Read Online Heidelberg Effect by Susan Kiernan-Lewis - Free Book Online

slipped
his arms around her to hoist her up onto his lap. She was so
surprised at the move that she let him do it. He held up a finger
in front of her face in a mock scold.
    “No laughing,” he said, which made her
smile.
    When he kissed her, she turned in his arms
until she was straddling him on the couch. Within seconds, his
hands were under her blouse and bra and cupping her naked breasts.
She gasped at how fast she had gotten to this position. What he was
doing felt amazing but a creeping feeling told her that there was
something not right. Then it came to her: All the night’s alcohol
and all the exquisite sensuous throbbing in all the right places
couldn’t hide the fact that he wasn’t Rowan. As soon as the thought
formed in her head, the wonderful feelings above and below the
waist faded to nothing.
    She pushed away from him and pulled his
hands from her breasts. “Hugo,” she said.
    “No, you are not going to stop us,” he said,
nuzzling her breasts through her blouse.
    “Yes, I am,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m
drunk. You’re drunk…”
    “Not that drunk. I can still perform if
that’s what you’re worried about.”
    “Hugo,” she said, moving off his lap. “I
can’t do this. I’m sorry.” She moved out of his reach and
rearranged her blouse. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll make us some
coffee.”
    Hugo sat on the couch looking into space as
if stunned that this is how the evening was ending up after
all.
    Ella went into the kitchen and plugged in
her electric kettle. She dug out two mugs and a jar of instant
coffee.
    Where had all that about
Rowan come from? she wondered. She thought
she was pretty much over him. Was she fooling herself? She couldn’t
imagine Rowan pushing some half naked, willing girl away. She
poured boiling water into the mugs.
    “Milk? Sugar?” she called. “I think I have
both.” She opened the refrigerator door to grab the milk and caught
the time displayed on the oven. It was three a.m. Rowan would be at
the office, probably drinking coffee and planning his day—not
screwing some hot Alabama babe. She put the sugar bowl, the mugs
and the milk on a tray.
    That would’ve been last night.
    She picked up the tray and walked into the
living room. She hadn’t heard him leave but she wasn’t surprised to
see that he was gone. She set the tray down on the coffee table and
ran to the bedroom to make sure. On her way back to the living
room, she locked the door and looked at the two steaming mugs on
the coffee table…right next to the block of C-4 and the blasting
caps he’d run off and left.
     

Chapter Five

    Ella knew she should have
seen the coming storm. Although she knew some things just happen,
like a natural impetus independent of the actions or desires of the
people involved, she also knew that she was the author of every
step that had taken her to this point. She wouldn’t sidestep the
responsibility for that now. If she hadn’t taken the Heidelberg
job, if she hadn’t let go of Rowan, if she hadn’t been so stubborn
about accepting help from her own father, then maybe, just maybe the rest of
the dominoes wouldn’t have fallen the way they did. But by the time
it all came crashing down on her, it was way too late to think she
could’ve done anything to have stopped it.
    The end of all hope of
happiness began for Ella as a typical Tuesday morning. She walked
to work from her apartment, hitting her favorite Konditerei for an espresso and a sweet
roll on the way. She would have preferred something more
substantial but she was already running late. It had been two weeks
since her visit to Dossenheim. With the exception of Hugo taking
great strides to avoid her and being sullen and
uncharacteristically curt when he couldn’t, she had managed to put
that day almost completely out of her mind. Glimmers of the day’s
revelations would come to her when she wasn’t paying
attention—taking a shower or waiting for the elevator. When they
did, she