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The fact that Parker was only giving voice to Kit’s own thoughts wasn’t very comforting. “I’ll take care of her. What about Roman?”
Parker’s eyebrows shot up. “I think I’ve extended all the courtesy to you that I’m going to, Mr. Angelis. I’m not commenting to you on an ongoing investigation. And your brother Theo isn’t going to get much out of me, either.” With a nod, Parker walked out into the squad room.
Kit turned to enter the interrogation room. Two strides took him to the table where Drew was still seated. He pulled her into his arms.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“I’m taking you home.”
21
Saturday, August 30—evening
AS KIT PARKED in front of his aunt Cass’s house and helped her out, the knots in Drew’s stomach tightened. He’d said he was taking her home. It had only been a day, not even twenty-four hours since he’d first brought her here on that motorcycle. But every thing looked so different this time.
First of all, there was the fog. It had rolled in suddenly the way fog did in San Francisco, and now it was so thick that she could barely make out the porch steps until they reached them. The tower was completely invisible, so this time the house didn’t remind her of a princess’s castle.
As Kit placed a hand on her back and guided her across the width of the porch, she realized that the biggest difference this time was that she felt as if she were coming home.
But it wasn’t her home, she reminded herself. Now that the excitement had died down and the men who’d been chasing her were behind bars, she and Kit would have to talk about what had happened between them. Ever since they’d left the police station, the cautious side of her nature had been reasserting itself.
She’d insisted that they stop at St. Jude’s so that Kit could check on Roman. Not merely because she knew that Kit would feel better once he had, but also because she was a coward.
While Kit had been talking to Mario Oliver, she’d almost convinced herself that she and Kit should slow things down a bit. Almost. That would be the smartest choice they could make at this point. Right?
Kit opened the front door, then took her hand to draw her over the threshold. Once they were both inside and the door was closed again, he raised her hand to his lips. “You’re worried about something, and now that we’re home, you’re going to tell me what.”
Home. There was that word again. “I’m worried about Roman,” she said. It wasn’t a total lie. She was worried about him. Kit had told her that the surgery had gone well, and the doctors were very positive about Roman’s prognosis. But he was still sedated and unable to talk about what had happened.
“I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Mr. Oliver. His two daughters are missing, and the press has latched on to the idea that Roman is guilty of kidnapping and extortion.”
“He’ll protect Roman. And Theo is working on the case. He’s very good at what he does.”
That didn’t surprise her. The Angelis brothers all seemed to be very good at what they did.
The corners of Kit’s mouth lifted. “With Mario’s help, Theo will stonewall the police as long as he can, and he knows that Nik and I are working on it.”
“Oh, there you are.” Cass Angelis appeared at the head of the stairs and hurried toward them. She wore an apron and was wiping her hands on a towel. “You’re a bit earlier than I expected, but everything’s ready, I think.” When she reached them, she took Drew’s hands in hers. “You must feel relieved that the danger for you is over, my dear.”
“How did you know?” Drew studied the older woman. The warmth in Cass’s eyes somehow helped to ease the knot of nerves in her stomach.
Cass smiled at her. “I sometimes get a sense of things. Don’t worry. The problems bothering you now will fade as soon as you make the choice the Fates are offering you.”
The moment that Cass released her and turned to Kit, Drew felt an odd sense of loss.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I went into your apartment and popped something in the oven for you. It’s on warm, so you can eat it when you get to it.” Then she beamed a smile at both of them. “I won’t keep you. I know you have a lot to talk about.” She wrapped each of them in a hug before she turned and hurried down the long corridor toward her apartment at the back of the house.
A lot to talk about. Cass’s words echoed in Drew’s mind and the knot in her stomach tightened again as she climbed the stairs. The walk down the hall to Kit’s door seemed much longer than it had the last time he’d brought her here. Things had been simpler then. She hadn’t known who she was and the only two problems facing her had been finding out her identity and deciding how she was going to handle the overwhelming attraction she felt for Kit. Now everything was so complicated. Her feelings for him had gone from incredible attraction to being in love with him.
There was a part of her that wanted to tell him that—probably the gun-shooting, motorcycle-riding part. However, the cautious and practical part of her felt obligated to be fair, to offer Kit a chance to slow things down, to step back a bit. To run away?
The tension inside of her increased as she stepped into Kit’s apartment. Then her eyes widened in surprise. Candles flickered on the bookshelves and on the coffee table. Harp music flowed out of the sound system. “What…”
Kit smiled at her. “Aunt Cass has a romantic heart.”
“Well…she’s…I…” Because she found it hard to think when Kit was looking at her in that way, she glanced away and forced herself to walk toward the windows. The fog was so thick that it seemed like a solid mass pressing against the window pane. What was she going to tell him?
She was slipping away from him. Kit knew it in the same way he had “sensed” Drew’s visit to his office the night before. That had been less than twenty-four hours ago.
Amazing. He’d known her less than a day, and he knew that she was the woman for him, the woman he was fated for. He just had to persuade her to be as sure of that as he was.
Pushing down fear, he closed the door behind him and waited. It wasn’t what he wanted to do. He wanted more than anything to go to her and to take her in his arms. But his experience as a fisherman and as a private investigator had taught him that patience nearly always paid off.
Finally, she turned to him. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her. “The music is lovely.”
“The harpist is Greek, and she’s a favorite of Aunt Cass’s. We all grew up listening to her music.”
Drew nodded and twisted her fingers. “That’s not what I want to talk about.”
Kit waited.
“I want to thank you for saving my life.”
Anger flared in Kit, but he shoved it down. Every time he thought of her standing there, holding the gun…He shoved that image away, too. “It could just as easily have gone the other way. Given the chance, you would have shot that bastard and saved my life. So let’s agree that it was a mutual saving.” Unable to prevent himself, he took a step forward. “Drew—”
“No—” she held up a hand “—let me have my say. Things happen to people when they’re involved in the kind of stressful situations that we’ve been involved in.”
And those things are going to keep on happening. Kit bit his tongue to keep from saying the words aloud. “Good things happened.”
“Yes. But you don’t know anything about me.” She held her hand up again. “We’re so different. My life has been so easy compared to yours. You’ve had to work all your life.”
When she paused, Kit said, “I know a lot about you.”
“What? That I’m a sex…bunny? I didn’t have any idea that I was like that.”
His eyebrows shot up. “A sex bunny?”
She waved a hand. “I want to make love to you every time I see you. I want to make love to you right now.”
“I’d be happy to oblige you.”
She took a step toward him, then whirled and began to pace. “It’s not enough. I’m mean, it’s great, the sex is fabulous, but…”
“I know what you mean.”
She ran a hand through her hair and continued to pace. “You should know that I was a very spoiled, privileged child. My parents gave me everything—well, everything they wanted me to have. The best schools, the best clothes. They expected me to go into the family business, and I didn’t.”
“I know the feeling.”
She looked at him. “Maybe you do. When I went into fashion design in college, they were disappointed. But when I graduated, they offered me the money to start my own store.”
“You didn’t take it.”
She shook her head. “I knew that they were doing it to humor me. My father would have thought of it as an investment for the future. They were sure I would fail, and then they would caringly and gently push me into the family business where they could continue to direct my life.”
“So you moved to the other side of the continent to make it on your own.”
“Yes. I was afraid that I would fail and that I would let them find a place for me in the family business and take care of me for the rest of my life. So I ran away. That’s where we’re different. I’m a coward and you’re not.”
