How About Forever? (Sequel)

Punishment and Car Chases - 8

EMILY'S POV

"Security is going to get tighter," Ali says matter-of-factly, 

"I understand." I glance down her body. She's still wearing her shirt, and I still have my T-shirt on. Jeez - talk about wham, bam, thank you ma'am. The thought makes me giggle.

"What?" Alison asks, bemused.

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes. You. Still dressed."

"Oh." She glances down at herself, then back at me, and her face erupts into an enormous smile.

"Well, you know how hard it is for me to keep my hands off you, Emmy - especially when you're giggling like a schoolgirl."

Oh yes - the tickling. Gah! The tickling. I move quickly so that I'm straddling her, but immediately understanding my evil intent, she grabs both of my wrists.

"No," she says and she means it.

I pout at her but decide that she's not ready for this.

"Please don't," she whispers. "I couldn't bear it. I was never tickled as a child." She pauses and I relax my hands so she doesn't have to restrain me.

———————————————

(1 WEEK LATER)

"I like having you to myself."

She reaches out and clasps my hand. Lifting it to her lips, she grazes my knuckles with a sweet kiss. "Me too."

"But?" I ask, hearing that small word unsaid at the end of her simple statement.

Ali frowns. "But?" she repeats disingenuously. I tilt my head to one side, gazing at her with the tell me expression I have perfected over the last year. She sighs, putting her book down and gazing intently at me. "I want this arsonist caught and out of our lives."

"Oh." That seems fair enough, but I'm surprised by her bluntness.

"I'll have Hyde's balls on a platter if he lets anything like that happen again." A shiver runs down my spine at her menacing tone. She gazes at me impassively, and I don't know if she's daring me to be flippant or what. I do the only thing I can think of to ease the sudden tension between us and raise the camera and snap another photograph.

—————————

"What do you mean I've put on weight?" I glare at Ali. Her grin broadens, and she clasps me closer to her

"Not much," she assures me but her face darkens suddenly. Oh no . . . what now?

"What is it?" I breathe, trying to control the alarm I hear in my own voice.

"You've put on some of the weight you lost when you left me," she explains quietly as she unlocks the door. A bleak expression crosses her face.

No! Her sudden, surprising anguish tugs at my heart.

"Hey." I curl my fingers around er face and into her hair, pulling her toward me. She comes willingly. "If I hadn't gone, would you be standing here, like this, now?" I whisper.

————————————

(DAY LATER)

Alison and I cruise north on the I-5 toward the Rosewood bridge in the Audi RS 5 Cabriolet. We are going to have lunch at Spencer's house, a congratulatory Sunday lunch. I run my fingers absentmindedly over the leather upholstery of the door to distract my wandering thoughts. I feel out of sorts. Is The arson? Is it what Ali said yesterday?