How to Save A Life

Chapter 24

Marli had spent the entire week picking up the pieces of her business and her life. She'd been on the phone constantly, sucking up to clients, rescheduling shoots, having business lunches. She'd been working late into the evenings, trying to get as much done as she could, so her clients didn't suffer for her disappearance.

Many had heard about what happened to her and were very understanding. A couple of others had taken their business elsewhere, and really, she couldn't blame them. It was business, after all, and if they needed photographs to advertise their products and there were publication deadlines and project timelines, they needed to get the job done somehow.

Shortly after Trey had left, her parents had shown up at her door from Newport, frantic with worry about what they'd been seeing on the news. They'd found her sitting on her kitchen floor, crying, which had alarmed them no end. She'd reassured them she was fine, perfectly safe, unhurt, but luckily they couldn't see her bruised and battered heart.

She also had dinner with her friends Jenn and Rachel, who'd left her a number of increasingly frantic voice mail messages. They'd been all over her with questions about what had happened and inquiries about Trey. She wasn't quite ready to talk about Trey yet, but she knew one day she would.

"It's so weird to not have Krista here," Rachel said sadly.

They all agreed. Marli shared her feelings of overwhelming guilt about how things had ended between her and Krista, and sharing it all again made it that much less painful. It was as if every time she talked about it expelled some of the guilt. Her friends reassured her Krista had loved her, and had known Marli loved her, too.

"You knew Krista," Jenn said. "Do you think right now, looking down on us, she's blaming you for what happened? Do you think she's up there saying, 'If only Marli had stopped me'?"

Marli shook her head. She could not imagine Krista saying or thinking that.

"She would never say that," Rachel said earnestly. "You know that. You were friends. You weren't responsible for her every move, every choice."

"I know," Marli said. "I know that now. I just wish things had ended with us not mad at each other."

"You two had a whole life of love and laughter," Jenn pointed out. "One fight doesn't negate all that."

It had helped to talk to her friends about it, just as it had helped to talk to Trey. She was so grateful he'd been there and been so understanding, letting her open up and share her feelings with him without judging her at all. If only he would do the same for himself.

Through all of it, her heart throbbed with a dull pain that turned sharp whenever she thought about Trey. Her heart ached for him, and what he'd been through, and it hurt for herself--for the thought that she'd never see him again.

Through the closed door, he could hear the thumping bass of loud music. Trey turned the knob and opened the door. The music got louder.

He walked into a huge open room, with high ceilings criss-crossed by a network of ductwork and pipes. The walls were all white save the long outside wall, which was natural creamy brick. Hardwood floors stretched to the far end of the room where a photo shoot was taking place.

Three women dressed in very little were arranged on and around a chaise longue upholstered in a plush leopard print fabric. The blonde with long, tousled curls wore a white lace bustier, thong panties and a garter belt, with white stockings on her long legs. The brunette, with similar long hair, was dressed in a black lace bra and tiny underwear that looked like shorts, and the redhead wore a bronze-colored satin camisole and thong. The scene glowed in the brilliant lights directed down on it, vivid and rich with color and texture.

A huge background hung from a large dowel suspended from the ceiling, rolling down behind them and across the floor. A woman dressed all in black made an adjustment to the bronze camisole, while another man and woman stood off to the side, watching.

Justin Timberlake was bringing sexy back to a throbbing beat booming from a killer stereo system sitting on a counter on one side of the room.

The scene was seductive with the three gorgeous models, but it was the photographer who drew his attention. She stood beside a camera mounted on a tripod with her back to him, long golden curls handing down almost to her waist. She was dancing, her hips moving temptingly in time to the music, watching and waiting as the woman in black made her adjustments, then scooted off the scene in her stocking feet. As he moved farther into the room, watching with fascination, the models all looked at him, and Marli turned to see what had distracted them.

Her lush mouth parted into a surprised O and she stilled, staring at him.

"Trey."

He smiled at her. Man, she was gorgeous. Her skinny jeans hugged those long, long legs and the thin T-shirt she wore over them outlined her curvy body. His heart was about to pound right out of his chest at the sight of her.

"Sorry. I'm interrupting."

She nodded, her green eyes huge. "Um...yeah." She glanced back at the models. "I need to finish this."

"Is it okay if I wait?"

"Sure. We're almost done." She licked her lips, which made him want to lick them, too, and turned back to the group posed before her. "Sorry, ladies," she said cheerfully. "Let's finish this up."

She moved back behind her camera and started shooting, firing off shots rapidly, while encouraging the models in their poses. The music changed to the Black Eyed Peas singing "Pump It", and Marli's body continued to move to the music as she worked. When she finally called a halt, the models stood up, stretched, and wandered off the set. He couldn't help but watch them with appreciation as they all went into a corner blocked off by screens.

He turned his attention back to Marli, who was grinning at him.

"Put your eyes back in your head," she told him, green eyes sparkling with humor.

"Hey," he said, "it's just nice scenery."

She nodded knowingly. "Very nice. Coquette Lingerie. I do all their photography."

The woman in black had been packing up some bags, chatting with the other couple, and now slung them over her shoulder. "I'm outta here, Marli," she announced, eyeing Trey. She smiled. "Nice working with you, as always. I guess I'll see you next week on that shoot for West Coast Mall."

"Yeah, you betcha. Thanks, Whitney."

"Thanks, Marli," called the other woman, picking up a purse and briefcase off the counter. "When will you e-mail me the link to the shots?"

"Tomorrow," Marli replied. "Then we'll talk."

The man and woman also left.

Trey looked around her studio. "This is impressive."

"Thanks." She went over to the big window on the outside wall and raised the thick black blind covering it. The room became lighter, but it had been raining all day, so the light remained weak and grey. She walked over to the camera and removed the memory card, took it over to a Mac computer on a desk.

"Just let me get these started downloading," she murmured, eyes on the monitor, one hand clicking the mouse. Then she straightened and went back to the camera. He watched as she deftly removed the camera from the tripod, twisted the battery compartment and removed the battery, then connected it to a recharger on the counter. She tucked the camera away in a camera bag.

Trey wandered over to look at framed photographs of her work on one wall. One by one, the models came out from behind the screen, now dressed in Tshirts and jeans or baggy cargo pants, looking decidedly less glamorous.

"'Bye, Marli," they all called, waving perfectly manicured hands as they left the studio.

And then they were alone. Trey swallowed nervously.

Marli unplugged lights, took down umbrellas and lowered the lights on their stands.

"So, how are you?" she asked. She removed a reflector from the light and put on some kind of cap.

"I'm good. Ah...you have a lot of equipment here."

She smiled. "Yes."

She continued her work, removing lights from the stands and putting them away in cases while he debated what to say.

"Not to sound rude, but what are you doing here?" she finally asked, folding up a light stand.

"I wanted to tell you what was happening with Sheldon Barnes."

"Oh. Okay."

"He's back in San Diego now, on suicide watch. He confessed everything, in fact, he confessed to even more murders than we knew about. He apparently went on for hours, confessing to killing about fifty women. The detective who interrogated him said he was a pretty smooth talker."

"He is," Marli confirmed, her voice sad.

"They said they could see how he used his charm to lure women to trust him. When they told him we were interested in him for five murders, he laughed and told them it was more like fifty."

Marli made a shocked noise, standing there with an umbrella in her hand.

Trey shook his head. "Don't necessarily believe that," he said dryly. "I'd never believe anything a sexual criminal tells me without hard evidence or witnesses. He'll deny, exaggerate, manipulate...basically lie through his teeth." Trey shook his head. "But he'd moved around so much, working on ranches, other odd jobs, he could easily have killed women in a lot of places and then just left town. They're reopening cases in Texas and New Mexico."

"Sounds like he loves the attention," Marli observed.

"Yeah, no kidding. Narcissistic personality. Exaggerating his exploits to impress people, grandiose fantasies. But eventually he stopped talking and asked for an attorney. Claimed to be totally innocent. Said he'd just been joking. All those women, he said he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, just an unhappy coincidence."

"Bullshit."

He smiled.

"Trey, what makes someone do things like that?"

"Oh, lots of things." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Is he insane? Would they let him off because of that?"

Trey shook his head. "No. His behavior was too violent, although he definitely seems as though he has that sociopathic personality." He paused. "He had problems dealing with anger and, frustration. His upbringing had a lot to do with it. His relationship with his mother. All along, I believed he was getting his gratification from the thrill of controlling a woman...the power he had over her as he raped her. The power his mother had over him."

"Did she... Was he abused?"

"Emotionally abused, for sure. Some physical abuse. Not sure about sexual." He shrugged. "He was so angry at his mother, that's why his victims were always blonde women. That's why the murders were so brutally aggressive."

"Why did he stalk me, though?" she asked. "I was thinking about it, and it wasn't like the other murders. You said he'd always just leave after, go somewhere else."

"You laughed at him," he reminded her. "I recall that his mother laughed at him for wanting to be a cowboy, too. And you rejected him. It set him off and made him act outside his usual pattern."

She nodded slowly.

"You know, we all have the ability to distort reality in our minds, to protect ourselves, make us feel okay about ourselves. A psychopath already lies without remorse, but this just adds to that. He may well have convinced himself that he really wasn't doing anything wrong. He believed you'd really done something to him."

"Oh, God."

"Most of us can recognize we do that--that our perceptions aren't necessarily reality--but he wouldn't be motivated to do that, clearly, in trying to protect himself from being convicted and from a death penalty."

"You didn't come all the way here just to tell me that." She closed up a case of equipment with a snap.

His lips curved. "No. Maybe we could sit down somewhere and talk." He looked around.

Marli motioned to the leopard chaise, no longer lit by the powerful lights.

He went over and sat down, and she came and sat beside him, leaning against the curved back of it. A vision of her, clad in lingerie, lounging on the chair, flashed into his head and he almost groaned.

"Okay. So?" She looked at him encouragingly, her eyes a bit wary. She briefly bit her luscious bottom lip.

"So," he repeated, just drinking in the sight of her. "I don't know where to start. So maybe I'll just start here." He leaned forward, put one hand on her cheek and kissed her, closing the small space between their bodies on the chaise. She couldn't move back, and he took her mouth in a long, hot kiss.

She was warm and delicious, sweet and tempting, and God, he'd missed her. He lifted his head to look at her, brushing his thumb across her full bottom lip.

She looked sweetly dazed, green eyes dark with emotion. "Uh, wow."

He smiled faintly. Then they were at each other, mouths hungry, hands greedy, touching each other, pulling at clothes, sucking, licking, eating at each other.

He filled his hands with those breasts, high, full and soft, nipples hard against his palms, kissing her over and over. She moaned, writhed beneath him, and they shifted their bodies without a word, fitting themselves to each other, stretching out on the chaise. He pressed a thigh between her legs, feeling the soft heat there, and she arched into him, crying out softly. With one hand, he turned her face to him again, ate at her lips, licked his way into her mouth, played with her soft tongue.

He tried to get under her T-shirt, desperately needing to feel skin, but damn, it was long, and he had to pull and tug and lift her hips to get it up around her waist. Then yes, his hands were on skin, silky and warm, and he shoved the T-shirt up the rest of the way and tugged her bra down. He buried his face between her breasts, inhaled her, that spicy scent that was hers alone, then nipped at the full curve of one breast, licked over the hard nipple, took it in his mouth.

She grabbed his hair and pulled hard, but his hair was short and her hands slid out.

"God, Trey! Someone could come in."

"Who cares?" he asked, blind, mindless, focused on her beautiful tits. "Ah!" He sucked the other nipple and this time her hands pulled his head to her, holding him at her breast, her head falling back, eyes closed.

"I need you, Marli," he murmured. He sat up and pulled her with him. "Lift your arms, sweetheart." She obeyed him, and he whisked the T-shirt over her head, then quickly dispensed with the sheer bra. He knelt to take off her jeans, tossed her shoes aside, then unbuttoned his fly. He looked at her, hesitating.

It was a little arrogant to come walking in here and five minutes later be doing her on the couch. He didn't want to screw this up. She'd said she loved him, but suddenly he was unsure, knowing he'd hurt her before he'd left.

She lay on the leopard chaise, her hair a bright contrast to the gold and brown print, her pale gold body long, lean and gorgeous. Her eyes watched him as he paused, hands at his fly. Then she lifted her graceful arms to him, inviting him, welcoming him, and he dropped his pants and fell onto her.

He couldn't get close enough, couldn't get enough of her, because it would never be enough...never, never. He kissed her mouth, the side of her neck, her soft shoulders. His hands moved over her, exulting in the feel of her, parting her legs, dipping into her sweet wetness. The scent of her arousal rose around them, making him pant and driving him wild with need. He touched her clit, a hard, swollen bud and she jerked beneath him, raising herself against hand. He moved his fingers, rubbed her there, and she came apart in his arms, trembling and whimpering.

As her tremors slowed, he pushed her legs farther apart and slid into her, hot, soft and lush. With a long, shaky moan, she welcomed him in, opened for him, clasped him to her body with her strong, slim arms.

"You feel so incredible." He kissed her breast. "So fucking good. God, Marli."

He thrust harder, deeper, then her hands clawed at his back, tugged at his shirt. "A condom," she whispered raggedly. "Trey..."

"No." He buried his face into her neck. "No...it's okay...don't need it." And with a long, strangled groan, he poured himself into her, his heart thudding, ears roaring. He came and came and came, in long waves of hot pleasure that left him weak, so weak he wasn't sure he could draw in another breath.

He shifted off her just slightly, still holding her, still with his face buried in the soft, fragrant skin of her neck, gasping for breath. He'd had the impression of flying, high and limitless, floating back slowly down onto the chaise in Marli's studio.

"Oh, Trey," she said, sounding a bit disturbed.

"What?" He could not lift his head. He put out his tongue and licked her, making her shiver.

"You didn't use a condom." She gave his back a little swat.

"It's okay. You said you were on the pill."

"Yes, but--"

"Don't worry," he murmured, then kissed and licked her again, sucked on her flesh tenderly. His heart was beating closer to normal speed and he could now hear over the blood rushing through his head. He felt her sigh.

"You'd better be here for a good reason," she said. "If you're here to break my heart again, I'm going to have to hurt you."

He lifted his head and looked her in the eye. "I love you, Marli."

She was silent. Then her lower lip trembled. "That's a pretty good reason," she said. "Oh, shit." She swiped at tears in her eyes. "I never used to cry," she told him fiercely. "I've cried more around you than I have since I was a baby."

"It's okay, sweetheart." He pulled her close. "You can cry in front of me any time you want."

"Good to know," she murmured. "Now tell me, what's going on? Am I having an affair with a married man?"

Direct, to the point... He loved that about her. "Are we having an affair?"

"I don't know. Are we? I don't have a hot clue what's going on here."

He laughed. "Okay, technically, yes, I'm still married, but the divorce is in the works. I saw my lawyer on Tuesday."

"Oh." He could feel her relief.

"And we're not having an affair."

"We're not?"

"No." He shook his head looked her steadily in the eye. "This is more than an affair."

"Oh."

"I also saw my doctor on Wednesday and got the test results Thursday. I'm clean, so nothing to worry about there."

Her smile was relieved. "So we were okay without a condom."

"Yeah. I went to see my parents, too. Let them know I'm okay. In fact, better than okay, thanks to you."

"You've been busy."

"And I went to see my boss at work."

"Oh."

"Yup. We had a good talk. Now I've got my shit together, I'm ready to go back to work. So I requested a transfer."

"Really? Hmmm." She put a finger to her lips, her eyes gleaming. "Let me guess. San Francisco, so you can work with Kent again? "

He laughed. "Wrong. I start in the LA office in two weeks. He agreed that starting fresh in a new office would be a good idea. I have to go back and clean up some stuff in San Diego, but I'll be moving here. Which leads to my next problem, which is, finding a place to live."

"Trey--"

"Wait." He held up a hand. "I'm not saying I want to move in with you. Not right away anyway. We really need time, I think. God, I'm not even divorced yet. I'm still no prize, that's for sure. I still have a lot of crap to deal with and I need to do that on my own."

"I can help you," she murmured.

"I know you can. I want you to. You've had a rough time lately, too. We can help each other. I need you, Marli. But I want to get established here, have a life, get to know you...take you on another date, maybe. And one day, when my divorce is final, we can see how things are going..."

"I can live with that."

"I'm here for the weekend, though," he said with a smile. "Maybe you can put me up just for a couple of days? I'd like to make love to you somewhere other than a hotel room."

"We just did," she pointed out.

He laughed. "Oh, yeah." Then he took a deep breath. "The other person I went to see this week was Lisa. And the baby."

"Oh, Trey." She sighed. "Was that hard?"

"Yeah, but not so much once I got there. We talked and got some stuff out in the open. But there still is one thing I need to tell you."

"What's that?"

"The fact that Lisa will still be in my life. I want to be up front with you because you're always up front with me. I told her if Travis ever reneges on his responsibilities to Aidan, if she ever needs anything, that she can call me. Because I don't want to see Aidan's whole life screwed up because the adults in his life can't get it together."

She gazed at him in silence.

"Is that a problem for you?" he asked, watching her, his insides knotting.

"You are so amazing," she said in a choked voice and kissed him adoringly. "God, I love you."

He kissed her back, relief and gratitude swelling in him. "Lisa and I were both responsible for our marriage falling apart," he said when they drew apart. "Once I admitted that, it was as if a huge load lifted off me. I still have to deal with their betrayal, but it somehow doesn't seem so bad."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. So, that's good."

"Lisa's going to have a rough time raising a kid on her own." He paused. "And," he continued, "the really good thing is that now I know I have feelings. I have feelings for you I've never felt before, so it's not all a tragedy."

She nodded.

"Being away from you put everything into perspective. What's important and what's not. Dwelling on the past and my own screw-ups is not important. I decided that's what forgiveness is--not dwelling on the negative. So I'm trying to stop beating myself up."

She eyed him solemnly. "You helped me to stop doing that. I knew if you could only do it for yourself, you'd be okay." She searched his face. "I thought...when you left...I thought maybe you were going back to try to work things out with Lisa."

"No." He pressed her head to his chest. "I haven't loved her for a long time, truth be told. There were problems in our marriage for quite a while. We didn't fight or anything. I just didn't feel the same about her. But instead of dealing with it, talking to her, I took the coward's way out and spent all my time at work."

"I would never let you get away with that."

"I know," he said fervently. "Please, Marli, don't ever let me get away with crap like that with you." He hugged her tightly. "But the person I need to be the most honest and open with about my own failings and feelings is me. I've been telling myself a lot of crap for the last six or seven months...or longer. Crap like talking about my feelings, or asking for help, is a sign of weakness. And look what happened." He sighed. "But you made me realize maybe I do deserve to be happy. Maybe I'm even good enough for you." He paused, his throat tight. "You saved my life, Marli."

She shook her head. "Uh-uh. Other way around, buddy, remember? You saved my life, like ten times." She teared up again. "God, what a suck I am." She brushed wetness away.

"Yes, you did save my life. I didn't know where I was going, what I was doing, when I met you. You made me laugh, you made me think about stuff I didn't want to think about. You made me want to be good enough for you."

"You are." She smiled at him. "You're the best man I've ever met."

"Nah." He denied it, even though he loved hearing it from her.

"Well, you're not perfect."

He laughed again. Trust her to keep his head from swelling too much. "I know. You showed me what a coward I am, and what real bravery looks like."

"Huh?" Her slender brows drew together.

"You put yourself out there every day," he said softly, touching her hair. "Telling me how you felt all the time. Telling me you loved me. That took real courage."

"Oh, Trey."

They shared a long, tender smile and he said, "There's more than one way to save a life."

Kelly Jamieson

Kelly Jamieson is the author of several sexy romance novels. Her writing has been described as "blisteringly sexy" and "a spicy delicious read." She lives in Winnipeg, Canada, with her husband and two children. If she can stop herself from reading or writing, she loves to cook. She has shelves of cookbooks that she reads at length. She also enjoys gardening in the summer, and in the winter she likes to read gardening magazines and seed catalogues (there might be a theme here...) She also loves shopping, especially for clothes and shoes. But her family takes precedence over everything else (yes, even writing). She has two teenage children who are the best kids in the world, not that she's biased, and a wonderful husband who does loads of laundry while she plays on the computer, writing stories.

Kelly loves hearing from readers, so please visit her web site at www.kellyjamieson.com or contact her at info@kellyjamieson.com.

Don't miss Worth Waiting For, by Kelly Jamieson,

available at AmberHeat.com!

Ten years ago, Griff Campbell walked out of Ainslie Patterson's life without a word, breaking her young heart. Now, just when she thinks she's over him and has found love with someone else, he strolls back into her life, still as charming, playful and irresistible as ever.

Ainslie knows she's changed a lot in the last ten years, and she discovers so has Griff. So shouldn't the attraction between them have disappeared along with the people they used to be? But that pull between them is still there, unstoppable, unavoidable...unsettling. Why has Griff shown up after all these years? Just to lure her into his web of charm only to break her heart again? Or could they have something together now, something that was all worth waiting for?

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