The Caledonian Inheritance (The Athena Effect) (21 page)

“Who are you calling?”

“What do you like on your pizza?” he asked, dialing.

She hesitated, a little surprised that he still wanted to spend time with her. She halfway expected him to take her home in revulsion, or to be afraid to look of her like Max and all of his men. “Anything’s fine,” she whispered.

“Hey… How did you know that I skipped lunch?” he asked her before lifting the phone to his ear.

“I guessed,” she replied, “You looked like you were probably too upset to eat.”

“I was,” he said, regarding her with growing pink affection.

She listened as he ordered, and every time their eyes met he smiled at her, dimples popping on his smooth cheeks. When he set the phone down he looked at her in wonder.

“
You scared Jose into letting Rosa go… And you made Sherriff Brown let us go too… didn’t you?”

She nodded. “All I did was make him a tiny bit more relieved… and agreeable.”

He chuckled. “I suppose it’s a good thing, because we need to get our stories straight in case they want to make a big deal about me letting you in to see a suspect.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” she said. “You stopped by the office to get something and his guilty conscience made him confess to us. They don’t need to know anything more than that.”

He cocked his head, and his eyes twinkled with amusement. “I like the way your mind works.”

She shrugged self-consciously. “Thank you.”

“You know, even if we could have gotten a warrant to search that property we might never have found Amy… At least not in time…”

Layla nodded in solemn agreement. “Thank you for believing me.”

He chuckled, pursing his lips. “I didn’t really… But I couldn’t resist humoring you. I still can’t believe you did that… My Abuelita was right.”

She looked at him reproachfully. “I’m not
really a witch. I was just born this way.”

“And thank God for that. If it wasn’t for you…You saved that kid’s life.”

A little smile flitted around her lips as she recalled the intense joy and sweet, sweet relief she’d tasted when Amy was re-united with her mother. The satisfaction of rescuing a child was the best feeling she’d ever had in her life, and a look of pure happiness crossed her face and ignited her eyes as she savored the memory.

Ramon studied her, thinking she’d never been as beautiful as she was at that exact moment. He reached up to brush a curl from her face and her eyes met his, drinking in the sweet warm colors he was flooding her with. It felt so good she closed them with a sigh, only to snap them back open when his lips brushed hers.

His colors strengthened and deepened, and he took her in his arms and kissed her gently, sweetly. She kissed him back, giddy with relief that revealing her secret hadn’t put him off. Soon they were clinging to each other like they had at the museum, their bodies pressing hungrily together. Layla had never felt such powerful emotions directed at her, and a crazy thought occurred to her.

Maybe he loves me.

He kissed her again, deeper and longer, and there was no mistaking his intentions this time. Layla’s scalp tingled, and her pulse quickened at the thought. She relished his every touch, feeling the warmth of his passion, stroking the back of his head and neck. Her hands left a trail of fire on his skin, coloring him red hot with desire.

Both of them were breathing heavily when a buzzer rang, prompting him to pull away reluctantly. “Pizza’s here,” he said gruffly, heading to the door and down the stairs.

Layla had composed herself by the time he returned, tucking her hair behind her ears and sitting primly upright with her knees together and her hands folded in her lap. For some reason it drove him crazy, and he nearly tossed the pizza aside to fall upon her and kiss her some more.  

Instead, he set the pizza down on the coffee table in front of her, asking, “What do you want to drink?”

They ate a little, but sitting so close together was distracting, and soon they were in each other’s arms again, tickling and cuddling, savoring the newness of each other’s touch. Layla smiled with happiness as Ramon’s combed his hands through her hair, cupped her face and peppered it with kisses. He paused for a moment, and she opened her eyes to see him smiling at her, his gaze heavy lidded.

“What?” she breathed.

“I just can’t believe how amazing you are.”

“Thanks,” she gasped, watching with big eyes as he leaned in to kiss her softly on the forehead.

“I love your freckles,” he murmured, moving lower. “I want to kiss them all.”

“I have lots of freckles,” she said solemnly. “All over.”

“Then I’ll have to find every single one,” he lunged for her again and she giggled, falling back on his soft couch, pulling his body down onto hers like a magnet.

She kissed him with a passion that rivaled his own, making him shudder. She felt like she was floating on a cloud, only conscious of the warm weight of his body, his hands stroking her, and his voice in her ears, telling her how beautiful she was.

He started kissing the soft skin of her neck, undoing the tiny buttons on her blouse one by one, and she felt a rush of insecurity, suddenly all nerves but not really sure why.

She stopped his hand. “Wait a minute. I don’t know… I’ve never…”

“Never what?” he whispered in her ear.

“Never had sex,” she answered honestly.

“You’re a virgin?” he was shocked. He drew a ragged breath and pulled away, sitting back up. His lustful colors faded, replaced by a blend of guilt, shock, and worst of all, regret.

She sat up and smoothed her skirt. “I’m sorry,” she said, blushing as red as a human being possibly could.

“Don’t be,” he said. “It’s only… I’m a little surprised.”

“Why?”

He wasn’t sure what to say. She’d always seemed so sophisticated and worldly to him, so much more mature than any twenty-one year old he’d ever met. When the professor said that some guy named Max stole her away Ramon had figured she ran off with a boyfriend. Plus, he knew that she’d been seeing Conrad, and he wrongly assumed that meant she was experienced in more ways than were obvious.

“I always thought you seemed so…” his voice trailed off and she looked petrified, staring at him with her big green and brown eyes.

Now he felt awkward, afraid if he kept kissing her he’d seem pushy. He wanted to be with her more than ever, but he didn’t want her to think that he couldn’t control himself. If only she didn’t smell so good…

Being here alone with her was simply too tempting, and he didn’t want to do anything he might regret. “I’d better get you home now,” he said.

~

Layla watched his profile while he drove, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. All of his passionate desire had changed to worry in the blink of an eye, and she was afraid that she’d ruined everything. Maybe Cali wasn’t right about telling him the truth about
everything
. Obviously, her lack of experience was a big turn-off for him.

There was only one remedy for that.

“Is the drugstore still open?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Do you mind stopping by there for a minute? I need to pick something up.”

“Sure… No problem.”

He pulled up and waited in the car while she ran inside. She came back out, smiling at him nervously. When they pulled up at her house she kissed him first, wanting to make him feel the way he did before she’d opened her big mouth. He kissed her back, but she could feel him resist, waging an internal battle against the intense passion she had created in him before.

He pulled away first, looking at her with earnest eyes. “I want you to know that I respect you for saving yourself for marriage.”

Her brows knit together. “Who said anything about marriage?” she asked.

He was a little taken aback. “What I mean is… We don’t have to rush into anything… We can take it slow… We can get to know each other.”

“Don’t you want to have sex with me?” she asked.

He nearly choked. “Uhm… uh… Of course I do.”

She reached into her purse and handed him a box. “Cali said that if I had the nerve to buy my own condoms, I’d know.”

“Know what?”

She was so totally guileless when she explained herself that he knew she was speaking the truth, “Know that I was ready to do it with you.”

And for what felt like the millionth time that night, Ramon found himself shocked completely speechless.

~

Chapter Eighteen

BAIT

~

Ramon blinked, bemused. “Am I dreaming?”

“No,” she answered.

Once he got over the shock he started chuckling. Soon he was laughing out loud, and when Layla looked into his dancing eyes she started laughing too, although she wasn’t really sure what was so funny.

Ramon took her hand in his and raised it to his lips, his warm breath tickling her knuckles, “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

“I know,” she agreed, launching him into a fit of laughter again.

He leaned over to pull her close, pressing his forehead against hers. “I
still
think we should take things slow,” he said seriously, immediately contradicting himself by kissing her until both of their heads were spinning. They finally managed to disengage long enough to make plans to see each other the following night. 

“Do you want to try again tomorrow?” Ramon asked, quickly adding, “
I mean
, to go see a movie… and have some dinner. We should celebrate.”

“I’d like that,” she said.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said.

~

She woke up to a bright sunny day, immediately thinking about Ramon. She couldn’t wait to see him again, and she reached in her bedstand to retrieve her phone, turning it on to see that there were dozens of missed calls.

“Ugh! Conrad! Go away!” she fell back onto her pillow. It was Ramon she wanted, and she didn’t have to wait long, because a minute later he was on the line.

“Layla? Did I wake you up?”

“No,” she said sheepishly. “I’m just sleeping in.”

His voice was terse, “Listen… Something happened. I have to tell you something.”

She sat up,
frightened by the tone of his voice. “What is it?”

“George Williams hung himself in his cell last night.”

She was quiet for a moment, thinking of the terrible grief she had unloaded upon him.

“Layla?”

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “It’s my fault. I… I went too far.”

“No!” his voice was forceful. “You did the right thing… Yo
u did what had to be done. Amy would have died if we hadn’t have found her!”

“I know,” Layla said, her voice small.

“The FBI is out at his property collecting evidence right now. They think it’s possible that he might be linked to some other missing person cases. There’s no telling what kind of terrible things he’s done before…Layla, he had it coming– That bastard deserved to die.”

“I guess so,” she said.

“Look, things are pretty crazy around here. The coroner is on the way, and when the FBI gets here, I’m going to have to give all kinds of statements. I gotta warn you, there’s going to be an investigation… I’ll try and keep you out of it, but Sherriff Brown knows you were with me, and what we did
was
technically illegal.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling terrible. “Are you in trouble?”

“I just wanted to give you a heads-up in case the FBI calls you in for questioning. Don’t worry about me… I can handle them.”

“Okay,” she said, not entirely convinced.

“Look, I’ll call you as soon as I can get away, and let you know what to expect... Okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered again.

“Layla?”

“Yes?”

“I… I can’t wait to see you tonight.”

“Me neither.”

She hung up the phone and swung her legs out of bed, her mind a jumbled mess of thoughts and emotions. A man had taken his own life because of the ruthless torture she had inflicted on him. He was a terrible person, she told herself, and had shown no mercy to the child he had terrorized. She pushed back her guilt, telling herself that Ramon was right– He had it coming. All of the evil George Williams had done had come back to destroy him.

Then she remembered the terrible things she’d done in the past– All the blackmail, manipulation and exploitation. She’d been a party to ruined lives, ruined marriages… If there was such a thing as karma, what did she deserve for all the wrong she’d done?

She wished that Ramon was there with her, thinking about his calm, centered presence and how safe and protected he made her feel. When the phone in her hand rang again she answered it right away.

~

Ramon set his phone down on the desk when Sherriff Brown ducked his head in the door. “Agent Kim wants to have a word with you now. In my office.”