Her Billionaire's Murder Mystery - Stephanie Fowers Page 0,1

Seeing Tara like this only made what was happening real. He wanted her with him until the day he died. She was his everything. How could he go on without her? But he had to concentrate on her now. Her pain. He could do that, couldn’t he? He rubbed her back, and she reached up and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I want you to love again, Aaron.”

He groaned, feeling the unwelcome pang of new pain wash over him. He stepped back and shook his head. “Tara, don’t...”

“Listen to me.” Her gentle hand ran down his arm and she found his fingers. “It might take you a while, but I want you to take this heart.” She pushed her finger into his chest, “and I want you to put it into everything you do. I know you do that now, Aaron... but don’t bury your heart because I’m gone. Okay?”

He felt a sob escape his throat and he gathered her to him, holding her tight. “You’re not gone.”

She cried out and pushed back the stool, standing to her full height. Her hips ran into the bathroom counter and she squeezed his arm. “I know you, Aaron. Please! Listen to me.”

“Now isn’t the time to talk about this.”

“When?” she asked. “When will be the time? I don’t have much time left. Please let me talk about it. I have to know you’ll be okay. Please. Don’t bury what you do best—love... love—because you love like no one I know. You care so deeply; you put everything you are into it; you fall so hard. Don’t let that part of you waste away. I know you’ll try to push relationships away if I... if I’m gone... because... you’ll feel loyal to me. Even if you don’t know you’re doing it, I know what you’ll do, Aaron! You won’t be happy unless you love again. All right? So please, tell me now. Tell me you will love again?”

What else could he do? He stared into those tear-filled eyes and lied. “Yes... when the time is right.” He lied and lied. “I will learn to love again. I will open my heart. I’ll make you proud.” Her face cleared of concern and she let him hold her again. He never wanted to let her go.

Oh Death—you think you can drag her from my hands? No! Forget ’til death do us part. I won’t let Tara go!

No one could ever move him like she did. The very breath she breathed was sacred, the sun on her face, the clothes that touched her skin, his hand on hers. She didn’t understand what she meant to him; how she sparkled with joy and life; how everything was better when she was around.

Not even he could fathom it, until she was gone.

CHAPTER ONE

—Five Years Later—

“CHARLY, HONEY!”

“Hi, Mom.” Charlize adjusted the rotary phone against her ear. “I can’t talk long.” She worked the front desk at the Basin Park Hotel that evening. Normally things were pretty sleepy this time of year in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, but a billionaire from that newly opened Mountain Cove Retreat had rented out the entire place to hold a week-long Murder Mystery party. Pretty eccentric.

Guests had filed in every few minutes while the hotel’s archaic phone rang off the hook. The hotel guests were all dressed to the teeth in full on ’20s costumes, making Charly feel out of place in her paisley dress. If she had a nickel for every guest who asked her if she was here for a ’60s convention, she’d be almost as rich as they were. Charly tugged at her bright raspberry colored tights, having to check the mirror every so often to make sure she was in the right century.

“There’s a lot going on here right now, Mom,” Charlize said. She had finally caught a breather between guests and ordered a food delivery from Amigo’s down the street before her mother called. “Just don’t get into another Facebook fight, Mom, okay? I’m not reactivating my account to bail you out again.” Her mother let out a despondent sound that pulled on Charlize’s heartstrings. “Fine, fine, I’ll reactivate it as soon as I find the time.”

Charlize sighed. Her headstrong Italian mother always sweetly shared the most controversial things about local news. Everything that Charlize agreed with and wouldn’t be caught dead fighting about on social media. She’d learned the hard way that her passion always got her into trouble... so did defending her mother, who lived at the