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Dangerous Attraction 2 : Love and Suspense 13
The morning after her first night in Jack’s bed, Kelly woke to find that Jack had already left their bed. She had heard him come into the room the night before and held her breath as she listened to him get ready for bed. She feigned sleep as he brushed his teeth and slipped out of his clothes. When he slipped between the sheets in nothing but boxer shorts, Kelly thought she would burst but she focused on keeping her breath steady so she wouldn’t have to face Jack.With a sigh, Kelly slipped from the bed and showered and dressed, and headed downstairs for breakfast. She found Jack, Aunt Mabry, and Mrs. Poole in the kitchen.“Good morning, dear,” Mrs. Poole called out cheerfully, making Kelly smile. Jack and Aunt Mabry looked up and Kelly wished for a moment that the smile that came to Jack’s face as he looked at her was genuine and not for Aunt Mabry’s sake.“Good morning, sweetheart,” Jack said as Kelly joined them at the breakfast nook with her coffee.“Morning,” Kelly smiled shyly
Last Updated : 2023-03-13Dangerous Attraction 2 : Love and Suspense 14
The following Monday, Kelly went shopping at the mall and then drove to New Haven to meet Jennie for lunch. Kelly pulled her car into a space in the parking garage and glanced in the rear view mirror before opening her car door to get out. Kelly had a strange feeling that the car pulling past as she got out of her car was the same one behind her earlier that day at the mall. She watched nervously as the car continued by and figured that she must be imagining things.Kelly walked through the parking garage and took the elevator down to the street level. She stepped out onto the street and went two doors down to the café where Jennie was waiting. It had been a couple of weeks since she’d seen her friend and they definitely needed to make up for lost time. She needed to fill in Jennie on her ‘married’ life with Jack and she wanted to know how Jennie’s new job was going.Kelly spotted Jennie at a table and pointed to the counter to signal that she’d grab a coffee and order lunch then join
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Jack got home from work that night and slipped the panic button into Kelly’s purse in the front hallway. He’d have to remember to tell her it was there and show her how to use it but he didn’t want to mention it in front of Aunt Mabry. Kelly had started volunteering at the New Haven Legal Aid Clinic and that wasn’t located in the best part of town. Between that and the guy following her, Jack felt better knowing she’d have some way of getting help, if needed.He walked into the kitchen and found Kelly and Mrs. Poole cooking dinner together. Kelly looked up and smiled at Jack. Jack thought she was gorgeous when she smiled at him like that and he loved the sight of her in his kitchen. Hell, he loved coming home to find her anywhere in his house. The irony of having the strongest feelings he’d ever had for a woman while in a fake marriage to her were not lost on Jack. He had spent years looking for the type of connection his mom and dad had shared, and now, when he finally gave up and en
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After another frustrating night of lying next to Kelly in his bed, highly aroused but unable to reach for her, Jack started his ‘Project Kelly’ to show Kelly how beautiful he thought she was. He’d woo his wife into their marriage bed in the true sense of the word, if that’s what he needed to do. After showing Kelly how to use her panic button, Jack left for work, but he stopped by a florist on the way to the office. Since Kelly didn’t believe he found her beautiful, he would show her how much he appreciated everything he saw when he looked at her.That afternoon, Kelly received two dozen deep-red roses that were so incredibly beautiful they took her breath away. The card read: Like your lips – lush and full and sensual. Have a wonderful day, beautiful.Mrs. Poole and Aunt Mabry read the card over Kelly’s shoulder. Mrs. Poole sighed at the romance of the gesture; Aunt Mabry huffed and walked away.The following day, Kelly came home to find a large bouquet of blush roses laced with baby
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The thirty-minute car ride seemed to Kelly like it took forever. They rode in silence but it was a comfortable silence and she laughed at Jack as he pushed the speed limit, trying to shave off the minutes to get them home and up to their room. His hand lingered on her thigh and his thumb brushed back and forth sending small shivers through her body with each teasing movement.Kelly couldn’t believe that Jack had been telling the truth. She could feel his attraction for her as much as she could feel the pull of her attraction to him. When Jack had her in his arms, she felt beautiful, desirable and wanted – beyond words.Jack pulled his car into the driveway and came around to open Kelly’s door. He offered her his hand and pulled her into his arms for a kiss in the driveway before he turned toward the house without releasing her hand.Minutes later, they walked into their bedroom and Jack pulled Kelly into his arms.“Have I told you how incredible you look tonight?” Jack asked Kelly.Ke
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Kelly smiled to herself as she realized where she was and whose arms were holding her. She could feel Jack stirring and his hands began to slide over her body as she pressed greedily up against him. Kelly stretched the length of her body against Jack, trying to feel more of him, all of him.“Good morning, beautiful,” Jack whispered as he trailed kisses along her shoulder. Kelly had no idea that sensations on her shoulders could be so erotic, so sensitive and if she were forced to pick a favorite spot at the moment, her shoulders might just be it. Jack rolled her to face him and moved down her neck to the hollow between her breasts and she thought briefly that she might need to change that assessment. When Jack took one nipple into his mouth and swirled his tongue over its peak, she knew she would never be able to choose a favorite. Everywhere Jack touched her, felt on fire.Kelly pressed against him, wanting to feel him inside her again. She ran her hands down his chest and around to h
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Kelly and Jack walked into her mother’s kitchen for Sunday dinner and Jack had the odd sensation of utter belonging and acceptance, as if he had always been a member of this family. Kelly’s brother Liam was pulling a beer out of the fridge when they entered the room. Without missing a beat, he tossed one to Jack before he cracked his own beer open. Kelly’s mother kissed and hugged Kelly then turned immediately to Jack and pulled him into her embrace for kisses and hugs as if he were one of her own.Jack was surprised to find himself hugging her back as if he had been hugging her at Sunday dinners his whole life. Life with Kelly was starting to be one big revelation after another. When he told Mabry that he had been bored by every woman he had dated before Kelly, Jack had immediately realized the truth of that. His life with Kelly, despite its fake beginning, was never boring. He never had that usual let-down feeling when he realized that there was nothing under the surface of a woman.
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Kelly carried a pitcher of iced tea and two glasses out to the pool, where Jennie sat sunning herself on a rare afternoon off. This was the first time Jennie had been to the house so Kelly had taken her for the grand tour before they decided to settle outside by the pool.Jack had already left for the airport, Aunt Mabry was out shopping, and Mrs. Poole was in the kitchen baking so it was just the two of them for the next couple of hours.“I still can’t get over this place. I could kick myself for not thinking of proposing to Jack myself. I mean what the hell, why didn’t I think of it?” Jennie laughed and picked up her glass of iced tea as Kelly sat down on the lounge chair next to her.Kelly laughed but suddenly realized how jealous that remark made her. God, she felt almost… possessive of Jack. Kelly suddenly realized that she wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping her emotional distance and only having fun with Jack. In fact, if she was really honest with herself, she had to admit
Last Updated : 2023-03-13
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He went with them to the hospital. They were all checked over for cuts and bruises as well as hypothermia. The doctor kept Maddie overnight for observation. Even though she hadn’t been in the water, she was a slight little thing and chilled through pretty fast. Since she was sleeping peacefully, the nurse sent Ashley home for a hot shower and rest. Jack got them a cab and went with her.And stayed with her.“Why don’t you grab a couple of hours of sleep?” he asked once she came out of the bathroom, wearing her thickest sweater and pants.She wrapped her arms around herself. She didn’t think she would ever get warm again. “I should go in and wait for Maddie.”“The nurse said she won’t be released until after the doctors make their rounds at eight in the morning.” He’d been up in the loft, looking out into the night.She looked past him, out through the windows. The emergency vehicles had left, darkness blanketing the reservoir again. He didn’t ask if he could stay, but she would have s
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Her feet were frozen, her bedroom slippers little protection against the snow. Ashley wrapped her arms around her daughter as best she could, trying to keep Maddie warm. Her own body shook, and not only because of the cold. Dark panic gripped her as she shuffled forward on the ice.For the past year, she had barely been able to look at the reservoir. And now here she was, the place where Dylan had died, where she’d lost her life, then gained it back, thanks to the paramedics. Where she had nearly lost Maddie.So much grief and guilt was tied up in this expanse of rough ice. She couldn’t think here. All the fear of the past was getting mixed up with the panic of the present.She forced her brain to focus. “Why are you doing this, Graham?”The man shoved her toward a dark hole hacked into the ice. Another kind of grave. She recognized her axe next to it, the handle painted pink. He must have taken it from her garage. Next to the axe, a large cement brick waited with a ropetied to it. H
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Bobby Adamo didn’t give up the information easily, keeping to his story that he didn’t know anything he’d handed over was stolen, that he hadn’t been present at the burglaries.Jack had to turn the conversation serious. Principal Adamo had threatened charges, called his lawyer, called Bing.Bing threatened back with a charge of obstruction of justice.And then Bobby miraculously remembered the exact address in a split second. Jack called it in.The old Broslin Bank on Main Street had stood empty for years. It was the most stately building in town, all brick and fancy masonry, recalling another era. The bank had shut down during the financial crises and now sat with its windows boarded. Still, it was an imposing presence, between one of the town’s two dozen galleries on one side and the post office on the other.According to Bobby, they’d gone in through the back, just in case there was some leftover money in the safe, but had found nothing but garbage. They had taken the fan as a souv
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Everybody was at the police station. Since the FBI still had most of their things set up there, they were bringing Blackwell to Broslin, and nobody wanted to miss that. Even Leila came in, and Harper too, his arm in a sling. At first Jack had thought they’d come to see the monster. But as they clapped him on the back, one by one, Leila actually getting close enough for a hug, he realized they were here to support him.“There. It’s over now,” Bing said gruffly. “They have him.”Jack stood by the front desk, one eye always on the front door as he tried to figure out how the hell this happened. Apparently, he had friends.He’d come to Broslin for Blackwell, and Blackwell alone. He didn’t socialize; he didn’t hang out; he didn’t do the buddy thing. In his spare time, he either drove around town, trying to figure out where Blackwell might live, or sat at home going through the case files.The FBI bursting through the door with their suspect in cuffs refocused him.Right age, right body typ
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The sound and sight of a dozen little girls tearing through the house, screaming at the top of their lungs, left Jack immobilized for a second as he stepped inside behind Ashley’s father. If there was a place on earth he didn’t belong, this was it. He would stay anyway. He put his gift on the pile that took up most of the window seat.William Price moved away to help one of Maddie’s friends lift a box of dolls off a shelf.Ashley stood in the middle of the melee, directing it like a general. She’d taken her coat off. Her light wool dress hugged her curves, falling to her knees. The sight distracted him for a minute as hot lust shot through him. That never seemed to change, whether they were on good terms or bad.A woman in her thirties swept by him with a tray of sweets. “Hi, I’m Heather, Jenny’s mom. Cupcakes?”She probably assumed he was the father of one of the little terrors. He didn’t correct her. “Jack. Maybe later. Thanks.”Ashley moved on to the kitchen, and he went after her.
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He stood in the middle of his life’s work, an installation that filled the entire top floor of one of the nicest buildings in Broslin. His soundproofed workshop was down in the basement. The downstairs he left as it had been when he’d bought the abandoned building. If anyone somehow peeked in through a boarded-up window, let them see nothing.But the top floor, here he spent money. The space could have been part of a wing in the Louvre. Not that he ever wanted his art to be moved there. This was his hometown. His museum should be here, maybe with the town named after him eventually. Let the French come here if they wanted to see his work. He was proud to be an American.The canvases that hung on the walls had been painted in living blood. They’d been his first true creations, the very thing that eventually led him onto the right path.He’d been in North Carolina to pick up a car he’d bought online. He met a young woman at the hotel bar. She came back to his room with him.And then she
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“You’re so sweet,” Mrs. Kentner said, holding the small paintings at arm’s reach. “We really do appreciate your support.” She put the paintings on the living room table and lifted her purse from the floor, taking out a small box wrapped in sparkling paper. She handed it to Ashley. “For Maddie. Pete said she’s having her birthday party this weekend.”“Thank you. You really shouldn’t have.”“Well, the way things are going…” Mrs. Kentner gave a smile and a wink.Okay, so Pete told her mother about the date. Ashley felt a moment of embarrassment, then pushed it away.“I’m so glad he came back home,” the older woman said. “He deserves something good. The way he took care of me with the cancer…” Moisture glistened in the woman’s eyes.Ashley patted her hand. Pete did deserve something good, but was she it? A sudden wave of doubt rushed her. What was she doing with Pete? But then she thought, they were just going to look at the dam. They’d been friends for a long time. It didn’t have to be m
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Jack tried not to think of Ashley or their kiss as he walked back to the locker room at the east end of the high school the next day. The team was gathering for a morning huddle about an upcoming game. He wanted to get this over with before he headed off to Jersey. He called out the players he needed, gathering them in the hallway.“Is this about the bones?” Bobby Adamo asked, gripping a cup of coffee. “You guys took off. Nobody said we were supposed to wait around.”None of the four looked anything but cocky, feeling safe in numbers and on their home turf.Jack watched their eyes, looking for the weakest link. Probably Tyler Foster, the councilman’s son. He was the youngest, the one Jack had caught on Ashley’s land before. He’d scared the boy when he’d tackled him.“Actually, I’m here about a laptop you’re selling online.” Jack looked Bobby in the eye. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it.”The surprise on the teenager’s face was quickly masked. The others pulled closer to him.“I don’t know w
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“That I can promise.” She tilted her head. “So if Blackwell is in Jersey, why aryou here instead of being there?”“I’ll drive over tomorrow.”“Why not let the FBI handle it? You could let it go. You’re alive. You won.”He didn’t want to talk about it. And then he did anyway. He’d never cared before if anyone thought him an obsessed lunatic. He shouldn’t now. But he did.“I had a sister. Six years older than me. She raised me, pretty much. Breast cancer took our mother in her twenties.”A dull pain throbbed to life in the middle of his chest. Then came the flood of guilt. “Our father was working the graveyard shift. I was a teenage brat, wanted pizza. We lived too far outside of town. The only pizza shop didn’t deliver that far out. I begged her into it. I stayed home and played video games. She drove out for the pizza. She always tried to make up for the fact that I had to grow up without a mother. I was a spoiled little shit, pretty much.”“Jack—”“Anyway, she never came bace k. The
