Before Noah (Daniels Family 3)

Decisively, he nods his head before capturing my lips in a devouring kiss, leaving me breathless and panting as he explores my mouth with his tongue and my body with his hands.

It doesn’t escape me that I’m withholding an even larger secret from him. One I have to come clean about.

In the morning.

Tonight is about us gaining the forgiveness we need to move forward with our lives together.

5

Ember

When Noah left this morning, I pretended to sleep because I was afraid that last night was all a dream. I didn’t want reality to come crashing down like so many other nights and experience crippling agony from not having him as my own.

But now, as I stand in front of my bathroom mirror, another message left behind, I know it wasn’t. This is real, and he’s here. Not just a figment of my imagination anymore.

We spent the night holding each other, sharing sweet kisses and tender touches in between sleeping. Neither of us pushed for more, and despite having made love multiple times before, it was the most intimacy we’ve ever shared. Sliding open the flap of the envelope, I pull the carefully crafted paper out and unfold it.

Like a fool, my silence left you shook.

The reminder of our separation is painful, but this time, I can breathe through it. I can accept that, despite the way he went about it, Noah was genuinely trying to protect me in the best way he knew how, and I can’t be angry about that.

Knowing that I don’t have classes until this afternoon, I rush through a shower then search for my wallet. I should have mentioned it to Noah, but we had much more important things to discuss.

After tearing my house apart and scavenging through my car again, I still can’t locate it and realize I will have to file a police report. Making a few quick phone calls to my bank and credit card company, I have replacements on the way, and they’ve frozen both cards. Luckily, there has been no activity on either since I left the doctor’s office, except my grocery run yesterday.

Noticing the time, I realize I have to leave to make it to my first class on time. Filing a police report will have to wait until this evening.

Noah

“So it worked then?” Kol questions as I drive to the next parking garage location.

“I suppose.” I doubt he wants to hear all the details of his sister’s love life. “I spent the night with her, and I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a woman for as long as we did.” I fail to mention that we weren’t intimate physically, but mentally, I’ve never felt so connected to another person before. It’s given me hope for our future. But I sense she’s still holding back from me.

We’ll work it out in time. Holding back on pushing for Ember to open up completely is hard because I want to know everything she’s thinking and feeling, but I can’t force it. Not yet.

Arriving at the downtown garage our last victim reported her run-in with the mystery man, I scan the area for anything out of the ordinary. “Lots of cameras around here,” I observe. It’s a more populated area than the last few, with shops, offices, and a medical building nearby.

“I’m going to visit a few stores, see if they’ve noticed anything unusual and if they’re willing to share their recordings with us,” Kol says, staring around for a few minutes before shaking his head.

“What?” I ask. He’s obviously contemplating something.

“I’m not sure. It feels familiar here,” he mumbles, rapping his knuckles on the roof of the car as he leans against the vehicle.

“We worked this district in uniform,” I point out. For nearly a year, we patrolled this area.

“Did we?” Kol chuckles. “I must be getting old than man. Too much time in the office.”

Shaking my head at the poor man, I tell him, “I’ll hit the garage, check out each level. Talk to anyone who might be frequent visitors, see if they have seen anything.”

Going our separate ways, I walk around the outside of the structure, taking note of all garage exits, entrances to buildings, and who has cameras monitoring the alleyways.

With four levels for our perp to choose his victims on, I start on the top level and look around. Peering over the edge, I can see the street below and Kol strolling from one store to another. This would be a bird’s eye view for our assailant to choose his next victim. Observing women leave the stores and enter the garage, all he would have to do is watch the elevator numbers to discover which level they’re parked on and then take the stairs and perform his accidental run-in.

I’m hating this fucker more and more with each passing second.

Waiting for a man to enter the garage—because I don’t want to scare the shit out of some woman—I head to the elevator and watch for which floor he stops on before rushing down the stairs to that level.

As soon as I exit the stairwell, I see the man walking down the middle of the platform, keys out, head down as he looks at his phone. Walking past him, I see how easy it would have been to bump into him and continue with our perpetrator’s ruse. Not only are my suspicions about how he’s choosing his victims possible, but they’re doable.