Embers of Torment (Power and Passion #2)

Chapter 5

Della

M y stomach rumbled for the umpteenth time as Sofie and I sat at one of the tables in the plaza. Licking my bottom lip, I eyeballed what I hoped was my turkey, bacon, and white cheddar sub on the tray in Adam's hands. He had emailed me earlier saying he had to run a personal errand but would pick up our lunch from the café downstairs if I wanted to meet him there at noon. I responded by telling him what to order and was now fighting the urge to barrel over to him, snag my sandwich, and stuff it down my throat.

Sofie laughed from the seat diagonal to me, which wasn't helping my mood.

"What?" I scowled at her.

"You look ready to jump out of your chair and attack Adam any second."

"I can't help it. I woke up super late this morning and didn't get a chance to eat breakfast. Now I'm starving, and Adam's walking over here way too slow."

"You know what they say about patience."

"Yep, and that character trait is non-existent right now."

"Hmm. Hungry and grumpy. You're not having the smoothest day so far." Sofie tilted her head while she studied my face. "Did something happen?"

"I couldn't sleep for some reason. I must have tossed and turned until three o'clock." That wasn't exactly the truth. I knew what had kept me awake, and his name was Jace Welch. He'd been on my mind for the past six days, and I couldn't turn it off. Every time I closed my eyes, I could visualize him holding me outside the coffee shop, remembering how it had shocked the bejesus out of me until I realized how much I liked it. It was as if I could feel his arms around me, his tenderness, and the warmth of his touch, and I craved for him to do it again.

Even stranger was this nagging vibe I couldn't shake, telling me I knew Jace from somewhere else, which was absurd. He was from North Carolina, and I'd never been there, leaving me unable to figure out where, why, or how our lives could have crossed. Thinking myself silly, I chalked it up to my lust-filled attraction to him, run of bad dates, and lack of sleep.

Adam set his tray down and took the seat opposite me. He passed Sofie her lunch, then slid my sandwich and root beer across the table. "Guess what the letters A and W stand for in A&W Root Beer?"

I arched my eyebrow. "It must be trivia time, and I have no freaking idea."

"It stands for Allen and Wright." Seeing my unimpressed expression, Adam made a face and turned his back on me. "Sofie, what are you and Reid doing this weekend?"

"Ginny's coming over for dinner tonight. She wants to see Evie and Wyatt. And Reid, her, and I are going to the play Come From Away tomorrow. I hired a new babysitter. It'll be her first time with the kids."

"It's too bad Ginny is going with you. Evie loves her, and she's the perfect sitter. I've always liked how close Reid is with his mom too." Adam frowned and looked down at his tray. "It's a shame your mother is such a flake."

Sofie burst out laughing. "That's a heck of a polite way to describe her. I have to say it makes my life a lot easier with my mother out of the picture, especially since our last interaction was so ugly and dramatic. If I remember correctly, she called me an ungrateful bitch and said I'd be sorry for kicking her out of our house. And now that Denny's dead, I'm sure her opinion of me is a hundred times worse. Honestly, it would have been hell trying to explain to the kids that their grandmother is a drug addict and prostitute."

"I guess so. Did you ever figure out what happened to her?" Adam asked.

"Not a clue. My mother could be deceased, for all we know. I hate to admit it. But that wouldn't be the worst thing. She's a dangerous and vindictive woman, and my whole life, she did everything she could to rip me and any inkling of happiness I had to shreds. It killed Reid when he learned about the things she did to me. I think that's why he's so protective."

"I remember how distraught he was when your mother and brother showed up years ago, and all that stuff happened. Everyone was worried about him," Adam said, his expression solemn.

"It was a horrible time for us, but it's in the past. Anyway, we need to talk about a more cheerful subject."

I stretched my shoulders while they chatted, an uneasiness working its way up my spine. I rubbed the back of my neck. "Do either of you feel kind of weird right now?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "It's only you because I'm perfectly fine."

"I'm not aware of anything unusual. Why? What's going on?" Sofie eyed me warily and leaned back in her chair.

"I don't know. I feel weird… creeped out like I did at your house when I babysat. I hate to say it, but it's like someone is watching us."

"That's because they are." Adam nodded toward the café.

I peered over my shoulder to see Jace walking our way. He had a bag in one hand and a drink in the other. And he was as freaking adorable as ever with his head of wavy and slightly messy ginger hair and that wayward curl that always seemed to fall over his forehead.

"He's cute." Sofie arched a brow, the corner of her mouth curling into a wide smile. "Who is he? A new acquaintance of Della's?"

I raised my hand toward her. "Uh-uh. Don't even go there. He's Adam's friend. I only recently met him."

"Too bad. Is he single?"

"Yes," Adam and I said in unison.

I gave Adam my "don't you dare say anything" face and turned back to Sofie. "Don't even attempt to play matchmaker. In case you forgot, you promised not to nag me about my love life…as disastrous as it is."

"Fine." Sofie sighed dramatically. "I'll refrain from further comment."

"Thank you. And don't try to lay a guilt trip on me, either. As much as you'd like to do it, I don't need your help in the romance department."

"I don't know about that," Adam snickered.

I opened my mouth to say something snarky and stopped. Jace was several yards from our table and was quickly closing the distance.

"Hey, you're here," Adam said, looking pleased. "I thought you said you were busy and couldn't get away?"

"I couldn't stand it anymore. I needed a break and figured I'd come this way, grab lunch, and take it back to my desk." Jace turned to me and grinned as he held out his cup. "It's a raspberry lemonade. I thought I'd offer before you took it out of my hand."

Adam rolled his eyes. "I can't believe Della has you trained already."

I wrinkled my nose at Adam and gave him a mock glare. "He's being polite. You should follow his example." I snatched the offered drink from Jace and took an overly long sip, looking pointedly at Adam.

"Okay, you two. Settle down. I didn't come here to play referee." Jace laughed, shaking his head as he retrieved the cup from me.

"It's all right. I'll ignore Della." Adam turned to Sofie. "This is an old friend of mine, Jace Welch. He and I met as teenagers and later went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill together. He recently relocated here from Colorado." Adam peered at Jace, who stood with his hand on the back of my chair. "Jace. This is Della's boss, Sofie Morgan. She's the company's marketing manager. She was the assistant manager until her predecessor moved to another division." Adam leaned forward and lowered his voice to a stage whisper. "He's cleaning up the sales department because the guy he replaced lacked talent."

"Excuse me?" Sofie cleared her throat and looked at Adam reprovingly. "That last part wasn't necessary."

"I suppose not." Adam gazed down at the table, looking contrite. He immediately brightened. "Oh, I should mention Sofie also owns Morgan Systems. She joined the company as an entry-level temp to hire around six years ago before she started dating the owner's son, Reid Morgan. Now they have two kids and run the business together, with Sofie taking over some of the tasks his mother, Virginia Morgan, used to do."

"Adam! When I said the last part wasn't necessary, it didn't mean for you to add more personal details to the conversation."

"Sorry," Adam pouted. "I can't help bragging about how far you've come in the company. If you weren't proficient at it, I wouldn't brag."

"Fine." Sofie let out a resigned sigh and dropped her shoulders. "I appreciate how you feel about me, but sometimes you go too far and give more information than necessary, particularly private data."

"I know. I can't help it. I've always been this way. I like to share."

"I can confirm that," Jace laughed. "Adam did it in college. Several of my dates knew more about me than I preferred."

Adam narrowed his gaze at Jace, looking slighted. "Hey, there was nothing wrong with what I told people. You've always been an honorable guy, and my comments about your kind-hearted and humble personality helped you out back then. So don't complain."

"You're right. It did help since it had the ladies fawning over me and treating me like I was some cuddly teddy bear. So, yeah, I probably shouldn't have brought it up. Well…enough of this fun conversation. The clock's ticking away, and I need to get back to work."

"Wait a minute." Adam paused and shot a glance my way. He turned back to Jace. "Della and I are hanging out at my apartment tonight. I'm making a beef stir-fry with steamed rice and egg drop soup. After dinner, we're watching an old thriller, the 1980 classic The Shining . You're welcome to join us."

"Oh, boy." Sofie hung her head while her fingers massaged her temple.

Jace scrunched an eye at her. "That doesn't sound encouraging. Is there something I should be aware of?"

"Only that Della doesn't do well with thrillers or horror movies," Sofie said, the corner of her mouth twitching.

"Now that you mention it, I remember hearing something about that." Jace grinned at me, looking thoroughly amused. "Weren't you banned from watching them or something?"

"Not exactly. I can watch them. Just not alone, and I won't be."

Sofie smiled, a devilish glint in her eyes. "I think Jace should go to Adam's tonight. Della will need someone to hold her hand and convince her no boogie man is hiding in the closet or the shower stall waiting to get her. Adam's usually too engrossed in the movie to notice she's a hair away from a panic attack."

"I am not!" Adam's expression turned sullen. "Okay, I suppose I am. But I can't help it."

"I have to confess. Della told me you guys did a movie night on occasion, which sounded inviting. Now that Sofie's confirmed Della's reaction is worse than I imagined, I'll have to go. After all, someone needs to take care of her." Jace smirked at me, appearing far too amused at my expense, which made me want to kick him.

Inwardly, I felt cornered.

Wonderful! The last thing I need is Jace Welch babysitting me, especially with the way he makes me feel whenever he's near. It's bad enough having his hand on my chair with his fingers scorching my back and making me wish he was doing a lot more than that. Oh, lordy. I must be losing it to let something so freaking innocent affect me like this. Why does he have to be so darn hot?

"Terrific!" Adam said, perking up. "I'll have dinner ready about seven o'clock, and we'll put the movie on afterward. I learned not to allow Della to eat while watching a thriller. The last time she did it, Theo found a piece of pizza stuck to the wall because she threw it so hard when she screamed."

Jace lost it, laughing so zealously his eyes were watering when he looked at me. "So you're a pizza tosser? I can't wait for this."

"Oh, shut up," I snapped. "You'll be there to watch the flick, not to make fun of my little quirk."

"I'm sure I'll be amused nonetheless. Anyway, I have to go. I'll be working late, so I might miss dinner. But I will be there for all or most of the film."

"Wonderful," I grumbled under my breath.

Adam frowned at me before getting up from his seat. "I'll walk out with you. I came here a little early to beat the café crowd, so I have to get back to work."

"Sounds good." Jace turned to Sofie. "It was a pleasure to meet you. I'm sure I'll see you again."

"You will as long as you hang out with these two. Have fun watching the movie tonight. Oh, I also have a little tidbit to share. When you discover Della whispering to herself, she's about to freak out. You might want to keep an ear out for that."

"Wow. You don't have to be mean and embarrass me more than you already are." I kicked Sofie underneath the table, becoming even more irritated when she giggled.

"I'm not. I'm trying to be helpful and give the man fair warning on what to expect."

I glared at her and crossed my arms over my chest.

"No worries. I'll take care of Della." Jace winked at me and softly chuckled as he walked away with Adam.

Sofie laughed as soon as they were out of earshot. "See? You won't have to worry. Jace will keep the boogeyman at bay so you don't freak out."

"You did that on purpose. You set me up. Jeez, you're horrible."

"Of course I did. And I didn't do it to be mean. I saw you checking Jace out when you thought no one was watching. I don't blame you either. He's an attractive man, and he must be trustworthy if Adam likes him, seeing how he has zero tolerance for liars and jerks."

"All right. I admit Jace is super hot, but he's not my type. So you can dash those hopes of yours. He's a friend, and that's all he'll ever be." Holy moly! That is such a lie. He is so my type.

"Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that. I know people, and I know what I see. There's an underlying current between you two, whether you want to acknowledge it or not."

"Well, you're wrong," I lied again. "Okay, change of subject. I need to confess something since you brought up my tendency to get spooked. I've spent the last three weeks debating if it's important enough to mention or if I should chalk it up to some weird scenario that doesn't mean squat."

Sofie cocked her head, her eyes narrowing. Her expression changed from amusement to wary concern. "Whatever it is, I think it best you consider it a possible issue and fill me in."

I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Promise you won't get upset I didn't say anything sooner?"

"I promise. Now tell me what happened."

"Well… After I left your place the night I babysat, I drove down the block, and when I turned the corner, I caught a movement off to my right. I saw someone dressed in dark clothing appear out of nowhere. I don't know if the person was coming from a doorway, behind a tree, or somewhere else. Maybe he lived there. All I know is the guy was watching me when I glanced in my rearview mirror, and it freaked the bejesus out of me. I sped around the block, but when I came back, no one was there. I…umm…think it was a man based on his height and bulky size."

"Wait! What? You saw some mysterious figure, and although you were scared, you still went back to check. Alone? Late at night?"

"Yeah. Stupid, I know. But I was curious if the creepy person had something to do with the noise in your backyard. It seemed too coincidental, and before you get mad and yell at me. Yes, I understand returning was risky and wouldn't have solved anything."

"I'm glad you realize that," Sofie huffed. "I only wish you wouldn't have put yourself in that situation and would have said something. You could have called us rather than go back to investigate on your own, and Reid could have contacted Braxton to be safe."

"You're right. I'm sorry. Can we drop it now?"

"For now. But I'll have to tell Reid, and he'll want to talk to Braxton when he returns from an out-of-town police conference and visit with his parents. Reid has to contact him anyway since Allison still doesn't answer her home phone or cell, and we're getting concerned. Reid stopped by her house. He said it looked like she'd been gone for a while. There was old mail sitting in her mailbox, and when he peeked in her garage window, he could see her car was missing."

"Allison is probably on vacation or something."

"She could be, but it would be odd for her to leave and not tell us so we'd know she wasn't available. Plus, we don't think she'd let her mail pile up like that." Sofie paused, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I shouldn't say anything, but Reid used the spare key hidden in Allison's backyard and went into her house to see what he could find. Although nothing appeared out of place, Reid said some of the food in her refrigerator was expired and moldy, and there was a layer of dust on her tables. Allison is a meticulous housekeeper, so that doesn't make sense."

"Wow. The mystery is getting deeper."

"It is and worrisome." Sofie's phone dinged, and she picked it up. "Speaking of Reid. He sent me a message." She opened it and read her screen. "He got tied up in a conference call that went on longer than planned. He wants me to get him a sandwich from the café. I better do that now. He must be starving." Sofie stood and pushed her chair underneath the table. "Are you coming with me or heading back?"

"I'm going back. Chad and I are trying to finish up that new advertising campaign. We want to have it ready for you to review on Monday."

"All right. I'll see you at the office."

Sofie took off toward the restaurant while I walked across the lunch area in the opposite direction. Reaching the curb, I peered down the sidewalk, catching a glimpse of Jace on the next block. After watching him for a few seconds, I turned away and headed back to work, shaking my head.

Why does that man have to be so darn personable and hot-looking? And how am I supposed to avoid reacting if he touches me during the flick?

Gazing upward at a giant fluffy cloud, I whispered, "Heaven help me. I think I'm in for a rough night."