Page 78 of Under Her Skin

Ally’s smile faded. “Of course, darling, I didn’t forget.” She put down her slice of pizza. “Listen, Seth and I were talking…I’m sure our listeners would love to hear about how ‘Sarah’ is doingnow.”

Noosh chewed her food thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I’m cut out to be on the air,” she said slowly. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since the shooting. Maybe my future lies with being your researcher – your best researcher, obviously.” She grinned, but Ally didn’tsmile.

“Anoushka Taylor, you were born for this job. Hell, I’ve been grooming you for my job since that first day. I’ve never met anyone with such raw talent, curiosity, and tenaciousness. Cards on the table, Noosh – you’rescared.”

Noosh swallowed her pizza. “Yes,” she said honestly. “I am. I’m scared as soon as I wake up in the morning that whoever tried to kill me will finish the job. I’m scared that everything I’ve ever worked for is out of reach because ofit.”

Ally got up and wrapped her arms around her young friend. “Nothing is gone, baby girl. And we’ll keep on pushing the police to find out who hurt you. It’s okay to be scared, just don’t let it ruleyou.”

Noosh wondered if that went for how she felt about Christo Montecito as well. Later, when she was in bed, she couldn’t help recalling the way he looked at her, remember his body heat as he sat next to her, maddening her senses with his fresh, clean scent. The way he’d touched her face just before they’d been interrupted. There was an intimacy between them, it seemed, and Noosh wanted to hold on to it, cradle it because it seemed so fragile and yet soright.

Part of her wished she could call him right now and talk, that there was something more between them, that they actually knew each other better so she could reach out. She would give anything to be in his arms rightnow.

You’re being ridiculous, painting him as your knight in shining armor, especially after the way he treated you. But she indulged in the fantasy a little more anyway, thinking back to when his big, thick cock was inside her and his mouth, god, his sexy, soft lips, were onhers.

She groaned and rolled over, pushing away the thoughts. Her back throbbed with pain, and she used that to distract her from Christo, finally falling asleep just beforemidnight.

When she woke,all thoughts of Christo vanished when she heard the news that Destry Papps was now his party’s official Presidentialcandidate.

ChapterSeven

Destry walked off of the stage, the convention crowd still cheering wildly. He grinned to himself and then patted his assistant’s arm. “Gerry, they loveme.”

“They certainly do, Senator.” Gervais ‘Gerry’ Noll grinned at his boss. Ambitious but kind, Gerry had been with the Senator for years, through everything, through the divorce, and Destry’s fling with Anoushka Taylor. Gerry and Noosh had become friends, but since the split – or rather, Anoushka’s escape – Destry knew Gerry hadn’t seenher.

He’d kept the bad stuff from Gerry all this time – he didn’t want his closet advisor and probable Chief of Staff, should Destry win the election, to know about his poor treatment of the young girl, or of the attempt on herlife.

When Destry discovered Noosh had survived the shooting – barely – he’d panicked. Would she go to the police? There was no way she could prove it was him, after all. Was he stupid to have done the deed himself? No. There was no way anyone could prove it was him, and besides…he wouldn’t give up the memory of that night foranything.

Tellinghis staff he was headed for an early night, he’d instead sneaked out of his house and into the rental car his contact had procured for him. He’d driven the near four hours to get to her apartment, then broke in easily and waited. When she’d come home, he’d watched her for a while from inside her closet, then when she had fallen asleep, walked to her couch and gazed down ather.

So beautiful…with her long dark hair clouded around her head, her blankets kicked off in the late fall heat, and her top riding up to show the most delectable expanse of midriff. Destry had felt his cock harden. He couldn’t risk fucking her and leaving DNA…he’d said her name, hoping she would wake, hoping she would realize she was beingmurdered…

When she opened her eyes, he grinned to himself, leveling the gun at her belly and firing point blank at her. Noosh had gasped in shock, in agony as the bullet tore into her soft skin and blood began to gush from the wound. Her breathing quickly became labored, but Destry could not tear himself away just yet. He knew he should put a bullet in her pretty head, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, couldn’t ruin all that beauty. Instead, he pressed the muzzle against her navel and shot her twice more, her beautiful body jerking from the impact. So much blood. Noosh lost unconsciousness quickly, and Destry knew she couldn’t survive the terrible injuries he had inflicted onher.

As he left her to die, he bent down and kissed her mouth, just once, quickly. “I told you I’d kill you if you ever left me,Anoushka.”

But shehadsurvived. Some nosy neighbor had seen him leave her apartment – thankfully, he had been masked – and called 911. As he drove back to Washington, he scanned the local news for anymention.

Only a few days later did he catch something on the internet. A news report buried in the pages ofThe New YorkTimes.

Ayoung British-Indianwoman working in New York was shot by an intruder in her home in Queens Wednesday evening. The young woman, named locally as Sarah Marsh, was asleep at the time – police say there was no robbery involved and the victim remains in critical condition at a cityhospital.

Sarah Marsh?So that’s the name you gave yourself to escape me,Destry thought, but it irked him that she had lived, even if she was in critical condition. This is what comes of not using a professional, of making it personal. He should have had his guy kill her, he knew, but thenagain…

Since the shooting, he had stayed far away from her. His star was rising in the political world, and any scandal was out of the question if he wanted the big job. That Noosh hadn’t told the police about him…well, he could see why she hadn’t. Who would believe her? Even her parents, who hated him with a passion and who must have guessed it had been him, had said nothing to the British press either, and Destry knew Noosh must have forbiddenit.

Destry was deep in thought. When he was President – and he knew hewouldbe, come November – then he could make sure she was silenced forever. But any whiff of controversy now…no. He’d let her think he wouldn’t try again. Let her think she was safe. Then he’d take it all away, like she’d done tohim.

I’ll make you suffer, Anoushka. Make the most of the time you have left, my beautifulgirl…

Noosh sawthe note on her desk as she wheeled herself into the office the next morning. “It came with these,” Liam said, following her in. In his hand he held a vast bouquet of dusky pink peonies. Noosh took them fromhim.

“God, they’rebeautiful.”

“Like yourself,” Liam said matter-of-factly. “If I weren’t totally gay, I would so turn for you,Nooshy.”

Noosh giggled. She and Liam had always flirted with each other, safe in the knowledge that both of them liked men. “You’re such a slut,” she teased him, and he grinned. He made no move to leave heralone.