David shook his head. “I didn’t say anything, even when the police questioned me. I’m sorry.”
“Say what? That I shot you? David, they already know that,” Jagger said.
“No, that I jumped from behind you to try and take down Emma Hawthorne. I thought . . .” David paused as he stared at the floor. “I thought since I was able to get away from that big guy, Will, that I could help you capture Emma. You thought I was behind you when you aimed at her and you were right. But, for some stupid reason, I thought I could leap around you and take her. I thought I could help you.”
“Oh, David,” I said and put my arms around my son. “I love you. You know that. But if you ever try to do something like that again you will be grounded for a year.”
Jagger moved closer and put a hand on David’s shoulder. “But you had been trained on what you did to Will. You hadn’t been trained on tackling someone or dealing with anything involving guns. That stuff only works in Hollywood movies. In real life, situations with guns are very complicated. And even someone like me—someone who is highly trained—can make mistakes. Especially in a chaotic situation like that.”
Jagger sighed and shook his head. “That’s why you have to work on your skills before you ever use them. I appreciate you wanted to help, but make sure you know what you are doing next time.”
“I’m sorry,” he said barely above a whisper.
“My sweet boy, I’m proud of you. What Jagger said was right, you need to know what to do in a situation like that before you try and do it. But I’m proud that you wanted to help.”
I glanced around the room and then gazed over at Jagger, hoping I wouldn’t regret my decision. “I tell you what. How about I let Jagger keep training you? I’ll sign you up for ninja lessons.”
David pulled away and looked down at me with a big toothy grin. “Really? That would be epic.”
He immediately scurried off to the punching bag and started to practice his ninja moves. I giggled watching my superhero.
“You have a great kid. I don’t think I ever had the chance to tell you that,” Jagger said coming to my side. “How are your friends? Evaleen, Morgana, and the gang?”
I sighed. “Morgana and Henrik are happily married and back to work. They finally got married and went on a wonderful honeymoon to Italy. Evaleen is uncomfortably pregnant and you know what that means for Edgar.”
Jagger chuckled shaking his head. “That poor guy.”
“Aria and Alex are living somewhat normal lives. As normal as you can get for being with a billionaire. As for Grace, that poor woman. She seemed to always date a bad guy. After Will from the wedding, I think she’s sworn off men. She also plans to leave Mimir and move to the East Coast. I think Baltimore.”
“At least Will’s locked up behind bars. How does Alex feel about his mother in that maximum-security prison?” Jagger lifted his brow to me.
“I think he’s disowned his mother. He wants nothing more to do with her.” I shook my head as my heart ached for that poor rich man. “How about Tenn? I heard he’s in a max prison too.”
Jagger nodded. “Yeah. It was tough watching Katlin take him away in cuffs. But that guy fooled everyone.”
“It was weird those guys from Morgana’s bridal shower, the ones that waited on us in the Eternity suite, were also working for Emma. It’s not like they could get much information from us as we celebrated her upcoming wedding? At least they were caught and are behind bars now.” I shook my head.
“Weird.” Jagger said and I thought I saw a slight twitch of his lips.
There were a few moments of quiet as we watched my son with smiles on our faces. Glad the bad people were locked up and the chaotic months of the summer were now a memory.
“You have a great gym. Congratulations.”
Jagger turned to face me. My breath caught as the curve of his lips made my insides flutter.
“Thank you. I opened two weeks ago. Your son showed up last week, but I had to keep turning him away.”
I nodded. “No wonder he wanted to look at the apartment. He knew you were here that little sneak.”
The conversation lulled and as much as I wanted my feelings to fade for Jagger, they stubbornly held on. I thought about him often and sometimes it involved my vibrator. For that brief period when we were friends, and more than friends, it was satisfying. It was nice to be loved in that way again.
“I never really did eavesdrop on anything when I put those listening devices in your apartment,” Jagger said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“If that’s true, why did you even put them in there to begin with?” I folded my arms and turned to him.
He sighed. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t ask myself that. Right after that first ninja lesson with David and Diego, when you made that delicious pasta, I wondered what would happen if some criminal I was after found out about you and David. I worried they could get to you and I would never know. So, the next day I went out and bought some devices and came over with the excuse that I left my wallet behind and planted them.”
I could see why he did what he did, but that didn’t make it right. “If you were so worried, why didn’t you walk away?”
“I did. Each time I came to your place I wanted to end it but seeing David’s smile, and especially gazing at yours . . . it was too hard. That dinner made me realize you two were the family I always wanted but never had. Anyway, I felt guilty about planting the devices and decided three days later to take them down. And for the first time, I listened in to see if you were home. That’s when I heard you talk about the date you were about to go on.”
My eyes widened. “You knew I would be at that restaurant. You spied on my date.”
He held up his hand. “Guilty. I admit I did come to that restaurant with the intention of interrupting your date.”
I smacked him lightly on his upper arm. “You bastard.”
“But I didn’t have to do anything. He pulled a perfectly good Gregger, doing all the work for me.” He chuckled.
I folded my arms and huffed but eventually a giggle made its way to my lip.
“He was a dumbass,” I said and we both chuckled.
My heart felt a little empty since I said goodbye to him.
“I can show you the apartment if you want?” Jagger said.
Did I even want to? I was tired of looking at apartments for rent but there was a slight buzz in my chest—and definitely in between my legs—that wanted to be alone with him.
“Okay.” I blushed as I said it and wanted to hide my face. Why did I feel like a schoolgirl going to see a boy’s bedroom?
“David, Jagger’s showing me the apartment. Are you coming?” I said.
David stopped punching the bag and was breathing heavy. “No. I’m sure it’s cool. I’ll be down here practicing.”
I shook my head. “He was so picky with all the other places. Insisting he be there to look at the apartments and now he doesn’t care. Go figure.”
There was a door on the side of the wall that Jagger unlocked with a key. It led to a set of stairs. At the top, Jagger took another key to open the door to the apartment.
The inside was small. The living room had enough room for a tiny couch and coffee table, and that was it. Even the kitchen was back against the wall with only a refrigerator, oven, sink, and one small counter.
“This is a two bedroom?” I asked.
“Yes, but the rooms aren’t that big. There’s only one main bathroom and it’s shared.” He walked me back to the two tiny bedrooms, both had a view of the street below. And the bathroom had a stand-up shower that I wondered if anyone could actually fit inside.
“If David thought that last place was small, I’m sure he’ll hate this place. No offense.” I frowned.
“None taken. You can see why I want to rent it. Not only will it help with paying for the building, but even for me, it’s tiny. I think my old place by the train tracks was bigger and it was a one bedroom.”
<
br /> “Can a person actually fit inside that?” I pointed to the shower.
“It’s legal but I hadn’t attempted it myself,” he said.
I walked over and had to back up to open the glass door to the shower. Stepping inside, I was surprised that I could fit, but when I turned to step out, my sweater got caught on the entry.
“Here, let me help you.” Jagger came over and tried to work the material out of the hinge.
It was awkward because of the tight space. He had to push his stomach to mine and lean over until his breath fell down my neck. I watched as the tiny wrinkles around his eyes deepened as he concentrated on the task.
“There. It’s fixed,” he said and turned his head, catching me watching him.
His smile fell and those creases by the corner of his eyes smoothed out. Jagger didn’t move. He was an inch from my lips and as stuffy as this tight space became, I didn’t want him to step away.
His eyes stayed on my mouth. “I miss you.”
I bit my lip, willing myself not to lean toward him. But I couldn’t stop from saying what I felt, “I miss you too. But?”
“No but, I just miss you.”
The divorce papers had been finalized a month ago and I didn’t think my heart would hurt as much as it did.
One blustery Thursday evening, I opened a thick piece of mail and there it was, all typed out, the end of my second marriage. Something in my chest tore. And I swear, it had yet to heal.
“I want to kiss you,” he said as he grabbed my waist and pushed me back against the wall of the small shower, “but I want to say something first.”
He searched my eyes for an answer. I wanted to give him that answer but as I opened my mouth, nothing came out but a moan.
“We aren’t perfect, Tiffany,” he said as he began to dot kisses over my cheeks, my throat, and into my hair. “I’m so rough around the edges, I should come with a warning sign. But you’re sweet and so caring that you’re like syrup—sugary and addictive and messy. Very messy.”
He pushed my hair into his face or maybe it was he pushed his face into my head, it didn’t matter. I only noticed that when he inhaled it was the sexiest thing I had ever heard.
“But I love that. Because when the both of us came together we weren’t any of those things. We weren’t rough or sweet, we were somewhere in between.”
He lifted his head and gazed at me as if I was some fading dream. “What we have isn’t pretty like a picture, it’s the mountains and the valley and the sun that inspired the artist. We are forever like that rock and earth and ball of fire. We may be hot and cold, but we will always be solid because we are the eternal. You are what I had been looking for most in my life, even if I only just met you in June.”
Then his lips devoured mine. And all his words melted into that kiss and I knew I would never let him go again.
EPILOGUE
Jagger
4 Months Later
She was mine.
I leaned my back against the wall as I tried to scale back my smile. It was becoming out of control. As Edgar mentioned a few days ago, it was bordering on creepy.
I chuckled as I thought about how Edgar and I first met. Now look at us, friends. Since his wife, Evaleen, started to work for ITA, I had gotten to know them better. Not that I ever went back to the government, but I came to find out that Evaleen had a little network of spies she liked to keep in case she needed information. I became part of her network.
“Can you get me a beer?” Tiffany yelled from the bedroom.
“Of course.” I pushed off the wall and headed into her kitchen.
Evaleen was on maternity leave right now and Tiffany and I had gone over to help with Lucy, or little Lam as the proud parents have nicknamed her, a few times. Even David wanted to help. That boy got his caregiving side from his mother. I wouldn’t be surprised if he grew up to be a nurse or teacher, instead of all his talk about being a ninja.
Evaleen insisted I didn’t have to help her with the baby, but if there was any other woman besides Tiffany I would bend over backward for, it was Evaleen. She helped stop Tenn before he had time to run off after Henrik and Morgana’s first wedding
I texted her, just after I shot Emma, with Will’s phone as Tenn still had mine. I let Evaleen know that Tenn was working for the Jewel. She immediately contacted Katlin and ran over to tell the police sergeant who had been helping Tenn outside on the street. The sergeant distracted Tenn when Katlin and some agents showed up to take him down.
After finding only two beer bottles, I searched around what was left in the kitchen to find some red plastic cups. I poured the beer into two cups and decided they needed something extra.
I made my way back to her bedroom and held out a cup to her. With a smile that still made my heart stumble, she took it. “Thanks. Only a few more boxes and we can start loading the truck.”
She was mine.
Tiffany and David were moving into my apartment and I felt like the luckiest guy in the world. I had found another, much bigger, two-bedroom closer to downtown just before I opened The Ninja Gym. It was quiet and in a great neighborhood. There were only two things missing—Tiffany and David.
Over New Years, I asked her to move in with me and she said yes. I wasn’t sure if she was saying yes to the moving in or the fact that my mouth was between her legs and I was giving her an orgasm. But, she told me later after we left the bathroom and returned to the holiday party that she was saying yes to both.
Due to the terrible Chicago winters, I made them wait until it was closer to spring to move in.
I raised my cup to her. “Happy St. Patrick’s Day.”
She raised hers too and just before taking a sip, she stopped when she looked into the cup. “It’s green.”
I nodded. “Yeah, because it’s St. Patrick’s Day. They dye the river green.”
I waved toward the window even though we were nowhere near the Chicago River.
Tiffany frowned. “You know Blackburn isn’t my maiden name. It’s Ryan.”
“Okay,” I said and took a sip from the cup.
“Dying things green doesn’t mean it’s Irish.” She folded her arms in front of her chest, plumping up her tits. It caused me to stare. She was wearing a tank top, it would be impossible for me not to stare.
“Uh huh.” I nodded not really listening to what she was saying anymore.
“I’ll drink this beer because it’s beer and I’m thirsty, but know I do it in protest.” She pulled her hair back as she drank from the cup.
I watched her chest rise and fall in between sips.
She was so sexy, even drinking green beer while packing.
Tiffany drained the cup and let out a loud belch, slamming the cup down on the side table. She held up a finger and said, “One point.”
I blamed her son. David and Henrik expanded on the fart game they made up to include burps. Tiffany told me she was grossed out at first by the game but was gassy one night and decided to play. She’s been champion ever since.
“You know how sexy I find you when you release bodily gases,” I said as I blinked at her.
She smirked. “You’re just jealous because you can’t beat me.”
Tiffany picked up the tape dispenser. “David conveniently had to help his friend, Diego, with a class project. So, it’s just you and me moving the boxes when we finish packing up.”
“It might be more purposely, than conveniently.” I put my cup on her dresser and stepped closer as she finished sliding the tape along the seam of a box.
She put down the tape dispenser on the table and turned to me with her hands on her hips.
“Did you tell David to stay away on moving day?”
“Possibly,” I said slowly moving closer to her.
“Possibly?” Tiffany asked.
“Probably.”
I reached over and slid my hands around her waist.
“Probably?” She tilted her chin up and curled the corner of her sexy mouth.
&n
bsp; “Definitely,” I said as I watched her eyes darken.
“Definit—” I cut her off as my hand cupped her neck and my mouth brushed over hers.
She tasted like madness and as my fingers slid over her skin, her shudder felt like the sweetest indulgence. I pushed her back onto the bed and dropped to my knees.
“You’re so easy,” I said as my fingers crawled slowly, but intently, until my hands had completely unbutton, unzipped, and pulled off her jeans.
Then I spread her legs.
“I like these.” I hooked my finger through her green lace panties and rubbed the back of my finger over her drenched pussy.
“I wore them the night I met you.” Tiffany’s voice had lowered and her eyes were like pools of chocolate.
“I remember. Now take them off.”
She pulled them down and flicked them away with her foot before spreading her legs again. I pushed one finger inside her, desperate to hear her gasp. She didn’t disappoint. When I hooked my finger and twisted my hand, she added an extra moan.
“I could listen to you forever. You sound better than any song ever sung,” I said.
Reaching into my pocket with my free hand I grabbed the thing I put there just for this moment. I placed it on the ground next to me.
It had to wait a little bit so I could hear more of my love’s song. I lowered my tongue to between her thighs, lapping up Tiffany’s sweet flavor.
Working my fingers over her slippery folds, she sung some more. The melody sweet but guttural. I lifted my eyes and found she was watching. Fuck, I loved it when she watched me devour her.
Her lips soft and puffy and her cheeks flushed, I added another finger for her to ride.
“Oh, Jagger.” Her head fell back as her hips swayed toward me.
My tongue swirled around her clit and I knew she wanted more. Her face desperate as she lifted her head and reached for my head.
Her fingers tugged and pulled at my hair. I closed my eyes at the pain as I focused on her pleasure.
“I’m coming,” she said but I already knew.
The Spy Ring (Cake Love Book 4) Page 21
