Page 61 of Deadly Attraction
His eyes sized her up and he sauntered into the room. “That pie smells delicious. I haven’t eaten this well in months. Maybe longer.”
He stopped a foot from her, his intense gaze in the flickering shadows of the candlelight setting butterflies loose in her stomach. She took a step back and bumped into the counter. “It’s nice to cook for someone besides myself.”
Placing his hands on the counter on either side of her, he leaned in, not touching her, but totally invading her space. “I have good news.”
She swallowed the tightness in her throat and wondered if he could hear her heart, it was thumping so loudly. “What?”
“In a little town southeast of Escondido, the police have surrounded a house where Chris Goodsman is hiding. Cooper said an FBI SWAT unit is in transit and he and a couple guys on the taskforce are headed there as well. A neighbor called it in, saying they saw Goodsman and Brown entering and leaving the house several times last night.”
Her heart, already going crazy, stuttered in surprised relief. “So that sighting yesterday forty miles south of here was probably them.”
The side of his mouth quirked. “Probably.”
“And most likely my visitor yesterday was one of Chris’s other followers, not Linda?”
“Brown no doubt helped my arsonist set the fires, but sent someone else to the house to frighten you while she’s helping Goodsman get away. She was messing with your head, Doc.”
Freedom. Up to this moment, Emma hadn’t realized just how imprisoned her subconscious had felt by the threats Chris and Linda had made. Her body slumped slightly, her breath came out in a whoosh. “When is the SWAT team busting in?”
“Within the hour. Cooper will call as soon as Goodsman and his number one fan are in custody. Coop and Dupé will lean on them, and hopefully, this will wrap up my case with the arsonist as well.”
“How so?”
“Brown will give up the goods on the arsonist. I’m almost positive Brown started the fire, and our fire starter snuck her out of the park.”
He looked so happy, his eyes mirroring her relief. Emma’s arms moved of their own accord, snaking up to wrap themselves around his neck. “Funny how our lives intersected because of the two of them.”
“Maybe it’s destiny,” he teased.
Her destiny is death.The words Chris Goodsman had written in his jail cell at Aleta Hills.
She started to say something about all the trouble Chris and Linda had gone to in order to freak her out, but she didn’t want to spoil the moment. Who knew what Chris had been thinking when he’d left that message? From his past antics, Emma guessed it was nothing more than an insurance policy for him in case he got caught. He could once again make a jury, judge, and his fans believe he’d had a break with reality. That he had believed he was Tom Monahan when he’d left that prison, so when Brown, aka Mary, had shown up and rescued him, he’d gone with her willingly. She was his mother in that alternate reality, after all.
“Mitch,” Emma said. “I know this is rather forward of me, but…”
The words were right there on her tongue, but if Goodsman and Brown ended up in custody yet tonight, and they gave up whatever evidence Mitch needed to solve his case, then he’d be leaving her.
On one hand, it should be all the incentive she needed to drag him upstairs and rip his clothes off. On the other…
His hands went to her hips and he pressed her back into the counter. His gaze searched her face. “What is it, Emma?”
Was he teasing her? Surely he saw the look on her face, the desire. “I, um… I want to ask you a question, but I’ve never approached a man like this.”
A sexy grin played across his lips. “With a lead-in like that, I can hardly wait to hear the question.”
He was so cocky, so confident. Good thing he had her backed up to the counter. Her knees were shaking as much as her voice. The therapist in her rose to the occasion, giving her some needed poise. “It’s much easier to talk to you when you’re being derisive and snarky.”
He rested his forehead against hers, their noses brushing. “You know how to handle that, don’t you? That’s your comfort zone.”
Her comfort zone was definitely being violated at the moment along with her personal space. Her breath was coming too fast, as if she’d run a mile. “I’m on the receiving end of snarky and derisive a lot in my line of work. Anger and hate as well.”
One of his hands came up and rubbed the back of her neck. Goose flesh rose at his touch and shimmered down her spine. “This isn’t work, Emma. Relax. You can ask me anything.”
Deep breath. Relax.“Okay.” She swallowed, her eyelids half closing at the exquisite feel of his fingers massaging the tight muscles in her neck. “It’s Christmas Eve, and although I’d like to pretend that means nothing to me, there’s a part of me that’s eager to create a new memory. One that’s happy and, well, satisfying, so I’d like to invite you to…”
At her pause, he tugged at the end of her ponytail. “Yes?”
She bit her bottom lip, forced herself to look him in the eye. “Since you no longer have to worry about guarding me from Chris, your job here is over, right?”
