Kay David - Obsession

He didn’t wait for her to recover. Instead, he coaxed her around to face him. Limp with desire, she stared into his eyes. They were black and endless, and in them she read what she’d suspected all along. He was as lost as she was, and needed this almost more. Reaching down between them she grasped his erection with her hand. He was already prepared. She guided him toward her and a moment later her world exploded.

EMMA WOKE UP in the middle of the night, gasping and desperate. The room was so dark she felt as if she were underwater, in a tunnel, with no way out. Her heart pounding with fear, she struggled up from the twisted covers and started to scream.

Then Raul reached for her. “Emma…Emma. It’s okay, darling. Calm down!”

The words reached through the panic and returned her to reality. She fell back against the mattress, her pulse still racing, her breath coming fast. “Oh, God…” she moaned. “I…I didn’t know where I was for a minute. It was so dark…”

He patted her bare shoulder comfortingly, then pulled her closer to him. The bed seemed even smaller now than it had been when they were making love, but she didn’t mind. She wanted to absorb as much of his warmth and presence as she could.

“It’s okay,” he said again. “It’s all right.”

She laughed, a little self-conscious. “I’m sorry. I woke up and I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t,” he answered. “I was already awake.”

She turned his wrist to look at his watch. “It’s 2 a.m. Why weren’t you sleeping?”

He took a slow, deep breath. She could feel his chest rise with the movement, and behind the motion she felt the weight of a decision he seemed to be making. She tensed.

“I was thinking…” he said.

“About what?”

“About you,” he answered. “And William Kelman.”

She lay perfectly still within his arms.

“I want to know what’s going on between the two of you. It’s time for you to tell me.”

“I could say the same,” she shot back. “I think you share some secrets with him, as well.”

He propped himself up with his elbow, then reached out with his other hand and pulled her chin toward him. When she was finally facing him, he spoke again. “William Kelman and I go back a very long way. I know what kind of man he is. Do I need to say more?”

“I don’t know,” Emma replied. Her heart was doing a funny dance. “Is there more?”

“Yes…but it’s not important.”

“I don’t believe you. I think it’s very important.”

He ignored her. “Tell me what’s going on between you two.”

She shook her head, then stopped. She’d just shared her body with this man, her body and her passion. Like some kind of a surgeon, he’d taken the pain from her heart, excised it cleanly-if only for a little while. She owed him.

But not this.

“I can’t,” she said quietly. “What happens in my office has to stay there. It’s the same kind of trust you talked to me about before-that’s what I have to have between myself and my clients.”

“Even if I can help you?”

“You can’t,” she said bluntly. “No one can.”

His eyes pierced hers in the darkness. “I know men like Kelman,” he told her. “I’ve fought them, too.”

“It doesn’t matter, anyway.” She shook her head. “It’s over.”

“Did he win?”

“Win?” She looked at him curiously. “No…I wouldn’t say he won. But it wasn’t some kind of contest or anything.”

“Maybe not to you.” His expression was grim.

A shiver passed through her. “What do you mean?”

“He’s not the type to give up, Emma. If you didn’t provide him with what he wanted, whatever it was, he’ll return-and stay until he gets it.”

“I don’t think so.”

He had his hand on her arm, and when she answered, his grip tightened almost painfully. “Listen to me,” he said. “You don’t know this man like I do. He’s ruthless. You need to tell me what’s going on. I can help you.”

Something in his voice scared her. It was his intensity, she realized with a start. It was as strong as the passion they’d shared a few hours earlier. She pulled away and stared at him, then almost immediately, he seemed to realize what he was doing. He backed down, but only slightly.

“He uses people, Emma, and he doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as he gets what he wants. I’ve known lots of men like him, but he’s the worst.”

Emma took a deep breath. “Did you know these men…in prison?”

In the tiny line of light coming through the nearby window, his eyes glittered. “Why do you ask me that?”

“I’ve heard things,” she answered. “Santa Cruz is a small town. There’s gossip.”

“Would you care if it was true?”

She’d already asked herself that question, but the answer was as elusive as ever. “I don’t know,” she confessed.

“Then take it for what it is, and someday, if you still care, I’ll explain. Right now, you need to think about what’s going on, and it boils down to this-if William Kelman is doing something he shouldn’t be, and you’re involved, you need to tell me.”

He waited for her to say something-anything-but no words came. She was relieved he hadn’t answered her question, relieved yet frightened, and she struggled to know how to respond. Finally, he reached out and pulled her closer. With his hands on her body and her name on his breath, he took her back to the place where she felt safest…

THE DAWN WAS so beautiful it seemed as if the night before had been a dream. Raul would have thought he’d fantasized it all, except for the evidence-Emma sleeping beside him when he’d awoken.

He’d been tempted to tell her the truth earlier, the words right on his tongue. Who Kelman really was. How he’d framed him. What he would do to her, allowed half a chance.

But the fragile trust she’d given him would be instantly destroyed by that harsh reality. Emma was a smart woman, and she would figure out everything immediately. The consequence of that was obvious; she would never forgive him, and both of them would lose. He’d never get Kelman. And that was still his main goal, right?

No, Raul was going to have to hope for the best-that he’d be able to protect her when the time came and Kelman’s trap was sprung.

And there was a trap. There had to be, even if she wouldn’t tell Raul it was. He eased himself up in the bed and slowly pulled away from Emma’s still form. Reaching for her purse, he dug around until he found the proof he needed. The small black disk, disguised as a button, gleamed malevolently in the darkness.

A bug.

Kelman had had his man bump into Emma in the street to distract her. Then he’d slipped the tracking device into her purse and she hadn’t even known it. It was the only way he could have found her in Samaipata. But he hadn’t counted on Raul.

He looked at the tiny disk in the palm of his hand and nodded his head. This explained the truck. He hadn’t wanted to upset Emma, so he’d kept it to himself, but someone had tampered with the engine; it hadn’t been a simple mechanical breakdown that had stranded them last night. Now he understood. But why keep them here in Samaipata? The question left Raul uneasy.

Levering his thumbnail under the rim of the bug, he popped the plastic edges apart. The wires were thin and he snapped them with one twist.

Emma stirred as he put the bug back together and dropped it into her purse. When she finally opened her eyes, he was sitting in the chair opposite the bed, looking at her.

“You’re awake already,” she said. “Don’t you ever sleep?”

He shook his head. “Not when there’s a beautiful woman nearby.”