Read Online Leaving Annalise (Katie & Annalise Book 2) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins - Free Book Online Page A

climbed their trunks. The vines knocked into my windshield in a crazy drum solo as we drove under them. I turned in the gate and we passed through a forest of towering mango and soursop trees with avocado and papaya trees in their shade. Passion fruit vines crawled up the tree trunks.
    “This is like something out of a movie,” Nick said, shaking his head, a smile growing on his lips. He rolled down his window and we breathed in the scents of bay leaves and fermenting mangoes. The smell was intoxicating.
    We pulled up the driveway between the bright beds of crotons I’d planted the week before. The bushes alternated orange and yellow, then pink and green, one after another. In the center of the beds by the kitchen window stood my new little banana tree. I parked beside Crazy’s multi-colored pick-up truck, which was behind Rashidi’s Jeep.
    “Look,” I said, pointing to the base of the tree. A green iguana stood there chewing, like I’d posed him.
    “That’s so cool,” Nick said.
    We hopped out, and so did Oso. The other dogs clustered around to inspect him. Crazy, also known as Grove or William Wingrove, was stalking around behind his workers, hurling abuse at them in a way no continental ever could have gotten away with. I shouted a greeting and he walked over to us. If Crazy found it odd that I was holding hands with someone new, he didn’t say anything, for which I was grateful. I made introductions.
    Crazy wiped his dusty hand on his jeans and stuck it out. “Good morning.”
    Nick shook Crazy’s hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
    Crazy shook his head. “Only Mrs. Wingrove call me sir. Crazy will do.” He turned to me. “Railings dem going up on balconies today. Gonna finish the kitchen, too. Three weeks, Ms. Katie, three weeks.”
    “Thanks, Crazy. That’s great. Hey, you haven’t seen my keys, have you? I might have lost them here last night.”
    “No, but I tell men dem. We all watch for them.” He went back to berating his crew.
    Rather than retrace our steps from the pitch-dark tour through the side door the night before, I wanted to start Nick at the front of the house. He looped his arm around my shoulders and squeezed me as we made our way there. I slipped my arm around his waist. We fit together so perfectly that I moved carefully so as not to break the connection. We stayed melded together as we walked up the stone and red-paver steps.
    The front entrance was regal, with island-traditional mahogany double doors that I had commissioned from a local carpenter. A mahogany-framed hurricane-proof window crowned the entrance. I stopped at the top step and slipped out of Nick’s arms so I could press my face against the pillar and breathe in the air. The trade winds were blowing briskly from the east and the sun-drenched porch felt almost cold. Nick leaned into me from behind with his arms raised over our heads and pressed his hands and face to the pillar as well.
    “She’s magnificent.”
    At his words, I felt a soundless hum. Annalise. Hopefully it meant she would be a supportive friend, rather than a jealous lover. “She likes you, too.”
    Nick turned his face so his mouth touched my ear. “I’m glad. Very, very glad.” The current from the house was growing so strong that my body vibrated. “I can feel her through you,” he whispered.
    Damn.
    “Ms. Katie, where you want to put the—oh, didn’t mean to interrupt, sorry,” Crazy said, coming through the front door.
    Reluctantly, I peeled myself out from between the pillar and Nick. I was out of breath and pretty certain I was flushed, but I was too high on the experience to care.
    Crazy stared at me, then said, “No rush. I talk to you later,” and walked back into the house.
    Nick lifted my hair and kissed the nape of my neck. “I don’t think he’s going to look you in the eye for a week.”
    I opened the door and we stepped into the foyer. Our voices laughing together filled the high ceiling, making a new sound altogether,