~
I spent the rest of the day by myself, the headache still just tickling at my temples without quite hitting me. My eyes ached so I couldn’t read or listen to music, and the idea of walking on the beach, each step jarring my body, put me off.
I stayed in Evan’s room again that night. It was a humid night and after we’d made love – I was more than getting the hang of that – we kicked back the covers to lie there, his arm around me, my head on his shoulder with my hair fanned down my back. Our legs were entwined and our skin was sticky with exertion and heat. The last of the sunlight cast patterns on the floor and a storm cloud was already rolling in over the sea. I could hear raindrops pattering on the roof and hitting the table on the balcony. I kissed Evan’s neck. After I complained about my threatening headache, he pressed his hands against my temples and the pain was gone in an instant. I had never felt more content as we dozed together.
The first clap of thunder woke me with a jolt and Evan tightened his arm around me, bringing the other over and caressing my side in smooth strokes as I snuggled into his embrace.
“I’m not frightened,” I confessed, lest he think I was silly. “It was just loud and woke me. Didn’t it wake you too?”
Evan shook his head gently. “I wasn’t sleeping.”
“Not tired?”
“A little, but frankly, you’re very distracting. Even more so naked.”
“Should I go?” I hated to sound hurt.
“Hell no.” Evan twisted so that he had manoeuvred under me and I sat astride him, my thighs against his. His hands held my waist, his fingers almost touching in the middle of my stomach and back and once again, I marvelled at how big he was.
“How old are you?” I asked, curious, looking down at him.
“Older than you.”
“Where are you from?”
“Nevada. Not Vegas, thank goodness.”
“Do you have any other family?”
“I have a dad and a brother. I don’t see either of them.”
“Why’s that?”
“My dad and my brother aren’t the most stable and after my mom passed, I didn’t need to be part of that anymore.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ve accepted it.” He ran his hands over my hair and traced the line of my spine, sending pleasurable shivers through me.
“Seems a good way of looking at it.” I’ve never been entirely sure if I’d come to terms with losing my parents. I didn’t even know if they had family. That would be something to investigate.
“Where do you normally live?”
“I have a house in Texas but I travel a lot. It’s actually rare for me to be asked to take on work like this but I wanted a change and I was needed, so I felt duty-bound to oblige.”
“You don’t normally teach?”
“No. This is a very rare occurrence. Robert Bartholomew actually asked me and he’s helped me out before so I owed him a favour. He made it clear I could have refused but he was insistent that he needed the help and I felt obliged.”
I shuddered involuntarily at the sound of Robert’s name.
“Cold?” Evan asked but I shook my head. He ran his ridiculously warm hands the length of my back and under my arms to caress my breasts. My body tingled from the inside out, though it didn’t do anything to warm the fear in me. I tried to gulp it down.
“What is it that you do?”
He paused for a moment, as though thinking about what he should say. Finally, “I’m a tracker.”
“Is that even a career option?”
“Not in regular schools.”
“How come you don’t have a girlfriend?” Wow, I was nosy tonight.
“I don’t have a whole lot of time. Like I said, I travel a lot and I can never guarantee where I will be or how long the job will take. If I come home, I can be out again the next day or not for weeks. Women don’t want to hang around waiting for a guy they won’t see regularly.”
That didn’t sound promising. “Ever been in love?”
“Yes. It was a long time ago. She wasn’t like us, but she knew about our way of life and understood. For a while, anyway.”
“Do you date?”
“I am male,” Evan pointed out, rather unnecessarily, seeing as a very male part of him was pressing quite heavily against me. He smirked. “So, yes, I date from time to time. I’m thinking I would quite like to not date for a while.”
I frowned at him. If this was going to be a brush off it was phenomenally bad timing.
“I want to be with you, Stella, if you want to see where this leads. I can’t offer any guarantees but I can offer me.”
“Tempting,” I said, a smile springing to my face. “Even if I don’t see you for days, weeks or months?”
“I’ll have to work on that. I am staying put while I’m wanted here.”
“You’re wanted rather a lot right now.” And I could understand from the pressure digging into my leg that I wasn’t the only one wanting and hoping right now. I moved to accommodate him and exhaled a deep long breath as he slipped inside me and slid his hands to my hips to guide me. I held onto his shoulders as he ground against me, until he pulled me up so that he could kiss me and hold me before rolling me onto my back and making me cry out with the ecstasy of it all. Later, we clung to each other, our skin sticking together with a soft sheen of perspiration.
“I have to shower. It’s too hot tonight,” Evan murmured after a while, extricating himself. He flashed me a broad smile. “You can come too.”
Lightning flashed through the room as we slipped from the bed and padded to the bathroom. It was the same as mine except for a long, ladder towel rail and a cluster of men’s toiletries on the shelf above the tub rim. Shaving gel and a razor stood next to the taps by a toothbrush and paste. Evan flipped the lever and the water whooshed out. He felt it for a moment with his hands before signalling that it was warm and pulling me under the jets. We stood under the water barely millimetres apart as he lathered soap in his hands and washed me, handing me shampoo from his own bottle (I was grateful it seemed to be some unisex fruity scent) and massaging it into my hair himself. When I was clean, I returned the favour, keeping my excitement in check as I savoured stroking his long limbs. So freaking yummy.
Bursting with cleanliness, Evan stepped out first, wrapping a towel around his waist as he held a towel for me so I could wrap myself in its toasty warmth.
Back in the bedroom, Evan drew the curtains against the inky blue sky and changed the sheets so that we could lie on fresh cotton. It was so oddly tropical (Kitty’s doing, I wondered) that my hair was almost dry before I joined him in the bed again, sitting up so I could run my fingers threw my hair to stop it getting all knotty. Evan patted his own short dark crop. “I’d offer you a comb but I don’t have much need for one.”
“No matter.” I braided my hair so that it wouldn’t tangle while I slept and snuggled against him, asleep again in minutes.
I was the first to wake the next morning so I slipped from Evan’s bed as gently as I could. Our commingled bodies separated while asleep and he lay sprawled on his stomach, one hand under his head the other flung out towards me. I picked up my clothes and dressed quietly. I couldn’t help my eyes flickering to the scars; there were a dozen or so, old and faded with time. As I was reaching for my socks, Evan’s hand stretched out for me and drew me towards him.
“Running out on me already?” he asked, smiling sleepily at me as I wriggled in his strong arms.
I gave up and knelt beside the bed to kiss him. “Not in the slightest. I want to get changed before breakfast, before anyone else wakes up.”
“Fair enough.” He kissed me again, long and lingering and I thought twice about staying before I pulled away. I couldn’t help lean in for one last kiss before I flipped the lock and sneaked out of his room. No one else was on the landing but I trod as quietly as I could until I got to my room, opening the door only as much as I had to and pressing it shut quie
tly.
I should have just been able to pull off my clothes but when I stepped into my room, shock rooted me to the floor.
The mattress was half-tipped off my bed; the pillows and covers scattered across the floor. The bathroom and closet doors hung open. Some of my clothes were on the floor and others only just on their hangers. The nightstand drawers hung open and the books had been swept onto the floor. My dresser had been rifled through. The drawers were only half closed; my t-shirts mussed up and the blue box with my parents’ paperwork pulled out. Someone had searched through it and discarded it. Everything was in disarray. Tipped over, rifled, searched.
I couldn’t help it. The scream shot from my throat before I even considered what a bad idea that was.
Seconds later, my door flew open. Étoile and Kitty reached me at the same time and were looking aghast at the mess and then to me.
“What’s going on?” asked David, appearing behind them, rubbing his eyes and I was sorry that I had woken them all. Evan shoved past him and came to stand next to Kitty. He had paused to throw on jeans but otherwise his chest and feet were bare. If I hadn’t been so frightened I’d have appreciated the picture a bit more. The sudden noise brought Seren sleepily to the door too and I heard feet bound up the stairs. Oh, great. Marc.
“Someone has been in my room,” I said, somewhat obviously, in dismay, to my pyjama-clad crowd.
“Were they here?” asked Evan, his voice thunderous.
“No. No, they left before I found this.”
“Where were you then?” asked Marc. He had pushed past David too and was standing in the door frame. Behind him, I could see David bobbing his head to try and see past. “If you weren’t here when they did this?”
“I was. I was, uh...” I couldn’t think past feeling so affronted that this was the only thing Marc could think to ask. Shit, where could I say I had been?
“She was with me.” Kitty said, simply. “We were talking late and Stella fell asleep on the sofa in my room. I didn’t have the heart to move her. We just woke up.”
I smiled gratefully at her and she returned it with ease, but I noticed that she quickly cast a glance at Evan who was surveying the scene. No one questioned my alibi, thankfully.
“Did anyone hear anything?” Evan asked, looking round. Christy and Clara had stumbled into the hallway and hovered next to David, who was inching his way forwards. Like everyone else, they shook their heads.
“It was thundering for most of the night,” said David, stifling a yawn. “You could have moved furniture and I wouldn’t have noticed.”
Étoile wrapped an arm around me. She was wearing the most elegant peach coloured pyjamas with her initials monogrammed on the pocket, though she had foregone her usual pristine makeup. “Is anything gone?” she asked.
“I don’t think so.” I didn’t have much so it only took a minute or two to establish that nothing I’d immediately notice was gone. I wasn’t sure whether to be thankful again for having so little. At least I could see everything I had, well, seeing as it was strewn across the floor. I couldn’t imagine anything of mine that anyone could possibly want.
“Everyone out,” said Evan, clapping his hands together to gain attention, and in full alpha male mode. “We’ll get things straightened up, then try and figure out what’s going on.”
“If I’m not wanted, I’m heading back to bed,” muttered David as he inched from the room. Evan was already shoving the mattress back into position and Kitty was helping him toss pillows back on the bed.
“Us too,” said Christy as she and her sister both goggled at Evan’s bare chest with unabashed admiration. Seren all but manhandled them from the room.
“I’ll stay and look after Stella,” said Marc stepping towards me. Kitty stood in his way. “I think we should make her a tea. Tea, right, Stella? Something warm for the nerves?”
“Yes, thanks, I’d appreciate that,” I agreed, sensing that Kitty thought Marc should be out of the room. He looked thunderously at me but didn’t object to Kitty giving him a gentle shove that left Étoile, Evan and I facing each other.
“Well,” said Étoile. She looked from Evan to me with humour. “Well, hmmm.”
“Do you see anything?” I asked.
“Not of the past, I’m sorry Stella, I don’t know who would do this but I’m glad nothing seems to be missing.” She gave me a gentle squeeze and whispered very delicately in my ear. “He’s a good man. Always remember that. No matter what happens.” She was gone before I could ask her to explain.
Evan was regarding me. He nodded at Étoile’s fleeting back. “What did she say?”
“Oh, nothing,” I waved it off. The door was still open as Evan helped me straighten up the room, pushing in drawers as I rehung my clothes in the closet. I didn’t quite have the heart to admire his torso as he bent and stretched; the way I felt, it would have been a waste of a good ogle.
“Listen, will you stay with me a moment while I get dressed?” I knew I’d jump at the slightest sound and be more comfortable if he stuck around.
Evan grinned. “Absolutely.” From across the room he closed the door with a sweep of his hand.
“I’m not giving you a thrill. I just want to change into something clean.” I’d already pulled fresh jeans and a checkered shirt from the closet. I opened the just closed dresser drawer so I could pull out new underwear. It felt kinda gross having to wear underwear that someone had searched through in the night but I didn’t have a choice. I changed quickly and when I fastened my last shirt button, Evan pulled me close, resting his chin on the top of my head. I relaxed against him, my muscles feeling like jelly with worry.
“I’m not leaving you. Try not to worry about this. We’ll work it out.”
“I know. I just don’t get what whoever it was could have been looking for.”
“Go downstairs. Meg will be making breakfast. Have that tea Kitty is getting you and try not to think about it. I’ll be down in five. I promise.”
“I don’t want to be on my own.” I felt like whimpering. Pull yourself together, I told myself. You’ve survived all kinds of crap, you can survive a burglary. But the other part of my mind whispered a warning.
“You’re not. Go right downstairs. Everyone is awake now and you’re safe.” Evan kissed my hair and I was glad he couldn’t see my lip tremble.
I wanted to tell Evan how glad I was that I spent the past night with him, instead of being here where maybe something awful could have happened. At once, I felt guilty. It wasn’t like Evan was my guard when there was so much more, I hoped, between us; but instead I just nodded, grabbed my sweater, and followed him from the room. Downstairs, I could hear the sounds of breakfast being prepared in the kitchen. Meg was singing a show tune I recognised. It had been a big hit back when films were first in glorious Technicolor.
Evan left my room right behind me and, after a gentle push towards the stairs, he walked the few long strides back to his room. For the first time since I had been at the house, I turned back and locked the door before I went downstairs.