I sighed as I watched Lawson swagger in, shirtless. That man...
So hot.
“You’re staring again, baby.” He sounded amused.
“Mmmmm-hmmmm,” I hummed without taking my eyes off his tattooed chest.
“My eyes are up here, Ells,” he teased.
“Mmmmm-hmmmm,” I repeated.
God that was sexy.
“Do you ever think about getting another one?” I asked him.
“Tattoo?” he asked.
I nodded in reply.
“Yeah, sometimes... They’re kind of addictive. I’ve always wanted my family name or crest.. what about you?”
I cocked my head to the side. “Yeah, maybe... I’ll get one, one day.” I smiled as he hopped into bed next to me. “No family crest for me though.”
“Can I ask you something?”
I met his gaze. “Sure.”
He was serious all of a sudden and I started to get worried about where this conversation was going.
“Why did you never change your last name? You know, when you got married.”
His question took me by surprise. Not his desire to know – Lawson always needed to know everything about me, but the question itself.
“Umm...” I paused to think. “I guess it just wasn’t something Baxter talked about. He never asked if I wanted to change it... and he didn’t seem to care if I carried my name or his. So I never did.” I shrugged casually, as though it didn’t really bother me.
It had bothered me though. Call me old fashioned, but I always thought of it as a man taking pride in his woman. I’d been excited to tie myself to Baxter in every means, but when he didn’t seem to care either way, it had lost its appeal.
I could see Lawson was thinking hard. “So... if you... if you got married again, you might change your name?”
Where the hell is he going with this?
“Umm... maybe?” I wasn’t really sure what he wanted to know. “I mean, I guess it would depend on what kind of man he was and what he wanted.”
“What if he was a man like me? What do you think I’d want?” he asked quietly.
My heart rate picked up speed and slammed into my rib cage. “A man like you?” I whispered. “It wouldn’t even be a question. A man like you... you possess... you own... you brand.” I shuddered at the thought of him. “A woman doesn’t marry a man like you if she doesn’t want to wear your name.”
“You’re damn right about that, baby,” he growled in my ear. “Just making sure you knew what you were in for,” he added quietly before kissing my forehead and closing his eyes.
Sweet. Baby. Jesus... what the hell was that?
***
I leaned back in my office chair and spun around to face the sparkling water. I couldn’t wait to see summer here. I was looking forward to exploring more of the city.
I glanced down at my phone.
11.40am. Still no message.
Lawson and Logan had dropped Q and me in this morning. The Hulk was waiting in the reception for us. Quinn’s eyes had just about popped right out of her head when she saw him – he really was massive.
Lawson was taking Logan to the building site and giving him the run down on the job this morning. He’d assured me that he would be back by lunchtime. Logan was an experienced project manager and Lawson knew he’d have no problem being thrown straight in the deep end.
We knew for sure that Evan was at work at the moment – Mark had some of his guys watching outside. Now we just needed to head out and see if we were followed.
I got up and stuck my head out the door. “Have you heard from Lawson?” I asked Brody.
He shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he replied without so much as a glance in my direction.
I looked over to Weston and rolled my eyes.
He stifled a giggle.
I made a gun from my fingers and held it to my head in a mock gesture.
West lost it, he tried to hide behind some files but failed miserably. Seeing him dying in a fit of laughter sent me over the edge too.
I heard a deep chuckle. “It seems I missed a good joke.”
Lawson.
I leaned back against the doorframe and tried to catch my breath as Lawson and Brody shook hands.
“Thanks, man, you can take a break, I’ll call you back in an hour or so.”
Brody nodded and left us to it.
“I was worried you weren’t coming.” I sighed and wiped the last of the tears from under my eyes. “Is Logan managing okay?”
He leaned in and kissed the top of my head. “I love watching you laugh,” he whispered. “And yeah, pretty girl, Logan is an old hand. It’s like he never left.”
I was glad. Lawson didn’t need any extra stress at the moment. “Lunch?” I asked. I’d been half expecting him to pull out of our plans to go out and eat.
But he just nodded and linked my arm through his.
“See you soon, West,” I called over my shoulder.
“You kids have fun now.”
***
“I guess it’s a good thing, right?” I looked up into Lawson’s eyes. Lunch had been uneventful. Well, other than the great food and my handsome date. No sign of a photographer. No suspicious behavior.
“Yeah, I guess. It doesn’t look good for Evan though,” Lawson huffed and ran his hand through his hair.
We walked back into the reception area and had nearly reached the elevators when I heard my name called, “Miss Rush!”
I turned and saw one of the girls from reception gesturing for me to come back.
She held out a small box. “I’m sorry, Miss Rush, this just arrived for you,” she said as I approached the desk.
“Where did it come from?” Lawson growled at her.
She shrank back slightly. “Ah... um... I think it was a courier, Mr. Pierce. A few moments ago.”
Lawson grabbed the box from her before I could and turned and pulled me towards the elevators again.
“Thank you,” I called back to her as Lawson dragged me into a waiting elevator.
Poor girl is terrified.
“Jesus, Lawson, you didn’t have to scare her,” I scolded him.
“Sorry, El. I just know this is going to be bad news.”
I nodded and frowned at the small box in his hand. “Open it.”
He shook his head. “In your office.”
West and Brody were nowhere to be seen when we got to my office and I was grateful. Lawson was borderline to having a meltdown. I pushed the door shut behind me. “Open it.”
Lawson placed the box on the desk and slowly worked the lid off. His whole body visibly relaxed as he looked inside. “False alarm, baby. Did you order some beads?”
Beads?
“No.” I shook my head. “What kind of beads?” I wondered aloud as I moved to look for myself.
“Oh no,” I whispered as I saw what was inside the box. It was an assortment of black and silver beads. I sank awkwardly into one of the armchairs. “No, no, no.”
Lawson was crouched down in front of me in a flash. “What is it, Ellerslie?”
“The club... my dress... it got ripped,” I stammered. “The beads are from my dress,” I added in a choked out whisper. I looked straight into Lawson’s eyes as I spoke. “He was there, Lawson. He had his hands on me.”
I could visibly see the rage spreading throughout Lawson’s body. He sprung to his feet and grabbed the box. He threw it across the room, sending beads flying everywhere. The box hit the window with a loud thud and fell to the floor.
“Lawson,” I whispered. He ignored me and paced the floor back and forth. “Lawson,” I said again, with more force.
He stopped pacing and fell back to his knees in front of me. He wrapped me tightly in his arms.
“He had his god damn hands on you,” he muttered quietly.
“You need to check the reception’s security footage,” I told him quietly.
He released me from one of his arms and pulled his phone from
his pocket. I sat quietly and listened as he called Alex and demanded to see the footage from the reception desk from the past hour.
“He’s sending it through now,” he told me in a rush of breath.
“Call Mark,” I prompted.
He did.
“He wants to see the tape too,” Lawson told me after he hung up. “He’s got eyes on Evan, it wasn’t him personally. He’ll be keeping two men on him from now on – we’ll follow anyone he meets with.”
“It doesn’t mean it was him, Lawson, he wasn’t the only person in that club.”
Lawson wasn’t listening to me.
“I’m going to kill him,” he muttered over and over again.
71. Lawson
My phone rang. I checked the screen before I answered.
“Logan.”
“Hey, Law. I’m having trouble with one of the suppliers—”
I interrupted him, “I’m really sorry, man, but we’ve had a setback with this bullshit here. Can I get you to call Jesse? He’ll know what to do.”
“What’s wrong?” The construction noise cut off as he shut a door. “Is El okay?”
“She’s fine. She got sent a box filled with the beads that were ripped from her dress at the club.”
There was silence on the line. “Well shit. That’s not ideal,” he finally said.
I huffed out a dry laugh. “No. Not ideal at all.”
“I’ll sort things out here. Keep me in the loop.”
“Will do, and thanks – I appreciate it.”
I looked at Ells as I hung up. She was typing out a message at a furious pace.
“Quinn?” I asked.
She nodded without looking away from her screen.
Shit. This was not good. I couldn’t believe I’d messed up so badly by leaving her that night.
I should have kicked Evan’s ass while I had the chance.
“Ells.” She looked up and into my eyes. I saw how vulnerable she was, how exposed she felt. I looked right into her soul and saw the trust she was putting in me. Trust to keep her safe.
I opened my mouth to apologize for doing such a shitty job, but was cut off by Quinn barging through the door. She stopped and stared at the mess of beads all over the floor. “Ah crap,” she hissed. “Why can’t we catch this asshole!”
Quinn started ranting and raving and went to sit next to El as my phone rang. “Quinn. Shut up.” I pointed to my phone.
“Have you found it?” I barked at Alex.
“I’ve just emailed it through to you, sir.”
“Good. Thank you.” I hung up.
I turned to the girls. “I need to borrow your computer, baby, I have to check the footage.”
El nodded and moved around her desk to get her laptop set up. “Done.” She moved out of the chair so I could sit down – she perched herself on the edge of the desk.
I logged into my account and opened the file. I fast-forwarded until I saw El and I walk through the lobby and exit onto the street.
“There we go,” I said quietly. Quinn came and stood behind me. The next forty minutes showed nothing but employees coming and going. I fast-forwarded.
“There.” El pointed to the edge of the screen. “Him.”
She was right. The guy was loitering around. He had a baseball cap pulled low on his head and was dressed in dark jeans and a black jacket. He approached the front desk, passed the box over and turned and left. He’d spoken only a few words, and I knew they would have included my girl’s name.
“Just like that,” Quinn said quietly.
“We can’t even see his face,” El ground out. “That could be anyone. But one thing is for sure, it’s not possible that it’s Evan.”
“It’s our guy. I can feel it. He’s getting desperate.” I slammed my fist down on the desk and felt El flinch next to me. I tried to relax before I looked at her beautiful face. “He’s getting sloppy, baby. He’ll get cocky and I’ll get him. I promise you.”
She gave me a small smile.
There was a knock at the door. “Come in,” El called out.
Weston’s head appeared around the door. “I’m really sorry, Ellerslie, I can see this isn’t a good time, but there’s a problem with the Overland account. The shipment is significantly delayed... I’m worried about a contract breach.”
El let out a deep breath. “Fucking perfect,” she muttered under her breath.
She looked at Q. “Quinn, I need you to get our contact from the shipping company on the line and find out what’s going on. I’ll call Overland and speak with Jared when we know more.”
She turned back to Weston. “I need you and Macie to go through that contract with a fine-tooth comb, I want to know exactly what this is going to cost me if it goes south.”
I looked at her in awe. How she could push all this crap aside and still do her job like an absolute pro was beyond me. “And me, Miss Rush?” I said with a smirk on my face.
She turned to me and tried to give me a serious look. “You.” She pointed her finger at me. “Pick up all those bloody beads and then get out of my office and go do some work.”
She cracked a smile halfway through my telling off. I was about to object to the part where she wanted me to leave but she beat me to it.
“Uh-uh, cowboy. You can’t stay. This is a big account. I need to focus. Call the hulk back in.”
I sighed and surrendered. “Okay. Fine. I’ll call Brody right now.” She shooed me from her chair and I chuckled at her no-nonsense attitude – it reminded me of Quinn.
Weston, Macie and Q all got to work doing what El had asked of them. I sat and watched her work on her laptop until Brody knocked on the door. “Call me when you’re done, pretty girl.” I stood and headed out the door.
“Lawson,” El called after me.
I stopped and looked back at her.
“Thank you.”
***
It was after 4.00pm and Ellerslie and Quinn were still hard at it upstairs. Rather than annoy El, I’d decided I would check in with Q. They were stressed. I was grateful they had a distraction, but I wanted to get out of here. This afternoon had been long and I was too distracted to do any real work.
I’d sent Mark the security footage and he’d agreed it was probably the same man. I could tell he was concerned about how the situation was escalating. We were at a loss with how to proceed – the only thing I knew for certain was that El needed to be kept out of harm’s way.
I was still torn on Evan. He’d been where he was supposed to be during mine and El’s lunch. It proved it wasn’t him. But yet I still wasn’t convinced.
I’d organized for Logan to get a ride back with the architect I had visiting the site. I was expecting him any minute.
Speak of the devil.
“Hey, man, what’s the latest?” Logan asked as he walked into my office and slumped down in one of the chairs.
I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. I told him about the beads, the footage, and my concerns for my girl.
“That’s pretty scary stuff.” He shook his head. “He was that close to her?”
“I still think it’s Evan,” I muttered. “He’s the only contact El has had here, outside of work.”
He shook his head. “I dunno, man. El doesn’t seem convinced. And he was at work... I think you’re clutching at straws.”
El didn’t believe it was Evan, but that woman was too bloody trusting.
“You want to go out for dinner? My shout to thank you. The four of us can head out.”
“We should stay in,” I objected. “It’d be safer.”
“C’mon, Law... who’s going to get through the two of us?”
He was right. If they were getting through us, they were going to need to bring the cavalry.
I sighed. “Fine. If El wants to go, we’ll go.” I knew she would want to go. She hated being locked away like this; it made her stir-crazy.
Logan gave me a triumphant smile. He knew we’d be going out.
; I sent Quinn a text.
“How’s it going?”
She replied quickly.
“It’s going... call El.”
I didn’t need telling twice. I picked up my office phone and direct-dialed El.
“Ellerslie Rush speaking.”
“Hey, baby.”
“Oh hey,” she breathed. “Sorry I haven’t called. This has been a complete disaster.”
“Have you made any progress?”
“We have. The shipment can’t get here any earlier. I’ve cut a deal with Overland to give them the product at half price and in turn, we keep our contract with the company. It’s a big loss of profit, but I couldn’t risk losing them all together.”
“I would have done the same,” I told her. She was smart, it was making the best of a bad situation.
“I’m just finishing up a few things and then I’ll be done.”
“Logan wants to take us to dinner, Q too. Do you want to go?”
I could hear her smile through the phone. “I would love to.”
I sighed in defeat and Logan gave me a smirk and a thumbs up.
“Okay, baby, we’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“Sounds good.”
I hung the phone up.
“So she wants to go?” Logan asked, feigning innocence.
“What do you think, you smug asshole?” I taunted him.
He just laughed at me.
I am so screwed.
We took the elevator up to the girls’ floor. Weston wasn’t anywhere to be seen and Brody was still standing guard at the door.
“Brody?” I heard Logan ask, disbelief in his voice. “Shit, I haven’t seen you for years.”
I watched as Brody transformed from bodyguard to friend. “Shit, long time no see alright.” They shook hands.
“Brody and I served together on my first tour,” Logan explained.
“Is this what you’re doing these days?” he asked Brody.
“Yeah, this is the boss.” He flicked his head in my direction.
“Me too, man, me too.” Logan chuckled. “I’ve just started project managing again today.”
I left them to catch up.
“Hey, pretty girl.”
Love like Yours Series (Box Set #1-4) Page 34
