MIRROR mirror

She could not believe her ears.  He was serious?  He couldn’t be!  “If this is your idea of a joke, then you’re more warped in the head than I imagined.”  Why didn’t she laugh in his face?  What held her back?  Doubt?  “You’ve got a sick sense of humor.”  Glaring at Grant, Kate assumed a casual sarcastic smirk.  But inside, her confidence was suffering.  What if he did know something about David? 

“I’m not joking.”

“Why are you telling me this now instead of months ago when we first met?”

“It was hardly the time,” he replied softly.

“And it’s perfect timing now?”  Kate did not want to buy this story yet.  “Now that I try to get out and get on with my life, you tell me my fiancé was not only unfaithful but homosexual.  Correct me any time here.”  Her voice shook along with the rest of her.

“Kate, you’ve been living in a dream world of denial for the past few months.  It is far past time for a wake-up call.”  Grant jammed his hands deeply in his pockets.  He did not relish playing the role of insensitive prick, but it could not be helped now.  And he was doing such a fine job, he thought sourly.

“Just what am I supposed to wake up to?”

“About the fact that your fiancé was murdered, why he was murdered, and who did it.  You can also thank your overwhelming lack of participation in solving the case as the backbone of the cover-up.”

“My lack of participation?  I told them all that I knew, which was not much, and they were content to let everyone assume I was the guilty one.  I don’t know what else I could have told the authorities, but I’ll tell you something, it’s not me withholding information.  It’s you.”

“That’s rich.  Just how do you figure that, sweetheart?”

“You know more than what you let on, here.  You know a David I didn’t know about.  The secret David.  Don’t you?  Isn’t that what you’re insinuating?  Hell, I should be asking you questions.”

“I don’t think you’d like what I had to say.”

“I don’t like what you’re saying now.  Why didn’t you tell me the truth?  All that time you pretended to be supportive when all you wanted was some sordid tale about murder.  Do you get off on that stuff or are you some kind of reporter for a trashy paper?”  The thought horrified her.  “Or both?  Were you so disappointed with the truth that you started to manufacture your twisted story?”

“I could scarcely be mistaken for a reporter type.  It’s not my style to embellish the dearly departed.  In my book, dead is dead.”

“Then what is this about?”

Grant ran his hand through a wave of sandy hair, still slick with moisture from his recent shower.  This was not going as well as he hoped.  Thanks to his own clumsiness.  He thought she would give him some much-needed answers, but now he only had more questions.  Way to go Ace.  The beeper on the coffee table rang out.  Muffling a curse, “How about we get together say about six or six-thirty tomorrow morning.  The café on Wakeland and Oak is always open.  We need to talk and right now I’m too tired too stand.”

“Poor baby.”  Her eyes glowered at him. “We’ll see.”

“Does that mean I will see you tomorrow or you’re going to do something infantile and let me sit there all morning?”

“It means we’ll see.”  She wrenched open the door.  Strong hands closed over her shoulders.

“Kate,” he turned her to face him.  “I need you to think of something else.”

Her eyes widened as she saw the hungry gleam in his eyes.  His mouth closed over hers--devouring her.  His lips demanded a response.  Kate gasped in shock when he nipped her bottom lip and took swift advantage to deepen the kiss.

Ruthlessly he pulled her against him.  Lifting his head he trailed his lips at the base of her throat.

“Grant we need to--oh!”  She broke off when her back met the wall and her soft frame molded to his hard body.   

He groaned when her hands clutched at his shoulders.  Grant knew a deep satisfaction when she shivered delicately in his arms.

She never had this flash fire of passion