Topaz Heat (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) Page 3

  “Yep. They just turned four.”

  He shook his head, wanting to disbelieve the fact that four years had vanished in a breath. Then he asked the question he’d been waiting to ask, struggling to sound utterly disinterested in the potential answer. “What about Sarah? Married yet?”

  “Don’t you think you would have gotten a wedding invitation?” Her cell phone vibrated next to a notebook. She pressed a series of buttons and returned her attention to him. “She’s okay. She moved out of her parents’ house when her mom put her dad in the home two years ago. I think she was really angry that her mom wouldn’t let her take care of him.”

  “Why didn’t she?”

  “His Alzheimer’s got worse, and Sarah was having to miss shifts at work. It was just a bad scene all around. Sarah’s had a hard time with it. So now she’s living with another nurse in a brownstone by the hospital. Nice girl.”

  She fielded another text message so Derrick finished his coffee and stood. “You’re busy. I have a flight at noon back to New York anyway, and need to call ahead and have some things done and waiting on me.”

  Robin waved her hand at her phone. “I’m sorry. Tony has me working on menus for about twenty restaurants right now.” She stood and hugged him. “Come by the house and have dinner.”

  “I will. My return flight won’t get me home until after eleven tonight. But maybe tomorrow night.”

  She started to speak, but her phone rang and interrupted her. As she answered it, she said, “I’m glad you’re back, Derrick.”

  “Me, too.”

  He squeezed her shoulder and turned to go.

  SARAH slowed the car as she came upon the sharp curve just before the entrance to Hank's Place. Just as she rounded the turn, she heard the squeal of tires and automatically cut her wheel to the right seconds before a silver car with black racing stripes flashed by heading in the other direction.

  “Idiot,” she muttered, watching it disappear in her rearview mirror. Derrick DiNunzio had a car like that, and drove his car like that, and she always thought it was the dumbest thing in the world. Life was too precious to risk it with some hopped up car that went way too fast and was far too powerful for human reflexes to control. It wasn’t just the driver in the car who was at risk, but anyone else on the road.

  She had her heart rate back under control by the time she pulled into the parking lot and shut off her engine. Dismissing the speeding car from her mind, she strode into Hank’s Place.

  Memories of her first two years with Robin and Maxine assailed her as she walked through the front door and immersed herself in the familiar smells and decor. Robin quit working at Hank’s after the birth of her first son. Had Sarah really never come back to this place since then?

  She entered the dining area and immediately saw her oldest sister surrounded by stacks of menus and notebooks. “Hey.”

  Robin grinned and jumped up to offer Sarah a hug. “Hey yourself! What a treat!” She gestured at the opposite chair and sat down again. “You’ll never guess who was just in here.”

  The anticipation on Robin’s face coupled with the car she’d seen gave her all the hints she needed. She crossed her arms and offered, “Derrick DiNunzio?”

  Robin’s jaw dropped. “How did you know that?”

  “He left some slime here on the table.”

  Robin grinned, shaking her head. “That’s not nice. Shame on you. And Derrick isn’t slime. How did you really know he was here?”

  “There aren’t many silver Shelby’s out on the road, nor are there many drivers quite like Double D. He nearly ran me off the road.”

  Robin laughed. “He’s here for good, he says. It’s so exciting. Kind of like a child coming home.”

  Derrick wasn’t her favorite topic of conversation, so she changed the subject. “What’s Casey’s special today? I just came off shift and could use something other than the banana I ate coming over here.”

  “Mmm, beef stew. It’s really good. Want some?”

  She suppressed the shudder at the thought of consuming meat. “No. Just a salad, with vinegar dressing and no cheese.”

  Robin waved a waitress over. “Pitiful.” Directing her attention to the waitress, she said, “Ask Casey if he’ll make Sarah a salad. He’ll know how.” Looking back to her sister, she said, “So, what’s up?”

  “They’re painting my apartment today. Do you think I could stay at your penthouse tonight?”

  Robin shrugged. “Of course. You know you don’t have to ask.”

  “I wouldn’t feel right not asking. It’s not my place anymore.”

  “Why don’t you come stay out at the house?”

  She toyed with the straw in her water. “Same reason I’m not going out to mom’s or Maxi’s. I just came off the night shift, and have to be back to work three to eleven tonight. I don’t have the energy for the commute.”

  “No problem. You’re welcome any time.”

  “Thanks.” She glanced at her watch. If she hurried with the salad, she could get in a good nap before her shift.

  DERRICK leaned wearily against the wall of the elevator. He watched the numbers light up as the elevator climbed. He had certainly had a day of it. The early morning flight in the private jet to Boston then the commercial flight back to New York led to a few very quick hours of details, delegation, decisions, and finally a return flight back to Boston that arrived at Logan just before midnight. Quite a few hours logged in the air, not to mention everything that he’d had to accomplish in the day.

  He didn’t know why he hadn’t just spent the weekend in New York and wrapped everything up, but he just really felt a pull to be home. As the elevator chime dinged, announcing his arrival at the requested floor, and he sensed the slight feeling of vertigo as the elevator came to a stop, he felt an overwhelming nostalgia wash over him.

  Home.

  He couldn’t help thinking about the first time he ever rode in this very same elevator. Tony had spent the morning with him at his office, feeding him good food, talking to him about hopes, dreams, life, and God. Then he brought him here.

  Derrick didn’t trust him. In the pocket of his dirty, torn leather coat, he had a long switchblade and his sweaty, nervous hand gripped the handle. Rich men just didn’t pick dirty street boys like him up and offer them jobs and a home without something being required in return. As for Derrick, no matter how cold or hungry he might have felt when he walked into Tony’s life on that January day, he just didn’t play that way.

  He figured he could roll the guy. Maybe get something good out of these “fancy-schmancy” digs. Then he’d high tail it back where he belonged.

  He extinguished the glimmer of hope that kept trying to light itself inside of his chest. This was the real world. No one saved you but number one.

  The surprise he felt when Robin met the elevator threw him for a loop. Beautiful, clean, wonderful Robin. Tony’s fiancée. She had smiled and held out her hand to warmly shake his. “It’s so wonderful to meet you, Derrick.”

  Maxine came out of a back room then. Derrick had been temporarily struck dumb by her beauty. She had laughed at something, and the sound of her joy sang through the room.

  Robin had said, “Maxi and I were just here supervising the decorator for your bedroom. Hopefully, we covered everything.” She had turned to Tony. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  He’d taken her hand and kissed the knuckles. “Count on it, my love.”

  That flame of hope wouldn’t be extinguished. It burned brighter every minute that passed. Tony had shown him to the kitchen and had opened the refrigerator. “Help yourself,” he said. “Nothing is off limits.”

  When Tony had turned, Derrick took a reflexive step backward. “What do you want?” he’d asked out loud.

  Tony had held his hands up. “I don’t want anything from you. I felt led by God to help you and I typically do what He says.” Derrick didn’t know how to trust him. He had continued speaking. “Just a couple of rules.”

&nb
sp; This was it, Derrick thought. Now the hand would be played. He felt his shoulders tense up defensively, but Tony surprised him. “If you live here, you can’t break the law – that includes illegal drugs and underage drinking. As long as you stay straight, you can stay.”

  Derrick shrugged and stuck out his chin defensively. “Yeah? What else?”

  “You go to church with me every time I go.”

  He could probably manage that, maybe. “And?”

  It was Tony’s turn to shrug. “And nothing. Semplici.”

  What Tony had casually brushed off as “simple” was the world to Derrick. Slowly, daily, gradually, his trust built. That flame of hope never flickered again. It grew, burned, and filled him with passion for his new life, his new family, his new relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, when he stepped off the elevator and into the living room, one word echoed through his mind.

  Home.

  SARAH stared dumbly at the dashboard of her car. Not knowing what else to do, she turned the key again. Nothing. None of the little warning lights on the dash even lit. She leaned forward and rested her head on the steering wheel. Not tonight. She didn’t have it in her tonight. She hadn’t been able to nap and instead decided to go visit her dad. The visit took a lot longer than she thought it might which is how she happened to have her car in the hospital parking garage. Then she’d gotten caught up in a difficult delivery and ended up working well past her eleven o’clock end of shift. At this point, she hadn’t slept in more than a day.

  Accepting that the car simply wasn’t going to start, she determined that she’d have to walk. It would take longer to get seated on a train than it would to just walk to the apartment.

  While she had worked the weather had turned and a light but very cold rain served as the harbinger of the harsh winter to come. With a sigh she grabbed her purse and umbrella, deciding to leave everything else there, then locked the car. The apartment was just around the corner. Her feet ached, but walking would be better than waiting for a taxi in the light rain. By the time a taxi got there, she’d already be in a warm robe, sipping on a cup of tea.

  On Friday nights, even this far into Saturday mornings, the downtown streets were far from quiet. The air felt a little cool, but the jacket of her nursing uniform shielded her arms, and after being in the controlled air of the hospital for nine hours it came as a welcome relief.

  It never crossed her mind to worry about walking downtown after midnight. Of course, if she mentioned it to her mother, she’d hear every unpleasant possibility in a seemingly endless litany. She grinned as she rounded the corner. Her mother was a melodramatic worry-over-every-nuance kind of person. It helped when abstract details needed deliberation, but it grew tiresome when one was a daughter discussing a date or a social function. Thinking of the date as an ax-murderer could be hilarious in hindsight, but beforehand could put a damper on dinner plans.

  Sarah reached the building and pushed into the lobby. She wanted to groan out loud when she recognized the guard working the security desk. Brian was nice, but extremely talkative. It was late, she was on the edge of exhaustion, and she just wasn’t in the mood.

  “Miss Sarah,” he said with a surprised look on his face. “I didn’t know you were expected tonight.”

  She didn’t pause at the desk, but kept walking toward the elevator. She pulled her keys out of her pocket so she wouldn’t have to wait on him to quit talking long enough to access the elevator for her. “Hi, Brian. Good to see you.”

  She slid the key into the lock and gave it half a turn. The doors immediately opened.

  “Miss Sarah, wait!”

  “No time, Brian. Sorry!” She hit the button and waved as the doors slid shut. She leaned against the side of the elevator as she felt the lift slide upward. Whew. Missed being trapped in a conversation for half an hour. Normally she didn’t really mind, and she didn’t want to be unkind, but fatigue weighed her down.

  She was stepping down into the living room before she realized that something was wrong. The lights shouldn’t be on full – they should be on dim. She froze at the bottom of the step. The television definitely shouldn’t be blaring out an old black and white John Wayne movie. The clang of something hitting something metal in the kitchen made her heart pause, stop, then race.

  Obviously, someone else was in the apartment.

  CHAPTER 3

  SARAH heard another clang. She quietly set her purse down but held onto the umbrella, holding it just above the handle like a baseball bat. Running lightly on her toes, she crossed the room quickly and stood by the door of the dining room. There were a few more sounds, then the sound of a man whistling that got louder as he got closer.

  Taking a deep breath, she raised the umbrella over her head and waited, focused on the door. She let it swing open, watched the figure of the man come out of the dining room, and brought the umbrella down. Hard.

  He must have sensed the movement because he ducked and the umbrella hit him across the back of his shoulders. “Ow! Hey!”

  In the next second and utterly without warning, he rolled to the floor and used one of his legs to sweep hers out from under her. She flailed her arms as she landed on her backside, finding herself under his weight. She started struggling, but he threw one of his legs over hers and grabbed her arms in a bone-lock, pinning them up by her head.

  “Sarah?”

  She realized her eyes were closed and at the sound of his voice, they flew open. Immediate recognition prefaced the heat that rushed her face from total embarrassment. “Derrick? What are you doing here?”

  “I was about to ask you the same question.”

  She hadn’t seen him in at least five years. No, it was six. He left town right after his mother’s funeral. He’d not been back. She got updates from Maxine or Robin each time they’d seen him in New York. She hadn’t seen him at all in that space of time. He’d filled out, she thought. His face looked more mature, almost tougher, his shoulders wider.

  Meanwhile, Sarah hadn’t changed at all. She still looked like a teenager. She still had the spray of freckles across her nose. Behind her glasses, her eyes were still the color of richest amber topaz. Her hair had come out of the clip and lay spread out around her head on the carpet, the curly red highlights reflecting the dim light.

  Realizing he was staring, Derrick released her instantly, pushed away, and sat next to her. “What in the world did you hit me with?” He reached back and gingerly touched his shoulder, wincing when his hand came away smeared in blood.

  The only thing he wore was a pair of sweat pants. “My, um, umbrella.”

  He saw it next to her and grabbed it. It was snapped in half. Irritated anger burned through him. “This? You suspect there’s an intruder and this is what you use to defend yourself?”

  She ripped it out of his hands and stood. “It was all I had.”

  “It never occurred to you to call security?”

  Sarah’s cheeks flushed bright red. She waved her hand as if to dismiss his last statement. “Let me see it,” she said, moving behind him.

  He jerked to his feet. “No thank you. Don’t touch it.”

  “Don’t be such a baby. Let me see.”

  He held a hand up to ward her off. “Really. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I promise not to hurt you, Derrick. I won’t even touch it.” She put her hands on her hips. “I am a nurse, you know.”

  She almost withdrew the offer. But then he glared at her before moving to one of the oversized chairs, sitting sideways so she could see his back. The space across his shoulders was already starting to purple with a bruise, and it looked like something had caught the skin and ripped it. He had a gash about three inches long diagonally across his right shoulder. “Ouch, Derrick. Sorry about that.”

  Over his left shoulder, just shy of the bruise, was a tattoo of a dragon, done in brilliant colors – turquoise, fuchsia, purple, bright green. She was surprised it was there; intrigued even. He had done everything to get rid of his past
and she wondered why he kept the tattoo. Before she realized it, her fingers hovered above it, about to touch it.

  He eyed her over his shoulder and glared at her. She bit her lip and redirected her fingers to gingerly touch the bruise. “You’ll want to put some ice on it and you should let me clean and dress the cut.”

  She turned to leave. “What are you doing?” he asked.

  She was halfway down the hallway before she answered him. “I’ll be right back.” Moving quickly, she went to the master bathroom and pulled open the medicine cabinet, finding the supplies she needed. She slipped the roll of tape and the package of bandages into her scrubs pocket, then pulled a washcloth out of the linen closet and dampened it beneath the faucet.

  When she returned to the front room, he stared suspiciously at the brown bottle in her hand. “What’s that?”

  “Hydrogen peroxide.”

  “Uh huh. And what do you think you’re going to do with it?”

  With a sigh, she poured some on the cloth and stepped closer. “I’m going to clean the cut.”

  “What happened to you not touching it?” He hissed the breath between his teeth and cringed away as the cloth came in contact with his skin. “Ouch. That hurts.”

  “Good Lord, Derrick, quit being such a baby.”

  He clenched his teeth and swallowed a retort. Then he felt her warm breath gently blowing on the wound. He imagined her puckered lips as her breath caressed his fevered skin.

  “There. Is that better?”

  “It’s great. Thank you.”

  He heard her moving behind him, heard the sound of the cap going back on the bottle. He felt her fingers graze his skin as she placed a bandage over the cut and taped it to his skin. He tried, desperately, not to react to her touch in any way, to pretend she was some platonic stranger tending his wound. “You need to ice it. I’ll go get some.”