Healing Rain (21 page)
Relieved that he didn’t go all ballistic like predicted, she relaxes, “You don’t have to leave. I have the security system set, I’m fine. We are getting closer to the Ghost, you can’t leave and risk missing something.”
The pause on the other end tells her he doesn’t share the same opinion. “Then you’re going to stay with Chase until I get back.” Kas voice leaves no room for an argument, but she tries anyway.
“I don’t need a babysitter, besides, Sara is probably there, and I don’t want to be a third wheel.”
“You are either staying with Chase, or I’m coming home. Which is it going to be?” he demands.
“Kas, it’s just some phone calls—” she begins before he cuts her off.
“I’ll be there by midnight.”
“Fine! I’ll stay with Chase.”
“I’ll call him now. He should be there within the hour to follow you to his place.”
“Fine.”
“Darlin’, you can be mad at me all you want, but I’m going to make sure you’re safe.”
“Fine.”
“Well, I can see that this conversation isn’t going anywhere right now. I’ll call you later tonight...I love you, Raina.”
Sighing, she reins in her surliness as she whispers, “I love you, too.”
Kas locks the files with the gruesome photos in his desk before heading upstairs to surprise Raina. The past three days have been grueling, and he needs to feel her in his arms. He’s relieved to be home, not wanting Raina far from him with Sutton’s recent resurgence. Kas had changed her number as soon as he got off of the phone with her last night, then he called Pete, who paid Sutton a visit. Pete had returned his call, telling Kas that he’s not believing Sutton’s declaration of innocence, but he doesn’t have enough to pull him in for questioning. The calls have stopped for now, easing the tension, but not easing Kas’ mind.
He hears Erik’s music as soon as he steps off the elevator. The eighties rock blaring from his office is a clear indication that he’s concentrating hard on something. Kas muses at how Raina didn’t seem as curt on the phone last night after she arrived at Chase’s, hoping that means she has completely forgiven him by now.
Raina has her iPod in her ears, typing away on a keyboard as Kas enters the room. He slips behind her, barely able to hear her softly singing her favorite song over the big hair band bursting through the speakers on Erik’s huge computer system in the back of the room. She jumps when he places his hands over her eyes. A huge grin spreads across her lips when she turns around, seeing who it is. Kas braces himself as she leaps into his arms.
“I’ve missed you, too, darlin’,” he chuckles, solaced by her actions proving she isn’t ticked anymore.
“Do you have work left to do?” she asks, her eyes smoldering.
“Why?”
She leans into to him, whispering provocatively in his ear, causing his nether region to stand at attention with her incensing words.
He grabs her coat and throws a quick hand up to Erik as he ushers her out the door, his heart swelling at her giggles and his jeans become tighter by the second.
The black robe is almost suffocating in the mid-noon May sun, but Raina doesn’t care. She adjusts her graduation cap on top of her head and pulls her damp auburn waves into a loose ponytail as she anxiously waits for the dean to call her name. She scans the crowd looking for Kas. Her eyes lock on his, and she feels a shot of excitement jolt her nerves. The look of pride in his eyes overwhelms her, and she has to blink back tears. Cliff waves to her, and she smiles warmly, returning the wave. She can’t believe the whole gang showed up to see her walk the stage. A little over a year ago, the only person she expected to see was Judge, now, she has a whole group there for her, causing the tears to be harder to simply blink away as she thinks of how blessed she is.
Judge had insisted on driving her this morning, spending the ride catching up. The tears rolled down her cheeks when he had pulled her into his arms, telling her how proud she has made him over the years and with seeing her getting ready to graduate today. His hazel eyes had misted when he held her arms in his hands and looked at her, shaking his head as he commented on how she is all grown up.
The dean calls her name with the Summa Cum Laude honor, and her cheeks flush when she hears Austin let out a loud whistle when the dean smiles brightly at her, placing her diploma in her hand. She can’t believe it’s finally over, she wants to let out a loud whistle of her own, but settles on a huge hug from Seth as he grabs her and twirls her around, “Congrats, girl, we made it.”
“Right back atcha,” she laughs, returning his hug. She turns, looking for Sara, seeing she is already making her way to Chase.
Seth grins, winking at Raina, “The girl’s been bitten.”
She smiles approvingly, “Chase feels the same.” She scans the moving crowd for Kas, wanting nothing more than to be wrapped in his arms right now. Seth nudges her, giving her that knowing look, and she blushes. “So, when are you going to settle down with one girl?”
“All the good ones are taken,” he teases, turning her around, watching how her face lights up when she sees Kas. “My point exactly,” he nudges her again, “go on, go to your man.”
“Congratulations, Rain. I’m so proud of you,” Kas beams, pulling Raina into his arms, lifting her up in his strong embrace. He slowly lowers her, covering her mouth with his, giving her a taste of what’s to come later when he has her all to himself.
“That’s enough of that,” Austin laughs, wrapping his arm around Raina’s shoulder. “Ready to go celebrate?”
“Depends on what your version of that means today,” Raina counters playfully, knowing his celebrations can range from a calm dinner to an all night party rivaling the best of the wildest fraternities.
“We’ll keep it respectable today, seeing as you’re all dressed up with a doctorate and everything.”
Shedding the sauna draped over her, she throws the gown in the back as Kas holds the door open for her. She turns around, leaning against the vehicle and pulls Kas close to her, pressing her lips against his. The way he looks so freaking hot in the dress clothes that seem as if they were tailored just for his long, masculine frame makes her ooze with desire for his sexy body to be all over her needy one. Her fists grab handfuls of his gray dress shirt, wishing she could run her fingers over the muscles underneath.
“We’re not going to make it to the restaurant if you keep this up,” he whispers, running his hand behind her neck, his thumb caressing her skin.
“I’m okay with that,” she breathes, tugging on his tie as tingles spread all over her sensitized skin.
Kas’ laugh sends liquid heat warming her lower belly, and it’s all she can do not to push him in the backseat and have some post graduate fun.
“I know that look in your eyes, darlin’,” he gives her another kiss before pulling away, “later, baby, right now, you have a crowd of people waiting on you.”
She puffs her bottom lip, grazing it between her teeth, “Promise?”
“Oh, I promise. There’s nothing that can keep my hands off of you when we get home.”
They pull into her favorite restaurant on Main, and Kas grabs her wrist as she slips out of the jeep. “I think I have something for this,” his smile full of mischief and pride as he brings her wrist to his lips, delicately kissing her pulse, sending her hormones shooting into orbit again.
He leans into the car, his body delivering sweet torture as it presses against hers. Raina watches as he pulls a long box from the glove compartment, her eyes widening as he takes out a charm bracelet, slipping it on her slender wrist.
“Kas, you didn’t have to get me anything,” she gasps, her fingers lovingly admiring the charms. Her eyes shoot to his, love brimming in them as she stares at her husband, amazed at his thoughtfulness of picking out charms from their experiences together. “Thank you,” she whispers, tears pooling in her bright jade gaze as she takes in the carefully selected charms of the leaning tower of Pisa, a snowflake, laughing when she sees the charm of a steering wheel, remembering when he taught her how to drive.
“The heart is pretty obvious,” he tells her, placing her hand on his chest over his. “I love you, Raina Pierce. There’s plenty of room on that bracelet to add many more memories.”
Raina doesn’t know what to say, so she lets her lips show her appreciation.
It’s
dusk
when
they pull into their drive, and Raina is simmering with anticipation of Kas’ touch. He had mercilessly teased and taunted her all evening with his fingers brushing her skin, his whispers giving erotic details of what he is going to do to her, and his eyes practically blazing with raw desire every time he looked at her. At one point, she nearly spilled her glass all over Russo’s shoes when Kas leaned close to her ear and quickly breathed an explicit sexual fantasy inducing the onset of fluttering palpitations that nearly knocked the breath right out of her at the realization that he would soon be making the fantasy a hot, feral reality.
A large bouquet of red roses is sitting on display in front of the door, and Raina glances at Kas.
“Those aren’t from me.”
She picks up the bountiful bouquet, inhaling the sweet fragrance, and Kas unlocks the door, heading straight to the bedroom to shed his stuffy dress clothes and shoes, beyond ready to deliver what he promised to his lascivious wife.
Raina pulls the card out, placing the vase on the table. Her breath leaves her in a rush as she stares at the card. Forcing herself to focus, she concentrates on what is written.
Kas calls from the bedroom, throwing on a pair of jeans when she doesn’t respond. When he sees Raina’s blanched face and trembling hand, he rushes to her. “What’s wrong?”
Raina shivers from the sudden chill washing over her, “I don’t think it was Mr. Sutton making the calls.”
“Why?” he demands, his alarm growing as he takes the card from her hand. Anger and fear sting him as he looks at the complex mathematical equations, not understanding what they mean, but knowing exactly who sent it. “What is this, Raina?” his voice is cold steel as he stares at the card.
“Mathematical equations,” she whispers, not wanting to tell him anymore.
Kas hears her hesitance and demands, “Raina, tell me what this means.”
She turns away from him, but he grabs her arm, his gentle grasp polar opposite to the fierce blaze burning brightly in his eyes.
“Raina!”
She jumps at his tone, knowing the harshness isn’t directed at her, but nervous from the strength of the threatening vengeance she can practically taste radiating off of him.
Kas grinds his teeth and takes a deep breath, trying to calm his anger, not wanting to scare her. Soothingly, he runs his hands up and down her cold arms. “Baby, please tell me what these mean,” he requests, softening the edge in his voice.
“I’m familiar with these types of equations. Chris used to leave me notes like this to figure out, taped to my door, or at my station at the computer lab. The answer to each equation corresponds to the number of a letter in the alphabet.”
“What do these equations spell?” he asks, not sure he wants to hear the answer.
Her frightened eyes meet his, her voice shaky as she tells him, “You are mine.”
Kas wants to rip the card into a million miniscule pieces but refrains, needing it for evidence. He pulls Raina into his arms. “It’s okay, baby. I won’t let him hurt you, not again,” he promises.
She tries her best not to tremble, not wanting to succumb to any fear, especially fear from Chris. She leans into Kas, allowing the warmth of his embrace to shelter her. He holds her for several minutes before kissing her forehead, his eyes promising to protect her as he dials Pete. She listens as he informs Pete of the new information as she runs her fingers slowly across his toned torso, feeling the relief of his strength.
Raina is sipping on warm tea that Kas insisted on making her, needing to do something for her to hopefully ease her worry, when Pete arrives. They talk about all the possible ways of Chris obtaining a burn phone in prison, and Pete assures them that he’s investigating how that happened. He checks for prints on the card and flower vase, but only finds theirs.
“I want his sentence extended,” Kas demands, barely containing his anger. “Don’t tell me there’s nothing you can do.”
Pete lets out a long breath, wishing there was something he could offer to ease his friend. “Without any proof, I can’t request his prison term be lengthened.” He looks at Raina, “Do you still have the notes he left you with the similar equations?”
She shakes her head, “I got rid of everything he gave me after he—after he left the night I broke up with him.”
Kas squeezes her hand, hating she is having to relive the night Chris viciously beat her and attempted to rape her. He looks at Raina, his gaze hopeful, “Can you prove he sent the flowers?”
She shakes her head skeptically, “He is brilliant, a genius.”
“So are you.”
“I’ve told you before, I’m not a genius,” she corrects him. His resounding assurance in her eases her current state, and she wishes his belief in her could make her perform miracles. “If he used a computer, I’ll have him,” she states, witnessing the relief in Kas’ eyes, and she quickly snuffs his premature relief, “but he knows that. He wouldn’t have used a computer.”
“I want the list of all of his visitors, who his cellmate is, who he has befriended, hell, I want the name of every person he’s spoken to in there. If he didn’t have the flowers delivered through some access he has to a computer, he’s had someone else do it.”
Pete bites back his sigh, knowing he would feel exactly the same if some obsessive ex-boyfriend was stalking his wife, but realizing how guarded inmates are when it comes to any form of questioning from police. His chances of finding anything out from them are slim, if any. “I will do my best,” he promises, meaning every word.
Kas holds Raina in his arms that night, desperately wanting to make all of this go away for her. He knows he can’t erase her past. He can’t make her forget everything that has happened to her, but he can distract her for a while. He hovers over her as she looks into his eyes, her sweet smile trying to soothe him. Her trying to make him feel better rips through his heart. He remembers her words, ‘
why
can’t
we
protect
each
other’?
and he kisses her feverishly, needing to give her something good right now, something stronger than fear.
He pulls his t-shirt over her head, loving how she puts on one of his shirts whenever she is stressed or anxious. He moves his mouth lower, sliding his hand over her warm skin, continuing lower until he finds where he wants to be. He takes his time loving her, making sure to give her as much reprieve as possible until she curls up in his arms, her head laying on his chest as she drifts into an exhausted slumber. Kas just holds her, his mind far from sleep as he counts down the mere handful of months left before Chris is released from prison. He vows that he will protect her, no matter what it takes.
Raina’s head is buried in a transcript as Kas is on the phone with an undesirable informant who’s keeping his ears open for anyone referring to the name Evan Parker, or his aliases, when Michael steps in the doorway, knocking on the frame. He walks inside when he sees Raina’s wide, welcoming grin.
Michael pulls her into a hug, giving her a good squeeze, “Congratulations on getting your doctorate a couple of weeks ago, I’m sorry I missed it. I would have loved to be there, especially if it meant I could’ve ditched being undercover in that skanky motel.”
