Honeymoon - James Patterson [62]
It rang five times before he picked up.
“Did I wake you?”
“Not at all,” he said. “I was in the other room, reading.”
“Anything good?”
“Unfortunately, no. It’s all work stuff.”
“Sounds boring.”
“It is. All the more reason I’m glad you called.”
“Do you miss me?”
“More than you know.”
“Ditto for me,” she said. “I wish I were there with you. I have a feeling you wouldn’t be doing any reading.”
“Oh yeah? What would I be doing?”
“You’d be holding me.”
“Anything else?”
Nora breathed into the phone. “Kissing me.”
“Kissing you where?”
“On the lips.”
“Soft or hard?”
“First soft, then hard.”
“Where are my hands?” he asked.
“Different interesting places.”
“Where exactly?”
“My breasts. For starters.”
“Hmmmm. Good start, as I remember. Where else?”
“My inner thighs.”
“Ooh, I like that.”
“Wait . . . they’re moving higher. Slowly. You tease.”
“I like that even more.”
Nora bit her lower lip. “So do I, actually.”
“Can you feel me?” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“Am I inside you?”
Click.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Shit, it’s the other line.”
“Ignore it.”
Nora looked at her caller ID. “I can’t, it’s one of my girlfriends.”
“Now we’re talking,” he said with a laugh.
“Very funny. Hold on a second, okay? I had dinner with her earlier and if I don’t answer, she’ll be worried.”
She clicked over to the other line. “Elaine?”
“You weren’t asleep yet, were you?” she asked.
“No, I was very wide awake.”
“Wait, you sound out of breath.”
“I’m on the other line.”
“Don’t tell me . . . Craig?”
“Yes.”
“And I beeped right in the middle of it, didn’t I?”
“It’s okay.”
“Call waiting interruptus. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“I just wanted to tell you again how ecstatic I am for you, honey. Now get back to whatever you two were doing.”
“I think I will.”
“Soooo jealous!”
Click.
“You still there?” asked Nora.
“I’m here,” he said.
“So, where were we?”
“We were at the point where I definitely wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight.”
“Me, either. Tomorrow I’m driving out there for the real thing.”
Nora waited for him to say something. Instead, there was silence. What is he thinking?
“I can’t tomorrow,” he said finally.
“Why not?”
“I’ve got this thing I’ve got to attend in Chicago at the home office. In fact, that’s what I was doing the reading for.”
“What kind of thing? You can’t just blow it off?”
“I would, it’s a seminar. Only I’m one of the featured speakers.”
“Oh,” she said, deflated. “Poo.”
“I’ll be back in a couple of days.”
“Will you call me from Chicago?”
“You know it. Maybe we can even pick up where we left off.”
“Maybe, if you’re a good boy.”
“Oh, I’ll be good, all right,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
Chapter 83
BUT NORA DID WORRY.
All night long, in fact. She’d said she wasn’t going to be able to sleep much, and she was right. What she wanted—what she longed for—was to know if Craig had been telling her the truth. It was the way he talked about his seminar. She’d felt the same inkling of doubt when they’d first met. Something not quite right.
The next morning Nora awoke at dawn. No shower. No makeup. No time to waste. In an old sweatshirt and a baseball cap pulled down over her eyes, she drove north to Westchester. The first stop was Connor’s house in Briarcliff Manor.
There, she made a switch, dropping off the red Benz convertible for one of the two other cars collecting dust in the garage. A green Jaguar XJR.
This way, Craig wouldn’t recognize her. Plus, she liked the Jag almost as much as the Benz.
Twenty minutes later she was parked down the street from Craig’s apartment, waiting with a large cup of Starbucks coffee in her lap. She sipped and watched.
The first time she’d followed him, she hadn’t known what to expect. This time was different. He’d told her he had a noon flight out of town.
About ten the paint-chipped front door opened,