Page 24 of Love Over Time

Nikki was right. We had to keep moving. It would’ve been nice to have Mom back, but if she didn’t want that, I had to respect her wishes. Even if I felt like a new hole had been punched through my chest.

“Hey, take a look at these.” Nikki stood by Mom’s vanity table, a bouquet of roses in her hand. “These look fairly fresh.”

“Mom had a bunch of roses on her lap when I saw her. Let’s take them.”

“Okay. But check out what she used to tie them together.” She showed me the stems, wrapped with an empty packet of hot chocolate, neatly folded in three. “I think she left this here for you.”

I removed the pack and smiled at it. After all this time, Mom had finally thought of me and left me a message. The note was barely legible, but it was definitely her writing.

I don’t know where they’re taking me. Or when I’ll be back. I love you, Henry. Always.

Nikki braced her arms around my waist. “She didn’t leave you.” Her voice was a small whisper full of meaning. Nikki hadn’t left me either. I was just the biggest idiot for believing in someone like my uncle. He never cared about me. Everything he ever did was for his own benefit.

“I didn’t imagine it. Shewasscared that day. Nikki…we need to find her.”

“We will.” She cupped my cheek and pressed her lips against mine. Her kiss was like breathing pure oxygen. Like always, desire burned across my stomach and just below my navel.

Chapter Nine

Letters from Tessa

Nikki

I tunneled my fingers through Henry’s hair. God, he felt good—his hot skin smooth under my touch, his mouth determined and sure on my lips. Like two pieces of a puzzle, we fit together.

“Henry,” I whispered in between kisses.

“I know.” He dropped his hands to my waist and held me tight. “I feel it too.”

I sucked on his lip and pressed my body against his before I pulled away. This was why I always worked alone. I needed a cool head to focus on Tessa. What Henry was doing to my senses right now was the complete opposite of staying focused.

“Okay. Let’s just go downstairs and not think about this.” I pointed at the two of us.

He nodded, cheeks red as he stuffed his mom’s note in the back pocket of his jeans. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Outside Tessa’s bedroom, a draft ran along the corridor and blew gently on my face. The sudden drop in temperature helped to put out the desire still simmering at my core.

“This place looks exactly how I remember it.” Henry stood by the stairs, his head tilted up, admiring the high ceilings.

“I don’t remember it being this quiet. Where do you think everyone went? I mean, even the housekeeper is gone.” I ran my hand along the hand-carved wooden banister, leaning forward to admire the view of the foyer from up here.

I followed him down the stairs, through the foyer, and into the study on the opposite side. This was where Henry’s dad had spent most of his time, his laptop buried under papers and books. I’d only been in here a few times, but the image of him bent over his work had stuck with me.

Henry closed the door behind us and headed straight to a portrait of his uncle and aunt. “How are you with safes?” He grinned.

I couldn’t help but wonder what he liked more—the fact that we were standing up to his uncle or the idea that he was involved with a criminal. In grade school, the Cavalier boy had been the role model, while I’d been a hot mess. The rebel. It had all changed when our parents died within months of each other, and he was sent to boarding school in Tucson.

I dropped my backpack on the desk and faced the medium-size black box. I’d expected something bigger. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

In all these years, I’d never imagined I’d be back in Cavalier Manor to steal again. I was literally back to square one, trying to prove my sister’s innocence and broke. I took out my equipment and laid out the wires on the desk before I plugged the device into my iPhone. Yeah, there was an app for that. I inserted the wires under the dial, shoved the earphones in, and got to work.

Even from across the room, Henry’s scent was a distraction, and I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things we could be doing right now if we’d stayed upstairs. Crap. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t kiss him tonight, but he’d looked so broken sitting on his mother’s bed, thinking she didn’t care about him. Then the final blow: finding out she’d been kept in this house against her will, all alone and away from her only son. He’d been through so much already.

“I thought we weren’t thinking aboutthat?” Henry flashed me a smile from the other side of the study as he thumbed through one of his dad’s books.

“You don’t even know what I was thinking about.” I turned away from him to face the safe box again, listening for the next click.

“You were staring.” He put the book away and picked up another one.

---