Erase Me E-Book

May McGoldrick

• Herausgeber: Book Duo Creative
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

LOVE AND LOYALTY CLASH IN A WORLD OF SECRETS AND DECEPTION!  MR. AND MRS. SMITH MEETS THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE   In the sun-soaked streets of a California beach town, two strangers' paths collide, sparking an unexpected and fiery connection. Brought together by chance, they quickly discover that fate has a twisted sense of humor. And their entanglement is far from your typical love story. Both harbor secrets, lead double lives, and are on missions of paramount importance, setting the stage for a high-stakes battle of wit and will. Far from the conventional star-crossed lovers, Avalie and Reed are covert agents, each possessing the power to alter the course of history. Sparks ignite with every moment they share, yet their hearts and loyalties are divided. They find themselves ensnared in a whirlwind of deception, and their missions pit them against each other. Trapped in a perilous game of cat and mouse, trust is scarce, and betrayal lurks around every corner. As they race against time and each other, their emotions intensify, blurring the lines between duty and desire. Will they follow their hearts, risking everything they've ever known, or will they remain loyal to the orders that bind them? Can love conquer all, or will loyalty to their missions tear them asunder? Erase Me is a thrilling tale of cunning deception and a forbidden attraction so intense it could reshape the world. Brace yourself for a rollercoaster ride filled with intrigue, betrayal, and passion.    

Leseprobe

Erase Me

May McGoldrick

withJan Coffey

Book Duo Creative

Thank you for choosing Erase Me. In the event that you enjoy this book, please consider sharing the good word(s) by leaving a review, or connect with the authors.

Erase Me. Copyright © 2024 by Nikoo and James A. McGoldrick

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher: Book Duo Creative LLC.

Cover by Dar Albert, WickedSmartDesigns.com

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Author’s Note

Also by May McGoldrick, Jan Coffey & Nik James

About the Author

Love is timeless…

To Judy Reed, our precious friend

Thank you for lending us Michael

ChapterOne

Avalie

San Clemente, California

The battered copy of Pride and Prejudice that nestled on the end of the twenty-five-cent shelf caught my eye, and a jolt of excitement threaded through me. Only a chest-high metal railing, a few steps, and a half-dozen people separated me from my bargain find.

I tried to edge around an elderly couple. “Excuse me. Can I get by you?”

In front of the beach town’s library and the used-book annex, the Sunday Farmers Market stretched along the sidewalks of Del Mar, the main street of San Clemente’s downtown. Shoppers pushed through crowded tents and tables filled with fresh produce and honey, olive oil and cheeses. And from the look of the throng combing through the racks of books, the Friends of the Library store was doing equally well.

My eyes remained locked on the treasured book as I made my way closer. Polite requests were met with reluctant shuffling. As I edged past strollers and dog walkers, it seemed that everyone had chosen this precise moment to reconnect with long-lost acquaintances or discuss the latest happenings in the sleepy oceanside town.

Finally, my prize was only a few steps away. As my fingers extended towards the used copy of the Jane Austen classic, a man’s hand reached out and took it. Disappointment prickled down my spine.

“You wanted this?” I asked. “You sure?”

“I did want it,” he replied, pausing before holding the book out to me. “But you can have it.”

Surprised, I looked up into his face, and my heart stopped. He stood a lanky six feet, and sandy-colored hair that fell over his collar framed a square-jawed face. The dark brown eyes sparkled in the June sunlight. There was a hint of amusement in them, and they seemed to invite me into a world of possibility and adventure. He was dressed in a plain blue T-shirt and jeans that did nothing to hide his muscled chest and arms. And his easy stance gave him a look of balance and confidence. But it wasn’t his physical attributes that caused me to take a second look; it was the mischievous, somewhat lopsided grin.

“Are you sure?” I asked, taking the book.

“Absolutely. Everyone needs multiple copies of their favorite book.”

“What makes you think I already have it?”

“Doesn’t every woman who reads have a copy or two?” he asked confidently.

A shopper bumped me, causing me to nearly drop the precious find. I held it close to my chest.

“In fact, I’ll bet you have your favorite pages dog-eared.”

Running my fingers along the ream of the book in hand, I held it up to him as proof. “No dog ears here.”

“You haven’t taken it home yet.”

“You have no idea what I do to things that I take home.”

“Books or people?”

The lopsided grin had never left his face. Our eyes met and I recognized the spark of interest. “Let’s keep the conversation about books.”

“Whatever you say.” He nodded. “Well, do you have another copy of Pride and Prejudice?”

“I actually do have another copy, but I didn’t bring it with me on this trip.”

“So you’re not a local?”

“No. You?”

“Visiting San Clemente for the first time.”

“Me too,” I confessed.

Another shopper with a toddler strapped to her back noticed the book in my hand. “Oh my God! My book club is reading Pride and Prejudice. Can I have this copy?”

I gathered it tightly against my chest. “Sorry, I was here first.”

“It’s not technically yours until you pay for it.”

The handsome stranger put a hand on my elbow and nodded toward an elderly woman collecting payments at a table a few steps away. I shoved a hand into my jacket pocket and flashed my credit card.

The young mother pointed to the sign next to the box. “Cash only.”

Cash. I patted the jacket and my short pockets. I had no cash.

My rival for the book held out her hand. “I’ll take that from you, thank you very much,”

She didn’t know me. I wasn’t one to retreat from battle. “Is there an ATM anywhere near here?”

“For God’s sake, it’s twenty-five cents.” She bounced her complaining child on her back. “I don’t have all day. Let me have it.”

“No.” I clutched the book tighter in my chest.

“I’ve got it,” the handsome stranger interrupted, holding up a ten-dollar bill.

“You don’t have to do that.”

He shook his head and handed the money to the cashier, telling the white-haired woman to keep the change. He tried to take the book out of my hand, but I was clutching it tight.

“I promise to return it to you.”

I let go and watched him as he made a show of sliding it into a brown paper bag he’d picked up off the table. He handed it to me as mother and toddler huffed off.

“Are you two together?” the library volunteer asked, amused.

“Maybe,” he said with a wink. He turned to me. “You promised to feed me, didn’t you?”

Confident. Definitely confident. And charming.

We made our way through the crowd and stopped in front of a vendor’s table piled high with fresh artisan bread. The scent of herbs, garlic, and sourdough wafted in the air.

“You paid too much,” I told him.

“Bailing you out of jail would have cost much more.”

“It wouldn’t have gone that far.”

“Yes, it would have. I saw the flash in your eyes. You were ready to flatten that woman.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I smiled. “Okay, a dollar would have been a fair price.” I held the bag out to him. “You overpaid and the book is technically yours.”

“No. Add it to your Austen collection when you get home.” He glanced at a red trolley that rang a bell as it moved down Del Mar on the other side of the line of tents. “Wherever home is.”

He was fishing for information. I had my book. I could have walked away. But I didn’t, waiting to see what his next move was.

Del Mar was a pretty, tree-lined street of small shops and restaurants. The abundance of red-tile roofs and white stucco walls made it picture-perfect Southern California. El Camino Real, the original Spanish road that connected missions and small forts, crossed Del Mar at the top of the street, forming a tee. From where I was standing, the road ran down to the ocean, where a long heavy-timbered pier guarded miles of white sand beaches. In short, San Clemente was gorgeous.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Starved.”

“Can I buy you breakfast? Or is it lunch already?”

I glanced at the clock tower over the library and was surprised to learn how much of the day was already gone.

“Lunch is on me, so long as they accept credit cards,” I told him.

A pair of women walking by smiled at him, and he smiled back. A player.

“You’ll change your mind about paying as soon as you see how much I eat.”

“Fair enough.”

“Reed.”

I stared at his outstretched hand. Did people shake hands these days? Didn’t it go away with Covid? “Reed…?”

“That’s all. My friends call me Reed.”

“Avalie,” I put my smaller hand in his. His fingers were calloused, his grip strong.

“Avalie…?”

“That’s all you need to know...today.”

He smiled. Across Del Mar from where we stood, a charming building with Spanish-inspired architecture housed an outdoor café serving food. The white stucco walls were adorned with colorful ceramic tiles, and a wrought iron sign above the entrance displayed the café’s name in elegant cursive.

“What do you think?” I asked.

He put a hand on my elbow, and we crossed the street. As we approached the café, we noticed a line of people waiting to get inside.

“We can go somewhere else,” Reed suggested.

“If you can wait that long, so can I.”

He put our name down on the waiting list, and we drifted toward a low stone wall that offered a surface to lean against. His long legs stretched out against mine, creating an intimate connection. He leaned in a bit closer as others tried to share the same stretch of wall. A menu was passed along to those waiting. I stared at the colorful page.

“Vegan? Vegetarian, gluten-free? What do you eat, or don’t eat?”

“One of everything on this menu. They all look good.” I passed on the menu to the person next to me. “You’re not the only person who can pack it away.”

His chuckle was a warm whisper in my ear. “So, where’s home?”

“San Francisco,” I told him. “You?”

“New York City. What brings you here?”

“Girlfriends’ reunion.”

“Is that a thing?”

“Don’t you have a reunion with your girlfriends?”

“Ha! That’s a good idea. How does it work?”

“We get away once a year. A bunch of us, all good friends from college, rent a house at some destination and whoever gets there, gets there.”

He shook his head. “That won’t work for me.”

“Which part doesn’t work? Once a year? Bunch of your girlfriends?”

“Neither.”

Three young women, all about the same height with the same shoulder-length bleached blond hair, all wearing shorts and bikini tops, talking loudly amongst themselves, walked past the restaurant. Reed’s eyes followed them for a few seconds before turning back to me.

“What about the rest of your friends? Everyone still sleeping?”

“I’m the first one to arrive in San Clemente.”

“When did you arrive?” he asked.

“Last night.”

“And the rest?”

“They’re coming whenever they can get away. If they can get away.” I pushed the cell phone deeper into my pocket.

“Are you saying they might not show up?”

“Everyone except me has real responsibilities.”

“What’s a real responsibility these days?”

There were more pregnant women and multiple babies in strollers on this street than I’d ever seen on any other street in my life. “Motherhood, spouses, serious nine-to-five office jobs, I guess.”

“And you don’t have any of those things?”

“The rental was paid for way in advance. I have a job that I can take on the road, so I packed the laptop and voilà, I’m here. First to arrive. Sun and surf. Carefree and ready to have a good time.”

“What about the rest of it?”

Tilting my head, I stared into his brown eyes.

“Motherhood, spouses, partners?”

“Not ready for those kinds of grownup commitments.” I shook my head. “Enough about me. How about you? Give me the a-to-z of it.”

“What happens if no one else shows up?”

“I’ll be wandering in and out of bookstores, trying to not get into fights with mothers and toddlers.”

“I can help you with that.” He smiled, his shoulder bumping mine. “A week, I mean, keeping you out of trouble.”

“Who mentioned a week? We could have booked the place for the weekend.”

“It’s already Sunday, and a guy could only hope.”

Thirty-two years old and I’d been with enough men to recognize when someone was making a move on me. He was gorgeous and sexy and definitely making a move on me. The prospect was interesting.

“They’ve done it to me in the past. Cancelling on me, I mean. So who knows? I might end up on my own.”

The sun was warm…or was it the air, or the delicious heat radiating from the man standing so close next to me? I shed my jacket and draped it over my arm.

Two parties of four were called. The waiting line of people moved. Reed put a hand on the small of my back and slid us down the line closer to the restaurant. Standing sideways, his fingers stayed on the newly exposed band of skin between my halter top and khaki shorts, caressing ever so softly. My bare shoulder pressed into his chest. He was all muscle underneath.

A jolt of awareness had run through my body the first moment I laid eyes on him. Now, it was even stronger. Whatever was happening here was totally unexpected.

The question popped in my head. When was the last time I had sex? It had to be way too long as I couldn’t remember.

“What is it that you do?” I asked.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Oh, I do.”

“I’ve got the most boring job in the world.”

“No, I own that one. I’ve got that title after my signature.”

“Maybe we do the same thing.”

“I doubt it.” I shook my head.

“But you haven’t told me what you do.” He was clever about directing the questions away from himself.

“I’m a freelance editor for technical magazines. I tell people who can’t write where to put commas and exclamation marks.”

“That is boring.”

“I told you. Now you. What do you do?”

“I handle commercial property insurance.”

“You go on the road for that?” I asked.

“You have to, especially when your customers are in a high-risk fire hazard zone and my company is thinking about canceling their policies.”

“Ouch, that hurts. Do they know that’s why you are here?”

“I assume so. Other insurance companies are doing the same thing.”

“Purging their livelihood. Cutting the cord. Pulling the rug from under their dreams. The terminator.”

“Put it that way, it sounds pretty harsh.”

“Your job isn’t boring. It’s shitty.”

“Okay. We’re both unhappy with what we do.” His eyes moved over my face. “Let’s look at the perks. Like, right now. This moment. Neither of us is on the clock. Are we?”

His fingers moved to my bare back as we shifted down the line again.

“When did you get here?” I asked Reed.

“Last night.”

“How long are you staying?”

“A week or two, maybe more. It all depends on the job.”

“Who did you check in with when you landed?”

His head dipped and his face moved closer to mine. “You mean my boss?”

“No. I mean wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband.” I didn’t get the vibe from him, but I still had to ask.

“Does it make a difference?”

“Absolutely. I don’t have sex with people who are in relationships.”

He moved closer to me. Without warning, he reached up and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. I sucked in a breath.

“So we’re going to fuck, are we?”

“Depends. You haven’t answered my question.”

“No one. There was no one I had to call.”

“No one you had to call? Or no one who gets upset if you and I have sex.”

“Yes to both. I’m not into relationships.”

“Why not?”

“I move around too much.”

“You don’t have sex?”

“Oh, I have sex. And I’m good at it. We were talking about relationships and commitment.”

There was a time in my life when a statement like that would have prompted a thousand and one more questions from me. But not anymore. Not in this situation. He already had me hooked.

“That settles it.” I lifted myself on my toes and kissed him, hot enough, thoroughly enough that the front of his jeans pressing against me told me I had his attention.

“Fuck lunch,” he breathed. “Let’s go.”

We were one group away from getting a table. “How about food?”

“I’ll feed you after.” He took my hand, and we pulled out of line.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Where are you staying?”

“Renting a house a couple of blocks over, on Avenida Victoria.”

“Lead the way.”

“No. Any of my girlfriends could get in today. This morning, in fact. I’m not into explaining us. Where are you staying?”

“The same street, actually.”

“Your place it is, then.”

Half a block up crowded Delmar, we took a right and into an open parking area connecting two blocks. The lot was a chaotic mix of parked cars, surfboards strapped to roof racks, and families loading their finds from the farmer’s market.

“Please tell me you have nobody who will pop in unannounced,” I teased, trying to match my steps to his long strides.

“No roommates, no neighbors that I’ve met yet. You’re my first and only friend in San Clemente.”

“I can’t remember the last time I was first at something.”

“We’ll see if we can fix that right now.”

I don’t know which one of us first saw the man squatting next to his pile of belongings at the end of the parking lot. He was directly in our path. We both reacted and tried to go around him. But the disheveled stranger suddenly sprang to his feet, blocking our way. He wore worn, grimy clothing that clung to a thin frame. His unwashed hair hung in greasy tangles, partly obscuring his eyes, which flickered with intensity as he stared at us.

Reed’s fingers tightened around my hand.

The stranger’s face was etched with scars, a roadmap of past battles, and his eyes darted about, constantly surveying the surroundings nervously. From where we stood, a couple of steps away, the musty odor of the man’s clothing clashed starkly with the lunchtime aroma wafting from the surrounding restaurants.

Reed pulled my hand and we tried to move around him, but the stranger continued to block our path.

“You.” He pointed a gnarled and dirty finger at Reed, his voice a jarring mixture of anger and desperation. “I’ve seen you before.”

My eyes flicked to Reed. A mixture of wariness and confusion marked his expression.

“I doubt it.”

“Don’t lie to me.” The man bristled.

“You’ve got the wrong guy.” Reed’s tone was calm, attempting to defuse the situation.

Pulling me with him, he again attempted to sidestep the menacing figure. However, the man moved with us, blocking our path and glaring.

“You walked out of the water,” he said. “Like a demon rising from the ocean, you walked right out.”

An older woman was standing a few steps away, loading shopping bags into her car. “You want me to call the cops on him?”

The man showed no interest in her.

“No, that’s okay. He’s confused.” I pulled Reed away from the stranger, and the woman got in her car.

As we made a wide arc across the lot, the man’s voice followed us.

“I have your bag,” he shouted. “I have it. And you know what’s in there. Come and get it. You know where to find me. Come and get it.”

ChapterTwo

Avalie

Planting both palms on the edges of Reed’s bathroom sink, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. My short, pixie-cut dark hair was standing up on end, giving me a look that was more porcupine than pixie. My face was flushed. The brown pupils of my eyes were dilated. My palms were still sweating. I touched a tender spot on my right breast.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Having sex the first day in San Clemente wasn’t part of the plan. There were places I needed to be, things I had to do.

Closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths, I tried to line up my thoughts, make sense of what I had done and everything that lay ahead. Instead, I thought of Reed, lying naked in that bed.

He was hot and good at sex. No, great actually. He knew all the right buttons to push until I was putty in his hands. Not that I needed any encouragement or would have objected to anything he suggested. After all, I initiated the whole thing.

But why?

Was it his eyes? His confidence? Was it the immediate chemistry between us? The spontaneous eruption of heat that raced through me?

Maybe, but it was also something else. From the moment I arrived here, I’d been feeling the glow of a sensual something. My skin was tingling. I was eating more, drinking more. In some ways, my body still didn’t feel put together right. Still, everything had gone a little haywire from the moment Reed reached for that copy of Pride and Prejudice.

Seriously, how could I resist having sex with a six-foot hunk who appreciated classic literature?

I was not about to give him any slack about his comment about women and their ‘dog-eared’ copies of Austen’s book, but I’d often thought that I couldn’t be the only person whose mind conjured up images of sex with Darcy.

Reed’s apartment, nestled on the third floor, was accessible via stairs that clung to the exterior of the building. The open living area was sparsely furnished, and what was there was well-worn. An oversized TV on one wall, a sectional sofa. A table and chairs by an open kitchen door. A couple of large vases with tired-looking dried flower arrangements. Some cutesy folk art on the walls that had text on them like, ‘This way to the Beach’ and ‘Kowabunga, Dude!’ A sliding glass door led to a balcony facing the street, which was large enough for a table and a couple of chairs.

As soon as I tossed my jacket and the bag on the sofa, the tour ended. With his lips on mine, Reed lifted me in his arms like I weighed nothing and carried me to his bed.

Splashing cold water on my face now, I urged myself to do no daydreaming about what happened. If I let myself do that, I’d probably be crawling back into bed with him for an encore performance.

Taking another look at my reflection in the mirror with an objective eye, I accepted that this was long overdue. I’d enjoyed the touch of a man who knew his way around a woman’s body. True, I’d been busy with work lately, but I’d forgotten the afterglow that went with spontaneous sex.

I touched my warm face with my palms. It had been way too long. Turning on the shower, I did a quick rinse and turned off the water.

Reed had still been in bed when I slipped into the bathroom. As I pushed back the shower curtain, there was a tap on the door, and the handle moved.

I’d locked the door. I wondered if he expected to be let in.

“Are you okay in there?” he asked.

“Yeah. Be right out.”

“Still hungry?”

“Starved.”

“Any food preference?”

“No.”

“Good, because I already ordered to have some sandwiches delivered from a lunch place around the corner,” he said from the bedroom as he walked away.

Picking up a folded towel from a shelf, I dried myself and wrapped it around me.

He called from the kitchen. “Coffee’s almost ready. Would you prefer something else to drink?”

“No, coffee is perfect.”

“Okay, I also have...” Silence for a moment. “The food’s here. They’re downstairs. I’ll be right back.”

I cracked the door and heard him go out. Crossing through the bedroom, I slipped into the living area, where I saw the door of the apartment was ajar. I closed it.

Taking a quick look around the apartment, I spotted another door that led into a second bathroom, smaller than the one I took a shower in. There was also a locked door that was most likely another bedroom where the owners kept their personal belongings.

I hurried back to the bedroom and stopped in the doorway.

Where an hour ago Reed and I had made use of every inch of the king-size bed, the bedspread was now neatly pulled up and the pillows arranged by the headboard.

He’d draped my clothes over the back of a chair, and my cell sat on the cushion. Dropping the towel, I quickly pulled on my shorts and halter top and tucked the phone into my back pocket.

The men I typically hooked up with were usually easy to get into bed with but even easier to dismiss afterward. Inevitably, there was some irritating trait that was quick to surface. Reed, however, seemed to be an exception. No flaws yet.

“But there’s still time,” I murmured.

Reed. I didn’t even know the rest of his name. Scanning the room, my eyes immediately fell on a wallet on the dresser. Glancing once more toward the closed apartment door, I crossed the room and picked up the wallet. It was the folding type, brand new and surprisingly light. I opened it to find around a couple of hundred dollars in cash, one credit card, and a driver’s license. No membership cards, no library ID, no pictures, no random receipts.

Didn’t men normally stuff their wallets with things like that?

I pulled out the driver’s license. Reed Michael. The picture had to be taken recently. The issuing state was New York, just as he’d told me.

“Are you legit, Reed Michael?”

Taking my phone out of my pocket, I quickly sent a text message, accompanied by a photo of Reed’s license.

- I need you to check this guy out for me

- Why?

- I had sex with him

- What the fuck

Exactly.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket and left Reed’s wallet exactly where I’d found it. I slid open the closet door. No suitcases or bags. The words of the man in the parking lot came back to me. I have your bag. You know what’s in there.

A few shirts, pants, jeans, a pair of sweatshirts, and a cotton sweater had been hung carefully on hangers. As I ran my fingers along the crisp textures, I noticed the price tag on the first and then the second item. None of them had been worn before. Every piece of clothing still bore its original tag.

“What are you looking for?”

I almost jumped out of my skin. It wasn’t like me to get caught. After waiting a couple of seconds for my heartbeat to settle into its normal rhythm, I glanced over my shoulder at Reed, who was picking up my wet towel off the floor.

“Got a sweatshirt I can borrow?”

“Sure, take anything you want. Just rip the tag off.”

“Went shopping last night?”

“They lost my luggage. I had to.”

“Sorry about the towel. I’ll take that.”

He handed it to me. “You can hang it behind the bathroom door. The food is here.”

I watched him go toward the kitchen. Taking a navy blue sweatshirt from the hanger, I examined the tag and the store where he had bought it. I inspected a couple more pieces of clothing. They were all purchased from the same place. Tearing off the price tag, I pulled the sweatshirt over my head.

Stepping back into the bathroom, I took one more look at my reflection and ran a hand through my wet hair. My eyes were clear. The stubborn set of my jaw had returned. I glanced at my phone. No response from Payam yet.

Reed was in the kitchen, arranging the food on a platter when I got there.

“You locked me out.” He motioned toward the door of the apartment.

“Habit. Not used to running around naked with the door open.”

His eyes darkened as he gave me the once-over. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“No. I prefer pinks and purples and colors livelier than what you got in there.”

“That’s good to know. I’ll remember for the next time.”

“The next time you go shopping?” I gave him a look. “Airlines lose your luggage a lot?”

“Considering how often I travel, yes. More than I like.”

“Don’t they find your bags and deliver them to you?”

“Eventually.” He took two plates from a cabinet. The platter on the counter was heaped with sandwiches and fries. “Are you surprised that I can shop? I thought women love that in a man.”

“Don’t paint all of us with one brush. Why would you assume that?”

“First books. Now shopping. Okay, that’s two things, but I’m really not one to lump all women together.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Are we having our first fight?”

He smiled. “No way. I’m too hungry to fight.”

Reed picked up the plates and silverware and the platter of food and motioned with his head toward the coffee pot.

“Would you mind pouring a couple of mugs? I take mine black.”

“Can we eat outside?”

“Definitely.”

As he passed me, he stopped, leaned close, and brushed his lips against mine. “Did I tell you how much fun I had this morning?”

I pressed my forehead against his. “Technically, it may have been noon. And I had fun too.”

Because I didn’t want him to have the last word or the last gesture, I kissed him again, deeper, teasing him, until I sensed he was thinking about me more than about food. Then I pulled back and pushed him out of the kitchen.

“Two black coffees, coming right up.”

I listened to his footsteps padding across the floor. As the porch door slid open, I pulled out my cell phone. Still no return message.

I typed quickly. - What are you doing

- Chasing your lover’s rap sheet

- Send me what you got.

- Not ready yet

- WTF. You used to be good at this stuff

- Oh I am. And you know it. Now go and have another quickie and stop harassing me.

- Things are getting too cozy

- For you that’s bad.

- Exactly. Oh I need one more thing.

- What

- In about 15 minutes or a half-hour call me and get me out of here

Taking some mugs from the same cabinet where he had gotten the plates, I poured the coffee.

- Which is it? How much time

- No more than 30

“Can you grab some napkins on your way out?” Reed called out.

I stuffed the phone in my pocket, picked up the mugs, and grabbed the napkins.

Reed watched me as I came out onto the porch. The table and chairs had been arranged against the porch railing.

“I’ll take that.”

I put down the napkins, handed him a coffee, and stood next to him.

Houses of various shapes and sizes lined Avenida Victoria, and a blue slice of the Pacific Ocean was visible in the distance.

“Beautiful view. You must enjoy some breathtaking sunsets from here.”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ll find out tonight.”

Shifting my focus to the east, uphill, I immediately spotted the house. Positioned in the center of the block and occupying the space of three houses, the white stucco structure featured a red tile roof, arched windows, and wings extending out from both sides of the central building. Several balconies on the second floor faced Reed’s place. From where we were sitting, I had a perfect view of not only the front of the house but of a number of the west-facing windows.

“I’ve noticed that house too. Pretty nice. And that’s a lot of square footage for this street.”

“Yeah,” I said, trying to hide my surprise at how closely he was watching me.

“I don’t think anyone is living there.”

“Really? How do you know?” I asked.

“I don’t. Only guessing from the way things are buttoned up.”

It was true that the shades in every window were drawn shut. Outdoor furniture on the ground-floor patios had been covered with dark green tarps, blinds were closed, and awnings on the second-floor balconies had been drawn in.

“They might be on vacation.”

“Maybe.” Reed gestured up the street. “So you’re staying up that way?”

I nodded and sipped my coffee. “I’m way up the hill.”

He put an arm around me. “Walking distance.”

“Are we making plans past this morning?”

“I’d like to.”

He moved behind me and pressed his lips to my neck. It was easy to press my back into his chest, to have his arms close around me. I turned sideways to study his face. In the sunlight, his hair had naturally golden highlights in the sandy brown. And those dark eyelashes. They were long and the perfect accent for the brown eyes that watched me with such intensity.

My brain flashed back to the two of us in bed. I definitely enjoyed it. Maybe too much. I took hold of his wrist and moved out from his encircling arms. Going around the table, I sat down.

“What did you order for us?”

“If I ordered the right things, does that mean we’ll do this again?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I hope you got it right.”

“So much pressure.” He scoffed and sat in the chair across from me. He pointed to each of the sandwiches. “Turkey Avo, Veggie Lovers, Best Reuben Ever.”

“How do you know this is the best Reuben ever if you’ve never had it before?”

“That’s what it’s called on the menu.”

“You trust everything you read?” I teased.

“A hundred percent. I’m the most trusting person you ever met.”