Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter 01

It was another hot summer day, and the sun beat down through the glass windows of the San Francisco Police Department. Officers and criminals alike sweated in the 95-degree temperature except for Jeff Randall who seemed as comfortable as if he were in an Alaskan winter. He had come here from his office in the forensic labs to have lunch with his friend, Captain Bob Steele, a ritual they had about once a month to escape from their respective busy work schedules.

Coming up on Steele’s office, Randall saw an unfamiliar woman sitting at the aide’s desk. She seemed in her middle years, wearing a gray pantsuit on a bulky body, no makeup, oversized eyeglasses, and a big bun of nondescript brown hair at the nape of her neck. She had her hair pulled back so tightly that it made Randall’s head start to ache just looking at it.

Steele motioned his friend into the office and rose from behind his desk to greet him. “Jeff, I’d like you to meet my temporary secretary. She’ll be handling all the paperwork about the serial killer who’s terrorizing the city right now. Ravi, this is Jeff Randall, night supervisor of the forensic team. Jeff, this is Ravel Johanson, better known as Ravi to her friends.”

As Jeff reached out to shake the hand of the woman who hadn’t risen from her chair, he smiled and commented, “Very nice to meet you, Ravi. I bet if you had been a boy, you would have been named Maurice.” She rewarded him with a smile that brightened up her whole face at this lame joke the woman probably had heard many times during her life. However, she did not say another word after her initial greeting and returned to her work. This left a rather puzzled Randall to raise one eyebrow at Steele in a silent question.

Steele shook his head as if to tell him he would answer all his questions later, not now. As he walked over to sit in one of the visitor’s chairs in front of the desk, Randall looked down at his right hand in which he still could feel the softness of the woman’s hand. It had surprised him to see how delicate it had looked and how incredibly masculine it had made him feel, as it was swallowed up by his larger hand. Somehow, it did not match the rest of the woman’s ungainly body, and Randall vowed to investigate this mysterious woman further.

However, lunch was a priority, and he and Steele left for a nearby cafeteria. Ravi and the mystery of her body would have to wait for another time.

Chapter 02

“Okay, what’s going on? Who is she?” asked Randall as the two men finished their meals and leaned back for a few minutes of relaxation before heading back to work. “You never had anyone handling your paperwork before, even for bigger cases than this one.”

Steele hesitated before deciding his friend was capable of keeping the woman’s secret. “Ravi came recommended by a friend in the Phoenix P.D. who knew I would try to keep her safe.”

“Safe from what?” Randall put down his now empty coffee cup to give Steele his undivided attention. He remembered the look of fright that had appeared in the woman’s eyes, then as quickly disappeared as he had entered the room. Randall did not like to see women frightened and particularly not of him.

As Steele continued, Randall felt the heat of anger invading his body. It seemed that the ex husband of this woman had been stalking her for over two years, following her from state to state as she tried to distance herself from him in order to have a new life. They had only been married a few weeks when she no longer could stand his emotional and physical abuse. The gentle considerate man whom she had married when in her late 30s had turned, within days, into a brutal wife beater. She hadn’t understood this change and for weeks blamed herself as many women in this situation do.

Finally, after one particularly vicious attack, she packed a small suitcase while he was at work. After that, she took a bus to a distant city, trying to hide in its bustling anonymity. When Steele stopped his uninterrupted monologue at this point to drink from his refilled coffee cup, Randall sat waiting impatiently for him to continue. Men who abused women were high on his list of people he would enjoy consigning to the deepest pits of hell, more than willing to help them get there.

‘Well, Ravi made it to Phoenix before he managed to track her down. She had contacted a lawyer to start divorce proceedings a year ago, and the receipt of the final decree must have given this bastard a clue as to where she had been at that time.” Steele looked across the table at his friend whose eyes had darkened in quiet rage and went on. “Her boss at the P.D. where she worked as a file clerk managed to get her out of that city and headed my way. This was just hours before the man drove up to the police department and opened fire on the people inside, wounding two policemen.” Randall’s enraged expression at this point caused Steele much sadness, as he knew his friend was taking this woman’s plight personally, but it could not be helped.

“We’re hoping she managed to shake him. She’s found a small apartment in what we know is a safe neighborhood. Jeff, she really is a nice woman and deserves some happiness. I’m going to do all I can to make her comfortable here and hope you’ll do the same.”

“What can I do?” Randall asked slowly getting himself under control. “I could always use a secretary for my paperwork, and this would get her out of the police department itself.”

“Let me discuss it with her and get back to you by tomorrow, okay?” With this, Steele stood up to return to work, thankful for the friendship of the quiet man walking out of the cafeteria beside him. He knew to his bones that Ravi could not have a better protector than Jeff Randall.

Chapter 03

The next morning following a long night’s work, Randall was just stepping out of his shower when he heard the front doorbell ringing. He quickly wrapped a baby-blue bath towel around his middle and walked through his home, leaving wet footprints from the bathroom to the front door. He ran his fingers through his still damp curls to try to get out the last of the water and rubbed his hand over his face, wondering if he needed to trim his beard soon.

Holding on to the towel with one hand, he opened the door with his other hand to find Steele and Ravi waiting patiently for him. As they came inside, with Ravi closing the door behind them, Steele smirked at Randall’s discomfort. Ravi quietly asked, “Do you need help with that?” pointing to the towel that was slowly slipping out of Randall’s grasp.

The small towel still covered all essential parts, but just barely at this point. His muscular body, from head to just below the waist and from bare toes up to high on his thighs, was exposed for the amusement of Steele, pleasure of the now smiling woman, and growing embarrassment of the almost naked man.

Randall turned and quickly headed for his bedroom, commenting over his shoulder, “Just go into the kitchen and grab a coffee while I get dressed.”

“Don’t do it on my account,” Steele called out very seriously, but with a devilish look in his eyes.

“Or mine!” Ravi tried to stop smiling at the sight of the handsome man ducking out of sight, but failed miserably. Many long months had passed since she had felt like smiling, and this man had caused her to do it twice in 24 hours. What was it about him that I find so appealing?

Chapter 04

A now almost dressed Randall came out of his room. His short-sleeved blue shirt that brought out the brilliant blue of his eyes was still not fully buttoned. He filled out his tight black slacks magnificently to the delight of the woman watching him cross the room towards them. She was finding it harder and harder to not be drawn to this man. Thank goodness, she thought, I’ve made myself unattractive so he won’t notice me. How wrong she was in thinking this would some day become apparent to her.

“Jeff, we’ve talked it over, and Ravi agrees that working for you instead of inside the police department probably would be safer…if you still want her.” Steele looked across the kitchen table to gauge Randall’s reaction to this. He had already noticed that the other man had guessed something was odd about Ravi’s appearance and knew that Jeff, indeed, did want her and not just to help with his paperwork.

After the three of them had discussed the working terms and when Ravi would start at the forensic labs, Steele stood up in anticipation of leaving. He stopped midway to the door, as if remembering something and looked at his wristwatch. “Jeff, I forgot I have to meet with the sheriff in 15 minutes. Can you give Ravi a lift home? Her car’s back at the department. She couldn’t start it for some reason, so I promised I’d drive her to her apartment. It’s only about half an hour away cross town from here.” He waited for the answer he knew he would get.

“Sure, just let me get some shoes on.” Randall returned to his bedroom and quickly returned to escort both visitors outside. Steele got into his Taurus while Ravi and Randall aimed for the huge SUV parked outside the townhouse. As Randall’s hands went around her waist to help her into the high vehicle, he was surprised to find the bulky clothes masked a more slender waist than he had expected to feel. He decided he would most certainly do his best to find out what other pleasant things were hidden.

Chapter 05

Two weeks had passed since that early morning meeting at Randall’s home, and Ravi had settled in nicely with the rest of the night shift members. The men more or less ignored her. The women, not sensing a threat from her, greeted her each evening but left her alone for the rest of the shift. Her only interaction was with her temporary supervisor, and this was only to find out what paperwork he wanted expedited next. She had quickly discovered this tended to pile up unattended when Randall was nose deep in some experiment.

She would never forget the time she was searching once again for her missing boss only to find him in a lab examining a bag of rancid smelling stomach contents from a recently dead wildcat. At first, the thought was that the animal had killed and then eaten a man. This man’s hunting partner shot and killed the wildcat, but Randall had ended up proving the animal was innocent. The hunting partner was now on trial for first-degree murder, thanks to Randall’s perseverance in following the evidence.

Shaking her head to remove the memories of the man who seemed to claim quite a bit of her recent thoughts, Ravi got back to work, trying to organize the files of open cases strewn all over the big desk. She only looked up when Randall returned to his office muttering to himself. Knowing he wasn’t even aware she was there, she smiled to herself at the colorful adjectives he was using to describe the sheriff. The man recently dropped by to chat with Randall about a recent bungled court case involving the day shift supervisor. Angela was a friend of Randall’s, and he didn’t like anyone to bad mouth any of his friends, even if it were the sheriff. When he spoke a particularly inaccurate thing the sheriff could do to himself, physically impossible as far as she knew, her giggle warned Randall that he wasn’t alone in his office.

“Did you hear all of that?” he asked, looking a bit ashamed of his language in front of a woman, even though he had not seen her sitting quietly at his desk. However, her amused look dissolved this feeling and gave him a warm glow all over instead. What was there about this woman that makes me feel like an inexperienced young boy and a randy male all at the same time? He wondered this as he watched Ravi get up from behind the desk and walk over to the file cabinets on the back wall. Again, he noticed how gracefully she walked, another contradiction he could not explain.

Chapter 06

When his phone rang, Randall reached for it while sitting down behind his desk in the still warm chair. On hearing the worried voice of his friend on the other end, he took his eyes off the woman and concentrated on what Steele was saying. “Is Ravi there?” he heard.

“Yes, did you want to speak to her?” In the process of asking her to come and talk with Steele, Randall heard a vehement “No!” from Steele and stopped himself as he listened to the next chilling words coming over the phone line.

“Just let her know that her ex is in town and is looking for her. I’m on my way over to your office now to see what we can do to protect her from the bastard.” With this, Steele rang off leaving a stunned Randall holding the now dead phone. Ravi looked over at him and turned pale as she guessed what the call had been about.

“He found me again, didn’t he?” Seeing the answer in his face, she gathered her purse from where she had put it hours ago and started for the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Randall got abrupt words out before she could get more than a few steps and walked around his desk to stop her from leaving. “Bob is on his way here, and we’ll figure something out.” He reached her and slowly walked her back to sit back on his chair. He casually leaned on a corner of the desk. While they waited for Steele, he kept up a stream of small talk to try to keep her from jumping up and running out of the room, as he knew she wanted to do.

Chapter 07

Ten minutes later, Steele came down the corridor to the office followed by two armed policemen. Seeing this, Randall stood up, poised to argue since he knew what the plan Steele had come up with might be. Leaving the two men to stand outside, the husky captain walked around the desk to where Ravi was waiting hopefully to hear what she needed to do next.

“I’ve asked these officers to drive you home now where you can pack. They then will stay outside guarding the apartment until you’re ready to have them take you to the bus station. I’ve already contacted a friend on the police force in Las Angeles who is expecting you and has a job waiting.”

“I’m driving her home, not them.” This softly spoken announcement from Randall surprised everyone, especially Ravi as she thought he’d be glad to get rid of her and her problems. However, knowing that she would be able to see him at least for half hour or so softened the blow of leaving people she had learned to care about.

Randall took a firm hold of her arm as if to keep her from fighting his decision and walked her out to his SUV. Steele and the two policemen followed him. As the SUV and the police car with the two police officers inside drove away, Steele stood there in the parking lot. He sadly wished there was more he could have done for this woman other than shuffling her off to the care of someone in a distant city. He returned to his Taurus determined at least to try to find her ex and arrest him for the attempted murder back in Phoenix and perhaps even for the stalking of Ravi.

Chapter 08
On the drive to her apartment, Randall and Ravi were silent as each dreaded the moment when they would no longer see each other. She had fallen under the spell of this man without his once trying even to kiss her. Meanwhile, he knew there was more to her than the outward disguise she showed to the rest of the world. He glanced over at her as they neared her apartment and gently put his hand on the side of her face.

“Will you write me and let you know how you’re doing? I don’t think you know how much I’ve….” Unable to admit he’d come to care for this strange woman who was leaving his life forever, Randall left the sentence hanging. After that, both continued the silent drive unaware of the other’s true feelings.

After he pulled up in front of her apartment, Randall got out and opened the passenger side door for one last chance to be with her. He deeply regretted not spending the time to find out what the true woman was like under that hideous façade, but it was too late now.

Once she had gone inside her apartment with the two policemen stationed outside, Randall started the engine of his SUV to drive away, accompanied by a feeling of emptiness he had never experienced before.

Chapter 09

Half an hour later, as he reached his townhouse, his eyes spotted a strap showing from underneath the passenger seat. Stopping the SUV and pulling the item out, he saw it was Ravi’s purse. She had accidentally left it behind in her haste to reach her apartment and safety. He quickly reversed out of his driveway and headed back to return the purse that contained all her money and important papers.

At the end of this second half hour’s drive, he pulled up in front of her apartment next to the waiting police car. Upon noticing that he couldn’t see either officer out front, he decided they must be inside helping Ravi pack her few belongings. He grabbed her purse and started walking up the pathway to her door, only to stumble over the feet of one of the policemen partially hidden behind a bottlebrush bush. Next to him could be seen the body of the second man, both covered in blood and very obviously dead.

Staring in horror first down at the two men and then towards the door standing wide open with a broken lock hanging down, Randall was frozen in place, unable to move his feet. That was until he heard a scream of pain, at which time he broke into a run. He crashed through the doorway, almost falling over a huge man bending over the partially clothed woman.

Ravi, who had been changing into travel clothes and was wearing only her underpants and bra when her ex broke down the door, huddled in the fetal position. She was trying to protect her body from the blows the furious man was raining down on her. His mouth was spewing out filth at her, blaming her for all his troubles. He screamed at Ravi about already killing two men to get to her as he started to unzip and lower his trousers.

When he bent down to pull her legs apart, a furious bear of a man knocked him off his feet. Randall would have shocked his friends if they had seen this total loss of control. After punching his fists repeatedly into the man’s face, Randall managed to get to his feet and pulled the other man up with him. As he stole a glance at the woman still on the floor, this gave his opponent a momentary advantage. The still enraged man managed to pull away, and then picked up the heavy black landline phone from a nearby table. He slammed it against the side of Randall’s head multiple times in quick succession. One brutal blow following another until Randall finally crashed to the floor, unconscious.

With Randall lying next to Ravi, her ex gave her one last hate-filled glance and stepped over the third man he figured he had killed. As he disappeared out the front door, he left two blood-soaked people behind.

Chapter 10

Time passed. Outside birds were singing, and passing traffic made a muted rumble while the two people on the floor remained unconscious. Ravi was the first to stir. She slowly looked around and cautiously and painfully rose to her knees. A low moan of anguish came out of her as she caught sight of the battered man lying covered in blood next to her. Fearing he too was dead like the men her ex had already killed outside, she put her fingers to his neck. A wave of relief washed over her with the reassurance of his steady and strong pulse.

Randall slowly began to move and opened his eyes to look up into the face of the woman he had just rescued. He gave a silent prayer of thanks that they both had survived this ordeal. Gathering his remaining strength, he lurched to his feet then helped Ravi to hers.

“I think we better get out of here just in case your ex is still hanging around. Don’t bother to finish packing, just let’s get out to the SUV now!” Putting words into action, Randall took off his shirt and placed it around Ravi’s bare shoulders. He quickly walked with her out to his nearby vehicle.

As the SUV raced down the street away from the recent scene of violence, the huge man came out from behind the bottlebrush bush that also contained the bodies of the policemen. With a menacing smile on his face, he rounded the corner to his waiting car and took off after the SUV.

He silently vowed that if he could not have her, no one would.

Chapter 11

Driving cross-town, Randall called Steele on his cell to let him know what had happened to his two men. Usually he would not have left the scene of a crime, but getting Ravi away from her murderous ex seemed more important. He caught Steele at one of the labs talking with Anthony and Angela and asked all three of them to meet him at his townhouse. Steele quickly agreed that Randall had made the right choice to get Ravi away from danger. He hung up only to once again use his phone to arrange for someone to go to his dead officers. Then the two men and one woman left for whatever faced them at their friend’s home.

Once more pulling into his driveway, Randall looked over at Ravi who had been quiet all during the half hour trip. He moved quickly out of the vehicle and to the other side to open her door. As he did this, she slumped out, again unconscious, into his waiting arms. He heard footsteps racing towards him and looked up to see Anthony coming to help him. Steele and Angela stood waiting at the front door, shocked expressions on their faces.

“I’m fine, Anthony”, Randall said as the other man reached to take the half-naked woman from him. “She not as heavy as you all think she is, trust me on that.” With Anthony staying close to him in case he did need help, Randall walked towards Angela. She had taken a few steps to meet the two men coming up the walkway. Randall shifted Ravi slightly against his bare chest and asked Angela to reach into his shirt pocket, still covering Ravi, for his house key. After doing this, being careful not to touch the injured woman, she unlocked the door and let them all into the privacy of his secluded home.

Chapter 12

Without hesitation, Randall carried Ravi into his bedroom and laid her gently down on his double bed. Angela came into the room soon afterwards with a wet towel in her hand to start cleaning Ravi’s cuts and bruises. Anthony grabbed a loudly protesting Randall and forced him into the bathroom to attend to his wounds, particularly the still bleeding head wound. Steele had stayed out in the living room, too upset at what had happened to be of much help to anyone. The death of his two police officers still hadn’t fully sunk it. However, the sight of the brutalized woman and the bloody appearance of his friend had shaken him down to his core. Somehow, although it wasn’t true, he felt responsible for their conditions.

Upon turning over the woman on her stomach, Angela removed the wrinkled shirt in order to examine Ravi’s naked back. What she saw made her wince and call Anthony back from the bathroom to check it out. A freshly bandaged and cleaned-up Randall, who had grumbled all the time Anthony had been doing this, followed him. Even the blood that had transferred from Ravi onto his bare chest as he carried her no longer was there.

Angela carefully unsnapped the bra and removed it to better show the two men the outline of a dark bruise caused by a shoe, high up on the woman’s back. She looked up in amazement as Randall used a word to describe the attacker. She had once heard a drunken longshoreman use that word during her stripper days’ visit to Las Angeles. She didn’t realize that her good friend even knew the word, much less its meaning. Despite the seriousness of what they were looking at, she let a small smile cross her face.

Leaving him sitting at the edge of the bed smoothing back Ravi’s long hair, no longer a prisoner in a bun, Angela touched the top of his bowed head as a mother would to her child . She quietly followed Anthony out to the living room where Steele was waiting for them. Randall finally took his eyes off the almost completely naked woman lying in his bed as she drifted from unconsciousness into a healing sleep. He was honest enough with himself to admit he had wanted her in his bed for quite some time but not this way. Noticing that his three companions were no longer in the room, he got up and slowly walked out to join them, knowing there was nothing further he could do for Ravi until she woke up.

Chapter 13

Randall took the hot mug of coffee that Angela handed him and sipped from it almost absently, memories of the last hour invading his thoughts. Sitting at the kitchen table with his friends, his body was there, but his mind was still with the injured woman sleeping in the next room. For the first time, he had seen her as she really was, without the disguise of a dowdy older woman as a barrier.

There had been only one small lacy bit of feminine underwear between him and her nearly naked body as he had sat alone next to her on his bed. Before he had joined the others, he had placed a light sheet over her. The sight of her gentle curves, covered by soft skin that cried out for a man’s touch, remained burned into his brain. Only the presence of the others kept him from returning to his bedroom and gathering the woman into his arms again.

“Jeff, did you hear me?” As if through deep water, he heard Angela speaking to him. Erotic thoughts of being with Ravi immediately disappeared, and he harshly crashed back to reality.

“Yes, what were you saying?” Angela looked at him as if guessing his recent thoughts. She had known the gentle so-called science nerd for years and had never seen him react this way to a woman before. He had had his little flings with women, of course, but none had brought out this protective side of him. She found it rather endearing, not to mention a bit exciting, and was surprised to find she actually envied the other woman. Suddenly seeing Randall with fresh eyes, Angela licked her bottom lip and tried to remember what she had been saying.

Chapter 14

Anthony looked at Randall with understanding and a touch of amusement. His own woman caused him to daydream like that at times. Seeing Randall falling under the spell of the beauty asleep in the other room made him feel closer to the older man. He knew Randall would give his life for her and prayed it wouldn’t come to that. It wouldn’t if I have anything to say about it, Anthony promised silently, as losing Randall would be like losing my father all over again.

By now, it was almost noon, and the various people needed to return home for sleep before going back to work later that evening. Steele was the first to leave since he still had ahead of him the difficult task of notifying the families of his two officers about their murders. This was a part of the job he hated; he usually was able to have someone else do it. However, since he felt guilty about assigning them a duty that caused their deaths, he owed it to them to handle this personally. With one last private conversation with Anthony, he said his good-byes and left to wait outside for Angela.

“Jeff, if you want me to stay, I will,” said Angela as she looked toward the other room, “or I could go back to her apartment and get her clothes and other items.”

At this, Randall looked sharply at her and almost shouted, “I don’t want to hear of you going anywhere near her place. That maniac could still be around…” She put up her hands in surrender to show she’d got his point and to stop yelling at her. He calmed down enough to thank her for the offer of help then ask, “Perhaps tomorrow you can help buy her something to wear with my credit card. Okay?”

“Okay! I’ll give you a call in the morning after my shift to arrange a time.” With that, Angela gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She followed Steele out so he could give her a lift home where her daughter would be waiting.

Chapter 15

This left only the two men still in the kitchen. “Do you want me to let Dennison know you won’t be in tonight?” asked Anthony, taking the dirty dishes to the sink. He did this just to keep himself busy as he thought of what Steele had asked of him a few minutes ago. Without hesitation, he had agreed to the police captain’s request but now wondered how he would manage it without Randall finding out. Oh well! he mentally shrugged, I’ll just wing it!

“Would you? I don’t think I can face his questions right now. Just tell him I’ve taken sick and need to stay home for a few days since it might be catching.” Randall smiled, without any humor rising above his mouth. “It’s not as if I don’t have a few sick days racked up, is it?”

Changing the subject abruptly, he got up from the table to face Anthony. “Are you going to tell me what Bob asked you to do? I won’t have you putting yourself in any danger, you understand?” He narrowed his eyes and glared over at him to say again for emphasis, “Do you understand?”

“Hey, it was nothing.” Anthony lied smoothly. “All he wanted me to do was to let you know, after he left, that he was going to start proceedings to have Ravi put in protective custody at the station until her ex was caught. If he had told you himself, you might have argued with him about it. That’s all!” He silently congratulated himself on coming up with this explanation so quickly, and Randall seemed to buy it. At least he dropped the subject.

“I’d better be off, too, as I’m falling asleep on my feet. Need to be sharp for my shift, don’t I, since I’ll be filling in for the big boss?” Anthony yawned widely to illustrate his exhaustion in case Randall was still suspicious. With one last good-bye handshake with his friend, he left to get into his car. This left Randall as the sole protection for the sleeping woman against the evil parked unnoticed just down the street.

Chapter 16

After everyone had gone, Randall look down and realized all this time he had been naked from the waist up. Funny how worry about someone can make you forget simple things like wearing a shirt, he thought, walking into his bedroom to get a fresh one. As he passed his bed, he looked down at Ravi who was starting to stir out of her deep sleep. He quickly removed his shoes and socks to muffle the sound of his steps, even though his room was fully carpeted.

Not wanting her to wake up and find herself alone in a strange room, he first put on a black short-sleeve shirt. Next, he sat down on the edge of the bed, the same place he had been earlier when Angela had been tending to her wounds. Now Randall was alone with the woman who, without warning, had become the sun and the moon to him. How this had happened, he didn’t know or even care, as long as she cared at least a little bit for him in return.

Her long brown hair had tangled around her face when she tossed and turned in her sleep. The light sheet he had placed over her had slipped off to land on the floor, leaving her body completely exposed. Randall reached down to bring the sheet back over her then slowly his hand grasping it stopped in midair. As he let the sheet fall back onto the carpet, his fingers with seemingly a mind of their own moved over her flat stomach, just barely touching the warm bare skin.

They moved lower to just underneath the edge of her lacy pants, a wisp of material he knew he could easily remove in a second. He closed his eyes in frustration, knowing he should not go any further and used every ounce of his moral strength to resist the woman stretched out before him. When Ravi turned a bit in her sleep, this caused his hand to slide even further down between her legs before he realized what was happening.

His head came down towards her face, meaning to simply remove his hand from temptation and give her a brief kiss before leaving to sleep on his sofa in the other room. So much for good intentions!
Chapter 17

Finally coming slowly awake, Ravi opened her eyes to find his face only inches from her face, his lips close to hers. “Mr. Randall?” she whispered.

Not moving and gazing into her sleepy brown eyes, he grinned suddenly. “Ravi, it’s okay to call me Jeff now. With what we’ve gone through today, I think we’ve moved beyond the Mr. Randall stage, don’t you agree?” Suddenly shy, she could only stare up at him, feeling his warm breath on her cheek; he was that close to her.

An unfamiliar feeling spreading up from between her legs alerted her to where his hand still was, gently stroking her rather absently at first, then with more purpose. Even when she had been married, her body had never responded like this, rising and falling to the rhythm of his probing fingers. Seeing her involuntary reaction and unable to force himself away from her, he decided he’d fought against temptation long enough. There was just so much a man could do to resist a woman when she was lying below him naked, well almost naked. She was definitely ready for him, if the heat and moisture surrounding his fingers were any indication.

Reluctantly removing his hand, he stood up and ever so slowly stripped off his shirt, giving Ravi time to object. When she didn’t but just lay there watching him, unable to look away from his tanned muscular chest now exposed for her pleasure, he continued undressing one piece of clothing at a time.

Chapter 18

The ringing of the front doorbell rudely interrupted the visual inspection that the two had been slowly giving each other. Muttering what he would do to the person at the door in vivid and varied detail, including a running comment about the person’s parentage, a now cooled off Randall grabbed a towel, mate to the one first seen on him by Ravi and Steele, and started for the front door. He looked back wistfully at Ravi who had leaned off the edge of the bed to grab his discarded shirt to cover up with.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” he yelled to the person on the other side of the door when the doorbell impatiently was rung once more. When he called out, asking who was there, a muffled voice said he was the police wanting to check up on them to see if they were okay.

Without hesitation, Randall opened the door, knowing Steele had been worried about them and expecting to see one of his officers on the other side of the door. Instead, he found himself facing a long sharp knife being held aimed towards his heart by Ravi’s dangerous ex husband, a huge and menacing man by any standard. He had at least 50 pounds on Randall and probably two or more inches. This was definitely not a man to be taken lightly at any time and especially not now, when he was on a rampage about someone else being with Ravi.

Randall backed up into the living room as the man, Paul Whitcomb by name, advanced towards him leaving the front door wide open behind him. Trying to warn Ravi on this danger, Randall loudly asked what the man wanted, never letting his glance go towards the bedroom where he knew the terrified woman was hiding.

“I’ve come for my wife, and you better not have touched her.” Taking another step away from the open door, Whitcomb sneered at the man wearing only a blue towel, knowing he had nothing to fear from any hidden weapons. He suddenly opened his eyes wide in utter astonishment and dropped to his knees to stare down at the bloody hole blossoming in his chest. As the now dead man fell face down, a smaller hole in his back was seen dripping blood.

Chapter 19

With his ears still ringing from the closeness of the gunshot sound, Randall looked behind the fallen man on his carpet to see Anthony coming up the path towards the door. In his hand was the gun he carried when out with Steele as backup to clearing a crime scene. Fearing his legs would give out on him from the shock of being so close to dying, Randall quickly found a chair and sat down waiting for their shaking to stop.

“I don’t mean to be ungrateful, but where the hell did you come from?” Anthony smiled at the man whose life he had just saved then explained that he had been asked to stay behind, well hidden, as a precaution in case the killer showed up. Steele had known he was an excellent shot and would do everything he could to save their friend and his woman.

Steele himself ran up the pathway from where he also had been hiding to join the two men, being sure to close the front door behind him. A look of satisfaction crossed his face as he saw the dead man leaking blood all over the carpet, and he pounded Anthony on his back with a “Good job, Anthony! Good Job!”

When Ravi slowly walked out of the bedroom, Randall tried to keep her from seeing what was lying on the floor. She managed to avoid him and only stopped when she reached the blood-soaked body of her ex husband. A shudder was seen going through her. She asked in a voice almost to low to be heard, “Is it over? Am I really free of him?”

With no time to answer, Randall grabbed her as she fainted and started to slip to the floor. In catching her, his towel came loose, and there he stood, naked as a jaybird, holding the love of his life in his arms. His two friends doubled over in laughter at the sight and just in pure relief that it was finally over. Ravi regained consciousness quickly. After the body had been removed by the coroner, the towel had been wrapped on more snugly, and the day’s events had been thoroughly discussed by the four of them over coffee, the two men quietly left, leaving the man and woman to return to what they had started before the interruption.

As Shakespeare once said, “All’s well that ends well.”