Chapter 24
The next morning I awoke in bed alone. At first, I was confused as to where I was and what I was doing, but slowly memories of the previous night came back to me, and my lips curved in satisfaction. I eased back down into the pillows.
Once I was settled back into the bed, I realized that I could hear the shower running. It seemed as if Heath was already up. I considered getting up and surprising him in the shower, but before I could get myself moving, the shower spray cut off. I sighed, too late.
A few minutes later, Heath came out of the bathroom freshly showered and dressed in clean jeans and a crisp white button-down shirt. His feet were still bare, and his dark hair glistened with just a touch of water. He looked completely sexy, and I savored the intimacy of these stolen moments.
His eyes twinkled as he took in my body barely covered by the thin bed sheet. “Good Morning, Beautiful.”
I rolled toward him, “Good Morning to you too. How’s your arm?”
He smiled a half smile that made him look reminiscent of a little boy, “Almost good as new. In fact, all of me feels pretty damn good this morning.”
I stretched, and the sheet slipped lower down on my breasts, “Me too. I can’t imagine why, but I think you might have had something to do with that…last night.”
A self satisfied look came into his eyes. “I’m hoping we can make a habit of feeling like this in the morning.”
I smiled back at him and nodded. “I’d like that, but I’m afraid that this morning, I have to hurry up and leave. I have to pick Sam up soon.”
Heath shrugged. “That’s okay because I’m on my way out the door right now. I have something to take care of this morning. But, you take your time. I like the idea of you in my bed, in my life.”
Despite my promise to myself, I asked, “Where are you going?”
Heath paused in pulling on his shoes and looked at me. At first, I thought that he was not going to answer me, but then he pointed to his injured arm; “To take care of this, or I should say to take care of who did this.”
I knew that worry colored my face, but that distress did not stop his leaving. He leaned down and laid his lips on mine in a sweet, intimate kiss that left me wanting. “Please just trust me for a little while longer, my love.”
Despite my worry, I trusted my gut. I brushed my fingertips along his jaw line. “You go. I’ll grab a shower and then get Sam and head home. Call me later.”
At the door now, Heath turned back to me and smiled, “You can count on it,” and then he added a split second before he closed the door behind him, “and on me too.”
I grabbed my dress and panties from the floor and headed into the bathroom. The heat from Heath’s shower still lingered in the air as I turned on the taps for my own steamy spray. My muscles and other areas of my body felt a little sore this morning and quite well used. A ghost of a smile played on my lips; it was so worth it.
I stepped into the warm spray, and for the first time in a long while, I did not feel a longing for a man; my body was sated and my heart was full.
I let the water run over my skin and then began to run the soap over my body washing away the evidence of last night’s passion. Long after I was clean, I still stood under the spray as I let it limber up my body. It also gave me time to settle down before I left to pick up Sam.
Finally, I forced myself to turn off the taps which seemed to be filled with untapped amounts of hot water. I stepped out of the shower and grabbed one of the fluffy robes the Balleystone provided for its guests and walked out into the main room. I had just stepped over the threshold when I realized something was wrong. My stomach dropped and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Lightning zinged through my veins.
Suddenly strong arms grabbed me from behind. Before I could scream, a hand with a rag clamped over my mouth, and a slick voice whispered in my ear. “You should be more careful about the company you keep.”
My mind flashed that the voice sounded oddly familiar, but even as I tried to place it, my brain fogged up, and I felt myself falling into darkness. I had been drugged was the last thought I had before I was consumed by the abyss.
Across town, Heath had a meeting with a man who dressed like a street punk. The boy looked to be all of perhaps nineteen with sloppy blond hair that was too long for decency and pants so baggy that the kid had to pull them up every few minutes to keep them from falling down around his ankles. His t-shirt had some Shawn White skater theme to it, and all Dana could think as she watched their conversation was, “How could her best friend, Miranda, be so stupid?”
Of course, she had followed Heath. She had told Miranda that weeks ago when she first found out he was somehow tangled up in Lindsay Moffit’s disappearance. So why the hell had her usually sane and sensible friend danced the night away in his arms last night and then awakened in his hotel room this morning? It was beyond Dana’s comprehension, but she fully intended to take it up with Miranda as soon as she got a chance.
She watched the two men for a few more minutes, and when it became clear that nothing was going on, or at least nothing that would help her solve her case, she left and made a bee line for her car. Once she was safely inside, she punched in Miranda’s cell number, but it rang through to voicemail. Damn. She left a message anyway. “Miranda, this is Dana. What the hell is going on? I saw you with Heath last night. Call me ASAP!” Then she snapped her phone shut.
Fine, so she wouldn’t talk to her; well, then she would wait her out at her parents’ house. After all, she had to pick up Sam sometime, and there was no doubt in Dana’s mind that Sam was with Miranda’s parents. The question in her mind was whether Miranda’s parents knew what their daughter had been up to last night?Dana doubted that Miranda had shared her plans or secrets with anyone, especially her parents.