While she was in a turmoil of hell where the past had come to life, she also felt...safe. She believed him. He knew how to use a firearm, and she figured he probably knew a lot more. He’d always been—perfect. Tall, broad-shouldered, lean-muscled, agile...a diver, a guy who could ski, skateboard, swim, kill it on a football field.
It had never occurred to her before to be afraid; she had simply been determined. In fact, even being her father’s daughter, she’d never been afraid. The house was in a great quiet residential neighborhood, not too far from Lafayette Cemetery, Commander’s Palace and a place she loved, Garden District Book Shop. Still close to a few iconic places, but private and off the beaten path. When she had turned eighteen, her parents had put the house in her name. When her dad had died, her mother had started traveling and when she was home, she liked to be in a little condo she’d purchased down in the French Quarter near Café du Monde.
Both of her parents had always been low-key, friends with their neighbors, quiet in their lifestyles when they weren’t performing. They had loved being together. And yes, while he was recognizable, as he’d often explained with amusement, it just wasn’t like being a movie star. The good majority of people in the world would have no idea of who he was when he walked down the street.
And she wasn’t well known at all, so there had been no reason...
Of course, she could have done a few simple things. Like having alarms installed for the gate and the house. That might have meant that Chase McCoy wouldn’t have insisted on spending a miserable night on her sofa.
And she wouldn’t have spent the night knowing that he was there.
So much distance between them. Years! But...
When she was near him, all that they had shared might have been yesterday. She could remember the subtle way his scent, clean and masculine, could wrap around her: it was as if she could breathe him in. She loved the sound of his laughter, the look in his eyes...
And it was ridiculously tempting to walk down the stairs, just squeeze next to him, look up at him and pretend that time had not created a wall between them, a wall that she had somehow pushed into being.
But it was there. He was here because he was afraid for her. And because he had loved her father. And for no other reason.
She winced and tossed, plumping her pillow. She had to grow up. She couldn’t erase the past, but it was behind her. She had to behave like a normal human being with him, except...
They were playing a game. A dangerous game. Pretending they were a couple who had simply fallen back together so that others might not suspect anything amiss if they whispered to one another, slipped together as a couple if they saw or heard something...
She had to grow up. Play the game. And for a minute, she was a little amused. Chase and all his criminology classes and work—doing whatever it was he did with most of his time.
Undercover!
Undercover in plain sight. And if it got her the answers she wanted, total justice for her father, well then, it was worth whatever she had to do.
Decided. Simple. Done.
And it was still the wee hours of the morning before exhaustion claimed her. Because he was there, downstairs, so close, and she didn’t understand herself why she had thrown away such an incredible man, such a beautiful relationship.
SKY HAD STILL been sleeping when Chase called; he could hear it in her voice. He wondered if just maybe she’d had as much trouble falling asleep as he’d had. No matter. It was late. Time to move.
“Hello?” she murmured, curiosity in the very sleepiness of her voice.
“Time to rise and shine up in the... Sky!”
She groaned. “Oh, that was bad.”
“Yeah, I know. But you need to wake up.”
“Wait a minute. You’re calling me—from downstairs?”
“Seemed the best way to wake you up,” he told her.
“Okaaay.”
“We need to get to my house.”
“Um, the lunch thing, right. But it’s still early.”
“I know you want to shower. And then at my house, we’ll have to check our RSVPs and order the food in, I’ll need to shower, and I’m hoping there’s time for us to go through a few things.”
“A few things?”
“Our suspect list, what we know about each of the players, the band, the roadies, anyone who might have been close. If what happened was more than an accident, there had to have been a reason.”
She was quiet over the line for a minute. Then she told him, “You forgot something,” she told him.
“What?”
“A dog? If I get a nice big dog, you get to go home at night.”
He shook his head. “A nice big dog would be good, but I won’t be leaving you.”
She let out a sound of aggravation. “What? You’re going to guard me the rest of my life?”
“I believe that between us, we’ll glean the truth. We’ll find out if there was more than the many law enforcement and fire personnel saw that day.”
“They were looking for cause, not a reason,” Sky murmured. “Should we make coffee first, grab something—”
“Believe it or not, I have coffee. And food. We need to go.”
“I’m going to shower and come down,” she said, ending the call.
CHASE LOOKED AT his phone for a minute, grimaced to himself and rose to wander the living room. The house was a beautiful one, but he knew that it had been falling apart when Jake had purchased it. He’d always loved period things.
