Almost Always: A Love Unexpected Novel (7 page)

Ten

I wish I could say I remembered every detail of that meal, every moment of the evening, but I can't.

A man like Kason takes control of more than a 'situation'. I'd been able to keep my mind occupied during the day with the whole dilemma facing my parents, with the dazzling experience of the great Plaza hotel, with the details of my outfit for the night and shopping with Taishi—but it was only because Kason wasn't actually with me in the flesh. He had lurked at the fringes of my psyche, ever an influence, orchestrating the movement of my hours. But without his physical presence, I retained a sense of myself that seemed to evaporate once I could see Kason, smell Kason and feel the warmth of Kason's hand on mine.

I couldn't watch him eat without remembering what it was like to kiss that mouth. Or how much I wanted to feel those lips exploring other parts of my body.

We sat side by side in a banquette where the tablecloth curtained our laps. He ran his long fingers up to the top of the slit in my dress and teased at the lace on the thigh highs. One elegant finger trailed the line where my legs met my body.

I flipped off a pump and teased the back of his leg with my stocking clad toes. He fiddled with tendrils of my hair at the back of my neck. He kissed my cheek; I touched his hand. There was much 'gazing into' of eyes. To anyone observing us, it was obvious that we were lovers.

There was something completely thrilling about realizing that we were sitting
in public
and Kason was claiming me for all to see.  It was the same kind of rush I got from his attention at Brian's party. A 'look at me and look who wants me!' kind of buzz. It had me grinning all over on the inside.

I tried to concentrate on the important things Kason was telling me throughout dinner. As concerned as I was for my parents' safety, you would think it wouldn't have been such an effort. But it was.

I finally had to ask him not to touch me. "Kason, I can't think about what you're saying when you're stroking my neck like that."

"I'm sorry. I can't keep my hands off of you. Be glad we're in this restaurant or I might never be able to give you a report on what I've accomplished today."

"Please, I need to hear it. Tell me."

He told me that he had hired a crack private investigator to look into exactly who the thugs were who assaulted my father and that he'd found an inside operative in the union who would be able to give him a better picture of exactly what was going on.

"I'll know more in a day or so. But I do think that until we can get to the bottom of it, your parents are better off away from their house."

"You're going to have a hard time convincing Dad that he shouldn't recuperate in his own bed. I know my father."

"And
I
know that the safety of the woman you love is more important than comfort or habit." He made this statement so solemnly that I knew he was referring to more than just my parents. The lost look in his eyes also betrayed him.

I knew he was thinking about Elsa. It took all my will not to try to steer the conversation toward dangerous ground. I can be my own worst enemy when it comes to things like that.

Thankfully, dessert came and I stuffed my mouth with a delicious
tarte tatin
instead of my foot.

***

Both of us knew how the night would end. With the exception of our brief conversation about my parents, the whole evening was one long seduction. The food was indescribably good and not nearly as pretentious as I had imagined it would be. Our conversation, while hardly deep, had a new familiarity about it. We talked about safe, unthreatening subjects—tastes in music and books, favorite pastimes, what his work was like, what kind of job I hoped to find when summer was over. We laughed about the Little Theater and heaped praise on the playwright for his brilliant work.

Finally we stood at the door to the suite at the Plaza. My mother was long asleep upstairs in the master bedroom.

Kason pulled me into his arms and kissed me long and hard. "Are you sure Marjorie is asleep?"

I nodded. "She even said she was going to take something to keep her from waking up in the middle of the night. I'm sure we won't be disturbed." I slid the keycard through the slot. As I pushed the door open, Kason leaned in from behind me and whispered in my ear.

"That's very good. Because I am
so
ready to have you in a real bed."  He pulled me back against him and moved my hips with his hands against his body for emphasis.

We went straight to my bedroom. The curtains had been closed and the covers were turned down on one side.

"That looks inviting," I said as I slipped out of my shoes and carefully put them under the side table. Even in the throes of lust, I was not about to treat my new Louboutin heels with anything but respect.

"Let me undress the rest of you." Kason was at my side sliding the zipper down the back of my red dress, letting it slip to the floor. He gave a low, slow wolf whistle when he saw the bustier, thong and lace top stockings I had worn under the dress. "I'm going to have to insist you put those heels back on, just for a few moments."

I did what he told me to and returned to stand in front of him. He had removed his jacket and tie and I started to unbutton his shirt. It seemed like months had passed since I last saw his gorgeous body naked, even though I knew it had only been a matter of days.

As soon as I had his shirt open enough, I tangled my fingers in the soft waves of his golden chest hair. Then I nuzzled the spot with my nose, breathing in the intoxicating scent of his flesh. The man smelled better than any human being I'd ever smelled. Of all the subtle cues that go into one person's attraction for another, I've always felt the sense of smell the most complex and the least understood. I couldn't say
what
Kason smelled like, only that he smelled completely right.

My world narrowed swiftly to that room, that moment, that man. I think an earthquake or hurricane could have gone unnoticed when his thumbs hooked the strings at my hips and pushed my tiny thong to the floor. I wanted him to take me with the brutal force of his most primal need, and he did. His desire fed and sustained me.

His weight felt glorious against me. I was complete and completely his. Kason kept murmuring my name over and over as we moved together in rhythmic bliss.

When he finally rolled away from me, I mewed a small protest. I hated for it to end.

He patted me gently running lazy circles over me with the softest touch. "You are amazing. The most responsive, giving lover anyone could ask for. Annalise, you are perfect."

I propped myself up on my elbows and leaned over his face to kiss him. "And you, my unbearably sexy Kason, bring out the best in me."

Eleven

Kason slipped away after I had fallen asleep in his arms, as I thought he would. Even though my mother clearly knew we were more than friends and certainly didn't imagine I was some blushing virgin, it was still bad form for us to greet her in hotel bathrobes over coffee in the morning. I felt him kiss my cheek and heard him dressing, but it seemed appropriate to pretend I didn't and let him make a graceful exit.

Mom and I were getting into the hotel thing. We ordered a room service breakfast. I had eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and Mom had hers with a crab cake. It seemed a shame to go to the dining room when we had our own private one right there in the suite.

Kason arrived around ten and sent Mom in the car with Taishi to visit my father. We'd talked to him first thing in the morning and he was itching to get discharged as soon as possible.

As soon as she was gone, Kason sat me down and told me what he had discovered about the attackers.

"They aren't local construction union guys. They're attached to a very secretive chapter that has ties to the mafia. They've been causing trouble everywhere they find a guy like your dad who's willing to question a forty dollar rivet or a ten dollar roofing nail."

"I wish Daddy would just stay out of it. He's got about ten years left to work . . . why can't he let someone else fight these battles?"

"What's done is done. Your father has earned himself a reputation as a white knight and he's got enemies both in the union ranks and in City Hall. Someone has chosen to make an example of him. Next time it might be far worse than a couple of broken ribs."

"So what do we do now?"

"I'd like to suggest that your parents get out of town. Your father's injuries are serious enough to prevent him from working for several weeks—more with the right doctor's signature."

"He'll be fighting to get back to work as soon as he can. I know my father."

"Maybe so, but when I finish telling him the whole story, I think he'll come around." Kason paced in front of the window and a terrific view of Central Park. "He's not going to want to put Marjorie in danger and I'm pretty sure I can convince him that these hoodlums aren't above targeting your mother—or you for that matter."

"Me?"

"Not to worry little one. I'm going to keep you close to me. We'll be safe enough back in the Berkshire Hills."

By the end of the day, Kason had not only convinced my father of the seriousness of his situation, but persuaded my parents to spend some time at his 'cabin' in Maine near Bar Harbor. He assured them they would be comfortable, safe and well out of harm's way there. Taishi was to accompany them and get them settled in. Before the sun set, Mom and Dad were on their way north and Kason and I were getting on a helicopter that was Berkshire bound.

I wanted to stay another night in New York, enjoying a perspective on the city I grew up in that I had never seen before. But Kason felt responsible to the play. He told me we had both made a commitment to it and that there'd be plenty of time for fun in the city later. Of course that pleased me immensely. I wanted—I craved—any indication from him that he and I were an 'us' and had a future, however vague and full of unanswered questions that future might be.

I knew things were moving fast, at least in a physical sense, but I still didn't know Kason nearly as well as I wanted to in so many other ways. His talent amazed me, his power seduced me and his take-charge manner made me feel safe and secure. But there were his flashes of temper, the limitations he imposed on what we could discuss and the mystery of his past—both recent and distant—that frustrated me. I wondered if I was kidding myself. I questioned whether all the solicitude, the lavish way he spent money on me and on my parents and the mind-blowing sex was carefully engineered to provide an illusion of closeness where there was none.

Pushing him was going to get me nowhere, of that much I was certain. But at some point, there had to be a quiet moment unhindered by crisis or seduction when I'd be able to really know him better. He couldn't keep himself locked up forever. Could he?

***

Tom was grateful for the effort we made to get back into the rehearsals given what I'd told him about my father's injuries and the scare we'd had. Rehearsal that night was spotty, and it was pretty obvious that both Kason and I were exhausted. By the time we wrapped up, I was ready for only one thing—a hot bath and bed. I was feeling achy all over, like I was coming down with something.

Kason drove me home to the duplex where we said goodnight. "You look pale," he told me as he gently kissed me goodnight. "Get a good night's rest. We'll talk tomorrow."

The steamy bath nearly put me to sleep right in the tub. It was all I could do to dry my hair and stumble into bed. When I woke at three in the morning, I was drenched in sweat and obviously had a fever. My throat felt like it was on fire and every joint in my body was throbbing. I had the flu and a rotten case of it at that.

When Kason called me the next morning, I absolutely forbade him to get within twenty feet of me. He insisted that I should have someone to look after me. It was my turn to put my foot down.

"I've had the flu before. Just leave me alone and I promise I'll drink lots of fluids and be back on my feet in no time." I coughed and it sounded like I brought up half a lung. "You don't want this. Trust me."

Unbelievably, he accepted my wisdom and promised to check on me later in the day—by phone. "I'm talking to the PI around noon. I'll let you know what he says."

Before I put the phone back on my nightstand I called Mom in Maine. All I wanted to do was fall back into bed, but I knew I needed to talk to her first.

"I'm so sorry you're sick, honey," she said. "You probably caught something in the hospital. God knows a hospital is a great place to pick up germs."

"It's just the flu, Mom."

"Well if it feels like anything unusual, promise you'll get yourself to a doctor. You never know."

"I promise. How's the cabin?"

Mom laughed hard and called out to my father. "She wants to know how we like the 'cabin'." I could hear my father's belly laugh in the background. "The 'cabin' is an ocean side mansion that looks like it came out of some movie about historic Maine. I counted eight bedrooms last night, but I could have missed a couple. It's all done in cedar shake siding, slate roof, lots of stone. I guess it's what Architectural Digest would call 'rustic elegance'. There seems to be a fireplace in every room."

"His place here is way over the top."

"Well this house isn't. It's perfect—comfortable, homey, and down-to earth in an expensive sort of way. I'd kill for a kitchen like this. It's a cook's paradise."

"Sounds a lot more like Kason than the French Chateau he's got here. I'd like to see it." I coughed again, so hard it made my head spin. "But not now, Mom. I gotta go back to sleep."

"Take care of yourself, sweetie. We're fine."

"K, Mom. Love you."

"Love you too."

By three in the afternoon I had been dragged from my bed four times. The drugstore delivered a vaporizer—something I hadn't seen since I was a kid—and a veritable medicine chest full of over-the-counter remedies. The deli delivered chicken soup and cookies. The florist delivered a huge bouquet of star-gazer lilies. Finally, a very large teddy bear arrived with helium balloons and a box of candy.

Kason called at three-thirty.

"Thank you for all the thoughtful things."

"I wish I could do more."

"You've done so much already. And not just for me. Mom and Dad love the cabin."

"Great. They need to stay there. Artie, the PI called."

"And?"

"These are some freakin' dangerous characters. The word is that they want to 'make an example' of your father. It's going to take some time to figure out how to stop them."

"Maybe you should talk to the police."

"Not yet, not 'til we find out exactly who's involved and at what level."

"Kason, I don't want you to get yourself in any kind of trouble."

"Trust me, that's not going to happen. Nobody knows I'm even involved. Artie's the one doing all the digging. I don't want anything or anybody connecting the dots."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that when you get back to the theater I think we need to keep a low profile. These people are professional criminals. If they put a tail on you . . . "

"Why in heaven's name would they do that?"

"Your father has just disappeared into the dark. Who better to get him back into the light than his daughter?"

"Oh come on . . . do you really think?"

"I really think. And if they connect you and I it won't be too hard to find out where your parents are hiding. My house in Maine isn't exactly a state secret."

"Are you sure you aren't getting overly paranoid about this?"

"Annalise, I'm going to have Taishi looking out for you. Don't be concerned if you see him hovering around. If you do see him, don’t acknowledge him."

"Really, Kason, this is ridiculous."

"It
is not
ridiculous. Bad men harm innocent people all the time. Bad men take lives simply because they're
connected
with the real object of their evil. It's called collateral damage and it's part of the game of war." It sounded like he choked. "Sometimes the best way to hurt someone is to target someone they care about. That's the easiest way to get what you want."

I had the eerie feeling we weren't just talking about my father and me. I hadn't thought about Elsa for nearly a whole day. Until I found out what had happened with her, she was going to be a shadow over us. But, yet again, this wasn't the time.

"Well, right now, no one is going to see any connections between you and me or me and anyone else. I'm down for the count. I feel like shit."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you. Get some rest and we'll talk later."

"Tell Tom and the guys I'm sorry."

"They'll understand."

***

I could hardly lift my head from my pillow for four days. Kason kept up a steady supply of deliveries of provisions and other treats. It was far more than I could consume, but Jenn was very impressed.

"It sure is a shame you haven't got any appetite. I haven't eaten this well in years," she told me.

Kason called twice a day, at least. He kept me posted on Artie's slow-moving process of discovery and how the play was progressing.

After Thursday night's rehearsal he told me that everyone was completely off book and the blocking was starting to move like a ballet. "Tom really is a master choreographer," he said. "There's not a static moment on stage."

He also told me that Suze had come in that night to 'pinch hit' for me in my absence. That certainly didn't make me feel any better, but it gave me a damn good reason to recover. By Sunday afternoon I felt human again. I decided to take my flu-weakened legs for a walk in the late summer sun.

I walked a short few blocks before I had to turn around, exhausted. There'd be no marathons for me any time soon. The streets were pretty empty. Taishi was reading his paper on a bench in front of the dry cleaners at the intersection near the duplex. I smiled when I saw him and he completely ignored me. A woman jogged past me toward the park and a couple of cars went by.

As soon as I got into the duplex, Kason called. "Taishi thinks it's possible you've been marked."

"Marked?"

"He's not sure. But he wanted me to tell you to stay alert."

A very creepy feeling came over me.

"Don't worry. Taishi's the best. He won't let anyone get near you. But right now, we have to watch and wait."

"I was hoping we could have dinner tonight. I feel much better and I could really use your company."

"Out of the question."

"I had hoped you would be missing me like I'm missing you . . . "

"If you only knew."

"Why don't you tell me?"

"I'll make a deal with you," he said in the throaty way he had when he was about to say something sexy. The purr was music to my ears after all the serious talk. "I'm going to call you at eight. Have dinner, relax in the tub, have a glass of wine or two. When I call, I want you snuggled in bed, waiting for me."

Eight o'clock seemed to take years to arrive. I followed his instructions and had a nice big glass of wine that I had nearly finished by the time he called.

"I'm going to tell you some of the things I'm going to do with your heavenly body. While I do, I'm going to imagine you touching yourself and I'm going to do the same."

"Phone sex?" I giggled.

"Prepare to be pleasantly surprised just how hot a phone can be . . . ”

He began talking to me, describing all the naughty things he wanted to do to me.  I was timid to respond at first, but soon we were playing with our words. It was unexpected to connect in this way.  Even miles apart, we came together.