Covert Alliance (21 page)

“They both had tempers, but apparently saved any temper tantrums to level at us when they got home.” Kelly smiled, despite the fact that it wasn’t her fondest memory of them.

Andi had been six years older than her and had left town to get her degree in business while Kelly remained at home. That was where she had met Stan, who was also studying business. “He seemed an okay guy then.” Kelly shook her head. “Unlike now.”

Then she had to describe the first time her life fell apart. “Our parents were killed in a car crash not long after Andi married Stan. I used my inheritance to get a teaching degree, and when I graduated I just couldn’t return to Long Beach, so I moved to Blue Haven to be with my sister, who welcomed me.”

That was around the time Stan’s interest in politics was born—and so was Eli.

Kelly had told these basics to Judge Treena’s identity team, but the only part she had gone into detail about was how things had started deteriorating after that.

“I loved Eli from the moment he was born.” Kelly choked on her words, or maybe it was the tears that had started falling down her cheeks. “I babysat him every moment I could, spent time in their house even though I’d rented my own apartment after landing my teaching job. Stan wasn’t particularly discreet about how he treated Andi, essentially taking an entirely outdated position that, since he was the man, he was in charge. Andi loved him, though, and sometimes laughed at his nastiness and gave him big kisses even when I was there, to get him to back down.” She paused, closing her eyes. “But her laughing it off stopped working after Stan won his first election to city council. Then he made it clear he really did consider himself the boss of the family. That was also when he apparently decided that he was above the law and could accept bribes or whatever he chose to do. That’s when their real arguments started. Their face-off about the real estate deal and Andi’s attempt to sell property to the same federal agency as one of Stan’s donors...”

Kelly choked up and couldn’t continue. Not then, even though Alan had moved so he now sat right beside her on the sofa, his arm around her. She lay her head on his shoulder, swallowing her sobs.

“Eli grew up in the middle of all this. He—he saw his parents fight, even more than our parents had. I took him out for dinner and to the park and everywhere I could to try to protect him. He was like my own child. Then—then his mother disappeared. And after that, I had to disappear on him, too, to stay alive.”

She couldn’t talk anymore, not then. Alan, who had remained silent but shot encouraging and sympathetic glances her way, now held her close as she cried her heart out.

“I’m very sorry, Shereen,” he said, using her real name, which was appropriate but made her cry all the more. “I can’t fix everything, but you can be sure I’ll do everything to make sure that Stan pays for what he did, and that you get to help Eli from now on.”

* * *

So many times during Kelly’s story, Alan had an urge to kiss her into silence. It was painful even to listen to her, and he regretted making her talk about it.

Would recalling everything help or hurt her? He hoped the former, but that remained to be seen.

He’d asked it of her because he thought it would ultimately help her to put the worst behind her. Now he felt her pain, as if it exited her skin and entered his body, just because he was holding her.

He cared for her. Too much, and not just because they were working together.

That meant he had to back off, physically as well as emotionally. She was still a colleague of sorts, one who failed to comply with the rules she had promised to follow. He understood it, but now fought his instinct not to buy into it.

He didn’t let her go, though. He buried his face in the softness of her hair, feeling its waves stroke his cheeks as she trembled while she cried. The scent was light and floral, and her nearness, the utter femininity of her body, made his own react—oh, so very inappropriately.

Maybe he should have just taken her to her apartment. That way he could have simply given her a final good-night hug and left.

Yeah, and feel even more like a heel.

“I’m sorry, Kelly,” he murmured against her head. “I thought this would help you, but instead—”

“It did,” she protested, pulling back a little until she was looking up into his eyes. Then she amended, “It will, at least. I’ve been trying not to think about it too much, but I always do. Now that you’ve been so kind to let me share it this way, I won’t feel nearly as bad about it. I hope.” She pulled back even farther, and those gorgeous brown eyes of hers suddenly appeared more fierce than sad. “We’re going to get him. We’re going to find Andi, learn what he did to her and put him away forever.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement, and it made him smile. Her return smile looked almost like a challenge, as if she dared him to contradict her.

Of course he didn’t. He couldn’t. That was his job here, too.

It was also his goal because he wanted to do it, for Kelly’s sake. And because the miserable excuse for a man had also tried to kill her.

Without thinking, he bent his head to kiss that smile.

Kelly responded. Did she ever. Her kiss was as forceful as her expression had been. Her tongue reached out to engage his, as if they were dueling for who could exercise theirs most sensually.

He had an urge to touch her all over—using his tongue for some of it. But he had promised, when he said he would bring her here...

She was the one to start touching him as they remained on the couch. She rubbed his chest first, and then her hand traveled downward.

His erection was already thick and hard by then, and her grip outside his pants only enlarged it. He considered leading her upstairs, but why? His couch would be a perfectly good location for what he wanted to do to her. What he wanted them to do together.

He pulled away so he could stand up and draw her up in front of him. He hadn’t studied her dress from the perspective of getting it off before. Now he did, even as she started unbuttoning his shirt.

They were colleagues, collaborators, in this as much as anything else. Soon, they both were naked.

He looked at her lovely body even as he continued to stroke it. Fortunately, even though he had felt certain nothing like this would occur tonight, he had a condom in his wallet for emergencies—like this one. He bent to pull it out, and Kelly reached for it.

“Let me,” she rasped.

In moments, he was sheathed. And even hotter and more eager than he had been the last two nights they had been together.

“Please, Alan,” she breathed, and he soon was inside her—with the sole intention of pleasing her.

Chapter 18

A
fterward, Kelly lay on the couch, Alan’s delightfully heavy weight on top of her.

She hadn’t intended this tonight. Well, she hadn’t started out intending to make love with him the other two nights, either, but this time she had wanted a respite.

Or so she’d believed.

“Am I squashing you?” he asked roughly into her ear.

“Probably, but it feels good.”

She liked the sound of his laugh. The feel of him on her. His company, and his sympathy.

Even so...

“Alan, this was wonderful. But...well, I still want to spend the rest of the night alone, at my place.”

She felt his whole body stiffen, and then he slid off her onto the floor. “I thought you wanted this, too. I certainly didn’t mean to—”

“I did want it. Or at least it felt really good, even though I hadn’t intended it. But I let myself spout all those emotions, then somehow must have thought I could wash them all away by shutting up and having sex with you. But everything is still there, inside me. As much as I enjoyed this, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I think I’d better just go home.”

As if she had a real home to go to. But she did have the apartment she rented here, where she could be alone.

And rehash everything she had talked about all over again...the idea felt horrible. But it was all there, no matter what she did. And if she stayed here, she might start talking once more—and she wouldn’t allow herself to discuss it any further.

Plus, as wonderful as the sexual encounter with Alan had been, if she stayed, they might do it again. And she just couldn’t right now, not if she wanted to remain sane. Or at least as sane as Kelly Ladd could possibly be.

“If that’s what you really want,” Alan said. She was about to insist when he continued. “But what I really want is to try to help you through this night, not by touching you again, or having more sex, but just by holding you. Being there for you. Could we give that a try? If it doesn’t feel right to you, you can tell me anytime and I will take you back to your place, work out the car situation in the morning, whatever you want.”

That sounded so heavenly. So perfect. She would have caring company with no strings attached. Someone who would be there for her this night in case her thoughts returned to the bad stuff and she began crying again.

“Okay,” she said huskily. “Let’s give it a try.”

* * *

A short while later, they were in his bed together. Alan had given Kelly a long gray T-shirt to wear since he realized she wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing nothing, especially when they had agreed to a hands-off policy for the rest of the night. Her dress—and her underwear—wouldn’t have worked well, either.

He’d donned a comfortable pair of pj’s that also let nothing show on his part. At the moment, he was far from being turned on anyway. He was too worried about her.

Now, she lay beside him in the dark beneath the blanket atop the plain beige sheets on his queen-size mattress. It was possibly as far away as she could get.

Her short, sometimes uneven breathing, told him that she remained as awake as he was.

“Kelly,” he finally whispered.

“Yes?” Her response was immediate, almost as if she had been expecting him to say something.

“May I hold you? I don’t mean in a sexual way. I’d just like the body contact. And if you feel uncomfortable, you can always pull away.”

“Well, okay.”

She turned toward him, and they both moved toward the center of the bed. He moved onto his side beneath the blanket and reached out, maneuvering so that he was nearly on his stomach against her, his arm around her.

Did he dare kiss her?

He figured that wouldn’t hurt, so he lifted his head and moved till his lips found hers.

Their kiss wasn’t exactly chaste, but it didn’t evoke thoughts of further sensual pleasure. At least not
too
much sensual pleasure.

And Alan was pleased to feel the soft rise and fall of Kelly’s chest, hear her breathing grow deeper and more steady, as she finally fell asleep a short while later.

* * *

Upon waking, Kelly had wished she didn’t have to go to work that day, but there she was anyway, starting to wait on customers for breakfast in the Haven’s crowded and noisy dining room.

Alan had gently awakened her early enough for them to get his car back without the likelihood of encountering too many witnesses. Though even if they were seen, it would fit with the story they were encouraging about their alleged relationship. But Kelly didn’t want to have to deal with any suggestive or teasing comments from anyone she knew, so after Alan had showered and dressed for his job, she had dropped him off at the plaza.

Then she had returned to her apartment in the dress she had worn last night, showered and changed into her Haven uniform.

Right now, she was glad the restaurant was busy. That prevented her from thinking too much about yesterday. Their wonderful sex last night. Alan’s sweetness in helping her get to a peaceful sleep afterward.

She also wanted to avoid thinking about all her admissions the prior evening about who she’d been, and a lot of what had happened that resulted, ultimately, in her being here this way.

“Hey, you okay?” Tobi had just sashayed up to her near the tables closest to the door, which Kelly had been assigned. The attractive server was grinning and had a stack of menus in her arms.

“I’m fine.” The question worried Kelly a little, though. She wondered if the strain she had felt yesterday evening was now imprinted on her face.

“I figured. You look good, well rested, and I’m glad since we’re putting together a few tables soon for some of our favorite customers to come in for brunch.”

“People from Government Plaza?” Kelly guessed. City council members?

Stan?

And would that mean their security detail would be present, too?

Alan?

“You got it. Our esteemed boss is on the phone now, but she called me into her office first to tell me and put me in charge of getting a prime table for eight ready.”

“Great. I’ll help.” Not that Kelly wanted to get anything ready for Stan. But if nothing else, her ordeal in revealing her innermost turmoil underscored the need within her not only to help her nephew and bring down her brother-in-law, but to do it all as fast as possible.

The last time a city council group had come here for breakfast, Alan had visited the restaurant first and requested that things be set up for them.

That had been when she had met Alan for the first time. And when she had first seen Stan since her recent return to this area.

Now she was an old hand at this, at seeing him and dealing with his obnoxious flirtation at times.

But seeing him was far from her reason for being here. It was long past the time for her to bring him down and to help Eli.

Would Stan be among the day’s diners from the council? Would Paul be with him, too? Would she be able to do anything helpful?

Since the place was busy and they didn’t want to irritate any existing customers, she and Tobi enlisted strong and sweet Lang’s help, too, and in between taking other orders and serving food, they managed to pull a couple of tables together in the corner and get them set up as though it would be a meal for royalty.

Or at least the closest thing to royal accommodations here at the Haven. A royal court with one member whom Kelly intended to dispose of. Legally, of course.