Alluring (20 page)

"Why so hostile?  We're just having a conversation.  Besides, I'm here with my date."  She gave a flirty laugh.  "Don't worry, I'm not going to throw myself at you.  You've made it quite clear in the past that you were done with me."  She stood from the rail.  "I'm not that desperate."

He watched her walk away, hoping that would be the last of her.  He kept watching to make sure she left the VIP section.  He felt a hand on his arm.

"Everything okay?"  Alexis asked.

He turned to her and smiled.  "Everything's fine, sweetheart."

"Who was that?"

"A one-night stand that didn't want to let go."

Alexis looked over the sea of people, trying to find the woman.  "There seems to be a lot of those."

"Too late to change my past now, but if I could, I would."

Alexis gave him a disbelieving smirk.  "Are you saying, if you could have changed things, you would've waited for me?"

He gave her his wicked grin.  "I'm saying I would have found you sooner."

* * * * *

Alexis searched the crowd and spotted the woman Jack had been talking with.  She was the woman from the bar that had been hanging all over Jack the night she'd been drugged.  She was beyond beautiful, with blond hair, and a tall, slim body in skin-tight jeans and a red, cleavage inducing halter top.  Janet had been right about one thing, Alexis was definitely not Jack's type.

She would have passed the incident off as another "Janet" themed event, except for one fact.  Jack.  And his long lingering stare.  That stare made a strange weight settle in her stomach and a tight knot form in the back of her throat, making it hard to swallow. 

Her voice was suspiciously husky when she replied, "I don't know, I think I would've been tough to find."

Alexis watched Jack's brow furrow as he tried to dissect her tone.   Good luck, even she couldn't figure out her feelings right now.  "Believe me, had I known you were out there, no rock would've gone unturned."

"This is a pointless conversation.  There's no going back."

Jack gave her a tender smile.  "You're right there's no changing the past all we have is the future.  A fantastic future of you and me."

"And baby makes three."  Alexis stopped breathing and her eyes widened.  She started shaking her head and she opened her mouth but no sound came out.  She watched as Jack's eyes got dark and smoky.  "I didn't mean that.  It's just a saying that popped into my head when I heard those words."

Jack stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face.  "I think I like the idea of your belly swollen with my baby."  He sighed, and she understood his look now, longing.  "Yeah, I like that idea a lot."

Alexis swallowed, hard.  Yikes.  What did she say to that!  Nothing to say.  Time to change the subject, fast.  "So what do you think the chances are for the Pursuers this year?"

Jack did a slow blink then tipped his head back and laughed.

Alexis awoke the next morning to the smell of breakfast.  She walked downstairs in one of Jack's T-shirts and found him in the kitchen making French toast.  It looked yummy.  He looked yummier with bare feet in low-rise blue jeans and no shirt.

She walked up behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and peeked around his arm.  "What did I do to deserve this?"  He hadn't cooked since making her dinner that one time.

Jack did one last flip with the spatula then turned off the heat.  He turned resting his butt again the stove and drew Alexis between his legs.  "No reason.  Just woke up and felt like cooking for you.  I was going to bring you breakfast in bed, but I guess that idea's shot."

Alexis smiled up at him.  "I can always go climb back in."

"You climb back in bed, I don't think a whole lot of eating will be going on."  He gave her grin.  "Of French toast at least."

Alexis stepped out of his embrace and took down some plates.  "Then I guess we'd better eat down here."  She set the plates on the breakfast bar and grabbed some forks from a drawer. 

Jack got the syrup from the pantry and the warming, plate of French toast from the oven.

Eating commenced and when Alexis was too full to take another bite she set her fork down on her plate.  "I'm stuffed, but it was delicious."

Jack put down his fork.  "So I thought we'd go off-roading today.  What do you think?"

"I think that sounds fun.  I'll do the dishes then pack us a lunch."

"Okay, I just have a few phone calls to make then we can hit the road."

Alexis checked the weather app on her phone before deciding what to wear.  Unfortunately, when you lived in a hotel, you couldn't open the front door to check the weather.  The app said 80 degrees with a breeze.  She changed into jean shorts and a yellow tank with sneakers in case they went hiking.  She grabbed a yellow hoodie (that had mysteriously appeared in the closet) and went in search of Jack.

He was in the living room, sitting on the couch, finishing a call.  "Okay, call me if you learn anything."  He stood and put the phone in his back pocket.  "Ready?"

"Yep.  Who was that?"  Alexis asked, pointing to his butt.

"Private investigator I hired to look into that note you received."

Alexis was taken aback by his response.  "Do you really think it warrants all that?"

"I don't know, but I'm not taking any chances."

Jack kept his SUV parked in an area accessed from a side exit in the lobby.  Alexis started parking there, as well, when she moved in with Jack.  She liked that it wasn't as long of a walk as from the employee parking area.  They'd stepped off the elevator and were about to cross the lobby when a clerk flagged them down. 

"Miss Taft had a package delivered," the woman said, holding out a manila envelope.

Alexis looked at Jack and frowned.  "On a Sunday?"

Jack took the envelope.  "Did you see who dropped it off?"

The clerk (her name tag read Cathy) shook her head.  "No, sir, it was just laying on the counter.  I saw it and picked it up."

Alexis nodded, "Thank you, Cathy." 

"You're welcome."  She walked away to go help a patron.

"Are you going to open it?"  Alexis asked.

Jack flipped the envelope over and pinched the metal doohickey to open the flap.  He pulled out a square piece of newspaper.  He scanned, noticed nothing of interest and turned the paper over.  Alexis sucked in a deep breath as what she looked at started to make sense.  A picture of them at the woman charity gala, but there was a big red bulls-eye covering her face.  At the bottom of the picture was the single word 'MINE' written in the same red, block letters as the previous note.

Alexis felt Jack tense beside her.  "Change of plans.  We need to give this to Stan."

Alexis was still in a daze.  "Stan?" she asked, not totally comprehending Jack's words. 

"He's the PI.  He'll have the resources to check this for fingerprints."

"Should we go to the police?"

"Let's see what Stan says first."

Jack called Stan and told him to meet them at the hotel.  They went to Jacks office to wait for him.  Alexis flopped down on the couch as Jack paced the length of the office.  He reminded Alexis of a caged tiger.

She got up and stepped into his path.  When he got near, she hugged him about the waist.  "Jack, calm down."

He rested his hands on her shoulders.  "I'm always in control.  I
need
to be in control.  But
this
is out of my control."

"Come sit with me while we wait for Stan.  After he gets here, you'll feel better, knowing something's being done."

Jack reluctantly let Alexis pull him to the couch and push him down.  She crawled onto his lap.  He enfolded her in his arms, and she rested her head on his chest under his chin as they waited for Stan to arrive.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Stan was a nondescript man in his late forties.  He was of average height and average build and had light-brown hair and brown eyes.  He probably got lost in a crowd, which was perfect for his line of work.

He was meticulous in his dress.  His brown slacks and long sleeve, white, button-down shirt were wrinkle free. His shoes were polished to a high shine, and his tie was perfectly knotted.  The only thing that seemed out of place was his watch.  The accessory was black, big and clunky.  It looked like something out of a spy movie.  Did it take pictures?  Did it have a recording device?  Could it teleport him from one room to the next?

Alexis and Jack still sat on the couch.  Stan had pulled a chair over and sat across the coffee table from them.  Jack went over the latest events, retrieved the note and newspaper clipping, and handed them to Stan.

"We need to take this to the police.  Open a case file.  That way if something violent happens, there's evidence to back it up."  Stan looked once more at the newspaper photo. 

"How hard is it going to be to find this person?"  Jack's expression hardened when he asked the question.

"I don't know yet.  It could be anyone.  You know a lot of people, Mr. Cole.  You're also a celebrity, so it could even be someone you don't know.  At this point, I'm not even sure if we're dealing with a man or a woman."

"That's not very reassuring,"  Jack said, through gritted teeth.

"I understand your anger, Mr. Cole.  I can assure you, I take my job very seriously.  I will find this person, and I'll keep you updated on any new developments."  He turned his eyes to Alexis.  "Ms. Taft, you need to keep me informed of any unusual occurrences even if you think it's unrelated to this case.  Any information you give me will assist me in finding this person."

He stood, picked his briefcase off the floor, and set it on the chair.  He opened it and pulled out a large plastic baggie (the kind for food storage)  and placed the note, newspaper clipping, and both envelopes into the bag.  "If you get any more notes, put them in these bags."  He placed a stack of baggies on the table, tossed the evidence bag in his case, then shut it.  "Meet me at the police station.  The one on Cameron.  They'll have questions for both of you."

Jack stood from the couch.  "We'll head over now."

They all shook hands then left Jacks office, going separate ways to their vehicles. 

Jack reached for Alexis's hand, as they sat in his SUV, after leaving the station.  Filing the police report didn't take long.  They asked a few questions and made copies of the evidence.  Stan said it was more, getting it on record than asking them for help.  He said investigating was his job, and he once again stressed how seriously he took it.

"What's going through your head?"  Jack asked, rubbing circles on the back of her hand.

Alexis looked over and gave him a weak smile.  "I could ask you the same thing."

Jack chuckled, "You don't want to know what's going through my head."

She gave him a genuine smile.  "Oh yeah, and why's that?"

"Because right about now, I'm thinking of locking you in our bedroom until this whole thing blows over."

"I'll be careful, Jack, I promise, but I won't hide in fear.  That gives them too much power."

He gave her hand a squeeze.  "Let's go home and watch TV.  I feel like holding you all afternoon.  We can go off-roading another day."

"Okay,"  she nodded.  She knew this was his way of keeping her close and safe, tucked away from the outside world.  She would give him that, for today, but she wasn't going to stop living her life.  She wasn't going to let whoever was doing this have that satisfaction.

Three days later the phone calls started.

Alexis was jarred awake by the ringing of her phone.  Getting up on an elbow, she cracked open her eyes and noticed it was still dark out.  Worry for her sister made her heart speed.  Nothing good ever came from late-night phone calls.  She fumbled around on the nightstand until she felt her phone. 

Unknown flashed on her screen.  She put the phone to her ear.  "Hello."  She looked over at Jack.  He was awake, up on an elbow, beside her.

"He's mine, bitch."  A scratchy female voice said over the line.

"Who is this?"  Jack must have heard the tremor in her voice.  He took the phone from her and put it to his ear.

He listened for a moment.  "Don't fucking call this phone again," he growled, then hung up.  He put her phone down and picked up his. 

Alexis looked over at the clock.  Five a.m..

Jack spoke rapidly into his phone.  When he hung up, he tuned to Alexis, pulled her into his arms, and laid down.  "Stan's gonna trace the call.  He said he'll call us when he knows something."

Alexis nodded her head.  She buried her face in his neck and breathed in his scent.

He ran his fingers through her curls.  "Will you be able to go back to sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Good"  He kissed the top of her head.  "Sleep, baby.

* * * * *

Jack listened to Alexis's even breaths and watched the ceiling lighten as the sun rose.  His brain worked a mile a minute, but he couldn't produce any solutions.  He had no idea who was doing this.  He felt impotent.  A feeling he wasn't used to, and it made him angry.  He struggled to compose his rage.  Rage for an unknown person and unpredictable situation.