I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, aware we had a very rapt audience. I pressed my face to his neck. “They’re all staring,” I mumbled.
“They’ll get used to it.” He shrugged, grinning, and I felt something settle between us. Any earlier tension dissipated as I clung to his shoulders, grinning at my mischievous man. Sex may have been a better method, one I looked forward to utilizing in the future. But for now, laughter seemed to be the best medicine for us.
“Armstrong. Boss wants a meet,” Sid announced, looking at his phone as he toweled off next to Sam, who was trying to wrangle Hudson.
“Shit.” Theo sighed. “You want to stay here while I’m gone? I don’t think I’ll be long. Just need to review some logistics before we’re wheels up.”
“Sure,” I agreed, trying not to think about the fact that he was leaving at the crack of dawn the next morning.
His voice had dropped an octave when he spoke again. “Tonight I want you all to myself.”
I bit my lip and nodded readily.
“Christ, I like that look on your face,” he groaned.
“Hurry back,” I requested with a grin.
****
“Theo!” I cried hours later, my fingers pulling at his hair as he lay in between my legs. “Please,” I gasped. “I’m so close.”
Two fingers joined his tongue, and with an expert twirl he sent me hurtling over the edge.
He kissed my inner thighs before moving up my body, kissing bare skin as he went.
“I want to taste you,” I murmured, not for the first time. “Please.” I pushed at his shoulders gently, and to my great delight he rolled to his back.
He’d done just about everything to me, but thus far my access to his body had been limited and I was ready to explore.
He hadn’t wanted me to feel pressured, which at first I’d appreciated. But now, now I was absolutely ravenous for him.
I kissed down his neck, licked his nipple, biting gently. His abs flexed as I continued my path downward, and I was gratified by the way his breathing grew ragged as I reached my destination.
Despite never having done this before, I went with my instincts and my genuine desire to taste him and to give him pleasure.
His deep groans and the tilting of his hips spurred me on as I used my lips and tongue.
“Fuck. Babe, I’m close,” he rasped.
I hummed in pleasure, encouraging him. A moment later he groaned low and deep as his taste exploded on my tongue.
I slid up his body as he pulled me into his arms, his heartbeat rapid and strong against my ear.
I lifted my head toward him. “Was that okay?”
“Okay? Way more than okay,” he murmured, his gaze soft as he swept a finger over my lips. “More like amazing.”
I smiled, pleased with myself, and lay back down against his chest.
“You sure you won’t stay with Trav and Em while I’m gone?” he asked after a moment. The conversation had come up again and again, and my answer was the same.
“They don’t need a house guest, and plus as much as I like Travis, he was my boss. It would feel a little weird staying with him.”
I knew he wasn’t happy with my answer, but had seemed to accept it. “You promise to set the alarm at all times? To only go out in broad daylight and to avoid being in any secluded areas?” he pressed.
This also wasn’t new, but I reassured him all the same. “Promise. When I’m not home I’ll probably be with one of the girls. Em wants to talk about wedding plans, and I’m going to give Sam a hand while Sid’s gone.”
“That’s good, sweetheart,” he murmured approvingly. “I’ll check in if I can, but don’t worry if you don’t hear from me.”
“I won’t,” I lied, knowing it was what he needed to hear.
“Gonna miss you like hell.”
I snuggled deeper into his body. “Me too, babe. Hurry back to me.”
“You know I will.”
Chapter 16
“Well he’s still here if that tells you anything.” Char rolled her eyes over FaceTime a few days later as I sat in the conference room at Talon.
I fought a smile as Char answered my question as to how things were going at home. From the way Char told it, things with Declan didn’t seem to have improved, but I couldn’t help but notice the pink tinge in her cheeks when she talked about him.
“How are you doing with Theo gone? Have you been able to talk to him at all?”
“Once,” I replied. “He was able to call briefly yesterday. They’re doing okay. And so am I. I think everyone is so worried about me being alone, I’ve barely had a moment to myself.” I laughed.
My days had been full, but I had to admit it had been difficult falling asleep in an empty bed at night. I missed him like hell and had a week to go before he was home. It felt like an eternity.
She smiled. “You have good friends. I’m so glad.”
“I’m lucky,” I agreed. “Where’s my little Ow man? I want to say hi.”
She hesitated a minute before declaring, “He’s out with Declan.”
My brows rose to my hairline. That was certainly new. “He’s out with Declan?” I repeated.
She nodded. “Owen adores him for some reason,” she explained in exasperation. “At first Mr. Moody didn’t reciprocate, but I think Owen wore him down. They’re in town for a little bit.”
“And you’re okay with that?” I asked, still shocked by this new development.
She shrugged. “I may not be able to stand the guy, but I trust him with Owen, so….” She trailed off.
“And how about with you?” I pressed. “Is he still acting the same?”
She snorted. “I haven’t given him the chance to find out and don’t plan to.”
Right. Clearly not the time to press that point. I looked up as Sam waved to me through the glass. We’d made plans to go to lunch before picking Hudson up from preschool.
“Char, I’ve got to run, but I’ll try you back soon. Tell Mom and Dad I say hi and give Ow a kiss for me.”
“I will,” she agreed. “Call me if you need me.”
“I will.” I nodded, and with a smile ended the call.
I emerged from the conference room finding a very growly looking Travis standing near the receptionist desk.
“I can’t be two places at once,” he was explaining to Jenna in a tone I recognized as the very edge of his patience.
She was shifting through the constantly overflowing papers on her desk. “I realize that. You’ll need to pick one.”
He shot me a look that I translated as, please help or I’m going to kill her.
“What’s going on?” I asked cautiously.
“He’s signed up for two speaking engagements tomorrow night,” Jenna explained.
What went unsaid was that she’d RSVP’d him for both without realizing it.
“Okay.” I nodded. “What are they and where?”
As soon as she explained the details, I saw a potential solution. “Okay, Trav, this won’t make for a fun evening for you, but you can make the cocktail hour and speech at the Veteran’s Hall in Santa Monica before driving over to Venice for the speech and dinner.
“I know you don’t like to hire a car, but we should so you don’t have to deal with parking. You’ll need to be in and out,” I continued, looking over the details.
“Em has class until six,” he grumbled, referring to the yoga classes Emerly taught. “I didn’t think I had to be anywhere until eight.” I knew he didn’t like going to events without her, which I found to be totally swoon worthy.
“She’ll need to miss the first event,” I replied regretfully. “But we can either have a car pick her up for the second, or she can meet you there.”
“Get a car,” he replied.
“Okay. I’ll let her know the details,” I volunteered, already pulling out my phone.
“Thanks, Sarah.” He nodded gratefully.
“Do you, uh, have a car service you can call?
” I asked Jenna, feeling awkward about the entire situation.
She shot me a glare.
“Shall we lunch?” Sam chirped, coming to stand alongside of me.
“Definitely,” I replied quickly, all too ready to get out from under Jenna’s death glare.
“What’s with Cruella?” Sam whispered when we got out of earshot.
“Travis just needed some help with something,” I explained vaguely as we hit the elevator, headed for her car.
She shot me a knowing look. “You mean you had to clean up Jenna’s mess.”
“Something like that,” I muttered.
“When exactly do you plan to reclaim your throne?” she demanded as we backed out of the lot.
“My throne?” I laughed. “If you mean my old job—I hadn’t expected to work at Talon again after the way I left, but I do miss it,” I admitted.
I missed the energy and keeping the guys’ schedules on track. I’d been damn good at it. Plus, I was there half the time anyway. But the job was filled, and I wasn’t sure how Theo would feel about me working at his company now that things had changed between us.
“Hmm-mmm.” Sam made a noncommittal sound that I recognized well. It wouldn’t be the last time the subject came up.
“I was hoping you’d spend the night tonight. Em and Danny can come over and said they can stay late. But since Theo and Sid are gone….” She shrugged. “I figured you could just crash.”
“That sounds good,” I replied. Going home to an empty condo that still felt unfamiliar didn’t appeal to me.
“Yay!” She clapped her hands. “You know what this means?” She lifted a brow. “Cocktails. For you guys at least.” She grinned.
“That better mean there will be carbs involved. Your cocktails are deadly,” I laughed.
“Of course. Not my first rodeo, girlfriend.” She winked.
I was lucky to say I knew that firsthand.
****
“Another round?” Sam asked with a smile later that night. For someone who couldn’t imbibe, she certainly seemed to enjoy watching everyone else drink.
I was already slightly buzzed, but nodded dutifully along with Danny and Em. Hopefully the pizza would ward off too much of a hangover.
At least that’s what I told myself.
“So you think Dec has a thing for your sister?” Emerly pressed. I’d just finished telling them about his bizarre behavior.
“I think he does, but for some reason he doesn’t think he should have her. Or maybe Owen really did scare him off. The fact that he’s spending time with him now is throwing that theory off, though,” I mused.
“Declan is really secretive about his past,” Sam shared as she handed out drinks and reclaimed her seat next to me. “But I’ve always had the sense that he’s been through some serious shit.”
“So has Charlotte,” I murmured. “I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“I’d love to meet her and Owen someday,” Danny put in.
“Hopefully they’ll come visit.” I nodded. My sister hadn’t had the chance to travel much. I’d love for her to see California, for Owen to dip his toes in the ocean.
“You must miss them,” Em said softly.
“I do,” I agreed. “I loved getting to spend so much time with my family over the past year, getting to watch Owen grow up. But I was hiding, and that’s no way to live.”
The question hung in the air, there to answer if I dared.
“Evan and I met in college,” I began, launching into the same story I’d shared with Theo. I told them everything, from the incident in college to the harassment afterwards. By the time I was done, we were all in tears. “I’m so sorry I left the way I did,” I apologized again. “And for not telling you. I think I thought that if I pretended everything was fine, it would be.” I snorted through tears at my ignorance.
“And he threatened you here? Just the other day?” Sam demanded, her hand like a vise grip over mine.
I nodded. “It’s what Theo and I fought about. He was really upset I didn’t go to him immediately. I think he thought it was like before—that I wasn’t going to tell him. But that wasn’t it at all. I’m done hiding,” I said resolutely.
“And the restraining order went through?” Danny wanted to know, her eyes shining with worry.
“The process has been started. He just needs to be served,” I murmured. “It’s just to help build a case anyway. It’s not like it will actually deter him.”
“Jesus, I can’t believe you’ve been going through all of this. I’m so glad Theo came and got you,” Em breathed.
“Me too,” I agreed. “For more reasons than one.”
For years Theo had been part of my life—even when I was in Montana he was always on my mind, sometimes on the periphery, but always there. Now, he was at the very center of my world, and I knew instinctively he always would be. It was where he belonged.
“You know we’re all here for you, don’t you?” Sam insisted. “The guys and us. We’re a family. We’re your family.”
“I know,” I assured her with a soft smile. “It feels good to have you guys know everything, even if it’s not easy to talk about.”
Sam squeezed my hand once before letting go to wipe at her eyes. “All right, shall we switch topics?” she offered.
I nodded gratefully, more than ready to move toward something lighter that didn’t have to do with me.
By the time Travis came to walk Danny home and to take Em home, we’d covered Danny’s need to start trying for another baby, Em’s wedding, and the fact that Sam was going to have to push another watermelon out of her vagina.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun.
Chapter 17
Finally, it was the day before Theo was due home. I was so excited to see him I could barely stand it. We’d only been able to talk twice while he was gone, and only briefly. I missed him like crazy.
After spending the morning cleaning up the condo, I headed to the grocery store that afternoon to stock up, adding a bunch of junk food and carbs to the cart.
Now that Theo could relax his diet a bit, I wanted to make him something delicious to welcome him home.
I was loading up the back of the Yukon when my phone rang. I ignored it, wanting to finish unloading the cart, but when it rang again a moment later I picked it up.
“Sarah, where are you?”
I wrinkled my brow at Travis’s clipped tone. “At the grocery store, why?”
“Need you to get home, now,” he ordered. “I’ll meet you there.”
Terror raced through me as my worst fear presented itself. “Theo—is Theo…?” I couldn’t get the dreaded question past my lips.
“Theo’s fine.” He was quick to assure me.
I slumped in relief. “What’s going on?” I demanded.
His tone was noticeably softer when he spoke again. “Theo is absolutely fine. There have been some developments with Evan that we need to talk about. Head straight home, drive safely, all right?”
It was clear that was all I was going to get for the time being. “All right,” I agreed.
The relatively short drive felt like an eternity as I fought the typical LA traffic. Finally, I pulled into the parking garage, both relieved to be there and fearful of what all the urgency was about.
Travis and Ryan got out of the SUV parked to my right, having beaten me home. “Let’s head in. Ryan, grab the groceries, yeah?” Travis requested.
Geez, this was serious.
I followed Travis, unlocking the door and turning off the alarm once we were inside.
I turned to face him expectantly.
“I think we should sit,” Travis muttered.
“Trav, just tell me, okay? You’re seriously freaking me out here.”
He nodded. “Talked to Dec. Jessica Hastings was found dead this morning. She was murdered, Sarah.”
For a moment, I grappled to understand what he’d just said. Jessica. My Jessica? The Jessica I’d
grown up with? “Oh my God,” I rasped, sitting hard on the couch behind me. If it hadn’t been there to catch me I would have fallen straight to the floor in my shock.
Travis sat beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
Ryan walked in laden with groceries that he began to quietly put away in the kitchen.
“What happened?” I whispered, feeling sick.
“We’re not sure. But we have our suspicions,” he replied.
“You think Evan killed her,” I stated, getting up abruptly to pace. “The guy is psychotic, but even I didn’t think he’d do something like this.”
“With his type of behavior, an escalation to this extent isn’t completely unexpected,” Travis acknowledged, watching with concern as I paced. “But this is late breaking news. We have more digging to do. Until then, your security is being ramped. Someone will be with you 24-7.”
It wasn’t a request.
“Is he even still in Montana?” I demanded.
“We have to validate that. But he could have always hired someone,” he pointed out. “We don’t know much yet except that the risk has elevated.”
Well that was for damn sure.
“Poor Jessica,” I whispered hoarsely. “Her family….” I trailed off, unable to contemplate what her parents must be going through. They’d always been incredibly kind people and adored their daughter.
“I’m sorry, Sarah.”
I nodded numbly. “Does my family know?”
“Declan is talking to them now,” he replied.
As if on cue, my phone began to ring. “I better get this,” I mumbled, grabbing my phone and carrying it into the bedroom. “Hello?”
“Sarah, oh my God we just heard about Jessica!” my mother’s hysterical voice exclaimed. “Are you all right?”
“I’m safe. Just incredibly shocked,” I replied, sitting on the edge of the bed. “It’s so sad. So, awful.” The words were lacking, but all I could come up with in my shaken state.
“I can’t believe she was murdered. We haven’t had any crime other than some petty theft here since I can remember.” Her voice quaked as she continued. “This type of thing just doesn’t happen here.”
“I know,” I managed around the lump in my throat. Hearing my mother’s voice was threatening to break any resolve I was holding on to. “It’s terrible. Her poor family.”
Collide (Talon Security Series Book 3) Page 11
