That she’d been admitted on something other than her own merit stung. Buckland’s observing them made it worse. But Jeremy was no longer talking about the cops. Where are you, Noah? “How would you possibly know that, Jeremy?” she asked.
“I know everything,” he spat contemptuously. “I see everything. I know every medical fact, your grades, your favorite color, and that you hate beets and heights. I can see it all.”
I can see it all… Her grades, likes, dislikes… Sonofabitch. He hacked into my file. Eve didn’t know whether to laugh at the irony or be angry. In the end she did neither, opting for a weariness that was not an act. “I did not call that reporter today, so you can go back and tell Dr. Donner that whatever he was worried I’d say, I didn’t.”
Jeremy shrugged. “I’m not leaving until Donner gets here. If you didn’t tell the press, then you told the cops. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been with them last night.”
That was the first logical leap he’d made. “Donner’s coming here? Why?”
“To escort you back to his office, where he’ll formally kick you out of the program.”
Alarms went off in her head. Donner was coming. For me. “Which would open up a spot for you?” she asked, forcing a smile.
He nodded, graciously. “Yes.”
She kept her tone friendly. “So you think I went to the cops about… what?”
“Don’t know,” Jeremy admitted. His eyes dropped to the magazine. “That’s Webster, isn’t it? The cop that reporter saw you with.”
Indeed it was. And that was Webster, getting out of his car on the curb. He’d be coming through the Deli door in about ten seconds and would validate everything Jeremy and Buckland suspected. The seconds ticked and she made a decision.
There was a way to explain away her presence at both Christy’s and Martha’s homes yesterday, hopefully shutting down both Buck-land and Jeremy. She just prayed Webster would understand and play along.
She smiled proudly, running her thumb over the small photo. “Yes, that’s my Noah. I think he should have been on the cover, but I am a little biased.” She stood, waving broadly as the doorbell dinged and Noah came in. “Noah, honey, I’m over here.”
Webster’s eyes flicked down to the stunned face of Jeremy Lyons, then without missing a beat, he approached, his smile warm. Her heart thumped hard in her ears, harder in her chest. She knew what she needed to do. Channeling Greer and every imaginary character she’d ever created, she reached both arms up around his neck and pulled his faced down for a hard kiss on the lips, making it linger a few seconds longer than might have been appropriate.
His arms came around her naturally, as if they’d done this a thousand times. He was rock solid, just as she’d known he’d be. But his lips were far softer than she’d expected. And sweeter. And hotter. What have I done?
She eased back, rocked to the soles of her feet. There had been a split second of shock in his green eyes, quickly obliterated by a flare of desire. It was still there, tempered by his control.
Remembering what she had to do, she slipped her arm around his waist and turned back to Jeremy, whose mouth had fallen open. “Noah, I want you to meet Jeremy Lyons. He works for my graduate advisor, Dr. Donner.”
Noah shook Jeremy’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said, then put his arm around her shoulders, lightly squeezing.
“Likewise,” Jeremy murmured.
“So, Jeremy, now you know. We hoped to keep it to ourselves a little longer. You know how people talk. But…” Eve shrugged. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag, Web.”
“We knew we couldn’t keep it a secret forever,” Webster said, his voice a soft caress that sent shivers racing across her skin and she had to remind herself that none of this was real. It was as imaginary as any relationship in Shadowland.
You can’t have him, so don’t dream. But she would dream, because now she knew what it was like to hold him, to feel his body against hers. What have I done?
Noah cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I can’t stay, babe. I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Oh,” she said feigning disappointment. “I understand.” But when her smile faltered, it was sincere. “Then, can you take me home? I had kind of a difficult morning.”
Webster rested his cheek against the top of her head and for just a moment more Eve held on to the dream, leaning into him. “Sure,” he said quietly. “Let’s go.”
She gathered her things and walked away, Webster’s arm still tight around her shoulders. The cold air on her hot face felt good and she let out a long sigh of relief. Phelps was sitting in the front passenger seat, eyes wide, obviously having seen it all.
Webster opened the back door, and only then did he relinquish his hold. “You’d better make me that key after all,” he murmured, surprising a snort of laughter from her.
“Babe?” she asked, and he smiled wryly.
“I panicked. Now, buckle up,” he said and closed the door.
Jack waited until they’d cleared the first intersection before twisting around to stare at her, then at Webster. “And that was…?”
Really nice, Eve thought, resisting the urge to lick her lips to see if she could still taste him. A dream. “Damage control,” she murmured. “It’s been an eventful morning.”
Tuesday, February 23, 9:55 a.m.
Noah’s heart had not stopped pounding. First he’d feared for her safety, then she’d rocked him with a kiss she’d called “damage control.”
Now it pounded with helpless rage as his hands twisted the wheel, wishing it was the reporter’s neck as she relayed the details of Buck-land’s visit. “He threatened you?” he asked ominously, and in his rearview he could see her grow wary.
“I dealt with it,” she said. “Whatever hold he thought he had over me, he doesn’t.”
And for that, he was fiercely proud of her. “It doesn’t matter. He had no right.” No right to extort her with her own assault. It was as if she’d been victimized a second time.
“You’re not helping,” she said softly and she was right.
“I’m sorry.” But he wasn’t sorry, not really.
“At any rate,” she said, “Buckland’s been following you to your crime scenes. He followed me to the coffee shop.”
“He was there?” Jack asked. “Just now?”
“Yeah. I guess he thought I’d meet you, to warn you about the pictures. I didn’t want him to think he was right. So I… did what I thought I needed to do.”
Damage control, Noah thought bitterly. “I understand.”
“Hopefully Buckland and Jeremy don’t think I’m part of your case anymore. But you need to watch out. Buckland wants his story and he’ll keep following you till he gets it.”
“He’s following us now,” Jack said. “Has been since we left the Deli.”
Noah checked his rearview again, focusing on the traffic behind him instead of the woman in the backseat. A dark Subaru was maintaining a safe distance. “Sonofabitch.”
“You gotta hand it to the man for persistence,” she said, wry amusement in her voice. “Are we going to lose him in a mad dash? Is that why you told me to buckle up?”
Noah chuckled in spite of the anger churning in his gut. “Sorry. It’s against regs.”
“Well, damn,” she said. “I haven’t had a good mad dash in years.”
Jack twisted in his seat so he could look back at her. “If I promised you a mad dash, would you kiss me like that?” There was something harsh and almost demeaning in Jack’s tone and Noah shot him a furious glare.
In the rearview, Eve’s smile disappeared and she looked away, embarrassed. “No.”
“Jack,” Noah gritted.
Jack settled in his seat with a sarcastic sigh. “Can’t blame a man for trying, Web.”
Noah bit his tongue. Focus on the case, not flattening Jack’s pretty face.
Eve must have thought the same. “Now what? I tried to confuse things by insinuating that I was there to meet Noah, but I don’t know if I convinced him.”