“Yes. I have three pairs of them. In fact-” She jumped up again and ran into her bedroom, yanking open the top drawer of her bureau, digging through the contents in a frenzy.
Keiki barked in alarm as she flung underwear around looking, finally holding up a handful of black satin.
“Here they are! Three pairs of black orchid underwear. I guess those aren’t mine after all!”
The relief was tremendous. He hadn’t been in her house, touching her private things. She ran to Stevens, who had followed her to the doorway, and threw her arms around him.
“Oh my God! They aren’t mine! He wasn’t in here!”
He made a show of being knocked backward. She laughed, relief making her giddy, and turned her face up for the kiss she hoped would be there.
And it was, soft and teasing with a touch of urgency. She didn’t know when she let go of the panties and filled her hands with his shirt, his back, his shoulders, the curling hair on his neck. He lifted her so their faces were at the same height, gave her a little spin, stumbling backward. He sat on the edge of the bed with her in his arms.
Sensations overwhelmed her: prickling heat in her belly, darkness behind her closed eyes punctuated by light spangles, the hunger of his mouth on hers.
“Damn, girl,” he finally said, settling her further back down his thighs, brushing the curls back from her face with both hands. “Slow down. Be gentle with me.”
She laughed. It felt like a triumph. He flopped back and picked up one of the pairs of underwear off the bed, twirled it around his finger.
“The stalker has good taste. These are hot.”
She hopped up, putting her hands on her hips.
“That settles it,” she said. “Men are pigs.” She tried to look mad, and for a moment thought she was succeeding until he put the underwear over her head and gave it a yank. When they were done wrestling, they both had underwear on-Lei’s was now around her neck, elastic sprung beyond redemption, and Stevens sported another pair on his head.
“I still think they’re hot,” he said plaintively, following her into the kitchen where she cracked open another beer for each of them.
Lei flopped in her chair, the feeling of menace gone as she looked at the underwear and box in the Ziploc bag. Must have been the kissing and rough-housing that did it, she thought.
“Okay, so he didn’t get in here and steal it,” she said. “How did he know about the underwear? Where did he find a matching pair? If I knew that I bet I could ID him.”
“So put on your thinking cap.” Stevens adjusted the panties down around his neck. “I’m not giving these back by the way. I’ll wear them and think of you.”
“Sicko,” she said, taking a swig of beer. “I can’t remember anything right now. Maybe it will come to me later. Anyway I’ve got to get some reading for class done. I set up your futon and the sheets should be done soon. Are you sure you want to stay over again?”
“I’m keeping an eye on you until this is resolved. Period. I let a friend down before in this situation by not taking it seriously, and I won’t make that mistake again.”
She opened her mouth to object and remembered Dr. Wilson’s advice, instead getting up to clear the table. Stevens went to the dryer, got the sheets and made up the futon. He was sitting on it with his back against the couch when she came into the living room.
“Tell me about your security measures,” he said.
“Okay.” A little taken aback, she proceeded, sitting down on the corner of the couch. “I have an alarm system with automatic call to security as well as sound. It’s on a movement sensor system. I spent some good money on it so it’s pretty okay for a residential program. I also have locks on all the windows and triple locks on the doors. This is a rental or I would have reinforced glass and reinforced doors too. I also consider Keiki part of my security system.”
Keiki pricked her ears at the sound of her name. She was sitting next to Stevens on the futon. He rubbed her broad chest and she swiped him with her tongue.
“She certainly qualifies. I think we need to plan for a bit of a long haul until we catch this guy.” He stopped, took a breath, seeming to steel himself. “I’m your superior officer, at least on the murder investigation, and as such I’m not supposed to be having a relationship with you. I mean, the kind of relationship we seem to be heading toward.”
Lei pulled her legs in on the couch, wrapped her arms around them.
“We aren’t dating,” she said.
“I know. Technically. But it would be wrong for me, as your colleague, to take advantage of you while I am voluntarily providing security. It’s an emotional set-up, they tell us in the training manual.” He smiled at her, but it was forced. “So, no more kissing until this is over.”
Lei set her chin on her knees, thinking it through.
“You’re awfully quiet. Are you okay?”
“It’s complicated,” she said. “I’m kinda relieved on the one hand because in case you haven’t noticed, I have some pretty intense issues. But it’s been fun and… I’ll miss you.”
He held his arm out. “Come over here.”
She got off the couch and sat against him on one side, Keiki on the other. He put his arms over each of them, squeezing them at the same time. She felt that bubble again under her sternum, almost joy but something else. Keiki panted happily, leaning into him.
“This doesn’t mean we can’t be close,” he said. “I want you to know, I’ll still be here when this is all over and we can kiss all we want.”
“You don’t know what you’re signing up for.” She laughed, a sniffly chuckle. “I’m pretty messed up. You better deliver on that.”
“That’s just the kind of thing a guy likes to hear. Sends us dudes with commitment issues running for the hills.”
“You think you’ve got commitment issues,” she said. “What a pair.”
“If you can work on trusting me, I can work on waiting.”
“I guess so,” she said. She and the dog snuggled against Stevens until they fell asleep in a pile on the futon. Lei didn’t remember her reading until the next day.
Chapter 22
He watched her for the second morning, this time sitting still behind a fern tree. He had that feeling again- anticipation. His favorite part of the hunt. Even though he’d had her already, she didn’t know that. In a few minutes, she would.
She woke slowly, groggily, turning onto her side, moaning a little from her injuries. She sat up, realizing she was naked, and reached for the now-grubby sheet to cover herself, the handcuffs clinking. She scanned the clearing. He felt sure she would see him behind the scrim of fern, but she didn’t.
She seemed to be taking inventory of her body, feeling her breasts, and then looking down at them. They were blotched with suck marks, and she gave a little cry of horror. The hair stood up on his neck. She felt lower, her stomach, her thighs, her vagina.
She closed her eyes. He saw the blood drain from her face, and in the pearly dawn light she collapsed, curling into a fetal ball, weeping. The sight was so arousing he felt himself getting hard, and reached down, unzipping his pants and stroking, his eyes still on her. She cried and moaned, hugging herself.
Suddenly she jumped up, swaying a little but standing, her legs spread wide. “Fuck you!” she yelled. Her voice was like a cannon in the forest, silencing the birds, stilling his hand.
“Fuck you, you fucking coward! Come out and fight like a man, you cocksucker! Look me in the eye when you rape me, you bastard!”
He sat paralyzed, shriveling. She threw back her head and screamed, again and again, roars of rage and pain. She kicked over the ice chest, bashed her cuffed hands against the poles of the shelter until it collapsed. She ran to
