PREVIOUSLY

“You bastard!” he heard her call loudly as he jogged down the steps of the front porch. A slight breeze had come up and he stood for a minute on the sidewalk, letting it cool him as he allowed his pulse to return to normal. He turned to the left, heading for the place he had agreed to meet his driver. He took a deep breath.

“If you only knew, Babe. If you only knew.”

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Téa leaned over and stared into the murky depths of the Llantano River. There was no breeze and the surface of the water was glassy smooth, undisturbed by any boat traffic so late at night. She studied her reflection, distorted by the gentle wave action. Suddenly, the image fragmented into a million pieces as a tear that had rolled off Téa’s nose fell into the middle of it. The young woman wiped frantically at her cheeks, doing her best to control her roiling emotions.

Carlotta would have a fit if she found out Téa was down at the docks in the middle of the night. So would John or Todd, for that matter. But somehow she knew that she had to be here tonight; that this might be the only place on earth where she could make sense of the mixed up puzzle that was her life. When the taxi had dropped her off at home after her nightmarish date, she had undressed and gone to bed, burrowing under the covers and attempting to clear her mind of everything that had happened during the previous evening. But after an hour of tossing and turning, she had dressed in a dark sweat suit and gone out into the night. She wasn’t a complete idiot; she did have her mace and a cell phone in her pocket. Although she knew the dock was a high crime area, it had always been a place where she could think clearly, and she had instinctively sought it out tonight.

Glancing at the water, she noticed a thick mist beginning to roll in over the water. Ever since she had lived in Llanview, she had never ceased to wonder how the dock could be foggy when the rest of the city was experiencing warm, clear weather. It was almost as if some misguided set designer had ordered that the docks were always to be misty without sparing a thought for any kind of continuity. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a light footfall somewhere behind her. She tensed, reaching into her pocket to grip her can of mace. The steps continued to come closer, until the intruder seemed to be directly behind her. The noise stopped and Téa waited, prepared to spring into action at the slightest touch. Minutes went by, and nothing happened. She didn’t know how or why, but gradually Téa realized that she had nothing to fear. In fact, she knew without a doubt who it was that was standing so close to her. As she relaxed, the figure moved forward, coming to stand beside her at the water’s edge.

“How did you know it was me?” asked Todd quietly as he watched the mist blowing across the water.

“I don’t know. I just felt something. Are you stalking me?” she asked, keeping her voice even.

“Nah. I needed some fresh air and I ended up here. I didn’t know you’d be here, too.”

“I seem to be showing up in a lot of unexpected places tonight,” she said, putting her head down and sniffing. “Where’s your date? Heidi, wasn’t it?” she asked, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice.

“Hell if I know. Last I saw of her, she was about to dig into her precious duck dinner.”

“You left her at the restaurant?” asked Téa incredulously.

“Yeah. I don’t think she was too happy about it. Something tells me I’ll be looking for a new magazine stylist tomorrow morning.” Téa couldn’t control a little chuckle, and Todd turned toward her. “It didn’t look like you and Detective Do-Right parted on the best of terms, either.”

“That’s an understatement,” mumbled Téa. Todd moved a little closer and she sighed deeply, reaching up to her neck to fumble with her necklace. She was thinking of the time that Todd had jumped into the river at this very spot to retrieve it for her when it had fallen in the water. It was at that moment when she had realized that she loved him, and that she wanted the trial reconciliation to take. So much had happened since then, it almost seemed like it had happened to another person.

“Weird, huh?” said Todd, interrupting her reverie. “It’s scary how we always seem to end up in the same places. Makes you wonder if all that crap about fate is true.”

“It is hard to ignore,” she agreed. She turned to face him, searching his eyes in the reflective light from the river. They were just a few inches apart. “Todd, can I ask you something?” He shrugged. Taking that as assent, she continued. “Tonight, out at the pond, I had a feeling you wanted to tell me something before Heidi interrupted. Was I right?”

The silence seemed to last forever. Finally, looking like he had come to a decision, Todd said, “No, you’re imagining things.” Téa felt her heart sink. She looked away abruptly before Todd could see the tears starting to escape from her eyes. Suddenly, she felt his warm hand brushing lightly over her cheek. “It wasn’t talking that I had in mind when I saw you out there in that dress,” he said huskily. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turned her toward him. Before she knew what she was doing, she moved into his arms, relaxing against the warmth of his body as his arms wrapped tightly around her back. She felt a soft kiss on the top of her head and she slowly looked up. With a strangled sigh, Todd closed his eyes and covered her lips with his own. The kiss was gentle at first, sweet and warm and filled with all the pent up longing of months apart. Téa felt her heart beating wildly as she reveled in the feeling of being cherished and protected within Todd’s arms as his lips moved sensuously over hers. But affection soon gave way to desire, and Téa felt a bolt of flame shoot to the center of her body as Todd slipped his tongue into her mouth. Now their hands slid up and down each other’s bodies as they breathed heavily through their noses, neither one wanting to break away. Finally feeling that she would melt into a pool of molten flesh any second, Téa pulled away, pushing Todd’s head into her shoulder. The two remained entwined, panting wildly as Téa stroked his hair, both of them willing their pulses to return to normal.

Todd nuzzled her ear, sending electric pulses of desire through every vein in her body. She didn’t want it to stop, but another desire was starting to dominate her sexual needs. She wanted Todd in the worst way, but she didn’t want to spoil any future they might have by rushing headlong into something neither one of them was ready for. If this is what she wanted, and deep down she knew it was, then she wanted it to last this time. “Téa?” murmured Todd into her ear. “What do we do now?” She snuggled deeper into his arms, gratified that he also realized that they needed to take things slowly and build their relationship from the ground up.

“I don’t know, Querido,” she sighed, running her fingers through his long hair and staring into his incredible eyes. “All I know is that I’ve tried living without you, and it’s left my life an empty void. But I’m scared, Todd. Scared that we’ll make the same mistakes, that we’ll end up hurting each other, just like we did before.”

“I’m scared, too, but things are different now. We’ve both been through a lot. We don’t have to make the same mistakes, right? All I know is that I want to try, Téa. Just give me a chance to show you that I’ve changed, that you don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

“I want that too, Todd,” she answered. “But let’s take things slowly this time. No quickie marriages, no contracts. Let’s just try to be a normal couple for once.” He chuckled into her hair.

“Normal, huh? So what do normal couples do in a situation like this, Delgado?”

“They do ‘normal’ things together to see if they’re compatible, to see if they really can make a life together.”

“Normal things? You mean like a date?” He pulled away slightly to study her face. She gave him a little smile which almost made his heart stop.

“Well, you know, we’ve never really had a ‘normal’ date. We got married before we’d even shared a meal together.”

“There was the opera,” he murmured.

“When you were pretending to be someone else.”

“The charity auction?”

“I got thrown out a window, Todd. I don’t think that counts as ‘normal’.

“Hmmmm. You may have a point. Gosh, I don’t even know how to do ‘normal’ with you, Delgado. What do you want to do?”

“Well, dinner and some dancing might be fun.” He groaned.

“Dancing? C’mon! You don’t play fair.” His eyes brightened. “How about a football game?” Now Téa rolled her eyes.

“Let’s compromise. We said we’re going to take things slowly, so that means more than one date, right?” He nodded, looking wary. “So, why don’t we do the dinner and dancing first, then we’ll go to a football game for our second date?”

“I don’t suppose you’d go for the game for our first date?”

“Uh uh. I don’t want to be telling our grandchildren that our first date was watching a bunch of men trying to kill each other.”

“Grandchildren? We’re going to have grandchildren?” he asked happily, planting a kiss on her neck. Distracted, Téa pushed him away.

“Maybe--if you’re a good enough dancer, Manning.” She forced herself to pull away from him. Fighting off the urge to kiss him again, she said, “It’s getting late and I should be heading home.”

He sighed deeply. “Yeah, me too. So, I guess I’ll call you and ask you out, huh? Dancing.” He spat the word like an epithet.

“Your enthusiasm is overwhelming,” she said in an amused tone as she started walking toward the street. He caught up to her, wrapping an arm protectively around her back as they strolled along.

“It’s you I’m crazy about, Téa,” he said forcefully. “And I don’t care if you want to go dancing, alligator wrestling, or bungee jumping. All I want is to be with you.”

“I want that, too, Querido.” They stopped for a little affectionate peck on the lips, then continued into the night. They were so wrapped up in each other, neither noticed a shadow detach itself from the wall to trail along in their wake.

John Sykes watched from the darkness as Todd helped Téa into the back of his limo, which had been waiting for him at the curb. He saw Téa reach eagerly for her ex-husband, settling comfortably in his arms as he pulled the door shut. The car engine purred smoothly as they disappeared into the night. The detective moved into the middle of the street, watching as the taillights receded into the distance. Trembling uncontrollably, he pulled out his automatic pistol and chambered a round. Lifting his arm to shoulder height, he squeezed off a shot. The sound reverberated wildly around the deserted buildings. Dogs barked; unknown creatures scuffled in the garbage piles. “Hey! You there!” shouted a security guard from an overhead window in one of the warehouses. Looking up at him angrily with his pale blue eyes, Sykes quickly returned to the shadows before the man could get a good look at him.

Téa suddenly sat up as she and Todd were necking in the back of the limo. “Did you hear that?” she asked, her eyes wide. “It sounded like a gunshot!” Todd pulled her back into his arms.

“Nah, you’re imagining things,” he murmured. “Just some junky car backfiring, no doubt. We’ve got more important things to worry about, Téa.” He nuzzled her neck. “Like how in the world I’m going to be able to keep my hands off you while we’re ‘taking it slow’.”

TO BE CONTINUED

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