Dangerous Place For Love(14)

Later she pulled up outside her house. Her life was about to take a drastic turn. At the hospital she thought she was ready to handle anything. Now she wasn’t so sure.

Picking up her bags, she made her way inside the house. She would spend the time wishing for work.

~* * *~

Erik watched the woman walk to her car. This woman from all of his digging had only been alive as long as two weeks according to the system. He should thank Strider for being sloppy at work. Maybe the guy should be told his password was piss easy to work out.

The mystery woman opened her car door. She looked dazed and confused. Erik squinted through the binoculars he was holding to try and get a better look at her. If it was Kelly, she’d lost a small amount of weight in the short time they’d been apart.

“Turn around,” he whispered. Waiting to see her was killing him.

Finally, she turned around and looked over the houses. Erik got a good shot of her. He watched her walk into her house and he was out of the car.

The woman was Kelly and he was going to claim her.

~* * *~

Kelly stirred the tea bag in her cup until it had a nice dark consistency. Coffee was out of the question and so too was nuts and cheese. Thank God. Chocolate was still on the menu.

The murky darkness did nothing to ease her aching head. She took a sip of the dark liquid and wished she’d stuck with water. The sweet brew tasted disgusting. She tossed it down the drain and went to the fridge, uncapping a bottle of water.

Resting her head in her hands, she wondered what she was going to do. Work would soon be out of the question. She could only call the agent’s number in case of an emergency and this wasn’t much of an emergency. According to the reports, she’d taken the pills at the hospital before she’d been discharged.

A knock at the door distracted her from the thoughts whirling round her brain.

“Who is it?”

“Delivery guy.” Frowning, Kelly opened the door and screamed.

Erik Coldwell stood on her doorstop looking cocky, arrogant and in a lot of pain.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Nice way to say you’ve missed me.” Kelly let him into the house and glanced out to make sure none of her nosy neighbours would see.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered even as her heart soared. Erik was here, in her house.

“I couldn’t stay away.” He coughed and Kelly led him to her small two-seater sofa.

“What do you mean?”

“I know I’m not supposed to be here and you’ll probably hate me for the rest of my life. Pointing the gun at you was the biggest mistake of my life and I’m so sorry to have hurt you, baby. How is your shoulder?”

He reached out and touched the tender spot.

“My shoulder was merely a scratch. I don’t understand. What are you doing here?” Kelly didn’t want to get her hopes up. More than anything she wanted to fling herself into his arms but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“I had to see you. The time we spent on the island meant more to me than anything. I can’t go on living until I tell you how I feel. In fact, if you hate me, then as soon as I tell you, you can kick me out. But I couldn’t go another day without looking in your sweet eyes and saying to you, I love you.” He stroked her cheek and her breath caught in her throat.

“How can you love me?” The insecurity coming back to play havoc with her mind.

Erik took her hand and laid it across his heart. “This beats for you and you alone. I can’t go another day without you not knowing how I feel.”

Kelly reached over and kissed him on the lips. A sign from the big man upstairs. In her hour of need, the man she loved had come for her.

“I take it I’m not in any kind of trouble, Amanda Lynne?” he teased as he kissed her back.

“I didn’t get to pick my name. Strange as it is.”

“You’ll always be Kelly O’Donald to me. The daughter of a drug cartel, a person who asks endless questions and the woman who owns my heart.”

Kelly responded to his kiss, her heart racing. Her arms circled his neck to bring him closer. The few weeks they’d been apart had been more like a life time.

“What’s going to happen now?” she asked.

“Well, I think I need to move a little more furniture in here and then I must warn you I sleep on the left side of the bed.”

“Not about us. This isn’t allowed to work.”

“Screw the people who say it shouldn’t. I’ve spent a great deal of my time prepared to take a bullet. Just consider this my next full-time position. Keeping a wanted daughter protected.”

Kelly moaned as he leaned her back on the sofa. She reclined as he worked the top button of her blouse open.