Suspects(33)

“I don’t feel like I have a choice.” She looked at him with wide-open, innocent eyes. It touched him deeply. “I don’t know why or how, but we found each other, and I feel like I belong with you, in your life. I want to be here.”

“So do I,” he said. “But if you don’t want to be, I’d understand.”

“Is that why you never married?”

He nodded. “Yes. It’s a life that suits me. I’ve always felt that I was doing the right thing. That’s a good feeling. And it’s interesting and challenging every day. You learn to trust your instincts.”

“It’s a lot more complicated than figuring out what fashions to put online.” She smiled at him.

“What you do is complicated too. I don’t have the head for business that you do.” He had saved money over the years and made some good investments, and he would be comfortable when he retired, with a good pension. But her success was huge.

“What I do is harder now, because I have Matthieu’s business to run too. Thank God he had some great people working for him. I couldn’t do it without them.” Until now, she had felt like she was drowning for the past year. “I might sell my own business one day. I’m not sure I want to do this forever, but it’s worked well, and it’s been good to me. I’ve done it for fifteen years.” Nothing in her life had the meaning for her that it once did. Except Mike.

“I’ve been with the agency for nineteen. I could retire at fifty, after twenty years, but I wouldn’t know what to do with myself,” he said.

“That’s how I feel too. Especially now, after…” He knew the rest of the sentence. She didn’t have to finish it.

“I could organize private security, and have my own firm, but that’s never appealed to me. I like bringing bad people to justice.” He smiled at her, then took her hand in his and kissed it. “I don’t know what I’m doing here, or why you want me.” Like her, he was a modest person.

“I do. I can make a list for you if you like. You’re a special person. I felt it immediately.”

“That’s how I feel about you,” he said gently. It had all happened so fast, they were like magnets. They had both felt it. An irresistible force that nothing could pull apart, or at least not easily. And having made love to her, he wanted more of her, and was more sure than ever. She felt that way too.

They spent the rest of the day watching Paris burn on TV. The guards made their own dinner in the small kitchen upstairs, and Mike and Theo were left to their own devices. As soon as the bodyguards went upstairs, they went straight to her bedroom and locked the door again, and they were both hit by another tidal wave of passion that kept them in its grip for hours. It was like a strong current they couldn’t escape and didn’t want to until they washed up on shore, exhausted, four hours later, at one o’clock in the morning. Mike said he was starving, but they were too tired to move and go to the kitchen.

It was an experience Theo had never had before, unbridled sex for hours, and neither had he. He finally got out of bed and stood naked in front of her.

“I’ll make an omelet, or something else from whatever you’ve got left in the fridge,” he said, and headed for the shower first.

“I think I’m too tired to eat,” she said, barely moving in bed as he smiled at her from the bathroom doorway.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” he promised. But the sound of the shower running and knowing that he was in it roused her from the dead, and she followed him into the bathroom a few minutes later, and stood under the pelting hot water with him. It felt good on their bodies.

“I might be too old for this,” she said to him, and he laughed.

“I can hardly stand up,” he said, and they both laughed. “Nice way to die though.” He leaned down and kissed her, and she fondled him. “If you touch me without feeding me first, I may just collapse here in the shower.” They managed to get out of the shower without making love again. He put a towel around his waist, and she put on a robe, then they walked to the kitchen, feeling better after the shower. “The bodyguards won’t walk in on us, will they?” he asked, concerned.

“One of them will come to sleep down here eventually, but they’re probably eating or watching TV or playing cards. The night guy doesn’t come down till later.” He was beginning to realize what a burden it was for her to be constantly surrounded by people, but she was going to have to live with it for the rest of her life. She would be a target forever, and probably had been for longer than they’d realized. It was hard to live like that on a daily basis and accept the restrictions on all the things she could no longer do, like drive herself or go to the grocery store alone, or run through her house naked if she wanted to. She was solitary but never alone.

He made her an excellent omelet, and they found some roast chicken, which Mike devoured ravenously. They went back to bed after that and lay talking once they turned out the light. There was so much they wanted to say and learn about each other. She drifted off to sleep while she was still talking to him, and he kissed her gently and rolled over on his side. He liked the feeling of her lying next to him, which was something he’d never enjoyed much before. He preferred spending his nights alone, and usually left as soon as possible after spending time with a woman. But he hadn’t loved any of them except Becky, and he did love Theo. Even after such a short time, he knew it.