The South Beach Search Page 22

  “I’m glad to see you.” She inhaled deeply. “I was going to call you, tell you I hadn’t left, but I was afraid you would...” She trailed off.

  “That I would what?”

  “Nothing.”

  Her gaze fell to the box, and he sensed her curiosity.

  “Kimberly Howell Spencer, this is your life.” He raised the box toward her, then placed it on the rattan coffee table.

  “That’s not my name anymore,” she blurted. “I had it legally changed.”

  He sat on the couch, examining her face in an attempt to sense her mood. She was nervous, uneasy.

  “As a symbol of a new beginning,” he murmured. “I remember.”

  “Yes. Because I wanted a different life.” She stared at him across the room.

  “Actually,” he said, annoyed that she kept her distance from him, “I just reviewed a very thick file about your name and various aliases. You change your name a lot.”

  Her eyes widened, then fell to the box. “A file? What are you talking about?”

  She nibbled on her bottom lip, and a glimpse of her white teeth made him remember the hot, sweet taste of her mouth. This might be harder than he thought.

  In an attempt to refocus his thoughts, he jerked a file from the box and flipped through the pages. “By the way,” he said, staring at a document, “there is a warrant for your arrest.”

  “What?” She sounded startled, defensive, as if she didn’t believe him.

  “An unpaid moving violation in San Francisco. Speeding twenty-five miles over the limit.” He glanced up. “Why am I not surprised?”

  Her jaw dropped open, then acknowledgment flashed across her face. “Oh, right. I forgot about that. My father located me, so I had to leave before my court date. Yeah, I guess it’s still out there.” She shook her head. “Why would you dig up an old traffic ticket?”

  “Not me. The Spencer Trust, and they’re very thorough. They’ve tracked you through the past four years.”

  Narrowing her eyes, Taki stepped forward and pulled a manila sleeve from the box.

  Reese smiled grimly as he recognized the file she’d selected, the six months when Taki had lived in Santa Fe and had given free yoga classes to AIDS patients, somehow disappearing overnight once the Spencer Trust had located her. Of course, by far his favorite period was when she’d taught yoga two nights a week at the federal penitentiary in San Francisco, apparently willing to put her own life in danger if it improved her karma-challenged path to enlightenment.

  She leafed through several pages of the Santa Fe folder, then glanced at him over the top.

  “Where did you get all this?”

  “Where do you think? From the attorneys for the Spencer Trust.”

  “But why would...”

  “I’m here on their behalf.” He executed a mock salute. “At your service.”

  The horror that flashed across her face created a sense of satisfaction in him. She looked as if she’d been sucker punched. Yeah, well, he knew how she felt.

  “I’ve been sent to bring you in,” he said.

  “Bring me...in?”

  “Since you and I are—were, well, close, they thought I could make the situation easier for you.”

  “Because we’re close?” Taki dropped the file and took a step backward, away from the box, away from him. “So you’re working for the Trust now? For my father?”

  “I’m doing them—and you—a favor.”

  Taki moistened her lips. “Have you met my father?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

  “Haven’t had the pleasure.”

  She nodded, looking relieved. “How can you have time for this? What about the Romero trial? What about your sense of justice?”

  “It’s temporary duty. My assignment is to smooth the way for you, arrange a first meeting.”

  “Is that the only reason you’re here?”

  “No.”

  Taki rebalanced her weight and folded her arms across her stomach, the liquid movement of her limbs making him remember the sensual way she’d rubbed her calves across his back.

  When he didn’t expand on his answer, she lifted her eyebrows. “Well?”

  “Well, what?” he muttered. How could she still haunt his every thought, interfere with his focus?

  “Why else did you come?”

  “For answers.” Reese leaned forward and placed one hand on the box. “I’ve just spent over three hours examining these files, trying to learn everything I could about you, hoping it would help me understand. It didn’t work.”

  “You won’t learn anything about me from those files.”

  “Not true. I’ve learned that because your family owns controlling interest in several tobacco companies, you blame yourself for the cancer death of anyone who smoked cigarettes. That’s ridiculous, Taki, and you must know it.”

  “I don’t blame myself...exactly. I just can’t use the money.” Raising her chin, she said, “Besides, that’s only one component of the problem.”

  “Oh, yes. I know. There’s also chemical factories in Central and South America polluting the environment. Clothing manufacturers in Asia that employ underage workers in dangerous conditions.”

  She nodded. “Then you do understand.”

  “Let’s just say I’ve read your letters to the Spencer Trust’s board of directors insisting they sell off certain investments.”

  “Which they refused to do.”

  “The board can’t just do what you want. There are other stockholders to protect.”

  “I sent letters to the other stockholders, too.”

  “Wake up, girl. Life isn’t all black-and-white. In London one of the Spencer pharmaceutical corporations has come up with promising advances in chemotherapy drugs, is doing research on diabetes. Your money is invested in plenty of worthwhile endeavors.”

  “I cannot believe you’re defending them.”

  “Get over it.”

  She spread her arms and said, “If someone doesn’t try to change the bad things in the world, the negative, nothing positive will ever happen. I wanted to do some good. My attempt failed, so I walked away. No one can force me to use dirty money.”

  Unable to formulate a response to her little speech, he stared at her. She refused to listen to reason.

  “The Buddha gave up his worldly goods to seek enlightenment,” she murmured.

  “And have you found enlightenment?”

  “Obviously not.” She looked away. “I failed at that, too.”

  Reese ran a hand through his hair, searching for a way to talk sense into her. Did she really consider herself a latter-day Buddha?

  “Did you tell them everything about us?” she demanded, meeting his gaze again.

  “I don’t think they know about our past lifetimes together.”

  Her mouth tightened, and he knew he’d hit a nerve. Of course he should have known logic wouldn’t penetrate her cosmically tilted brain. Well, maybe she was ridiculously stubborn, but so was he.

  “Do you remember telling me to open my mind to new ideas?” He wagged a finger at her. “You need to do the same.”

  She sucked in a quick breath. “How much are they paying you?”

  “They’re not, but do you have any idea of the amount of money that’s been spent trying to find you?” He raised his voice as his frustration mounted.

  “No clue.”

  Bothered that she managed to sound disinterested, even bored, he stood. “And you don’t care, do you?”

  “Why should I?”

  “Of course. That’s the whole idea, isn’t it? Your grandmother’s will ensures that the trustees can never stop searching for you even if your father has you declared legally dead.”

  “They can stop i
f they find a body.”

  “Taki. Please.”

  “All I want is for them to leave me alone.”

  “Have you even read your grandmother’s will?”

  Taki shifted her gaze from his.

  “I think you’re fully aware that they can’t make financial decisions or changes without your approval. Your grandmother even placed separate counsel on retainer to institute action if your father petitions the court to proceed without you. So everything remains tangled in litigation, money is wasted on attorney fees and the estate dwindles each year.”

  “I thought it fitting,” Taki said. “My grandmother hated attorneys.”

  Reese took a step toward her. “So do you.”

  Her face softened. “Not all of them.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  Taki straightened her shoulders, defiance sparking in her blue eyes. “Take it any way you like.”

  “I’ll tell you what else,” Reese continued, his own fury rising with hers. “All this karma nonsense is just a smoke screen. You’re only avoiding the Trust to punish your father.”

  Her usually tranquil face flushed a healthy pink. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I disagree.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to discuss this, Reese.”

  “Tough.”

  “His cruelty killed my mother. He threw her away like garbage. She killed herself because of the way he treated her.”

  “I admit he’s hardly a prince, but she took her own life. She made her own decisions.”

  “You don’t know anything about it,” she said, her voice slow and perfectly controlled.

  “I know he kept you isolated for years. You had home tutoring until you were thirteen, and then attended an exclusive private school.”

  He took another step forward, wondering why he couldn’t stop himself, couldn’t check the explosive emotion that roared stronger and hotter each second he spent with her. He should be distancing himself from Taki, not moving closer.

  “Don’t you know this is all really about getting back at your father?”

  “I am not going to discuss my father with you,” she said, taking a step backward, her tone now chillingly furious.

  He took another step toward her. “I think this is more about your mother’s death than your father’s money.”

  She inhaled slowly, her favorite method to calm herself. Her breasts rose with the movement, and he longed to cup them between his hands.

  “Be reasonable,” he said. “Think about what you’re doing.”

  What a farce that he should advise her to cling to reason when he’d abandoned all pretext of logical thought himself. He took one last step toward her. All he knew was that he had to touch her.

  * * *

  WANTING HIM, LOVING HIM, hating him, Taki’s backward movement away from Reese halted when she bumped into her front door. She leaned against the solid surface with Reese right in her face. Much, much too close, his beautiful dark eyes glittered with unfathomable emotion. She didn’t know what he was thinking.

  He placed his forearms on either side of her head, trapping her. He breathed fury hotter than any dragon’s breath, but the tension in his body told her his desire for her was stronger than his anger.

  She ached for him to touch her, to crush her body into his.

  “I don’t like you very much right now,” he gritted out, his voice low and menacing, moving hot air across her ear. “But I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t help who I am.”

  With a muffled curse, Reese pressed his body into hers, pinning her against the door. He pulled her head back and kissed her hard, as if he could transfer his anger to her with his lips.

  She clutched his shoulders, the tips of her fingers digging into muscles beneath his cotton shirt, wondering if this was some sort of reprieve. Or additional torture...more lessons to learn.

  What did it matter? Reese was holding her again. That was all that she wanted.

  He was also sliding his hand beneath her sweater and massaging her breasts. She tensed, fearful his anger would make him rough, but she relaxed as his sensual touch brought only spine-dissolving pleasure. As she arched into his arousing strokes, she breathed his name and released the top button of his shirt.

  He made a guttural sound deep in his throat. With a quick tug, he unzipped her jeans. His large hand moved flat against her belly, stroking downward toward her moistness. Then, without warning, he worked feverishly to remove her jeans and panties at the same time.

  She kicked away her clothing as Reese unbuckled and dropped his slacks. When he moved his unyielding body against her, the delicious warmth of his muscled strength caused her to lose her center. Not knowing who she was anymore, she felt herself eased to the hardwood floor by arms stronger than she remembered.

  Wordlessly, Taki hugged him closer. It didn’t matter that he had defected to the other side. She needed him inside her or she’d die. He was her soul mate, and they needed to be one, to be complete. She’d been obsessed with the idea of loving him since he’d pulled into her driveway. Sharp, driving tension had escalated between them until there was no way to slow down or stop.

  Besides, she acknowledged as he entered her and began a delicious, urgent rhythm, she didn’t want to slow down...and she never wanted to stop. She wanted to keep him in her, on top of her, around her forever.

  “Forever,” she whispered, unsure if she spoke the word aloud.

  As long as she was able, Taki watched passion move across the angles of Reese’s face until she lost herself, felt herself become part of him.

  * * *

  TAKI LAY CONTENT beneath Reese for long moments until their breath merged and evened into a steady rhythm.

  Finally, Reese raised his face. “Taki, I—” Troubled eyes searched hers. “Are you okay?”

  Feeling as if a storm had just broken, she smoothed his worry line, wondering what would happen next. “Fine.” A giggle threatened to erupt. “Way better than fine.”

  He released a breath and glanced around them, astonishment and chagrin washing over his features. Why was the fragile skin beneath his eyes so dark? And why were those gorgeous eyes so bloodshot?

  “I don’t believe this,” he muttered, rolling off her and leaning back on both forearms.

  “You haven’t been sleeping nights, have you?” she asked after a moment.

  “Sleeping?” He looked heavenward. “She’s asking how I’m sleeping.” With a shake of his head, he refocused on her. “No. I’ve been working late. How kind of you to notice.”

  “You mustn’t forget about balance in your life, Reese.”

  “Of course.” He gave a short laugh. “Balance. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much...balance lately.” She held her breath when their gazes locked, wondering what thoughts blazed behind his unreadable eyes. Did they have this much trouble understanding each other in every lifetime?

  “Did you try my tea?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You haven’t been to class,” she murmured. “Yoga would help.”

  “I thought you’d left town, remember?”

  “Well, I’m still here.”

  “And why is that? Why didn’t you leave?”

  “I’m not sure,” she whispered. “But it has something to do with you.”

  “Come here.” As he pulled her toward him, she allowed her gaze to sweep across his body, memorizing each muscular ridge. She loved his body, wished she could curl up next to him and stay there for the rest of her life. He settled her head on his chest and wrapped an arm around her.

  “I promise I did not tell them where you were.” His chest rumbled pleasantly beneath her ear
as he spoke. “Please believe me.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No. They had you under surveillance, and investigators videoed my car in front of your home. A Mr. David Winslow came to see me.”

  “But you agreed to work for my father, to help the Trust?”

  “The idea was to make it easier for you, and that’s why I agreed. That’s what I want to do.”

  “Right, right. Smooth the way.” Taki rolled away from him and rested her head on her elbow so she could see his face. How could Reese think it would be easier on her that he had gone over to the dark side? Another wrong turn away from each other.

  Silence hung heavy between them, and Taki wished that the lightning-quick passion of their lovemaking hadn’t given way so easily to suspicion and doubt.

  She sat up beside him. “So the plan is you’ll be like a go-between? I’ll talk to the Trust through you?”

  “No. I’ll bring Mr. Winslow here one day next week, and the two of you can talk.”

  “Okay, then.” Why had she never considered Reese would be involved in her surrender? But the journey was as it should be. Navi said she had to do the work. Still, it hurt that Reese had become her enemy.

  Reese tossed Taki her sweater and jeans and reached for his own clothing, trying to sort out his thoughts. Loving her on the floor so rashly, so thoroughly...her searing flash of desire matching his own stroke for stroke...well, total satisfaction tended to undermine a man’s sense of outrage.

  As he watched Taki elevate her buttocks to glide her jeans over slim hips, he decided she was the most maddening creature he had ever encountered.

  She dropped the sweater over her breasts and sat cross-legged on the floor. While he buttoned his shirt, she combed her tousled hair with long, slender fingers, watching him.

  “You have a beautiful body,” she whispered.

  Reese paused on a button and smiled at her, wanting to tell her he’d never get enough of hers. He didn’t, though. Lingering confusion held rein on his thoughts. Who was she...Kim or Taki? Were they two different people?

  “Listen, Taki, I want you to keep an open mind when you talk to this Winslow character. He seems like a straight shooter. Maybe he can figure a way to help you out of this process that you despise.”