Page 5 of Sizzling Nights

It was soft, almost like a plea. He watched as her tongue slowly swiped across her bottom lip. It was mesmerizing. She was enchanting him.

Finally, she pulled a small slip of paper from her front pocket and handed it to him. Written in perfect printed English were the words, "Found you."

He stared at the words then looked into her eyes. "Who found you?"

4

Theresa watched the changes on Marco's face as he read the cryptic note. She took a deep breath and swallowed the fear in her throat.

"It's a crime syndicate I exposed."

Marco's eyebrows shot up. She noticed the perspiration beaded up on his chest, and his forehead and realized he'd been jogging. Her heart constricted slightly as the world came more into focus. She'd been thinking only of herself this morning as she took the note from her windshield. They'd been close last night, which meant, they knew where she was.

"Exposed how?"

She swallowed. "Should we go inside and get out of the sun?"

Marco nodded. "Let's get your things in the car first."

He immediately picked up the totes and set them in the back of her SUV. She picked up her suitcase and put it in the backseat.

He closed the hatch on her SUV and she closed and locked the door. She moved toward the house and felt Marco follow her. Inside she pulled a pitcher of water from the refrigerator and poured them each a glass. She turned to see Marco watching her. He looked incredible. As always. But she'd have to imprint his image in her head because she'd have to go soon.

She carried their waters to the table and nodded for him to sit. She put the water pitcher back into the refrigerator and glanced out of the window above the sink.

Moving to the table, she looked into Marco's eyes. He was watching her closely and a sizzle ran down her spine, but it wasn't a good sizzle. It was a warning. What if he was sent here to get to her? He was also fairly new in town.

A knot grew in her throat, and she stood frozen trying to decide if she should run.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Her eyes widened and her fingers shook slightly. "How do..."

He shook his head. "I have the ability to sense things. It's served me well over the years."

She nodded slightly but still remained where she'd been standing.

He nodded to her. "Sit. Tell me what's going on."

Her eyes darted to her chair at the table. Taking a deep breath, she moved woodenly to the chair and sat at the very edge of it in case she had to run. She didn't think he was here to harm her. He would have done it by now. But shaking that initial fear was getting harder to do the closer they got to her.

He was patient. He sat still, waiting for her to tell him what was going on. The longer he sat, the more nervous she became. She reached forward to pick up her glass of water, but her hand shook, and she fisted it instead.

"You followed me home last night." She stated.

She'd watched in her mirror and saw him turn off his headlights and sit in his truck.

"I thought you might be in danger. Or at least some trouble since you didn't seem happy about the texts."

"You were out there for hours."

He merely nodded.

She swallowed to wet her throat. It didn't work, so she picked up her glass. She took a long drink of the cold water and set her half-empty glass on the table. She glanced at Marco's glass. The perspiration on the outside beaded up and slowly dripped to the table. She stared at it for a while then took a deep breath.

His voice was low when he finally responded. "Yes."

"Did you see..."

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