Undone: The Untangled Series, Book Two

by Layne, Ivy

  “It's perfect. Everything is beautiful.”

  “Yeah?” Knox dropped the duffel bag and turned to face me, uncertainty in his dark eyes. “You like it? Enough to stay?”

  I wrapped my arms around him, determined to chase the question from his beautiful eyes.

  “I'm happy anywhere you are, Knox. I was happy in that little cabin. I would have been happy in a tent. And whatever your house looked like would have been fine as long as you're there with me. But this place is beautiful. I love it. I—”

  The words almost stuck in my throat. I couldn't believe I hadn't said them yet. Those weeks in the cabin had been perfect. A dream. This, standing in Knox's bedroom, in his house, in his city—this was real. This was life. It was time to take a chance.

  Knox asked all those weeks ago if I trusted him. The answer was yes. It was yes then, and it was yes now. The answer would always be yes, as long as Knox was asking.

  Going up on my toes, I pressed my lips to his. “I love your house, and I love you. I've loved you for a while, and—”

  I didn't get out another word. Knox's hands cupped my face, holding me as his mouth devoured mine, saying everything with his lips he didn't have to say with his voice.

  He lifted me, my legs wrapping around his waist as soon as my feet left the ground. Three long steps and my back hit the wall, Knox's mouth hungry and demanding.

  Who knows what would have happened if Adam's voice hadn't floated down the hall? “Mom, where's my box of toys?”

  Knox pulled back, resting his forehead against mine, panting lightly. “First time I've wished we were alone,” he said with a rueful laugh.

  I shifted so he could set me on my feet. His arms tightened, keeping me still. Voice hoarse, he called out, “One second, bud. I'll get it out of the car.”

  Forehead on mine, voice a rumble, he said, “I love you, too. I think I've loved you since I saw your picture in that file, since you opened your door and looked like you wanted to slam it in my face.”

  Even then he'd been able to read me like a book. I wouldn't pretend I hadn't wanted to slam the door in his face, but letting Knox Sinclair in had been the best decision of my life.

  “I love you,” he said, “and I love Adam.”

  A beep sounded somewhere in the house. Knox straightened. Pulling his phone from his pocket he looked at the screen and swore.

  “Fuck. Seriously?” Shoving his phone back into his jeans, he dropped a quick kiss on my temple and muttered, “Prepare for the invasion.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Lily

  Knox opened the door to reveal a cluster of people on his front porch. Strangers. A cold pit of nerves opened in my stomach. Wiping my suddenly sweaty palms on my hips, I stepped aside to let the invaders in.

  A tall man with icy blue eyes and the same thick, dark hair as Knox spoke first. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were coming straight to the office.”

  “We were getting there,” Knox said easily. “Did something happen? You can't wait an hour?”

  Taking in his scowl, I guessed this was Cooper. He didn't answer Knox's question, just glared at us, his face and build so like Knox's own it set me back for a minute.

  From behind him stepped a petite woman, shorter than me and tiny. Not just slender, but built on a small scale, her bones delicate, almost birdlike.

  Curious eyes of sky blue were framed by lush, dark lashes. Her mouth was a cupid's bow of red, her hair black as night and chopped bluntly at her chin. She wore a full-skirted dress embellished with cherries and could have stepped straight out of a poster for a nineteen fifties sock-hop.

  With a sweetly mischievous smile, she held out a hand to me. I shook it gently, surprised by the strength in those slender fingers.

  “These lunks have no manners. I apologize on their behalf. I'm Alice. You must be Lily. It's so nice to finally meet you.”

  I'd pictured Alice as taller and tough as nails. Looks must be deceiving. No way a pushover could handle the Sinclair brothers and the rest of the guys who worked for them. This cheerful, quirky, sprite of a woman was the last thing I'd imagined, but beneath the warm welcome in her eyes, I saw a hint of steel.

  “If there's anything you need, let me know. If Knox isn't around, I can help.”

  “Thank you,” I said sincerely.

  The man behind her held out a hand, studying me with friendly eyes the same ice blue as Cooper's. “I'm Evers, one of Knox's brothers. The other one is Cooper, not that he bothered to introduce himself. It's nice to meet you, Lily.”

  “Nice to meet you too, Evers,” I murmured, flicking a quick glance at Knox, his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at Cooper.

  Alice followed my gaze, and her mouth twisted into a scowl. She poked Cooper sharply in the side, interrupting his glare-off with Knox. Cooper looked down, the irritation in his eyes a mirror of hers. He raised an eyebrow in haughty query. She cleared her throat and sent an exaggerated look at me.

  Cooper's eyes rolled to the ceiling before he nodded at me. “Lily, I presume?”

  As if he didn't already know. I nodded back.

  “Cooper,” he confirmed. No handshake. That was okay. I wasn't sure I wanted to get close enough to Cooper Sinclair to shake his hand.

  He looked down at Alice and raised that dark eyebrow again. I could practically hear the words, Good enough?

  Alice harrumphed and mumbled something under her breath that sounded like stubborn ass. The two of them didn't seem to get along, but, according to Knox, Alice had been running their office for years.

  I couldn't see Cooper Sinclair putting up with someone he didn't like, especially in such a key position. Then again, hadn't Knox said they had a love/hate kind of thing? Something like that. There was no time to jog my memory.

  Cooper took charge. “Now that the introductions are over, we need to get to work. We had eyes on Tsepov in Vegas an hour ago. Everything is quiet here. This is the best time for you two to make a run at LeAnne Gates.”

  “We just got here, Cooper,” Knox protested. “As you know since you practically chased us through the door.”

  “He's been driving all day,” I protested, crossing my own arms over my chest and staring down Cooper. “He needs a break and lunch before anything else.”

  Cooper raised that eyebrow again. So much snottiness in one dark arch. “My brother doesn't need a mother hen. And he doesn't need some woman telling him what to do.”

  Oh. My. God. That autocratic know-it-all tone dug right under my skin. It was the same tone I'd heard from my father for way too many years. I'd hated it then, and I hated it now.

  I wasn't always good at sticking up for myself, but this wasn't about me. This was about Knox. Lifting my chin, that stubbornness my mother bemoaned leading me into trouble again, I said, “I'm not a mother hen, I'm looking out for him. That's what you do with people you care about. Or maybe you didn't get that memo.”

  Cooper's eyes narrowed on me for a long moment during which I deeply regretted every word I'd said. Knox was silent, but wrapped his arm around my waist, molding me to his side. He didn't need words to say whose side he was on.

  Cooper's eyes softened, and he shook his head in resignation. “We brought lunch. Let's sit down, get some food, and we can talk about what to do. Is that acceptable?”

  This last part was aimed at me. My voice stuck in my throat, I gave a jerky nod. The men dispersed to the kitchen, clearly comfortable in Knox's house.

  Alice hung behind. “I'll run out to the car and bring in the food. Lily, do you want to help?”

  I joined Alice, following her to another of the ubiquitous black Sinclair Security SUVs.

  “Don't mind Cooper,” she said in a low voice. “He feels responsible for everything going on with his father. He's worried about his mother, and what happened with Evers and Sum
mer, and then Knox takes off and comes back with a ready-made family—” She shrugged a shoulder. “He loves his brother. If Knox is happy, he'll be happy. He just needs a little time to get used to it.”

  I didn't know what to say to that except, “Thanks.”

  “I got lunch for Adam,” Alice said, her head buried in the backseat of the car. She passed me a brown paper bag filled with wrapped sandwiches and bags of chips. “I wasn't sure what he'd want so I got grilled cheese and peanut butter and jelly. But, if it's okay with you and he can wait, maybe it would be better to feed him lunch after the rest of us eat. You might not want him in on the conversation.”

  I realized what she meant and knew she was right. Again, I said, “Thanks, Alice. And thanks for that hotel suite. And for thinking of the beach. It could have been an awful few days, but you helped make it fun.”

  Alice straightened from the back of the car, her arms loaded with bottles of iced tea and cans of soda. She winked at me, her cherry red lips curved into a grin that proved the mischief I'd seen before had not been a phantom.

  “You're very welcome. Lucky they had a cancellation—there wasn't much else available in Bar Harbor. Not on a summer weekend. I need to get up there myself someday. It looked fantastic.”

  “It was beautiful,” I agreed, “and the lobster was out of this world.”

  “Bet Knox liked that,” she said. At my surprise, she went on, “There's not much I don't know about these guys. I've been running the office for ages.”

  Slanting me a confidential look, she said in a low voice, “Long enough to know the number of women who've crossed the threshold of this house… Single digits. I might even be able to count them on one hand and have some fingers left over.”

  I didn't know what to say, not ready for the cool relief spreading through my chest. Knox hadn't talked much about past relationships, and I hadn't asked. A man like him must have had a ton of women. I didn't want to know.

  “It's been fast, but—”

  “Knox knows his own mind. He always has. And he's not one to be stupid over a pretty face. I've never known him to get personal with a client. Ever. And believe me, he's had the opportunity. Knox is strictly business. Always. Cooper will get over it. Try not to hold it against him while he's being an ass. I know it's tempting, but he's a good guy underneath.”

  “I'll take your word for it,” I said, still working through the idea that Knox didn't usually bring women into his house. That he never got involved with clients.

  I'd known what we had was different. Special. Hearing it from Alice made it real.

  Knox said he loved me. I knew I loved him. I'd put up with a lot for that. An annoying older brother didn't even factor. Besides, Alice's friendly assurance went a long way to helping me let it go.

  I followed Alice back into the house with the bag of food and met the others at the beautifully beaten-up farmhouse table on the far side of Knox's kitchen. He didn't appear to have a dining room, but the table was big enough to seat everyone with room to spare.

  I set the bag of sandwiches on the table and turned to Knox. “Adam can stay upstairs while we talk. Is the car locked? I want to go get his Legos and bring them up to keep him busy.”

  With a smile, Knox kissed my cheek. “I'll get them. I had a few more bags to grab anyway. Be right back.” He disappeared. A second later, the front door opened and shut behind him.

  I expected Cooper to jump on the chance to warn me off, or something equally irritating and archaic. He didn't. Surprising the heck out of me, he changed the subject completely.

  “Let Knox do the talking when you're at Gates'. When she realizes who you are— Let Knox take the lead. The woman is poison. Way over your pay grade.”

  “You know her?” I asked carefully.

  “I do. I dealt with her on similar business a few months ago. Let Knox handle her,” Cooper repeated.

  I opened my mouth to protest that I could speak for myself.

  Cooper held up a hand to stop me. “I'm not implying that you can't handle yourself. I'm saying Knox is going to want to protect you. That will be a lot easier if you don't engage.”

  “He's right,” Evers put in. “It would be better if you stayed here—”

  “I'm not staying here,” I said before he could finish.

  “That's why I didn't bother,” Cooper said, annoyance creeping into his voice again.

  Wryly, Alice chimed in, “You can't expect her to stay home. We're talking about her son.”

  It was nice to have an ally. “I'll keep my mouth shut, okay? I need to know what happened, what that woman has to do with Adam. He's my child. But that doesn't mean I'm going to barrel in and screw everything up. It's too important, and I trust Knox.”

  I squirmed inside under the weight of two identical sets of ice-blue eyes. I wasn't sure I could keep my mouth shut, but I was going to try.

  Knox and I wanted the same thing. If the best way I could help was to sit there with my mouth shut, that's what I would do.

  If I'd had any idea what I was getting into, I would have made a different promise.

  I would have promised to kick LeAnne Gates' ass.

  Straight to hell.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Lily

  Keep my mouth shut.

  I had no clue how hard that would be.

  Cooper had called her poison.

  Poison was an understatement.

  The flight to Huntsville was only an hour. I hadn't wanted to leave Adam behind. It sounds crazy, but in five years we'd never been separated by more than a handful of miles.

  I'd never traveled without him. Why would I? It's not like Trey and I went on romantic weekend getaways or I went home to visit my family. It was always Adam and me.

  Getting on that plane without him, even with Knox by my side, felt like tearing off a limb. I had to leave him. There was no way I was bringing him anywhere near LeAnne Gates. Not until we knew what part she'd played in his birth and adoption. Not when Cooper called her poison.

  Knox seemed confident that he could handle whatever we'd find when we finally saw LeAnne Gates. I wasn't so sure. If she was over sixty, I doubted she'd been involved with my husband.

  She definitely wasn't Adam's mother, which meant there was another woman involved. Someone who might have a claim to my son. Someone who might want him back, no matter what Knox said.

  Alice volunteered to stay with Adam at Knox's house, keeping him company until we got back. He watched me go with uncertain eyes, his hand tightly clasped in Alice's, her smile warm and reassuring.

  I was uneasy leaving him with her, no matter how much I liked her. Knox said he'd trust her with his life. That would have to be enough.

  Thanks to Alice, a car was waiting for us when we landed. The drive to LeAnne Gates' gated neighborhood took less than twenty minutes. At the entrance, security refused to let us through. Knox got out of the car, exchanged tense words with the guard, and held out his hand for the phone.

  I don't know what he said, but two minutes later he slid behind the driver's seat, putting the car into gear as the gate swung smoothly open. We found the house after only a few turns down nearly identical streets packed with carbon copy McMansions.

  It looked like no one lived here. No cars parked in the street. No bicycles abandoned in the driveways. Knox slowed in front of 57 Arcadia Drive and stopped the car.

  I swiped on lip balm and tugged at my skirt. I'd changed into a sundress and pulled my hair up into a bun before we left Knox's house. It felt wrong to meet the woman who held my fate in her hands wearing shorts, my face surrounded by frizzy curls.

  No amount of makeup or pretty dresses could ease the twist in my stomach or dry the sweat from my palms. Knox waited for me in front of the SUV, taking my hand as we approached the house. The door opened before we got there.

 
For a second, I was sure we had the wrong house. The woman in the doorway was taller than me, her platinum blonde hair streaked with threads of gold. Her oddly-beautiful lavender eyes were eclipsed by heavy black liner and thick mascara.

  We must have interrupted her work-out. She'd pulled her hair into a high ponytail, secured by a hot pink scrunchie and sweatband that matched her cropped exercise top and the tiniest pair of bike shorts I'd ever seen.

  Cleavage was everywhere. So much cleavage, the skin was wrinkling between her breasts from the force shoving them together. I was pretty sure I could see the bottom curve of her ass hanging out of the bike shorts.

  This couldn't be LeAnne Gates. Knox had said she was in her sixties. I would have put this woman in her late forties, at worst.

  She said nothing, studying Knox with her lavender eyes before they came to me. When her eyes met mine, understanding bloomed. This woman knew exactly who I was.

  Her mouth twisted into a scowling smirk. Wrinkles bloomed around her hot pink lips, and I could almost believe her age. Either this woman was a model for healthy living, or she had an ample budget for the best that cosmetic surgery had to offer.

  Propping a hand on her hip she opened her mouth. “Well, well, well, if it isn't one of Maxwell's boys and the grieving widow. I haven't talked to your father, so I don't know what you want with me.”

  “Let us in, and we'll tell you. You don't want to do this on your front stoop,” Knox said.

  Her hand twitched, and I thought she'd slam the door in our faces. Maybe thinking better of it, she stepped back and let us in. We followed her into the formal living room by the front door. Knox stopped in the entrance, and I bumped into him, so distracted by her decor I wasn't paying attention.

  Pink and green. She might have called it rose and avocado, but by any name the color palette was hideous. Her velvet couch was a rusty shade of gold that brought to mind the days of disco.