Chapter 1

Jason crumpled the yellow hamburger wrapper in a large meaty fist.  He threw it into the back seat without taking his eyes off the red brick two story across the street.  It bounced once on the white leather seat and fell prostrate with its brothers littering the rear floor board of the 1968 mustang.

He tapped thick fingers against the white steering wheel.  A humid June breeze brought sounds of suburbia settling down for the night.  In the distance a siren roared.

Brown eyes searched a haggard face in the rear view mirror.  I look like shit.

His eyes went again to the red brick two story with white trim, illuminated by the dim yellow street light.  The house was older, maybe built in the late 60’s, but the lawn was well maintained with red and white flowers dancing in the early summer breeze.  Tall trees lined the street and adorned lawns, transforming familiar suburbia into something more fluid, more grim at night.

He knew the house, the yard, the neighborhood, much better than his own.  It was a step up from the last place in the city where no one questioned a man sitting alone in a car, watching a house.  Here people were uptight, always on the look out for anyone who didn’t belong.  And if anyone doubted the diligence in protecting their mediocre possessions, a large “Neighborhood Watch” sign declared their intentions.

He smirked and drank warm bourbon from a Golds Gym water bottle.  The whiskey burned an avenue to his gut.  The water bottle, sweat suit, running shoes, were all props of illusion, the justification to those neighborhood watchers.

Jason lifted his wrist to check the time.  8:30, and the house was empty, every window dark.  There were no neighbors behind the house, he could sit in the back yard and wait.  She left all the curtains open on the back side of the house.  She was so trusting.  She needed someone to protect her from, well, men like him.

He was just the man to do it.

She just didn’t know it yet.

Chapter 2

“Is this all?”  The young male cashier with Andrew’s name tag inquired.

Karly nodded.

“Reading for the weekend again?”  He smiled.

“Yeah,” Karly replied.

He bagged the novel and took the credit card.  “No hot dates huh?”

Karly laughed.  “I haven’t had a hot date since college.”

Andrew lifted a brow.  “I can’t believe that.”

Karly reached for a pen and signed the receipt.  She appreciated Andrew’s attention, though she was at least twenty years his senior.  “Believe it,” she said and reached for the bag.

Andrew held it just out of reach.  “Would you like to have coffee with me?”

Karly laughed, a soft sound.  “Yeah, ha ha, very funny.”  She reached again for the bag.

Andrew’s dark brown eyebrows lowered and he took a small step back, taking the bag with him.  “You’re married aren’t you?  I’m sorry I didn’t see a ring…”

Karly looked down reflexively at her bare left ring finger.  “No, not for some time.”

“Boyfriend?”

Karly gave him a lopsided grin.  “Not lately.”

“Then coffee with me?”  Andrew leaned on the counter.

Karly grabbed the bag.  “Not on your life.  I’m old enough to be your mother.  But thanks for making my day.”  She turned and walked out of the book store smiling.

It was four blocks up hill to the parking garage.  She contemplated picking up Chinese and drove the green Honda from the structure.  She switched on the radio and let the windows down.

She caught a glimpse of red hair and green eyes in the mirror and smiled.  How sweet of Andrew to flirt, she thought.  But she didn’t lie to herself, she gave that up when Daniel left.  The red was only maintained now with constant vigilance.  She was going on 40 and the lines in her face could now officially be called creases.  At 35 she thought about plastic surgery and couldn’t afford it, at 40 she could afford it but didn’t think about it, too often.

Her cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Karly, its me.”  Daniel’s deep masculine voice vibrated her ear drum.

“Hi Daniel,” she merged onto the freeway and took the Big Mac Bridge across the Ohio River.  She glanced at the white sails and numerous boats frolicking in the murky water. 

“Robby wanted to call you but he’s on the slopes,” Daniel said.  “We are staying another week.  He is really having a good time.”

“That’s great,” Karly tried to sound positive.

“I know that messes up your plans with him next week,” Daniel said.

“That’s ok,” Karly sighed.  “We weren’t doing anything special, just hanging out.  I am sure he would much rather be in Europe skiing than here hanging with his mom.”

Daniel laughed and for a moment Karly’s heart squeezed at the familiar sound.

“I’ll have him call you tonight,” Daniel said.

“Ok, thanks,” Karly murmured.

Daniel hung up and Karly felt a tight ball of disappointment grow in her throat.  So Robby wants to spend time with his dad, that’s normal.  And it shouldn’t surprise you.  He’s sixteen now and needs his father.

It still stung.  Not as bad as the year before when Robby asked to live with Daniel, but painful all the same.

She swallowed the lump, and having no appetite now, took the Ft. Thomas exit.  The red brick two story was dark when she pulled in the drive.  She didn’t like coming home to a dark house.  Still wasn’t accustomed to Robby being gone and an empty house.

But she wouldn’t think about that tonight.

A nice hot bath, a margarita, and the new book were the only things in the immediate future.  Karly unlocked the back door to the kitchen and hit the lights.  The familiar off white wall paper with tiny pink flowers, on tiny pink vines, welcomed her.

She dropped the book on the round oak table and kicked off her pumps.  The gray ceramic tile was cold on her stocking feet, a nice contrast to the warm day.  She made her way from the kitchen, simultaneously turning on lights and unbuttoning her pant suit.  She pulled off the red short sleeve blazer and draped it over a dining room chair.

She headed upstairs to start the bath when the phone rang.  She sprinted into the master bedroom, clicked on the light and dove across the bed to answer the phone on the third ring.

“Hello?” she breathed expecting to hear Robby’s voice.

“Karly.  Hey its Lora, what ya doin?”

“I just got in,” Karly swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, unzipping the red slacks.  She tossed them across the chaise by the bed.

“What is it with you and all the over time?”  Lora asked.  “I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

Karly sat down on the bed, unrolled her nylons, and dropped them on the floor.  “We have a big case.”

“What is it?”  Lora asked.

“Can’t say,” Karly fell back onto the soft blue and white quilt wearing only her tank, bra and underwear.  She lifted a leg into the air and squinted.  I need to re-polish my toenails.

“Are you working on that serial rapist case?”  Lora asked.

“You know I can’t talk about it Lora,” Karly sighed and dropped her leg.  “Especially not to you.”

Lora laughed.  “Ok, ok.  I haven’t taken any rape cases lately though.  Surely that guy has a lawyer by now.”

Karly smiled.  Lora was like a dog with a bone, it was why she was the best criminal defense attorney in Cincinnati and probably all of Ohio.

When they met, Lora was an assistant DA, blond, vivacious, with sparkling blue eyes and a body that turned heads.  Karly was recently divorced and still experiencing serious shell shock.

Lora never married, and there were no children.  She was single and very much on the dating scene.  All the other female lawyers hated her.  Brains and beauty were a lethal combination in the court room, and Lora worked it with abandon, both in and out.

Karly was sitting in the court house cafeteria eating a chicken salad sandwich alone the second week on the job, when Lora took a chair at the table.  Lora was smart, sassy, and eager to talk about the case Karly was researching.

The case broke the ice and after a few days of lunch, a friendship blossomed.  A few months later Lora left the DA’s office for a big corner office at Stewart & Stewart, Cincinnati’s law firm to the elite.

Within a few months Karly was promoted and working directly for the DA as his personal research assistant.  She worked at making herself indispensable and honing research skills.  The second promotion afforded the move to the suburbs, away from the inner city.

“I don’t know anything about his lawyer,” Karly mentally prodded herself to stay on topic.  “Besides he could hardly afford Stewart & Stewart.”

“Are you kidding?”  Lora exclaimed.  “I’d take the case pro-bono.  You know I need higher profile cases if I am ever going to make partner.  Defending pro athletes who buy drugs and brawl won’t get me there.”

Karly laughed.  “You’ll get there sister, don’t ever doubt it.”

“I know,” Lora said.  “It’s just frustrating waiting like a good little girl to be handed the cases no one else wants just so I can prove myself.  They came to me remember?  And now they want me to go through this whole ‘you have to pay your dues’ thing.  What the hell was the DA’s office if not paying my dues?”

Karly stood and walked to the sliding glass doors leading out to the small balcony overlooking the back yard.  She slid the door opened and let the warm June night wash over her.  “I don’t know.”

Lora laughed.  “Doesn’t matter, that’s not why I called.  You wanna do something tonight?”

“Not really,” Karly said.  “I was hoping to relax with a good book.”

“Ok,” Lora said.  “I wanted to check with you before I called Jeremy.”

“Whose Jeremy?”  Karly asked.

 She could almost hear Lora shrug.  “Just a guy I met at the office.”

“Cute?”  Karly walked to the bathroom and shoved a washrag into the drain hole of the huge claw foot tub.  Note to self, for the umpteenth time, buy a damn stopper!  She started the water and walked to the mirror.

“Drop dead,” Lora said.  “And Adonis has nothing on my Jeremy.”

“A client?” Karly ran a brush through her strawberry locks.

“No,” Lora said.  “A lawyer.”

“A lawyer?”  Karly stopped brushing mid stroke.  “I thought you swore off lawyers.”

“I swore off relationships with lawyers,” Lora sighed.  “I only intend something physical with Jeremy.”

“How old is he?”  Karly asked suspiciously.

“Old enough,” Lora answered innocently.

“Seriously, how old is he?”  Karly inquired.

“I didn’t ask,” Lora said.  “He practiced in Philadelphia for at least seven years out of law school, then five years in DC, then here, so he’s about my age.  But he looks much younger.”

Karly stripped off panties, the tank, and a red wire bra.  She examined her naked reflection in the mirror on the back side of the bathroom door.  Not bad, she thought.  The extra twenty pounds she carried while married were gone.  Her stomach wasn’t wash board flat, but a gentle curve rounded it out.  Her legs were long and lean, no veins, no cellulite.  Her breasts were still firm, the areolae the size of half dollars.

“Sounds nice,” Karly said.  “Where are you going?”

“He wants to take me to a late dinner on the river, drinks, and then hopefully back to his place.”  Lora said.

It was somewhat of a joke Lora never took a man back to her loft.  She wasn’t looking for a serious relationship and didn’t want any man “taking over” her space, even for a night.  If a man were ever to spend the night, he would no doubt be “the one.”

“You sure you don’t want to come with us?”  Lora asked.

“A third wheel?”  Karly poured bubble bath into the strong stream of water.  “Yeah, uh, no thanks.”

“You’ve only had a handful of dates in the two years since the divorce Karly,” Lora said.  “What are you waiting for?”

“I’m not waiting for anything.  No one’s asked me lately.”  Karly put the bubble bath container back under the sink.

Lora snorted.  “I know for a fact three men at the DA’s office asked you out before I left.”

Karly rolled green eyes and held the phone to her ear with a shoulder, looking in the mirror over the sink.  “That was shortly after the divorce.  I wasn’t ready.  The few dates I did go on were flops, you know that.  I just can’t meet anyone.”  She knotted shoulder length hair atop her head then laid a fluffy towel on the stool beside the tub. 

“It couldn’t be because you stay home all the time,” Lora stated.

Karly stepped gingerly into the scalding water.  She inched her body down bit by bit becoming accustomed to the heat before laying back.  She used her toe to turn off the water.

“I go out with you all the time,” Karly sighed as the heat attacked her sore muscles and the bubbles tickled the back of her neck.

“Yeah that’s true.  But your body language always screams ‘stay away.’”  Lora said.  “Haven’t you ever thrown caution to the wind and went after a man Karly?”

The hot water was doing its job bringing on drowsy relaxation.  “Once, in college, before I met Daniel.  There was a guy.”

“And?”  Lora prodded.

“And it was too intense.”  Karly sighed.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Lora laughed.

“It was,” Karly said.  “I was totally obsessed with him.  I loved him with an all consuming burning kind of love.  You know, the kind that takes over your life?  It wasn’t healthy.”

“Did he reciprocate?”  Lora asked.

“Yeah,” Karly said.  “He did.”

“What happened?”

“Daniel happened,” Karly said.  “He was smart, handsome, and most of all, safe.  He didn’t make me feel so out of control.”

Lora was silent a long minute.

“What?”  Karly asked.

“Nothing,” Lora snorted.  “You just described the kind of thing I want and can’t find.  And you gave it up for Daniel?  What were you thinking?”

Karly laughed, glad Lora was on her side.  “I was thinking about settling down.  I had two choices.  Pick the passion so hot it burned wild emotions through me daily and conquered my life.  Or choose a man who was steady, rock solid.  Don’t get me wrong, you know I was attracted to Daniel, it was just different.”

“What ever happened to him?  This hot lover?”  Lora asked.  “He still around?”

Karly’s brow crinkled.  “I don’t know.  Last I heard he was out west somewhere.  We haven’t exactly kept in touch.  The break up was brutal.”

Lora’s cell phone beeped an incoming call.  “That’s Jeremy.  So we on for tomorrow night?”  

“Sure,” Karly breathed. 

“Pick you up at 8,” Lora said.  “Dress sexy.”

It was Karly’s turn to snort.  “See ya later,” Karly pushed the end button and let the phone fall onto the plush rug beside the tub.  She closed her eyes and for awhile let the past own the present.

Chapter 3

Jason noted Karly’s progress through the house by lights.

Once she was upstairs, he went around to the back yard.  Her car window was down.  He added that to the mental list of things he needed to teach her.

He walked around the back side of the garage, needing no light, knowing the way from numerous visits.  Honeysuckle perfumed the air.  A huge willow tree sat at the very back of the garden.  He took his usual place under its green canopy.  It afforded an unhindered view into the master bedroom, the kitchen and the living room.

Karly was standing at the sliding glass door in the upstairs bedroom talking on the phone.  He could hear her voice but not the words.

His pulse raced and a light sheen of sweat broke out on his body.  She was beautiful standing back lit in nothing but a short tank and underwear.  His nostrils flared.

He watched without blinking until she moved from the doorway further into the house.

He rubbed the stubble on his cheeks and ignored the throbbing between his legs.

Excitement sparkled his blood and his eyes drifted toward the large tin cans sitting beside the garage.  Garbage told a lot about a person.  Her's told him many things, the most important being she was just about ready for him to enter her life.  In the first several months after the divorce her garbage contained sleep aids, a lot of tissue, and occasionally letters to her ex husband  she never sent.

Toward the end of the first year, just when he was about to introduce himself, her son went to live with his father.  That made watching Karly easier, but it threw her back into sleep aids, tissues, and letters of pain she never mailed.

He knew approaching her after the son left would almost guarantee success, but he didn’t want to be a rebound man.  He was a rebound man once, earlier in life, and didn’t take to the roll.  He wanted to be the forever man.  So he waited, followed when he could, and watched her.

She was doing better these days, going out with friends more, laughing.  She was working out again, and he found two business cards in her trash with handwritten notes on the back asking her to call.  He was tempted to call the bastards and warn them off.  But, the cards she threw out didn’t worry him half as much as the ones she kept.  Dating wasn’t too far away, he could smell it in the air.

He couldn’t let that happen with anyone but himself.  According to the trash she was ovulating monthly but not on the pill.  Of course that didn’t mean she was fertile, or using another form of birth control.  But he didn’t like it.

He added that to the list.