Page 92 of Reckless Chance
“Sean, you are special to me too. But I can’t handle secrets or being manipulated.”
“No more secrets. It crushed me to see how much I hurt you. Can you forgive me?”
“We have an undeniable connection. I’m working on the forgiveness part. Now, please pour me some champagne so I can make a toast,” she says.
I continue following orders, happy this is going in a positive direction and anxious to hear what she has in mind.
“To us—whatever that means and for however long it lasts.”
“To us,” I toast without the added qualifiers.
Lowri moves to sit sideways on my lap, wrapping her arms around me. We kiss. We cuddle. I want to smother her in pleasure but not tonight.
As sleep starts to take hold, Lowri softly asks, “Did movie night work this well with your mom?”
“It did. Dad even had a few additional tricks up his sleeve. Sometimes he hid air fans nearby to make sure it was cool enough that Mom would eventually snuggle next to him to stay warm.”
“You’re kidding. Did you do that tonight?”
“No, I wasn’t going to risk you thinking I was manipulating you.”
“Good call. You’re learning.”
Ironically, it’s been one of the most intimate nights I’ve ever spent with a woman, and we barely kissed.
51
LOWRI
Iwake up on a rooftop, my back spooned against Sean’s heat, his muscular arms engulfing me. Memories of last night fill me with a warmth and sense of security.
But my mind is restless. An unrelated, nagging thought is vying for attention. I can’t let go of the feeling that Detective Fielder arrested the wrong person. Rather than jump out of bed, I stay nestled against Sean as I mentally work through my concerns.
Not that I’m an expert, but I don’t see Amelia as the vengeful type. Even if Mr. Brentwood’s tie hadn’t caught on the lever, the fall might have caused a serious injury. He could have ended up with a painful sprained back or broken bones. While Amelia was understandably pissed at Mr. Brentwood, it takes another level of anger to plan and carry out a revenge plot that would cause that type of physical injury.
And what about the risk of being caught? Why would she risk going to jail? She claims to be dating someone new named Sergio Martinez. Based on their social media posts, he appears to be successful and handsome. She’s better off without the cheating Brentwood. So why would she go to this much trouble for revenge? It feels off.
I’ll see what I can learn about Sergio. She said he’s a real estate developer. It should be easy to look him up. I’ll find out if he’s as wealthy as Amelia suggests.
Even if Sergio is the one for Amelia, I’m still bothered that she didn’t mention knowing Mr. Brentwood. Why did she hide that fact?
The saboteur hid his or her face from the cameras, meaning they were aware they were under surveillance. Amelia admitted to knowing about the cameras. It could have been her.
But would she have risked everything for a little revenge when she has a better life now? Maybe she didn’t think it was that much of a risk if no one could identify her, and if Brentwood wasn’t badly hurt, no one would spend much time investigating.
I’ll rewatch the videos from that night. If Amelia was onstage and staring at the tree when Brentwood fell, then she likely knew he would fall. If not, then maybe there’s another clue we missed that will confirm or refute Amelia’s guilt.
Content that I’m on the right track, I close my eyes, deciding to sleep another ten minutes before going back to the apartment to dive into the videos. Just then, Sean stirs and peppers the back of my neck with slow, soft kisses. Groggily, Sean whispers, “Good morning, beautiful. Did you sleep well?”
“Mmm. I did. Last night was the best.”
I’m not exaggerating. He didn’t push for anything sexual. Instead, he lobbied for a chance to apologize and reconnect with me. He succeeded. We needed to clear the air and share our feelings.
“I wouldn’t mind spending the day this way, but I have a meeting with Daniel this morning for an update on our elusive, gambling employee.”
“I have a project needing attention this morning too. Can we have another movie night this evening?”
“Sure. What should we watch?”
