Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor (top fiction books of all time txt) 📗

sure which, but even as she began to move away, embarrassed, thinking she’d misunderstood, he caught her chin and closed the distance. The touch of his lips was electrifying. A river of scalding heat poured through her and with it stinging sensation. She clutched at his robe a little frantically as dizziness swept through her, parting her lips for him in mute supplication to give her more. So mighty a thrill went through her as he thrust his tongue into her mouth and raked it along hers and she took his taste and scent into her that she thought for a moment she might have come. Shudders raked her, sapped the strength from her until she began to think she would’ve been in real danger of simply melting into a puddle at his feet if she hadn’t been clutching at him so frantically, if his arms hadn’t been around her, supporting her, holding her against his length.

Disappointment flooded her when he broke the kiss. At the same time, she felt a flicker of relief that she hadn’t embarrassed herself by passing out. She couldn’t seem to unglue her eyelids, though, or stop her eyeballs from swimming.

“I have to go, Anna.”

She managed to get her eyes open at that, realized she was still clutching two fistfuls of his robe as if it was a lifeline and forced her fingers to relax. Nodding a little jerkily, she settled on her feet. “I know.”

She couldn’t think of anything to say even to delay him a few more moments.

When he moved away from her and turned to go, though, she found the speech she’d tried to formulate tumbling from her lips. “I’m afraid,” she whispered.

He froze, swiveling around to look at her.

“I’m afraid he’ll come back for me.”

Something flickered in his eyes. Suspicion? He frowned. “What makes you think that?”

Anna felt her face heat. “I don’t know. I’m just afraid he will.”

He studied her thoughtfully for a moment and lifted his head to look around at the neighboring houses. “I’ll talk to Simon. He can contact the Water City PD and have them keep an eye on you.”

Relief flooded her. She knew they were more likely to listen to another law officer than her. They’d probably just put her fears down as a woman trying to get attention. She’d worried herself sick trying to think of how she could ask for protection without having to tell them the entire sordid mess, worried they wouldn’t believe her even if she did. “Thank you, Caleb.”

He nodded, studied her a moment longer and turned to go again. She was tempted to stand in the doorway and watch him until he was out of sight, but she ignored the urge, closing the door and locking it. For a few moments, she leaned against it, relishing the memory of his kiss and his promise.

* * * *

“I’m not sure it was a good idea to take her back,” Caleb said the moment he entered Simon’s office.

Feeling his belly clench, Simon lifted his head from the report he’d been studying and stared at his lieutenant, trying to decide whether Caleb would buy it if he pretended he didn’t know what he was talking about. “Why?”

Caleb shook his head. “She’s afraid he’ll come back for her. I’m afraid she might be right.”

Simon frowned, trying to ignore the uneasiness twisting in his gut. “We discussed this. I thought we all agreed that it didn’t seem likely.”

Caleb glanced around and finally dropped his long frame into the chair by the door. “I know,” he admitted tiredly, “but I didn’t like it then and I like it even less now.

She’s afraid. I’d like to think it’s just nerves after all we put her through, but I think maybe she’s right.” Crossing his legs at the ankles, he frowned at his toes. “He’s been keeping tabs on her for a while—at least since college. She told us that she’d gotten the grant before she graduated and then found out he was behind it. How long did she say she’d been working on that project?”

Simon frowned. “I don’t think she did and I’m not sure it has any bearing on this.”

“It does if it’s been years. Why watch her at all if he wasn’t … obsessed with her or at least had some kind plan for her? Why not approach her as soon as he found her if it was only a matter of a father wanting to find his only child?”

“What do you think his motive might have been?”

Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know. Do crazy people need motives to do the things they do?”

“They do,” Simon dryly. “Their motives just aren’t rational. I’m not sure Cavendish is insane, though. In fact, I’m reasonably certain the cold blooded son-of-a-bitch is completely sane in the sense that he’s well aware of his actions and the possible consequences. He’s gone to great lengths, in point of fact, to cover his tracks very thoroughly.”

“He’s not done,” Caleb said grimly. “And that means he isn’t done with Anna. I feel it in my gut. I don’t know why he picked this time and place to finally show himself, but he had a reason. What I can’t figure out is how he found out we were coming. Those floating houses can be moved, but they aren’t boats. They move slowly, too slowly for him to have gotten clean away if he’d only discovered we were coming after him when we got to Anna’s place. He left well before we got to Anna’s house.”

“I’m fairly certain he left as soon as the bomb went off,” Simon said grimly.

“She told us he’d been trying