “And here I am, overworking you.”
“Kyle, stop. I’m fine.”
“Well,” he said, looking thoughtful. “I’m without children tonight—can I take you to dinner?”
Rhiannon looked at him for a long moment. Then she shrugged. “Sounds like a good idea,” she said, smiling.
He grinned. “Good.”
They went to dinner at a local fish restaurant, Anthony’s. The sun was going down as they sat down at their table. Since the restaurant overlooked the bay, it was a very pretty sight. That night they talked about a lot of topics, debating some and just discussing others. Kyle told her about his son Nick’s current stream of complaints. He hated California, he hated his new school, he hated his father.
“Is he still upset about losing his mother?” Rhiannon asked gently.
Kyle nodded. “That’s part of it.”
“What’s the other part?” she asked, picking up her glass of wine and taking a sip.
“He had a little racket going back in New York—he was starting to run numbers for his uncle.”
“Oh boy,” Rhiannon said, remembering what Kyle had told her about Barbara’s family being connected.
“Yeah, he was in for making some money,” Kyle said grimly. “And now he’s added that to the list of charges on my head.”
Rhiannon shook her head. “Will he get used to San Diego eventually, do you think?”
Kyle shook his head miserably. “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “If nothing else, he can move back to New York when he’s eighteen, if that’s what he wants.”
“But you don’t want that,” Rhiannon pointed out wisely.
“No. But I don’t think I’m going to get a choice in the matter.”
Rhiannon reached across the table, touching his hand. “Kyle, all you can do is be there for him. You can’t make him hear you.”
Kyle nodded, looking into her eyes. “I know, I just—” he began, but stopped as emotion threatened to overflow for a moment. He swallowed a few times against the lump in his throat. “I just don’t want to lose him too.”
“You won’t,” Rhiannon said, with more assurance in her voice than he’d heard in a long time from anyone. It warmed him somehow.
They moved on to other topics, and eventually left the restaurant. He drove her back to the department parking lot. Again there was the hesitation, neither of them sure what to say.
“Thank you, I had a nice time,” she said, feeling like she sounded dumb.
Kyle grinned at the canned phrase. “I bet you say that to all the boys.”
“Oh yeah, all the time,” Rhiannon said airily, and laughed.
“That’s what I figured,” he said, grinning still.
His face grew serious a moment later as he reached out, touching her cheek, then slid his hand behind her neck to pull her to him. His lips covered hers in a kiss that was both sweet and soft, but it held a hint of passion, and it was that hint that had her body screaming at her when she moved away after their lips parted.
She bit her lower lip, scared to look up at him, because she was afraid he’d see the messages her body was sending her. When she did look up, she saw that he’d sat back, his eyes searching hers. Their eyes locked and did a lot of communicating all on their own, but neither of them moved. It was Rhiannon who broke the spell by clearing her throat.
“I better be going,” she said, reaching for the door handle.
“I’ll get it,” he said, and got out of the car to go around to her side.
He opened the door, and when she got out she stopped. His hand went to her waist and he pulled her to him again, his kiss stronger this time. There was no mistaking the passion behind it, and Rhiannon was sure her knees were going to give out on her. It had been so long since a man had kissed her—and on top of it, Kyle Masterson could kiss! Her entire body was warmed in his embrace, in the feel of his lips. She was sure she was going crazy. When the kiss ended, he looked down into her eyes for a long moment.
“Goodnight, Rhiannon,” he said softly.
Rhiannon nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. She walked over to her car and watched as he pulled his around to sit behind hers, waiting to follow her out of the parking lot. Something else Jason had always done, never leaving first, even before they were a couple. She smiled wistfully at the thought.
On the drive home, it occurred to her that for once she’d thought of Jason without feeling that deep sense of pain. Maybe she was finally healing. Maybe it was okay that she was feeling whole, even if it might be just for now.
You can find more information about the author and series here:
www.sherrylhancock.com
www.facebook.com/SherrylDHancock
www.vulpine-press.com/midknight-blue-series
Also by Sherryl D. Hancock:
The WeHo series follows a group of women from Los Angeles as they navigate the ups and downs of love, life, work, and everything in between.
www.vulpine-press.com/we-ho
The Wild Irish Silence series. Escape into the world of BJ Sparks and discover how he went from the small-town boy to the world-famous rock star.
www.vulpine-press.com/wild-irish-silence-series
Sherryl Hancock, Just For Now
