Final Words (23 page)

As Alan watched her over Charlie’s head, hatred faded from
his eyes. This time, the emotion was replaced by what looked like remorse. But
Emma had learned not to trust any emotion her ex-husband might display.

“I never meant to hurt you,” he insisted. “I love you, Emma.”

Emma turned and hid her face in Jason’s shirt.

“That’s enough,” Charlie finally said. “I’ll finish reading his
rights in the car.”

“Emma, forgive me!”

Emma couldn’t bring herself to look at her ex-husband again.
A few seconds later she heard a car door slam.

“I have to stay with Charlie,” Jason murmured, brushing his
lips against her hair. “Just until some uniforms get here. Why don’t you go
back to your apartment and wait for me?”

Straightening away from him, Emma hugged her arms over her
chest. “Okay.”

Jason brushed a finger against her cheek. “I’ll be right
there.” Turning, he followed his partner and Alan down the street.

* * * * *

Emma’s telephone rang as she entered her apartment. Crossing
the living room she realized she still clutched the towel she’d been folding
earlier. Tossing it at the pile on the couch, she picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Emma? It’s Marta. Are you okay? I just heard about the
warrant issued on Alan. The police think—”

“He was parked outside my apartment building. Watching me.”
Emma sat down among the clean towels. She realized she was still shaking inside.
“Charlie is taking him away. Jason…” Need shuddered through her, a sudden need
for comfort, for Jason’s arms. “He said he would come back and stay with me.”

“Do you want me there instead?”

“No. I’ll call you after Jason leaves.”

Marta hesitated before asking, “You’re sure?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”

“Emma, I’m so sorry. I never considered that Alan might be
the one who hit you and Brian.”

“He was stalking me.” Emma dug her bare toes into the
carpet. “He thought I was having an affair with Brian.”

“The lies, the jealousy, the anger. Why is it always so
obvious after the fact?”

“He mentioned the money we split in the divorce, so I don’t
even know if it was really me he wanted, or just the money and someone to
control.”

“He chose to behave as he did. You didn’t do anything wrong
and I promise you, Emma, that I’ll nail that SOB.”

“I don’t want to nail him.”

“He killed Brian.”

Emma closed her eyes and nodded. “He killed Brian.”

“I’ll put him away. But I’ll make sure he gets help too. I’ll
have Paul Sanders talk to him and—”

“No!” Emma shot to her feet. Even with all he’d done, she
didn’t want to see him in the hands of Paul Sanders. “Don’t send him to Paul.”

“He should be evaluated. What he did was an obvious sign of
mental instability.”

“If you send him to Paul, he might end up dead!”

The line hummed with silence. When Marta finally spoke, her
voice was quiet. “Emma, what are you talking about?”

“Nothing. I-I have to go. I’ll call you later. I promise.”
Emma turned off the phone and put it down. Then she buried her face in her
hands. Suddenly, strong arms enveloped her and held her to a hard, comforting
chest.

“It’s okay,” Jason murmured against her hair and his
gentleness brought her to tears. “Two officers took Winfeld in their squad car.
Charlie followed to start the paperwork. I told him I’d join him later. In the
meantime, I’m here for the night. The door is locked and you’re safe.”

Anger and grief coursed through her. “Everything that has
happened to me is Alan’s fault!”

“I know.”

“He emotionally abused me with his women and his lies.” She
rubbed her face against his shirt, feeling the cotton scrape her face, feeling
her tears soak into the fabric. “Then he tried to kill me and because of that I
can…I can…”

“We’ll take care of it, Emma.” Jason held her tighter. “He
can’t hurt you again.”

A sob caught in her throat. “He’ll hurt me for the rest of
my life.”

Jason held a knuckle under her chin and tilted her head
back, forcing her to look up at him. “Only if you let him.”

The compassion in his eyes strengthened her. Real emotion,
real caring. She saw it. She trusted it. And, finally, she trusted herself.

“I won’t let him,” she whispered. “Not anymore.”

Rising on her toes, she pressed a kiss to Jason’s lips. His
response was tender and so brief that, when he broke their contact, hunger
sliced through her.

“Emma, I want you.” His voice, throaty with need, sounded
sincere. “But not on the rebound. Not out of some need for you to get even with
him.”

She gave sanity one moment. One moment to peer into his eyes
and assess his feelings. Triumph, male pride, an accounting of that next notch
on his belt. She saw none of that. Instead, she saw his desires, his needs and
vulnerability. She saw his soul.

“On the rebound would have been the day I got my final
divorce decree,” she said. “It might even have been that night that you led me
to Alan in the bar. But not tonight. Tonight is all you, Jason. Tonight, for
the first time in a long time, I’m going to trust what I feel.”

Before he could respond, she threw her arms around his neck
and pulled his head down. She kissed him hard, pouring out all the love and
need in her heart. She felt him stiffen, resist and then his own desires
overpowered him. Together, they sank to their knees.

Before Jason could catch his breath, she dived in deeper,
her kisses devouring any protest he tried to make. And her hands—the woman
seemed to touch him everywhere at once, scorching his flesh with each stroke of
her fingers. Tiny flares shot over his chest and stomach, his shoulders and
neck. Somehow she’d gotten her left arm under his shirt and as she shifted
higher, the bottom button popped off.

“Sorry,” she breathed against his mouth, then shifted to
grip his shirt in both hands and yank it. Cotton ripped. Buttons flew. Before
Jason could react, she slid down his body, her mouth following the trail her
hands had blazed upward moments before.

Jason feared he might burst into flame. His heart burned as
he realized that was just what he needed to do.

Emma wanted to touch and taste every inch of his body. She
wanted him touching her, mouth to mouth, skin to skin. She’d never felt such a
sense of abandon. Her brain seemed to have shut down, giving her body complete
control.

With his salty essence on her tongue, she stood, stripped
her shirt over her head and then unhooked her bra. Yanking it off, she tossed
it aside. He continued to kneel before her and she felt the heat from his eyes
as they feasted on her flesh. He hungered for this as she did but he waited,
leaving all the choices in their lovemaking totally in her hands. He allowed
her to take the lead. That gave her a sense of power she’d never had before.
Alan had never let her take control, never let her decide when or where or how
long. Jason waited on her in spite of his own naked hunger.

“Stand up,” she said and he obeyed.

Stepping close, she pressed her breasts to his hard chest. The
nipples hardened as the tight curls that dusted his torso tangled around them.
His big hands slipped around her to stroke down her back to the waistband of
her shorts. His fingertips dipped under the cloth but he waited there again as
if for her permission.

“Yes,” Emma whispered. “Touch me. Everywhere. Now.”

He reached down, gripping her bottom, pressing her closer.
Through the clothing that remained, she felt his hard need reaching for her. The
pounding pulse within that hardness sent heat sluicing through her and she
strained closer, wanting everything he had to give.

As if he’d read her mind, Jason stripped her shorts and
panties down her thighs. She wriggled them past her knees and shins and kicked
them free. Then she reached for the zipper on his jeans only to find his
fingers already fumbling there. Between the two of them, they managed to remove
his clothes, pausing only long enough for him to grab his wallet and rip free a
condom.

She couldn’t wait any longer. She needed release. She needed
it now and she needed it from him. Taking the condom from his hands, she slid
it over his hardness, rising on her toes and then following her fingers with
her body. Sparks shot through her passage as she sank onto him and her body
weight carried him down to the sofa. He gave out a grunt as he landed with her
on his lap and she felt his thighs tighten beneath her buttocks.

“Are you all right?” she asked, afraid she’d hurt him.

“Oh…yeah.” Shoving one hand through her hair, he pulled her
head down to his and captured her mouth in a kiss that revealed his own sexual
starvation. His other hand gripped her backside and jerked her hard and fast
against him.

Emma came instantly in an explosion of sensation that she’d
never experienced before. It sizzled and popped and then flared through her
body like flames up a dry pine tree. Some kind of sound erupted from her and
then she heard his answering groan and felt the hot flash of his orgasm as it
rippled along the shaft buried inside her. For a long moment, they hung
together, suspended in that conflagration of feeling and then he fell back
against the sofa and she collapsed atop him.

Both of them breathed as raggedly as if they’d just run a
marathon. She felt his heart pounding against the inner wall of his chest, felt
her own answering cadence.

“That…was…unbelievable,” he said and then sucked in a deep
breath that lifted her so high that she nearly slid off him. She realized then
that their bodies were slick with sweat. With what little strength she could
muster, she pressed her palms into the sofa and shifted herself into a more
secure position.

That shifting did more than stabilize her. It moved his body
where it joined to hers, striking like a match to flint and sparking a fresh
surge of desire inside her. She felt his cock twitch and harden again inside
her. Lifting her head, she met his gaze and saw that he was ready and willing
to go again too.

Emma smiled. “How about something a little slower paced?”
she suggested.

His lips curled in an almost wolfish smile that struck that
match again and Emma decided that slower paced could wait until the third
go-around.

* * * * *

Jason looked down at Emma’s flushed face a short while
later. Her lips curled with satisfaction and she snuggled her supple body
closer to him as they lay on the living room carpet. He wasn’t sure when they
had tumbled off the sofa but they’d certainly put that wall-to-wall to good
use.

He burrowed his face in her cool auburn hair. This was where
he wanted to stay for the rest of his life, coiled around her, holding her,
watching her. Breathing in her very essence. The thought of losing her
terrified him.

And because of what she believed she could do, he stood a
good chance of doing just that—of losing her to her own mind.

“I…can’t…breathe,” she gasped and he realized he’d tightened
his grip around her.

“Sorry,” he murmured.

As he eased his hold, she shifted upright and leaned across
his chest. Her breasts molded to his ribs as she circled one fingertip through
the hairs on his chest and gazed into his eyes. Shadowed, gleaming, her eyes
probed deeply into his.

After a moment, she said, “I need to tell you something.”

The movement of the hair tickled his flesh. As her fingertip
circled ever closer to his nipple, he found it difficult to form a clear
thought. Damn but the woman might just kill him. “What is it?”

“I want to tell you about Alan and me.”

A chill touched him. He didn’t want to hear about her
relationship with her ex-husband any more than he wanted to hear about ghosts.
Especially not now when he still felt the glow of their lovemaking.

“All right,” he said in spite of his feelings. Hers, at the
moment, were more important to him.

She shivered as a cool breeze swept through the open window.
Sitting up, she grabbed a towel off the sofa behind them. Unfolding it, she
held it over her body and leaned back against the sofa.

Jason rolled up on one elbow. Obviously she needed some
distance from him in order to tell her story. But she didn’t look distant. She
looked sexy, all tousled and flushed from their lovemaking and yet shy enough
to hold a towel in front of her nakedness.

Reaching out, she touched his chin with one finger and
lifted his head. “Are you listening to me?” she asked with one doubtful eyebrow
raised.

“Sorry.” He grinned. “I was kind of distracted by the view.”

She hugged the towel closer but he didn’t miss the smile
playing at one corner of her mouth.

“You were saying?” he prompted.

Emma took a deep breath. “Alan was always very persuasive
and charming.”

“And obsessive.”

“Yes, I should have seen that.” Looking down, she played
with a corner of the towel, folding and unfolding it. “We hadn’t known each
other a month before he convinced me to marry him. The wedding took place
within a few weeks. Another year passed before I learned that his charm
extended to women other than his wife.”

Jason pushed himself up higher. “Emma—”

“I won’t be taken for a fool like that again.” She lifted a
serious gaze to his. “I won’t be cheated on.”

Her lack of trust hurt but Jason hid the pain. She had a
right to feel as she did.

Lifting one hand, he brushed a strand of hair back from her
forehead. “If our relationship goes anywhere, you will be the only woman in my
life. In fact, right now, you
are
the only woman in my life.”

“I want to believe you.”

His finger stroked down her cheek to touch the corner of her
mouth. “I’m not going to lie to you,” he murmured. “I’ve always liked women and
they usually like me back. But I never took any relationship seriously until
now.”

“Until now?” she whispered.

Easing himself completely upright, he shifted to sit beside
her against the sofa. He looked out the window across the room. Night had
fallen and the streetlights had flickered on. A warm breeze stirred the drapes.
Peaceful and quiet, it was a time for sharing.

“After Rose died,” he began, “I became more interested in
finding out who killed my sister than I was in a social life.”

“I heard you always have at least a couple of women on your
line.”

“That used to be true.” He hesitated before going on. “I
liked to have fun, picking up ladies in bars or other places and going home
with them.”

Emma lifted one eyebrow. “Really?”

Jason gave a light shrug. “I didn’t think I was hurting anyone.
Most of the women involved weren’t any more interested in commitment than I
was.”

“Most?”

Jason thought about Maggie Richardson. She had been
interested in more. So, apparently, had Layne Simmons. “There were some who
would have preferred an exclusive relationship,” he admitted.

“But you weren’t ready for that?”

Jason met her gaze. “Not then I wasn’t and I always made
that clear. At least I thought I did.” When Emma’s eyes began to shimmer, he
went on. “Rose saw the kind of life I was living and she thought that was okay
for her too. I disagreed.”

Her eyebrows twitched in surprise. “You didn’t actually try
that old double-standard on your sister, did you?”

He lifted one shoulder, uncomfortable with this
self-analysis. But for Emma’s sake, for her peace of mind, he would tell the
full truth. “Rose had a point about the women I picked up. I was wrong to have
casual sex with just anyone. So, while I didn’t cut myself off completely, I
did learn to be choosier about my partners. I still wanted casual relationships
but only with women who had a similar philosophy.”

“What about Layne Simmons?”

He shook his head. “I misread her completely. Layne was a
cop. She lived forty miles away in Houston. I thought she was like me, just
interested in a little fun. We weren’t together more than four or five times
and I guess that distance kept me from seeing the truth.”

“She let you see what you wanted to see so you wouldn’t
leave her.”

“I guess so. I sound arrogant, I know but after Rose died, I
let my reputation continue so that women would avoid me. I wasn’t interested in
romance. I wasn’t even interested in sex.”

“You didn’t think you deserved it,” she softly offered.
“Subconsciously.”

“Maybe. Consciously, I only wanted to find out who killed my
sister.”

“And when you didn’t, you felt like a failure, so you pulled
even further inside yourself.”

He looked down at her. “Have you been picking up
psychoanalysis tips from Dr. Sanders?”

She didn’t smile. She gazed back at him as if she could see
inside his very soul. “You’re not a failure, Jason. It was a tough case. If
there had been any worthwhile clues, you’d have found them.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged again. “Anyway, after Rose died, I
moved to the beach house. She had lived there for a couple of years and staying
there helped me feel closer to her and to my folks.”

“Rose died in a hit-and-run. That’s why you were so
determined to find out who hit Brian and me. Because you couldn’t find out who
hit your sister.”

Something pinched inside his chest. “That’s part of it.”

“Losing Tyrone and Brian so suddenly was the other part?”

“I guess I just got slammed with too much at once.” He made
sure his gaze was as level and serious as hers. “But once I got to know you, I
wanted to solve the case for your sake.”

She began to pick again at the towel covering her breasts. “I
see.”

“So you believe me when I say I’m not a womanizing lout any
more?”

Moonlight caught the glimmer of her teeth. “I’m going to try
really hard to believe you.”

“I’ll spend every waking moment trying to prove it to you.”
Leaning over, he kissed her warm mouth. Then, drawing back, he took her hands
in his and stroked his thumbs across her knuckles. “I guess, since you’re going
to try to believe me, I should…” He paused and took a deep breath before
continuing quietly, “Try to believe you.”

He felt an almost imperceptible tightening of her fingers
beneath his touch. Her eyes revealed a flash of desperate hope.

“About the spirits?” she whispered.

Jason nodded. Shifting his hips, he turned more toward her. “I
can’t promise that it will be easy for me. I mean, it’s so strange, Emma.”

“I know.” Her hands turned in his. She tangled their fingers
together and squeezed gently. “But just hearing that you’re willing to keep an
open mind means so much.”

Her voice trailed almost to a whisper as tears sparkled in
her eyes. Looking at her, seeing that hope blossom, seeing the relief
shimmering within it, Jason grew more determined to accept whatever she might
tell him. Leaning close, he kissed her again, pouring all the love he felt into
the embrace. This time, when the kiss ended, his guilt vanished. There was only
contentment and completeness that Jason knew he’d never felt with any other
woman. For a long time, they sat together, leaning against the sofa, her head
nestled against his chest, his chin resting on her cool hair.

A car drove past the building and its lights swept across
the screen of the open window. Somewhere in the complex, someone was frying
chicken. The scent of it drifted in with the breeze. In the distance, he heard
the horn of a boat in the bay. Everything felt normal and wonderful.