CHAPTER THREE

 

It’s been two days since I last saw Beau, my new neighbour. A hot, sexy neighbour who’d painted not only my living room, but my bedroom.

It hadn’t even occurred to me to ask him what he did for a living, but I doubt being a painter had you travelling across the country. And the only other thing I knew about him was that he liked to build things, and I don’t see that causing the need to travel for work.

The first thing I did when I woke up the morning after I met Beau was look at my foot, which was surprisingly not as tender as it had been the night before.

The second was to admire the incredible job he did on my flat.

The third was to call Lily and tell her all about my new neighbour. As a bookworm, she lives for this stuff, and when she lays eyes on Beau, I wouldn’t be surprised if she starts drooling over him. He is a force to be reckoned with.

Then I was startled by a knock on my front door. Instead of it being said hot, sexy neighbour, it was my sofa.

I spent the rest of the day catching up on housework, Beau constantly on my mind. I wanted to see him again, if only so I could thank him.

When I woke up the following morning, I made a batch of cookies and took them to his place. I told myself it was just to say thank you, but when he didn’t answer, the disappointment I felt told me there was more to it.

I was starting to believe I’d made him up in my head. I never heard him drilling, moving around or coming to and from his flat.

Shaking away my thoughts of Beau, I concentrate on the task at hand. The red-brick building with tall ceilings seems intimidating as I look up from the bottom of the steps.

Collings called me this morning to come in and meet with his new officer at the police station. Apparently, this guy is good at profiling and stuff like that, but if he hasn’t managed to catch Noah yet, he can’t be as good as Collings has made out.

Guilt immediately hits me. They’re only trying to help me and there’s only so much they can do. I should be thanking them, not dismissing them. 

I walk inside with a new perspective. I’m not going to cry or scream if they give me bad news. I’m going to take it on the chin and pull my big girl pants on.

Because I’ve noticed since the break-in that it’s slowly begun to control my life. It’s taken my home away from me because I let it. It’s made me scared to sleep, wondering if he’ll come back. I even jump when my phone beeps with an email because I keep thinking it’s him.

It never is.

Any doubt I had that it couldn’t have been Noah was immediately dismissed when his account suddenly disappeared. When it happened, my first suspect was Noah, but then I felt bad for accusing someone who could be innocent. Now, there is no doubt in my mind.

“Hi, I’m here to see―”

“Faith, hi. You can come on through,” Collings interrupts, opening the side door for me to enter. I smile politely at the officer on the front desk and follow Collings.

When we walk into a pretty cosy room, I’m surprised. I kept picturing a metal table with screwed down metal chairs and a one-way mirror. Instead, there’s a grey sofa against the wall, a small table with a vase of bright, colourful flowers and a round table and chairs. Nothing formal or intimidating, like I’d presumed.

He sees me looking around in surprise. “Not what you expected?”

Laughing, I shake my head. “No. The way my brothers and cousins go on about it, you’d think it was dank and dirty.”

“Any chance your brother is Ashton Carter?”

My eyebrows rise. “No, he’s my cousin,” I tell him slowly. “Why?”

“He’s a regular in here. Has been since he turned fifteen. The kid even talks the female officers into buying him food. Sometimes I think he pulls stuff just to get pampered.”

My brain tries to conjure up what Ashton could have possibly done. At eighteen, he’s always up to something, but the one Carter rule is to never get caught. Not that we commit crimes, only minor infractions. The guys just get into a lot of fights, a few pranks, and possibly nearly set an old church on fire with fireworks. But I’ve never actually picked Ashton up from here. That privilege went to my brothers and other cousins.

“That sounds about right. He loves his food, especially desserts. Can’t see why he’d be brought in though. He’s actually the tamest of my family.”

He laughs at that, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I know. I was just starting out when your uncle Max kept getting brought in. He made my job hell. Ashton always gets brought in for drunk and disorderly, but whenever he gets here, he’s sober as a judge and laying on the charm.”

My laughter spills free, because that really does sound like Aston, but it soon dies when the door opens and in walks Beau, decked out in police uniform, looking utterly sinful.

My mouth opens, then closes, before I finally manage to speak. “I baked cookies for you. You weren’t in,” I blurt out, feeling my cheeks heat.

His lips twitch as he eyes Collings, before turning back to me. “Hey, Faith.”

“You two know each other?” Collings asks, eyebrows raised.

I don’t need a mirror to know my cheeks are flaming red. “He’s my neighbour.”

“Oh, well, look at that.”

“I only found out who you were today. If you’d like another officer working your case, let me know,” Beau says.

I snap out of my daze, out of the shock of seeing him.

In freaking uniform.

Looking like every woman’s wet dream.

And if a woman denies she’s ever had one… she’s freaking lying.

“Um, no, you can work me. I mean, work for me. I mean my case,” I ramble, groaning out loud.

His deep, masculine chuckle sends a tingle shooting down to my sex. “All right, take a seat. We need go over everything one more time. It’s probably going to be the same questions, but you might remember something you didn’t before. Okay?”

I nod before finding my voice, “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“We managed to get printed copies of the emails that transpired between you and Noah Anderson, thanks to One Love communicating and working with us. So, I guess, we need to start off from that night.” He holds up a small pile of papers before continuing. “Where did you get ready?”

I’m feeling on edge as I sit straighter in my seat. I can’t seem to look away from him, from his lips, from the way he moves or the way his tattooed fingers grip his pen. I’m being incredibly gawky, and it’s making the whole thing intense.

“I got ready at home, with my friend, Nina.”

He looks down to one of the pieces of paper, reading something over. “Nina, she’s your best friend?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, so you left your flat. Was there anyone in the hallway or outside the main door?”

I think back but see nothing in my mind. “No. No one lived next door then, so it was empty. We met the taxi outside and I didn’t see or notice anything out of the ordinary, but then I wasn’t really looking for anything. It was late and most of the town was closed. It was also raining pretty heavily.”

“And your friend went to the restaurant with you?”

My fingers entwine on my lap. I’m beginning to feel like I’m being interrogated, like I’m the one who did something wrong.

“She came with me in the taxi, but as soon as we arrived, we said our goodbyes. She walked over the road to the bar and I went inside.”

“Straight away?”

My eyebrows draw together. “Yes. It was raining and my feet were soaked, so I ran in.”

“And then what?”

“The male host asked for the name the table had been booked under, and I told him Anderson. It was the name Noah told me to―”

“He booked it?” Beau interrupts, startling me.

I nod, trying to remember if I’d already told them that. “Yes. It’s hard to get a table there. My friend, Nina, was going to eat there too, in case he turned out to be a creep, but they don’t book singles. By the time she got someone to agree to go with her, they were already fully booked.”

My palms begin to sweat as I ramble on, having no idea where this is going.

Beau looks to Collings and gives him a nod.

“I’ll be back in a moment. It’s been a while, they probably won’t find anything,” Collings says before leaving.

“What’s going on?” I ask nervously.

“Collings is just going to check if anyone had Rosa’s call records checked and if there was any payment information left. Normally, with restaurants like that, you have to put down a deposit.”

Ah, I see.

“I’m not sure. He just said to leave it to him.”

He gives me gentle, warm smile, and I feel myself melt against the table, feeling like he just handed me a gift.

“Okay, so, you booked in and went to sit down?”

I think back, trying to remember moments I hadn’t considered before. No one had gone into this much detail with me in my previous interviews. They had been more focussed on my journey home; what I saw, what I didn’t see and what was taken. No one had stopped to really ask about Rosa’s, other than to confirm I was there at the time of the burglary.

“No. The host told me to wait in the bar until my table was ready, so I did.”

“Did you sit next to someone, near someone?”

“No. I sat on a small couch by the fire. No one sat on the one opposite or next to me. There were a few couples sat at tables nearby, but I paid no attention. I was texting Nina, worried because he hadn’t arrived.”

He nods, then looks back down to his paper. “What happened after? Did you get seated or did you wait there until you left?”

“Anderson was called, so I stepped up and let the waitress walk me to the table.” I pause, remembering something that slipped my mind when the police questioned me. In my defence, I had just been robbed of everything, of every penny I had, and my precious necklace was taken.

“What?”

I shake my head. “It’s probably nothing,” I whisper, feeling foolish.

“Let me be the judge of that.” He smiles, eyeing me gently, as if I may break. My hands are shaking. I remove them from where I’d been gripping the table and back to my lap, hiding them.

“When I was getting shown to my seat, a man knocked into me. I can’t even remember what he looked like, only that he had really dark eyes. I dropped my bag and the contents went everywhere.” I gasp, feeling stupid. “Oh, my God. He could have been the one to take my things. I didn’t even check whether I’d picked everything up. I was too freaking embarrassed. And he made me nervous—in a bad way. He said something… He said… something about a date. It stunned me. Yeah, it was the easiest assumption but―” I’m breathing hard, my hands back on the table as tears spring to my eyes.

How could I have been so stupid?

All this, because I’m a hopeless romantic.

Always, since as far back as I can remember, I have wanted to get married. I have wanted my Prince Charming. My forever. I have wanted the big wedding, the big, puffy, princess, wedding dress. I have wanted it all. It’s why I’ve never settled. I’d never said yes to a boy, hoping, over time, I would know he was the one, because I knew when I did find my soul mate, I wouldn’t need hope. I would just know, deep in my soul.

It was stupid.

Naïve.

Reckless.

“I’m so freaking stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Faith. You didn’t know. Thousands, if not millions of women and men use dating sites, and a majority of the time, they are successful. People find their other half and marry them. They find love. It’s not stupid.”

I wipe at my tears, feeling frustrated with myself. Nothing he says can make me feel better. “I am. I let a stranger into my life. I didn’t even meet him and he screwed me over. What kind of person does that make me?”

“It makes you a faithful, trustworthy one. You didn’t know what he was going to do. Nobody could have predicted that, Faith.

“Now, I know this is hard for you, but is there anything you can remember about the man you bumped into?”

My eyes close as I picture myself back in the restaurant, walking between tables and hearing the endless chatter around me.

When I get to the part where I’m bumped into, my mind goes fuzzy. All I can see is his eyes. They’re brown, almost black, with no emotion inside them. There’s just nothing there, like he has no soul.

“All I can see is his eyes,” I tell him, sagging with defeat. Why can’t I see his face?

“That’s fine. Hopefully, Rosa’s will have something on camera.”

My ears perk up. “Really? Oh, my God, does that mean you’ll probably find him? Find my necklace?”

He takes my hand in his and my mouth falls open, a breath passing my lips. His skin is warm, calloused—probably from all the woodwork he does.

My eyes snap to his, and seemingly without thought, he rubs his thumb over the top of my hand as he stares back at me with a feverish intensity.

Collings walking in has us splitting apart, and Beau quickly turns his attention to the papers in front of him. “I’ve got Mathews on the case. Did I interrupt something?” he asks, looking at us both with a raised eyebrow.

“No, we’re good. We’ve got more to go on now. As for your necklace, it will probably be a lost cause,” he tells me, wincing at his words.

I can tell my face crumbles, because I can feel it, the hurt that must be showing in my eyes. It’s all reflecting off his expression, filled with pity, as tears fall down my cheeks.

“No,” I choke out on a breath. “I need it, it’s mine.”

His arms tenses, like he’s forcing himself not to reach for me. There’s a part of me that wishes he would, that he would take me in his arms, but that’s just crazy. We hardly know each other.

“I’m sorry, Faith. We have been searching for it. All the pawn shops in a ten-mile radius have a description and picture to look out for. One of them will contact us if it turns up.”

My head moves into a nod, but I’m not present. Deep down, I know the necklace is gone, but I can’t accept it. After losing both my great-grandparents, I know how much it means to keep hold of the things that mean the most to you. That necklace was everything to me.

“Is that everything?” I whisper, not meeting his eyes.

“Yeah. Let me walk you out.”

Again, I nod, but I don’t pay attention. I walk mindlessly to the door, which he opens for me, and step out.

The second we’re outside, the harsh weather hits me. It’s raining, the wind whipping my hair around my face sharply.

“Where’s your car?”

Fingers trembling, I point to the visitor’s bay and start over, trying to duck my face into my chest to protect myself from the wind.

I open my car door and am just about to get in when he stops me and turns me to face him, the rain pouring down, soaking us both.

“We will work our hardest to find who did this, Faith. From the look on your face, I can see the necklace means a lot to you.”

I wipe my wet hair from my face and nod. “More than the money he took, and the things he trashed. It’s irreplaceable.”

“I need to get back, but I’ll come over later and grab those cookies.”

I wince. “My brother ate them. But I’ll make some more.”

“Looking forward to it,” he says, then does the damnedest thing. He winks. Actually freaking winks, and my heart thunders in my chest.

Holy shit, that was hot.

I nod and just stand there, gawking like a moron. He leans down…

My eyes close, wondering if he’s going to kiss me. I even stretch up on my toes, so he doesn’t strain his neck. Hell, I’m practically begging him to kiss me. It’s something I’ve imagined more than once since I first met him.

Which is so out of character for me.

I’m never like that.

I thought my female libido was broken or something.

But with Beau, it’s on fire.

And I almost collapse… in disappointment when his warm lips press against my forehead. He knocks my chin with his knuckles. “See you later.” And then he’s off, running back into the police station.

“Holy Moses,” I curse, looking up to the sky, my eyes blinking rapidly against the rain.

The icy water doesn’t cool my burning body, or the fiery need swirling in the pool of my core.

My thighs clench together, and a throbbing needs pulses between my legs.

And he only kissed me on the head.

The freaking head.

Like I’m a relative or a close friend. Like I’m a child.

Thoroughly drenched head-to-toe, I get in my car, not caring about getting my seats wet, and head back home.

There, I’m going to make my weight’s worth in cookies and eat them.

After I take a long, cold shower.