be more difficult, because of the man, because she worked at home. She was going to take some special skills on his part, but wasn’t that fitting?
She stirred him like none other before her. She tantalized and tormented as nobody had done since his mother. Whatever it took, he’d find a way to make her his. He needed her. Once again a wave of anxiety crashed down on him.
He’d find her home after dark, but in the meantime he needed things…wanted to fill his car with treasures to take home. The need to possess at the moment was like a demon gnawing at his very soul. His very survival depended on it.
He left the bookstore with a backward glance at the woman who whipped a hunger inside him greater than he’d ever known. She would be his. Maybe she would finally be the one to ease the internal pain inside him. Maybe when he was finished with her and buried her in his backyard he would finally, for the first time in his life, be at peace.
Jake watched Edie work the crowd with a sense of pride. This was when her hours at the computer finally paid off, when all the research and her natural story-telling ability came together with her publisher and editor’s help to make something that touched people’s lives. She entertained and disturbed and provoked thought.
He suspected she didn’t know just how good she was, at writing, at reading people and seeing not only the darkness that had created whatever crime she wrote about, but also the emotion left behind by victims and loved ones of victims.
Her books were about terrible crimes, but also inspirational testimonies of survival. He suspected that the book she was working on about Colette would be her best ever, perhaps the gift that every writer dreamed about…the story of a lifetime.
He wrapped his fingers around his coffee mug as he watched her interact with an older couple who were at her table. She exuded warmth with her readers that she showed few other people.
Always guarded and so damned private in so many ways, he thought. She rarely spoke on her cell phone in front of him. When she received a call she almost always walked away so she could have a private conversation. She had few real friends and didn’t seem to feel a void in that area. She was unlike any woman he’d ever invited into his life before and while he’d invited her wholeheartedly into his heart with each day that passed he was reminded that she had not invited him wholeheartedly in to his.
Secrets. He knew if he did a full on investigation into her life, he might be able to glean the secrets she held. He didn’t want to do it that way. In any case, he knew that if he did, she’d never forgive him for snooping around in her life.
There had been times when he’d found her cell phone lying on the coffee table or on her kitchen counter. He’d had to fight the impulse to check who’d called her, who she had called. But he knew if he stepped over that line, she’d banish him forever.
As the older couple left her table with a book in hand and moved toward the cashier, she cast Jake a smile. In that smile he found all the reasons he needed to stay where he was, to take what she gave and just hope that eventually she would trust him with everything.
There was only ten minutes left to the book signing when Colette walked in followed by a tall bear of a man who was obviously her husband.
Edie jumped up from the table, touched that Colette had come and eager to meet the man who had stood by her side even when she’d been in the clutches of evil.
“Colette, it’s so nice of you to come,” Edie exclaimed as she gave the woman a hug.
“I wouldn’t have missed it,” Colette replied. “Edie, this is my husband, Frank.”
Frank’s hand swallowed Edie’s as he gave it a gentle shake. “It’s so nice to meet you,” he said. “Colette can’t say enough nice things about you.” He released her hand.
Edie smiled. “I could
She stirred him like none other before her. She tantalized and tormented as nobody had done since his mother. Whatever it took, he’d find a way to make her his. He needed her. Once again a wave of anxiety crashed down on him.
He’d find her home after dark, but in the meantime he needed things…wanted to fill his car with treasures to take home. The need to possess at the moment was like a demon gnawing at his very soul. His very survival depended on it.
He left the bookstore with a backward glance at the woman who whipped a hunger inside him greater than he’d ever known. She would be his. Maybe she would finally be the one to ease the internal pain inside him. Maybe when he was finished with her and buried her in his backyard he would finally, for the first time in his life, be at peace.
Jake watched Edie work the crowd with a sense of pride. This was when her hours at the computer finally paid off, when all the research and her natural story-telling ability came together with her publisher and editor’s help to make something that touched people’s lives. She entertained and disturbed and provoked thought.
He suspected she didn’t know just how good she was, at writing, at reading people and seeing not only the darkness that had created whatever crime she wrote about, but also the emotion left behind by victims and loved ones of victims.
Her books were about terrible crimes, but also inspirational testimonies of survival. He suspected that the book she was working on about Colette would be her best ever, perhaps the gift that every writer dreamed about…the story of a lifetime.
He wrapped his fingers around his coffee mug as he watched her interact with an older couple who were at her table. She exuded warmth with her readers that she showed few other people.
Always guarded and so damned private in so many ways, he thought. She rarely spoke on her cell phone in front of him. When she received a call she almost always walked away so she could have a private conversation. She had few real friends and didn’t seem to feel a void in that area. She was unlike any woman he’d ever invited into his life before and while he’d invited her wholeheartedly into his heart with each day that passed he was reminded that she had not invited him wholeheartedly in to his.
Secrets. He knew if he did a full on investigation into her life, he might be able to glean the secrets she held. He didn’t want to do it that way. In any case, he knew that if he did, she’d never forgive him for snooping around in her life.
There had been times when he’d found her cell phone lying on the coffee table or on her kitchen counter. He’d had to fight the impulse to check who’d called her, who she had called. But he knew if he stepped over that line, she’d banish him forever.
As the older couple left her table with a book in hand and moved toward the cashier, she cast Jake a smile. In that smile he found all the reasons he needed to stay where he was, to take what she gave and just hope that eventually she would trust him with everything.
There was only ten minutes left to the book signing when Colette walked in followed by a tall bear of a man who was obviously her husband.
Edie jumped up from the table, touched that Colette had come and eager to meet the man who had stood by her side even when she’d been in the clutches of evil.
“Colette, it’s so nice of you to come,” Edie exclaimed as she gave the woman a hug.
“I wouldn’t have missed it,” Colette replied. “Edie, this is my husband, Frank.”
Frank’s hand swallowed Edie’s as he gave it a gentle shake. “It’s so nice to meet you,” he said. “Colette can’t say enough nice things about you.” He released her hand.
Edie smiled. “I could
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