“Here you go,” Raquelle said, handing him the goblet of red wine, having poured herself a glass as well.
He grinned. “Thanks.” She sat beside him, and he asked, “So, do you play this much?”
“As often as time and the mood allows,” she said.
“That’s great. No talent like yours should ever go to waste.”
“True, and thanks.” Raquelle eyed him. “How about you—still playing your guitar?”
Landon sipped the wine. “Yeah, I do play it on occasion. But it was more fun when I got to jam with you…”
She blushed. “We did make a good team—musically speaking,” she added, as if needing to clarify in differentiating that from their failed married life.
“I agree—the music was great.” He felt the other good times during the marriage were even better but didn’t want to cause a stir by going there and reminding her where they went wrong.
After she drank some wine, Raquelle looked at him with a frown and asked, “Is it unrealistic to think that Eddie could have somehow survived—after at least one attempt on his life that we know of—and hasn’t been kidnapped and tortured, while being kept in a dungeon somewhere? Without reaching out to either of us since the boat explosion, it makes me believe he’s not really waiting to make some grand entry, as if rising from the dead.”
Landon could not fault her sense of logic. He recalled Eddie’s voicemail to him:
“Landon…they want me dead. You have to help me… I need a way out of this—before I’m silenced forever…”
Had this been the case? Was he being held for info or leverage as a prelude to eliminating him from the face of the earth?
Were they just spinning their wheels trying to find him?
Even as Landon had his doubts too about Eddie’s chances for survival, short of his corpse coming to light in an official homicide, there was no reason to extinguish Raquelle’s hope of finding her brother alive. No matter that the odds were getting slimmer with each dead end.
Placing a hand on her lap, Landon gazed at Raquelleand said convincingly, “It’s not unrealistic to believe that your brother is still out there somewhere—alive and as well as could be expected while on the move. Just because he hasn’t contacted us doesn’t mean he’s unable to due to death. There’s no body as yet, even as the search continues. Or any credible evidence that a kidnapping occurred. Maybe there’s a reason for that. Eddie may have chosen to lie low and silent while he assesses his problems and what he may see as his best interests in moving forward.”
“You really think so?” Her eyes locked on his.
“Yeah, I do.” Landon set his jaw. “So long as there’s no sign of Eddie, let’s not throw in the towel on finding him alive.”After recruiting Eddie as my CI, the least I can do is give her a reason to remain hopeful here, he told himself, then tasted the wine.
“Okay,” Raquelle assented and drank as well.
Landon glanced at the piano. “Will you play something for me?”
“If you’d like.” She turned around on the bench, set the wineglass down, and put her fingers on the piano keys.
He watched as she played a traditional Native American piece with ease, bringing him back to the joy of her music that had been missing in his life.
In the moment, Landon couldn’t help but think that Raquelle looked more gorgeous than ever. He suddenly felt—or maybe not so suddenly—an overwhelming desire to kiss her. Would she object, ruining the good vibes that seemed to be emerging again?
As he contemplated this, Raquelle stopped playing, tilted her face, gazed at him, and planted her lips on his mouth for a tentative kiss. She pulled away quickly andagain searched his eyes before saying timidly, “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
Wanting to seize the moment, Landon responded brusquely, “You’ve got no complaints from me. If the truth be told, kissing you was something I’ve wanted to do ever since walking in that door—if not before. So, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to try that again. Only longer this time…”
Raquelle nodded. “Yes, let’s try it again.”
He sat his wineglass on the piano, cupped her cheeks, and kissed her, tasting the wine from her lips, turning him on even more.
The kiss lasted a full five heated minutes, and Landon felt that they hadn’t missed a beat in the art of kissing each other as if time had stood still. He was aroused enough to want to take this to another level and make love to Raquelle. Yet he refrained from even attempting to go down that road, not wanting to overstep his bounds. Or misread a kiss for something more.
I can’t let a good thing slip away again by moving too fast, too soon, Landon thought. He pried their lips apart and said sweetly, “That was nice.”
Raquelle touched her lips blushingly. “Yes, it was.”
Glad you thought so, he mused. “I should probably go.” If this were to happen, he didn’t want her to feel rushed or in any way uncertain about what she wanted from him.
