Breathless Read Free Page B

sank into the softness of the chair.
James stood by and watched her tremble from
whatever had happened.
Without touching her,
James surveyed her for physical injuries and noted
the tear in her blouse that exposed her right arm
and the grease stains on her chest.
He also caught
sight of the faint scratches on her outer right thigh.
"Alex, can you tell me what happened," James
asked anxiously
"No.
I want to go home," she said.
Alex stood up
and fought to control her balance.
James had
extended a hand to help her steady herself, but she
batted it away, "Please, James, I just want to go
home," she repeated in gulps as she moved to her
desk on shaky legs, retrieved her keys and purse
and left the plant.

Chapter 3
Alex sat dumfounded in her car for several minutes
before starting the engine.
Eager to be away from
the plant, she tore out of the driveway and let her
car do the driving to her small house not far from
the plant.
Upon arriving, she stumbled in the
front door dropping the contents of her hands and
arms onto the couch.
The house was small, but serviceable, she didn't
plan on needing more space than just for
herself.
The entrance, where she stood, brought
her directly into the living room.
A doorway on
the other side of the room led her to the dining
room, small kitchen and the stairs.
Briefly, she
glanced about her living room with its fancy
furniture.
Her furniture had gone into storage
when she moved in with Tad and then brought it
with her to Ashmore Valley.
The overstuffed
couch, chaise lounge, entertainment unit and table
set had looked fashionable in her townhouse in
Springfield, but they looked out of place here.
As twilight continued to fall outside, still on unsure
legs, Alex walked to the kitchen and removed a
bottle of vodka from the cupboard.
She quickly
poured herself two fingers of the Stoli into a rock
glass and downed it quickly.
Alex had never been
much of a drinker, but found that the alcohol
calmed her still shaking body.
Alex sat down at
the table in the dining room and poured another
drink.
She drank this glass slower as the alcohol
moved through her veins.
She was still shocked
and a little more than slightly frightened of the
incident at the factory.
Alex caught sight of her
reflection in the reflection of the sliding glass door
that led from the dining room to the patio in back of
the house.
Her disheveled appearance served as a
wake up call to reality making her move from the
table to climb the stairs for a hot bath.
Alex sat in the tub and scrubbed herself for the
third time.
It seemed no matter how hard she
scrubbed both her hair and her body she could still
feel the touch and smell of her assailant.
The
sounds of her attacker's breathing and hard voice
kept running through her head like some cruel joke
and she shook her head to stop the noise.
Exhausted, Alex climbed from the bathtub, wrapped
herself in a towel and walked across the hall to her
bedroom.
The bedroom looked overwhelmed by
the large four-poster oak bed that occupied the
comer between the windows.
Alex had covered it
with a mauve comforter and throw pillows.
Now it
offered its sympathy to Alex as she crawled into it,
still damp from her bath, emotionally overwhelmed
from her attack and sleepy from the
vodka.
Before her eyes closed she remembered
briefly, the warmth of James' touch and a small
smile touched her lips.
James drove himself home at a steady pace trying
to keep the attack out of his mind.
He was
concerned about her, but hadn't located a home
number in her file to be able to call and check on
her.
He thought about stopping at Grayson Laird's
house for a quick beer before going home, but
thought better of it.
Jean would be at the house,
packing and moving her stuff out.
He promised he
would help her.
James pulled his SUV into the driveway and parked
alongside the U-Haul that Jean backed up to the
door.
As he walked into the house, he glanced
into the truck and noticed that Jean had been here
for a while because it was