You're Still the One Read online

  You’re

  Still the One

  Romance

  Annabel Jacobs

  You’re Still the One

  Copyright © 2016 by Annabel Jacobs

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and signed permission from the author.

  “Do you really believe we can put the past behind us and work together?”

  Katie whispered.

  “Do you really believe w can be friends again??

  You’re Still the One

  Table of Contents:

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 1

  “What the –“ Rick Powell stopped cold in the doorway of his private

  investigation's Office. “Katie?”

  The slender woman turned. Though her thick mink-dark hair was short now, her

  eyes were still the same unusual slate blue he remembered and deep with the same

  wariness, and the same uncertainty as the time he’d seen her. “The the flesh.”

  “I’ll say.” On this perfect June Sunday, he’d walked right in on his past, and his

  past looked darn good. Her faint musky scent squeezed his lungs.

  His breath jammed somewhere under his ribs, but Rick walked in and shut

  the Door as if he hadn’t just had the wind knocked out of him. He was disoriented, his

  head swam, and he had to remind himself where he was. Oklahoma City , not Norman.

  Not standing ten years deep in yesterdays.

  He didn’t know whether to shake her hand or hug her, so he simply stood there,

  arms hanging limply at his sides, she gave him an uncertain smile. “Hello.”

  “Hey.”

  Katie Foley, who’d been his first love, who’d broken his heart and walked

  away. Katie, whom he’d thought he would never forget. She was here. Ten years older,

  Beautiful In the way a woman becomes when she grows into her skin, her identity. It

  hurt his Chest to look at her .

  This case—her case—was the reason his office manager, Nita Howard, had page

  him on Lake Arcadia about a missing persons case why he’d put down the brand new

  fiber glass rod.

  Katie’s dark-rimmed eyes paused hungrily on his features. Her voice went soft and Shy, the way it did when she was in an uncertain situation. “It’s been a long time.”

  No Kidding. And Rick suddenly felt everyday of those long years in the wary full

  of his muscles, the way her smoke and honey voice still stroked up his spine like warm

  fingers. Resentment, disbelief, unwelcome pleasure fused inside.

  Katie. He couldn’t stop his gaze from sliding down her body, the way his hands

  had done numerous times. “Looking good.”

  She blushed. “You, too.”

  Her coltish figure had rounded out, the angular edges of her hips now soft, her

  waist nipped in tightly. Her breasts were fuller, curving beneath the short sleeved, cotton

  floral dress she wore. The wavy dark brown hair that had once reached the middle of her

  back was a shiny wedge that came just below her delicate ears. The style sharpened her

  cheekbones, highlighted her perfectly straight nose.

  She was stunning. Her wide, dark-lashed eyes were bright with unshed tears, he

  realized, as her troubled gaze sought his.

  “I need you – your help.”

  “I need you. His muscles clenched against those words.

  In the end, she hadn’t wanted to need him, had wanted to stand on her own. She’d

  proven that by walking away.

  He thought he’d forgotten how shattered he’d been when she refused to marry

  him the day before his college graduation. Thought he’d forgotten how pain had closed

  over him with brittle frigidity when she’d stammered that she couldn’t leave her family

  responsibilities. Couldn’t live with the way he took total control. She wanted a partner,

  not someone who made decisions without her.

  Feeling as off balance as the day the Air Force had permanently grounded him

  from flying, Rick walked around her to his desk. He felt a foolish urge to ask Nita to

  come in, but his office manager had left as soon as he arrived.

  Katie’s voice trembled, edgy and staccato. “I’m sure I’m the last person you want

  to see. I didn’t know where else to turn.”

  She was certainly the last person he’d expected to see.

  That old familiar awareness throbbed to stilted life. “How did you find me?”

  “Um, this,” She pulled a black pocketbook from her purse and slid out a neatly

  folded piece of newspaper. She handed it to him. “I saw this about three years ago.”

  Rick skimmed it, his gaze going to hers as he realized it was the article the

  Associated Press had picked up on him. Two weeks after Rick had left the Air Force, a

  Child belonging to a Major in Rick’s old Air Force detail had been kidnapped by the

  Major’s estranged wife. Rick had set out on a one man mission to find the child and

  succeeded. He’d also testified in the subsequent custody trial. The local paper had done

  a story, which had been picked up by AP.

  Katie had seen the article. And kept it. Not knowing what to think about that, not

  wanting to think anything, Rick handed it back to her.

  She smiled uncertainly, slid the clipping in her pocketbook. "I called Kevin to see where you were and he told me. I found your phone number in the book."

  He'd spoken to Eric Jones just yesterday, and his college roommate hadn't mentioned a thing about Katie. Rick made a mental note to tell his friend not to be so free with information.

  Still not believing she was here, he cleared his throat. "How are are?"

  "Fine." She shoved a thick lock of hair off her forehead, giving a sharp laugh. "Well, not really. "That's why I'm here."

  Rick tried to dodge the images that crashed over him - the throatiness of her laugh, the sleek feel of her body against his, the tight perfection of his inside her. She'd been his first love. Even if he told himself he'd forgotten her, he hadn't.

  Whatever had happened, he couldn't take this case. Right now that was the only clear thing in his mind, but still he couldn't deny a burning curiosity to find out what she'd been doing the last ten years, where she'd been.

  "I can pay. Or... I guess I should ask about your fee."

  "We'll work that out." Was she married? Divorced? Children?

  He didn't want to ask or even acknowledge the questions ricocheting through this mind, didn't want to admit to the heat and squeezed his chest at the thought of her with another man. He'd moved on.

  He knew their relationship on her side had never been as committed as it had on his. After so long, it shouldn't make him wince that it had taken him an entire year to get rid of her engagement ring. "What's happened?"

  "It's Grace." She hesitated then said, "She's missing."

  "Again?"

  "Don't start, Rick. This is serious."
r />   "With your sister?" He arched a brow. "Since when?"

  She gave him a flat stare.

  "You're sure she didn't hook up with some guy at a bar?"

  "I'm sure," she said tightly. "She's not like that anymore."

  Rick couldn't even imagine such a transformation, but neither could he ignore the panic in Katie's eyes.

  Indicating the straight-backed chair in front of his desk, he eased himself down into his own overstuffed gray leather chair, grateful for the support at his back." Tell me what happened."

  Instead of sitting, she began to pace. Her soft cotton dress curled around her calves and clung to her lithe body, molding her perfect breasts. Rick forced his gaze to her face, picked up a pen and pulled a legal-sized notepad over to him.

  "Can I get you something? Water, a Coke?" He was amazed at how calm he sounded, especially when he wanted to ask a million questions. Do you still live in Tulsa? What have you been doing? Doyou ever regret turning me down?

  She flashed him a tremelous smile, but her worry was tangible. "No, thanks."

  He's smelled this same raw desperation before in each of the twenty missing persons cases he'd solved.

  "I'm a flight attendant for TransAmerica. Yesterday morning, I returned from a layover in Miami. I had a message, only thirty minutes old, from the hospital on my answering machine. The nurse said Grace had been in a car wreck." Katie dragged an unsteady hand through her hair. Fatigue and worry drew her features taut, flattened the sweet curve of her full lips. "I raced over, but when I got there, Grace was gone."

  "Did you check at the nurses' station? Maybe she--"

  Kit shot him a look. "Of course. They told me they wanted to keep her overnight for observation, but she'd left with her husband, Tommy Harrington."

  "Grace is married?"

  "No. Yes. Supposed to be getting a divorce."

  "Ah."

  Katie's dark glare skewered him.

  "And you?"

  She blinked. "Me?"

  "No." The word practically exploded from her.

  Yes, that sounded like the Katie he knew. His mouth twisted, despite the satisfaction curling through him.

  She shoved a hand through her hair again, then clasped her hands together. "Anyway, Grace just up and left with Tommy."

  Which was just like Grace Foster, Rick reminded himself. "Maybe she got back together with her ex."

  "She lives with me, I wouldn't known."

  "Maybe she didn't want to tell you. She used to take off with one man or another a lot."

  "Something's happened," Katie said stiffly. "Grace wouldn't just go off like this."

  "What about that time she ran off with the high school quarterback? Steven Hughes?" Rick reminded her.

  "They were in Mexico, plastered on margaritas and begging a priest to marry them when you found her."

  That had been right after the death of Rick's grandfather. Katie had come home with him for the funeral, then left before it even started to chase after her sister. Again. Resentment curled through him. He thought he'd forgotten about that. Apparently not.

  So you won't help me? Katie stopped in front of his desk, anger snapping in her eyes.

  He kept his gaze on her, refusing to dwell on the protective urge that shot through him. "She is an adult and there doesn't seem to be any sign of foul play."

  "She called me this morning, terrified."

  He tapped a finger on his desk. "What did she say? Did she go with Tommy willingly?

  "She said she couldn't talk long because the call could be traced. She told me she was all right, that she'd be calling me later to wire some money."

  "To where?"

  "She's going to let me know. In the meantime, I can get some money together."

  Rick bit off the sharp comment that rose to his lips and said gently, "It doesn't sound as if she's in trouble, Katie."

  She inhaled deeply, her eyes fluttering shut briefly. "She is."

  Whether Grace was in trouble or not, he could see Katie believed she was. Using his most soothing tone, he put himself on automatic pilot, which he should've done from the beginning. "Talk to me."

  Her hands, on top of his desk, fisted. Then unfisted, fisted. "Tommy, her husband, was in prison for a computer scam and he was released about two weeks ago."

  Rick held up a hand. "Wait a minute. Grace married a computer guy?"

  "Yes."

  "She doesn't go for computer guys."

  "She did."

  "He's not into sports at all? Doesn't play basketball or drive race cars or something?"

  "No." Katie tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I told you she's changed."

  Evidently not enough, Rick thought.

  Walking to the opposite wall, Katie halted in front of a vintage black-and-white photograph of turn-of-the century Oklahoma City. She wrapped both slender arms around her waist. "Tommy got a job, was really trying to get his life straightened out."

  Her tongue darted out to moisten her rose lips.

  Rick's belly drew up at the sight of that tongue, and he glanced down, scrawling some notes.

  "I'm not sure I understand it all myself," she said.

  "When Grace called, I told her to put Tommy on so he could tell me what was happening. Evidently he was sent to prison for manipulating stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange, making some money for a friend in serious financial trouble. Tommy told me that while he was in prison, a man contacted him, a man with ties to organized crime."

  "Did he give you a name?"

  "Henderson."

  "First or last name?" Rick's gazed tracked Katie's agitated movements across his plush burgundy carpet.

  "He didn't say." She surreptitiously swiped at a tear, and Rick's heart squeezed. She hated crying, hated even more for people to see it. Pulling a piece of paper from the side pocket of her purse, she passed it to Rick. "Grace left this for me at the hospital."

  Rick took the note, read the curvy scrawl. The mob's after us. I'll call.

  He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Grace's dramatics. Katie went on, "This man wanted Tommy to pull the same scam for him on the prison computer, but Tommy said he refused. Henderson threatened to hurt Grace if Tommy didn't do what he wanted. Tommy said that man--" She halted, her shoulders sagging.

  Concern had Rick's fingers curling into the arms of his chair. During that intense year they'd dated, he'd seen Katie cry only once, and it hadn't been the day they'd broken up. It had been the day she'd heard that her sister had eloped with the local hockey team's goalie. That had been marriage number one. He wasn't sure what number Tommy, the computer guy, was.

  Rick knew he shouldn't touch Katie, but he rose, walked around his desk and settled his hand on her shoulder anyway trying to discount the way she leaned slightly into his touch, the way her body heat shot straight up his arm.

  She kept her head averted. Her musky scent slid into his lungs, knotting him up with regret and awareness. His hand was mere inches from the creamy flesh of her throat, the warm cleft where her neck and shoulder met, where he used to--

  Get a grip. "Are you sure I can't get you something to drink?"

  "No, thanks." She dragged in a deep breath, then went on in a wobbly voice that mangled his insides. "Tony said Henderson was responsible for Grace's accident, that he made it happen."

  "Where was it?"

  "Just north of One Fiftieth Street on Western. There's a hard curve there."

  He nodded. "On the edge of Edmond city limits. I'm familiar with it."

  Just two weeks ago, a man had made a local news for taking that curve too fast and flipping his car forty feet into the ravine below. Grace could've done the same thing.

  "So," Katie said, "Tommy did what Henderson wanted while he was in prison."

  "Using the prison's computer? How long did it take the warden to catch him?"

  Never.

  Rick's eyes widened

  She glanced over. "He's that good, Rick. A computer guru."

/>   He nodded, prompting her. "But when he got out, Tony refused to help Henderson?"

  "Yes."

  "So you think Grace's accident was deliberate. And now she's disappeared with Tommy. I can see why you're concerned." Rick said gently. With some surprised, he recognized a flare of anger. Grace was always pulling stunts, putting Katie through all kinds of hell and expecting her to ride to the rescue. "Doesn't Tommy think Henderson will look for him?"

  "I really don't know what he thinks." She stepped away from Rick and pulled a tissue from her purse.

  Rick's hand fell to his side, and he moved back to his chair. Jaw tight, he shrugged off the insidious thought that she'd once again rejected him.

  "I begged Grace to meet me somewhere, but Tommy said those men might be following me, too. I haven't seen anyone, though."

  If someone from the mob was really tailing her and they knew what they were doing, Rick knew she wouldn't see them. "She could be with Tommy on a lark, Katie. Look at her track record."

  "I know her track record!" Her gaze shot to his. "Would I be here asking for your help if I thought this was a joyride?"

  Ouch. "You have to admit she's done this before."

  "This is different, Rick. I can tell. I heard how frightened she was."

  She frowned. "I don't think so."

  "Did anyone at the hospital hear or see a struggle? Did Grace scream?"

  "No, nothing." Worry carved deep lines beside her mouth.

  "She probably went with him voluntarily, Katie."

  "I don't know. I guess."

  He hated the torture in her soft blue eyes. "So why would she do that?"

  "She believes him, I guess."

  "About Henderson?"

  "And Tommy's claim that he's turning his life around. He's called her every night since he got out, trying to mend fences. I thought she'd stand firm this time."

  Katie said his last half under her breath, causing Rick to narrow his gaze. She'd never said anything less than supportive about Grace before.