The Hidden

He was young, no more than twenty-five, but he was with the police, one Officer Benjamin by name, and he seemed to know his stuff. He’d not only brought state-of-the-art locks, but he’d also come with an alarm system and a motion detector. He had the system installed and showed them how it worked, and by the time he finished, the agents, who’d left ridiculously early that morning, were dragging.

Meg and Matt said good-night and headed over to the main house, promising that before they went to bed they would tell Ben and Terry to use a little extra caution, just in case the connection to Nathan Kendall had played a role in the recent murders. Brett told them that he was going to call Lara before he turned in for the night.

“I can’t wait for her to get here this weekend. You’re going to love her,” he assured Scarlet.

“Of course I will. If you love her, so will I,” she told him.

Words, Diego thought. They were all saying the right words, but what difference did it really make if Scarlet and Lara got along? They would all be leaving as soon as this case was solved.

Except for Scarlet. Scarlet would stay.

And that, he realized, didn’t matter at all. He’d come here to keep her safe. No matter where they might be in life, or with whom, it wouldn’t change a thing. He loved her, and nothing mattered more than keeping her safe.

Brett left them to close himself into the far bedroom for the night and make his call. And once again, Diego and Scarlet were left alone.

“I need to get some sleep, too,” he said.

“Of course. Your things are in the room,” she said. She sounded nervous, but she met his eyes as she spoke.

He shook his head, smiling slightly. “We don’t have to do anything, Scarlet.”

“What if I want to do something?” she asked.

The color of her eyes was like a mix of the sea and sky on a summer’s day; the wistfulness in her voice seemed to touch something as old as time in his soul. He fought not to fall prey to his emotions, to remember that once they’d had something unique, special beyond anything he’d ever dreamed of, but it still hadn’t been enough to last for all time.

And yet he couldn’t stop himself.

“I have a feeling I could be convinced,” he told her lightly.

She smiled. “Well, then...”

She turned to head for her room. He caught hold of her shoulder, and swung her back around and into his arms. He kissed her, relishing the softness of her lips, her tongue...and a hunger that seemed to match his own.

He broke away, breathless. Her eyes seemed dazzling now on his.

“Wow,” she murmured, then turned serious. “Brett is down at the other end of the hall.”

He grinned. “And you don’t think Brett knows what we’re doing?”

She flushed. “Some divorced people hate each other.”

“I never hated you.”

“I only hated you a little.”

That hurt—because he knew why.

He started to pull away, but she held him back. “Only a little bit—and only for a little while,” she whispered, sounding almost desperate. “And I know that...that I was at fault, too.”

“You were never at fault,” he told her.

“But I was,” she said. “I wanted the knight in shining armor all the time, the man who was charming and teased and laughed, and could make everyone around him comfortable...who even made me jealous sometimes, but not really, because I knew I was the one you wanted. I didn’t want to get between you and your work, because I knew it was a passion for you, but at the same time I resented it for coming between us.”

“I shouldn’t have let that happen,” he said. He started to turn away.

She stopped him, pleading in her eyes. “Can we forget the past for tonight? No past, no future. Just tonight.”

His only answer was to pull her back into his arms. His physical response to her was almost embarrassingly instantaneous.

She felt him against her and practically melted into him. Her fingers started playing with the buttons of his shirt.

“Brett’s down the hall,” he reminded her, echoing her words in one last attempt to retain his sanity.

“Yes, but he knows what we’re doing,” she said.

Then she smiled, turned and walked down the hall to her room.