Deadly Desire Read online

Deadly Desire

  By Emma Grace

  Copyright 2014 Emma Grace

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  What Readers are saying about Fatal Desire

  book one of the Desire Series by Emma Grace

  "Great read! I was able to guess who was the stalker early on because of your great clues along the way."

  "This is a definite 5 star book. I read through it without stopping. It is about a nurse who is stalked for over 4 years. The stalker injured or killed any friends she made even though she moved from state to state many times. I will be looking for the sequel when it is available."

  "Fatal Desire was a fantastic easy read. Great story that brought intrigue from the very first page. The book leaves plenty of room for a sequel and I can't wait to see it. Never read anything from Emma Grace before but will look for her titles again."

  "I loved this book!! I can not wait to start the second one. Only thing is its short. It took me one day to read this. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!"

  ♥ Note ♥

  Deadly Desire is a fictitious work of the author's imagination. Though some of the places mentioned throughout the book are real, the characters and storyline are completely made up. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ♥ Table of Contents ♥

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Tantalizing Desire

  Author's Note

  About the Author

  ♥ Chapter 1 ♥

  She was exquisite. Long black hair and light brown eyes that reflected the light around her. He had to have her. He would add her to his collection. She didn't know he was watching her, but none of them had known he was watching.

  This was the part he was good at. Picking out the pretties to add to his list of beauties that died by his hand. He enjoyed this. The watching, the waiting, and the games they did not even know they were playing.

  Yes, she would die. Not tonight, he had to finish playing with the one he already had. But when he was ready, he would be back for the raven haired beauty.

  ~

  Doctor Kristin Young walked into the exam room.

  "Hello, Johnny. How are you today," she asked the five year old sitting on her table.

  "Hi. I wost my first toof, Doctour Woung," Johnny replied in his lisping five year old voice.

  "You did," Kristin asked putting just the right amount of excitement into her voice.

  "Uh huh," Johnny said nodding his head vigorously.

  "Well, let me see." She laughed as Johnny grinned at her, opened his mouth, and pointed out his accomplishment.

  "Wow, you did lose a tooth, didn't you? So tell me what is going on with you today?"

  Kristin listened as Johnny told her about his adventures of playing cops and robbers with one of his friends at the daycare he attended while his mother worked. He had fallen off of the monkey bars and had a nasty little cut on his forehead. Kristin kept Johnny talking while she probed and cleaned the cut.

  "Did you get all the bad guys?" Kristin's patients loved her. She interacted with each child as if they were her own and when they were in her exam room, they were the most important person in the world. She always talked with them about their symptoms, what they were feeling, and gathered as much information from the child as she did the parents, providing the child was old enough to talk to her.

  Kristin, a pediatrician in the Atlanta area, owned a small private practice not far from downtown. With her natural love and devotion to children, it did not take long to build a practice to just the size she wanted. She had gotten to the stage where she could be as picky about what patients, or mothers, she accepted, as the mothers were about choosing a pediatrician.

  Listening to Johnny's excited chatter about the game he played with his friend made her smile. He was so into his story and what he was telling her, he did not even realize she had to put three stitches into the cut he received for his adventure.

  "Wow, you put all of them in jail," she asked.

  "Yep, all ov 'um. Me and Kyle make a gweat team, huh doctour," asked Johnny.

  "You do make a great team," Kristin replied smiling at the little blond headed imp on her table. Johnny was one of the first of Kristin's patients when she started her practice. She knew the child and mother well. Johnny was forever getting into scrapes. He was a rambunctious child. Kristin would be worried if he wasn't. She often explained to his mother she would be more concerned for the child if she didn't see the bumps and bruises that told her he was an active, happy child.

  Turning to the mother she said, "He should be fine now. If he complains of a headache, and he should with that nasty bump, just give him a little children's Tylenol or Motrin and he should be just fine. I think he will live to seek out many more adventures." Kristin winked at Johnny.

  "Thanks, Doctor Young. I appreciate you seeing us on such short notice. I just panicked seeing him bleeding like that," Johnny's mother replied.

  "No problem, Susie. That's what I'm here for. Never worry about needing to call me." Kristin grabbed Johnny and swung him off her table.

  "You know where the big boy sucker drawer is right, Johnny," she asked, though she already knew the answer to that question.

  Johnny nodded and took off running across the room. His mother laughed and shook her head. Kristin was still smiling as she stepped out of the exam room and into the next to see her next patient.

  Kristin had a full schedule that day, which always made her smile, but took a lot out of her by the end of the day. She was about ready to call it quits for the day when her receptionist reminded her about the new couple coming to interview her to be their new pediatrician. Kristin sighed and put her white lab coat back on. She knew most parents wanted a doctor that looked professional and qualified and while she was certainly both, she did not look like it.

  Good genes handed down on both her mother and father's side of the family had the thirty-three year old doctor looking more like a twenty-one year old college student. Most of the parents who interviewed her were shocked by her appearance.

  Kristin had long, raven, black hair that reached just past her shoulders and light brown eyes. Standing at just five foot three, she was a little on the short side. She was small and petite and looked as though she should be modeling rather than giving shots and taking temperatures. But Kristin loved what she did and it showed as she animatedly described her practice and her beliefs.

  Most of the people who came to see Kristin were there because another patient's parents had highly recommended her. It still did not take away from the surprise of meeting her for the first time and could be a turn off for some parents. Kristin was fine with this. She knew what she was capable off and did not need the judgment of others as she was treating their children. She either had the parent's full trust or she recommended they try another pediatrician.

  Usually the high recommendations from her patients' parents were enough to convince other pare
nts to seek out her services. Kristin doted on her patients and most parents enjoy when others notice and praise their child's accomplishments. Her love of children and her energetic personality combined to put parents at ease when she was treating their child.

  Kristin's patients ranged in age from newborn babies all the way up to eighteen years of age when she would often recommend a general practice doctor for the young adult. She had a few patients who have separation anxiety due to Down syndrome or some other mental disease and so she continued to see those patients, but mostly her waiting room was full of babies and toddlers.

  Looking over the file her receptionist had started on the new family, she remembered the expectant mother's name from her work at the hospital when her new patients were born. No doubt that's where the mother had heard of her. Amber and Derek Stevenson were expecting their first baby in three months and the mother wanted her to be their pediatrician.

  She read the information her receptionist had gathered. Mary Stone had been with her since she started her practice. She knew exactly what Kristin was looking for in a parent and often discouraged those she determined where not a good fit. It saved Kristin a lot of time and headache. Mary was more than just a receptionist.

  Mary and Kristin had been friends in high school. Never dreaming the two would work together someday, they went their separate ways during college always keeping touch. Mary wanted to work in an office. She was good with people and had a head for numbers. Kristin wanted to be a doctor. After finishing medical school and completing her residency, Kristin contacted Mary about opening her own office.

  Mary jumped at the chance to work with Kristin and help her build her practice. Refusing to do managerial work, Mary preferred to interact with the parents and chose to stay the receptionist although Kristin had complete faith in Mary's ability to run her office. She knew Mary secretly did run the office although Kimber, her office manager, would never admit that out loud.

  Kristin loved her staff and was happy with the work ethic of everyone she employed. She wasn't sure how she had been lucky enough to have as great of a staff as she did, but she contributed a lot of it to Mary.

  Kristin looked up from the file she was reading as Mary walked in. Her receptionist was the same age as she but slightly taller at five foot five. She had beautiful auburn hair which she usually kept clipped back out of her face. Her lightly tanned skin and brilliant green eyes often drew stares from the men who walk into their office, but Mary paid no attention.

  "The Stevenson's are here to see you."

  "Thanks, Mary. You can send them in."

  Although the girls were the best of friends, they both knew how to act professional in the office and in front of patients. Mary led the Stevenson's into the office and introduced them to Kristin.

  "Doctor Young, I'd like you to meet Derek and Amber Stevenson," she said and then turned and left the room.

  Kristin stood and shook hands with both Derek and his wife recognizing Amber from the hospital where she worked as a nurse. Amber sometimes filled in for sick or vacationing nurses in the maternity ward and she and Kristen had worked together a few times.

  "It's nice to meet you, Derek. And it is good to see you again, Amber," she said warmly, sitting back down behind her desk. She decided Amber must have prepared Derek well for her appearance because he didn't bat an eye at her youthful face.

  "It's nice to see you again too, Doctor Young," Amber said.

  The ladies talked about their work at the hospital, forming a bond as Derek watched them interact. Amber had already described the petite, young, doctor to him so he was not surprised when he met her. He had complete faith in his wife's ability to choose a pediatrician for their first child and she said Kristin Young was the best.

  "I know your reputation from the hospital," Amber was saying. "And I also know you're choosey about your patients."

  "I am very careful who I choose to see although I do not often share that fact," Kristin said.

  Amber laughed. "Nurses talk," she replied.

  Kristin smiled and nodded and asked the couple a few questions. She then took them on a tour of her office, gave them the run down on her credentials, and explained her policies regarding her patients. She wanted any of her parents to know they could call her anytime with a question regarding their children and she would get back with them at her earliest convenience. If parents called the office afterhours, her cell and pager numbers were both listed as emergency numbers.

  Amber nodded as Kristin talked. She already knew she wanted Kristin as her pediatrician and hoped she would accept them. She did not begrudge the young doctor for being choosey about her patients. She understood how many parents could ruin a doctor's reputation if you did not handle them properly. Kristin just wanted to treat children. She didn't want the drama that came with the parents. Because of these facts and her reputation at the hospital, Amber had not even discussed or looked for another pediatrician.

  Kristin liked the Stevenson's immediately. Ending the tour she turned to Amber and said, "Welcome to my practice. I would love to treat your child."

  "'Thank you, Doctor Young," Amber responded with a smile.

  "Please, call me Kristin," she told her. "After all, we do work together, and now we will probably see more of each other."

  The couple shook hands with the doctor again and left the office. Kristin went back to her desk, took off her lab coat, and hung it on the coat rack in the corner of her office. As she looked around, she couldn't help but be proud of her accomplishments. She had been told by college professors, fellow students, and other colleagues she would not be able to cut it as a physician. She had been criticized, mocked, and laughed at from the time she began medical school until a couple of years after starting her practice.

  Now, she was a well known pediatrician whom many of her colleagues respected and admired. She was often asked to consult on difficult cases. She smiled to herself. The mocking and criticisms only made her more determined to work harder. And she had done what everyone had told her she couldn't.

  Walking through her office told the story. She had started in a small medical office with only one exam room. Mary was her only employee. Kristin was her own nurse that first year. But with faith and patience and the trust from parents, Kristin's practice took off rapidly. Within a year she had hired a nurse, an office manager, and a girl to handle all of their insurance claims.

  Needing more space, Kristin was ecstatic when this office became available. Another doctor was building the new office when he suddenly went bankrupt because an employee was stealing from the practice. It all came to light just before completion of the building and the other doctor could no longer afford the expense of the new office.

  The building was just the size Kristin needed and the layout was perfect. It had three exam rooms, two large waiting rooms, and a reception area that served both waiting rooms. She loved the architecture of the building and it was located in a great area. Believing her practice would continue its current growth she was able to convince her bank to give her a business loan to buy the building. Because of the circumstances, she was able to get it at a great price.

  She and Mary had decorated the office themselves. One of the waiting rooms was set up for sick children while the other was set up for children who were injured or having their checkups. Parents loved the separation. Mary was easily able to service both sides from her reception office.

  Both waiting rooms had been equipped with toys and books for kids of all ages. There were colorful rugs for the kids to sit on and play and small tables set up for them to sit at and read. Some parents would schedule well child checkups with other parents just so their children could play together in the office while waiting for the doctor.

  Kristin smiled as she turned the lights off in each room she came too. She and Mary had so much fun picking out pictures and paint for the office. No brownish, tannish walls in their offic
e. It was truly decorated as a child's wonderland. Her exam rooms had been lovingly dubbed the ocean room, the forest room, and the dinosaur room, by her patients. The names stuck and now all of them referred to the rooms by those names rather than exam room one, two, or three.

  Later that evening, as Kristin came home to an empty apartment, she tossed her keys on the coffee table, slipped out of her shoes and into some slippers, and searched through her freezer for a frozen meal she could heat up for dinner. She was single and liked it that way. She needed the quiet at the end of a long day of sick babies and whinny children. Although she loved each and every one of those children, she still needed some down time.

  As her dinner heated up, she walked to her bedroom and changed from her business suite to her pajamas. She liked big, fluffy pajama bottoms and a soft t-shirt to laze around the house in. Padding back to the kitchen just as the microwave dinged, Kristin grabbed her food and headed straight for her television set in the living room.

  She sat on the couch, grabbed the remote, and started searching through her recorded programs. Choosing one of her favorite crime scene shows, she began watching as the stars searched for the cause of death of the latest innocent victim.

  Kristin loved crime shows. She recorded everyone she could week after week and watched them when she had time. When she wasn't watching television, she was curled up with a good mystery novel. This was her way of coping with some of the tragedies and misery her patients and families have to endure. A child who has cancer, diabetes, or any other of the horrible diseases that, so far, have no cure. Having to explain to the parents what their child will have to live with. Not every day was like that, but some could be and it weighed on Kristin when one of her patients hurt. Knowing and understanding she could not save the world did nothing to heal the hurt in a child's eyes and the heaviness in her heart.