Chapter 62
I WORKED ON THE CASE that night in the attic office. It was late when I decided I’d had enough.
I went downstairs and grabbed my keys ? I was in the habit most nights of taking a spin in the new Mercedes, my crossover car. It drove like an absolute dream, and the seats were as comfy as anything in our living room. Just turn on the CD player, sit back, and relax. This was good stuff.
When I finally got to bed that night, my thoughts took me back to a place I still needed to visit now and then. A sanctuary. My honeymoon with Maria. Maybe the best ten days of my life. Everything was still vivid in my mind.
The sun drops just below the palms as it sinks toward a horizontal line of blue out beyond the balcony of our hotel. The empty spot in the bed next to me is still warm where Maria was until a minute ago.
Now she’s standing at the mirror.
Beautiful.
She’s wearing nothing but one of my dress shirts, open down the front, and getting ready for dinner.
She always says her legs are too skinny, but I find them long and lovely and get turned on just looking at them ? at her in the mirror.
I watch as Maria sweeps her shiny black hair back into a clip. It shows off the long line of her neck. God, I adore her.
“Do that again,” I say.
She indulges me without a word.
When she tilts her head to put on an earring, her eye catches mine in the mirror.
“I love you, Alex.” She turns to face me. “No one will ever love you the way I do.”
Her eyes hold mine, and I believe that I can see what she’s feeling inside. The way we think is so unbelievably close. I stretch my hand out from the bed for her, and say ?