Possession

Chapter Forty-six

Cait was back in the Palace Theatre’s parking garage.

She was once again on that ramp that ran down between levels, walking fast, hearing the footsteps of someone behind her.

Panic got her going even quicker as she shot out to the lower lineup of cars and broke into a full-on bolt. Dragging her purse in front of her, she dug into it for her phone—

A gun. This time she had a gun.

Instead of her cell, she took out something mean and black. It was loaded, although she didn’t know how she knew that, and as she gripped the weapon, her palm fit perfectly, sure as if the thing had been made for her.

In the manner of dreams, she kept running, heading for the doors of the elevator that seemed to be ten miles off in the distance and staying that way. And in her wake, her attacker was getting tighter on her, closing in—

In the blink of an eye, she was at the vertical pair of buttons, one arrow up, one down. She jabbed at both with her left hand, craning around, waiting for whatever it was to come out of the shadows.

The ceiling lights were extinguishing one by one, tracking the figure, always a step ahead so she couldn’t see who it was.

Punching the buttons—she was punching the buttons as those illuminating fixtures went dark and death came for her.

The doors were not opening. This time she was locked out of her escape.

Spinning around, she slammed her back against the elevator’s closed entrance and put the gun up at chest height.

“No!” she screamed. “Stop!”

Whoever it was just kept coming. For an eternity, she stood braced for death’s approach, time slowing to a crawl even as her heart fluttered in her chest and her blood boiled with terror.

“Noooo!”

Losing control, she pulled the trigger over and over again, shooting at whatever was coming at her, the popping sounds echoing all around, the recoil vibrating up her forearms and into her shoulders. The more she squeezed off rounds, the faster her attacker seemed to come—

The lights directly over her head were the only ones that stayed on. So she finally saw what she was firing at.

Her scream was louder than the gun—

“Cait! Cait, wake up!”

Someone was in her face, holding her arms, getting in the way.

Stuck between reality and the nightmare, she pushed against a solid weight, trying to get away, panic overtaking higher reasoning.

“Cait!” The voice, the deep male voice, chipped a crack in her fear. “Easy, there—it was a nightmare, whatever it was—just a dream, Cait.”

She froze, everything except for her breathing going still. “… I was going to die…”

“Come here … lie on me, come here.”

Duke. It was Duke with her in the bed, and the instant she made that connection, she collapsed into his bare chest, his arms wrapping around her and holding her tight.

“Shh, you’re okay. I got you.”

The shivering came next, her whole body quaking. “Thank God you’re here,” she said roughly. “Oh, God…”

If she’d woken up alone?

“You’re all right.”

“It was awful … it was so real—I was back in that parking garage, getting chased—”

“What parking garage?”

As she told him what had happened to her, she felt him stiffen underneath her, his powerful body tightening up as if he were prepared to go out into Caldwell and find whoever it had been—and kill them.

“Except, in the dream, I had a gun, I was shooting—but at the last moment, it …” She covered her face with her hands and felt like throwing up. “It was a horrible corpse attacking me, a rotting half skeleton with glowing black eyes—it was so real…”

Gradually, thanks to him stroking her back with his broad hand, she calmed down.

“I wish you’d told me about that sooner,” he said, after she finally sighed and relaxed.

“The police haven’t found anyone.”

“Bad part of town, that theater district.”

“I know.”

In the silence that followed, she thought of G.B.

She propped her chin on Duke’s chest. “Just so we’re really clear. I’m not seeing him anymore.”

“The singer?”

“Yes. I’m going to call him tomorrow.”

“So he doesn’t know about this. Between you and me.”

“He will, though.”

Duke tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. After a while, he said, “Good. I’m a one-woman kind of man.” He leaned up and kissed her. “Well, when it comes to you, that is. And as for what went down in that garage? I wish I’d been there to help you.”

Funny, that was just what G.B. had said. Then again, there was a commonality to the protective instinct in men, wasn’t there.

Duke frowned. “It was just before you came and saw me at the club, wasn’t it.” When she nodded, he cursed. “Great. I jump you like an animal—”

“I wanted it, remember.” She traced his jaw with her fingertips, feeling the stubble of his five-o’clock shadow—or five a.m., or whatever the hell time it was. “I debated going to see you for the longest time.”

“Yeah?”

Boy, it was so much easier to talk to him like this, lying close in her bed, the soft light from the hall glowing over the planes of his face.

“As I told you, it’s been a long time for me.”

Duke pulled her in for another kiss and then rolled her onto her side. “Was it worth the gamble?”

“And the wait.”

With slow, lazy strokes, he licked his way into her mouth, and it was funny how it no longer felt so strange to put her arms around the back of his neck and feel his pecs on her naked breasts. This was natural; this coming together was like breathing, necessary and easy.

Parting her thighs, she welcomed him in close, and this time they both went for the drawer, making sure that a condom was in place before things got too far.

Thank God he’d caught that mistake when he had. Although that punishment thing had seemed a little unnecessary.

Slow, loving, and tender.

As he entered her, she sighed and wrapped her legs around the backs of his thighs, giving herself up to the communion. He moved like a wave on top of her, the pleasure building slowly, cresting into a shimmering climax that went through her and lingered, her body tingling, a pleasant sense of falling overtaking her.

And then his orgasm followed, his hips tightening, his breath hitching in. As he worked himself in and out of her, she ran her hands up and down his surging back, the smooth skin and tight muscles undulating under her palms.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered when he finally fell still.

“Me, too—”

A flash from outside sent a fresh source of light into the room, illuminating them both.

“What the hell?” he said looking around.

“Was that lightning?”

“Not this time of the year, it isn’t,” he said grimly as he withdrew … and got out of bed.