Part 9 (1/2)

”What's the good news?” I asked as I dried my wet hair with a towel. I noticed Blake looking me over quickly, and I was glad that Jakob wasn't there to witness Blake's keen a.s.sessment of my body. I stifled a yawn as I looked over at him. I didn't want to have to blush my way through an excuse that concealed the fact that Jakob and I had had s.e.x in the restaurant bathroom during our dinner and then all over his apartment when we'd gotten home. I thought the adrenaline and excitement was giving us more energy, which I suppose was better than letting fear of the unknown take us over.

”I found Penny Case.” His eyes lit up as he spoke, and I smiled at the eagerness in his voice.

”Jakob, Blake's here!” I shouted through to the bedroom. ”And he's found Penny Case.”

”I'm coming.” Jakob walked out of the bedroom, drops of water still glistening on his naked chest. He was wearing a pair of red plaid boxers, and my mouth watered as I stared at him.

Blake looked at Jakob and then back at me, and I could see disappointment in his eyes as it clicked that Jakob and I had likely showered together.

”Hi, Blake.” Jakob nodded as he came and stood next to me, his hand casually cupping my a.s.s as he kissed my cheek.

”I found Penny Case.” Blake s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably as Jakob continued to touch me possessively.

”Would you like coffee, Blake?” I moved away from Jakob.

”No, thanks.” He shook his head.

”So what's the bad news, then?”

”She's flying out of JFK this afternoon.” Blake frowned. ”She's taking a flight to Paris.”

”Why's that bad news?” Jakob looked puzzled.

”Well, we don't know where she is right now,” Blake said. ”And then she'll be at the airport, and we won't have a way to talk to her because we're not flying anywhere.” He sighed. ”I guess we can wait around the terminal in hopes of seeing her.”

”I have a better idea,” Jakob said with a smile. ”We'll get three tickets on the same flight, or another one if that is full.”

”I can't afford that,” Blake said, his voice low.

”Well, I can.” Jakob grinned. ”It's times like this that I enjoy being rich.”

”Show-off.” I rolled my eyes at him, but I shared his excitement. ”It's times like this that I enjoy you being rich as well.”

”And you don't care the other times?”

”Nope. In fact, I wish you weren't so rich. You wouldn't have so many different women after you, and you wouldn't have all these people after your money.”

”And to think I used to think you were a gold digger,” Jakob said, and then laughed as I glared at him.

”Whatever.” I turned around and smiled at Blake. ”So we'll go to the airport and wait by her terminal. You know what flight she's traveling on, right?”

”Yup.” He nodded. ”Thanks to the Internet and frequent-flier miles.”

”What?” I frowned as I gazed at him.

”She upgraded her ticket to first cla.s.s.” Blake's smile was wide as he spoke, expressing his approval. ”I spotted her on a forum asking how to convert the points from her credit card.”

”How did you know it was her?”

”She's old-school.” Blake said, his voice deep and thoughtful. ”Her username was Pennycase1.”

”And you're sure it's the same person?” Jakob asked with a frown. ”Would she really be so dumb as to use her real name?”

”I'm pretty confident it's her.” Blake nodded. ”I looked at her profile to see the e-mail address she was using on the off chance that it wasn't private, and it wasn't. I then searched online to see if that e-mail address was being used on any other accounts online, and lo and behold, it was.”

”Oh?” I asked eagerly. ”Carry on.”

”It was registered to a weight-loss group,” he said, ”and a grief group.”

”A support group?” Jakob asked, suddenly more interested in the conversation.

”Yes, it turns out Penny Case lost a brother many years ago. She wanted advice on how to handle the pain she still feels for her brother Oliver.”

”Oliver Case.” I gasped and looked at Jakob. ”It has to be her.”

”And get this . . .” Blake paused for dramatic effect.

”What?” I said, my heart racing.

”She was on one other site.” He paused again, and I could see that Jakob was getting irritated.

”Come on, Blake.”

”It was a site about relations.h.i.+ps,” Blake continued. ”Taboo relations.h.i.+ps.”

”What sort of taboo?” Jakob asked with a frown.

”Well, most of the people were former mistresses now worried that their new husbands were going to cheat.” Blake scratched the side of his face. ”To be honest, I don't know why she was on the site. She never answered or asked any questions.”

”So that really wasn't helpful.” Jakob shook his head.

”Well, it was, kinda,” I said with an encouraging smile to Blake. ”We know that Penny has some sort of connection to a taboo relations.h.i.+p, and we know that she was never legally married to Larry. So maybe there is a reason why, a deeper darker reason than we know about.”

”That's a very tenuous connection to make, but I suppose it could be true,” Jakob said. He grabbed his phone from the table and quickly made a call. ”Lucy, put me through to travel, please.” He looked at me as he spoke, and his eyes pierced mine with a fiery look as we stood there staring at each other. ”Hi, Jason, this is Jakob. I need you to book three flights for me. Flying out of JFK today. Hold on.” He looked at Blake. ”What's the flight number?”

”AF250,” Blake said without a blink, and I smiled.

”I can't believe you remember that.”

”That was easy.” He laughed. ”I grew up in the South; all my uncles drove Ford F-250s.”

”Oh, ha-ha.” I laughed and then turned to Jakob, who was back to frowning again.

”Air France flight 250,” he barked into the phone. ”Tickets for me, Bianca London, and Blake Matthews.” Jakob grunted at something Jason said on the phone. ”Then get me first-cla.s.s tickets!” he shouted. ”I don't care about the cost. No, I do not need you to check to see if there is a cheaper flight on another airline. Just book it.” He paused for a few seconds and then smiled. ”Good. No, there's no need. I'll take care of the rest. Thanks, Jason,” he said, and hung up. ”Done. We're booked for the same flight. Now let's all pack some suitcases.”

”Suitcases?” I frowned. ”Are we actually getting on the flight?”

”No, of course not.” Jakob shook his head.

”Then why . . .” My voice trailed off as I saw Jakob smirking.