by Ivy Layne
She’d murmured my name in her sweet voice, her fingers trailing over my skin, soothing the nightmare away. When I had my head back on straight, I’d pulled her into my arms and thanked her the best way I knew how.
That became our pattern.
Our insomnia was different—I had trouble falling asleep, and Sophie had trouble staying asleep, but we both woke with nightmares. I made love to her every evening after we turned out the light—and sometimes before—until we were both exhausted enough to sleep. When I felt her wake in the dark hours before dawn, I'd reach for her again, chasing away her restless tension with pleasure.
In halting words, her cheeks pink, she’d told me she was protected from pregnancy by a birth control implant, and she’d been tested after her husband had died. If I wanted to, we could forget about the condoms. I wanted to. Fuck, did I want to. Being skin to skin with Sophie, nothing between us, was heaven. It wasn’t just the pleasure; it was the intimacy. The trust.
It was too soon to say, but it felt like I was sleeping better. Either way, I'd made an appointment for after the new year with the therapist Cooper had recommended. His patient roster was filled with guys like me who'd seen action overseas and were having trouble transitioning to civilian life.
Sophie had her own appointment after the holidays. To be honest, we were both dreading it, but talking to a shrink was better than waking in the night, mind and body convinced I was back in the worst moments of my life.
Funny how it was so much easier to suffer my own flashbacks and insomnia than it was to watch Sophie do the same. I'll go if you'll go, she'd said. If not for that, I have no idea how long it would've taken for me to pick up the phone and call Cooper.
I would have put it off forever if it hadn't been for Sophie. I wanted her to be happy. I wanted her to be free. She would be. I would make sure of it.
There hadn't been any more intruders in the house or another mysterious phone call, but I couldn't relax.
It turned out I was smart to stay on guard. Just the day before, Aiden had pulled me into his office and handed me an unsealed envelope addressed to Sophie, with a local postmark. I’d turned it over in my hands before asking, “What is this?”
“It came in yesterday. Cooper already checked it—no trace, no prints. Mailed somewhere in Atlanta a few days ago.”
Inside the envelope was a single sheet of plain, white letter-size paper, the kind sold in reams in any office supply store. The message was written in a slanted hand, the points of the letters dense with ink, as if the author had pressed on the pen too hard.
It read, ‘I miss you so much, my darling. Soon, we'll be together again. Forever.’
“What has Cooper found out about the husband?” I asked, turning the message over in my hands before refolding it and sliding it back in the envelope.
I fought the urge to tear it to pieces. Maybe sensing my thoughts, Aiden reclaimed the envelope and sat down behind his desk, gesturing for me to take a seat opposite.
When I did, he said, “Nothing good. I have no idea how Sophie met this guy, but he was into some bad shit. Among other things, he handled money laundering for the Accorsi crime family. About a year after Anthony Armstrong died, a few of them ended up going to jail, including Matteo Accorsi, the head of the family. Cooper found some information that indicates Anthony may have provided the key testimony that put them there.”
My mind raced with the possibilities. “Before or after he died?”
Aiden shook his head. “Cooper is having a hard time finding out, which means anything is possible.”
“Shit. Has Sophie seen that letter?”
“No. My gut instinct is to keep it from her, but I wanted to run it by you first.”
I thought about the look on Sophie's face when she’d dropped her phone two weeks before. The shock. The fear. The way her skin had turned to ice.
She was a smart, resilient woman. There was absolutely no sensible reason to keep this from her. Whoever the letter was from, she was a target, and she had a right to know.
I still wasn't going to tell her.
Making a quick decision, I said, “She can't leave the house without protection.”
“Agreed,” Aiden said, immediately jumping on my train of thought.
“I'll disable her car. If she needs to go anywhere, I'll drive her.”
“Cooper already has two guys on the house at all times,” Aiden said. “Between that and the alarm, she should be safe if she stays here.”
“We’ll tell her about this later. After the weddings, when things have calmed down a little.”
I started to get up, and Aiden motioned for me to stay where I was. Curious, I settled back into the chair and waited. He shot a cautious look at the door before he said, “How does Lise seem to you?”
My younger sister Annalise, Vance's twin, had come home the day before. On the surface, she looked good. She was tan, blonde hair streaked with platinum after spending the last few months in New Mexico, shooting the desert. She'd been all smiles and hugs, but she was too thin, and lines bracketed her mouth.
I shook my head and said, “She needs to slow down. Come home.”
“She keeps telling me everything is fine, but she left Taos abruptly a few weeks ago, canceling a show at a gallery that would've been very good for her career. She left them in the lurch, which isn't like her. I think something happened, but she's not talking.”
“If she's not talking, how do you know?”
Aiden gave me a level stare.
“The Sinclairs have a guy on her?” I asked, already knowing the answer. With a laugh, I said, “I don't even want to know what they bill you every month.”
Aiden shrugged his shoulder. “At least I get the family rate.”
“And you don't have the slightest problem with spying on her,” I said, already knowing the answer to that question, too.
“I’d do anything to keep my family safe,” Aiden said, his voice grave, heavy with truth.
“What does the Sinclair's guy think? How closely is he watching her?”
“Unfortunately, not close enough to know exactly what spooked her in New Mexico. Considering that she’s spent the last ten years running from a stalker, we didn't think it was a good idea to watch her too closely and run the risk of scaring her. Riley keeps an eye on her, but he does it from a distance. He went to Taos after she bugged out, but he couldn't find anything solid.”
“Riley Flynn? He’s the guy the Sinclairs have on Annalise? Is that a good idea?”
“He's motivated,” was Aiden's response.
I wasn't sure about that. Riley and Annalise had a history. He had as many reasons to be pissed at her as he did to protect her. And if she found out Riley had been watching her all this time, she wasn't going to be happy.
“You’re positive whatever spooked her had to do with the stalker? After all this time?”
Aiden shifted in his seat looking uncomfortable. “It hasn't been that long,” he admitted. “We've kept it quiet, waiting for Annalise to tell us herself, which she never does, but every time she stays in one place too long he pops up again, and she runs. We don't know what it was this time, but he usually starts with gifts. Flowers.”
“She said she'd be home through the new year. At least a few days after Tate and Emily's wedding on New Year's Eve. We need to talk to her about this. She can't spend the rest of her life on the run.”
“Agreed,” Aiden said.
I looked at the envelope Aiden was sliding into his desk drawer and said, “Cooper is going to keep looking into Armstrong?”
Aiden nodded. “We're not going to let anything happen to Sophie.”
I didn't like the protective, almost possessive tone in his voice, but if his interest in Sophie meant he'd work harder to keep her safe, I'd let it go. For now.
“I’m coming back to work after the holidays,” I stated, flatly. I was done with asking. This time, I was telling Aiden what I was going to do. He may have been running Winters,
Inc., but we both owned the same amount of stock. He couldn’t keep me out forever.
As I’d expected, his face went blank and hard. With a sharp shake of his head, he said, “Later. We can talk about this later.”
“Fine,” I conceded.
We had two weddings to get through in the next week. I could wait a little longer. Aiden left without another word.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gage
The last few days before Charlie’s wedding flew by in a blur as every available person rushed around following the increasingly strident orders of the wedding planner. By the time the day arrived, we were all a little shell-shocked. Even after all the preparation, I wasn’t ready for the sight of my baby cousin in a wedding dress.
I liked Lucas Jackson well enough. If Charlie had to marry anyone, I'd rather it was Jackson than one of the overprivileged brats she’d dated before him. Those guys had no idea how to handle Charlie. She was smart, confident, and gorgeous. A lot of men found her intimidating, but not Lucas.
If the way he looked at Charlie was any indication, he loved every part of her like crazy. Watching her walk down the aisle on Aiden's arm, in a flowing white dress straight from a fairytale, my heart broke a little. Our parents should have been there. She should have been on Uncle Hugh's arm.
I'd dreamed of them more than once in the past week, all of us more aware of their loss than usual. I’d caught Charlie alone with Aiden earlier that day, her head on his shoulder, tears in her eyes as he murmured in her ear. I knew without asking that she was missing her parents. Aiden, as he always did, was trying his hardest to fill the gap. To be both mother and father now that they were gone.
I felt a sharp pang of guilt in my heart, watching them. I had a little sister, too. Annalise hadn’t been as young as Charlie when I’d left — seventeen to Charlie’s ten — but I’d abandoned her all the same. If I’d been around, would she have been running all these years? I’d never know.
I couldn’t unmake the past, but the future was mine.
Whatever Aiden said to Charlie must have worked, because she walked down the aisle of the church with a wide smile on her face. Lucas stared at her as if she were a dream come to life, and the kiss he gave her after they'd said their vows hadn't exactly been acceptable for church. I don't think he cared.
Now that we were back at the house for the reception, I was determined to get a kiss of my own. Sophie wasn’t so sure. Behind the curtain, she wriggled in my arms, trying to get free.
“Where do you think you're going?” I asked, looking down at her. When I'd picked her up at her bedroom door earlier in the evening, I’d been struck dumb. I was used to her daily uniform of camp shirts and jeans or her white cotton nightgowns. She was gorgeous in either. Everything about Sophie was beautiful.
With her silvery blonde hair piled on top of her head and her curvy body poured into an elegantly form-fitting navy dress, she was a knockout. I'd been struggling all night to keep my hands off of her.
“We can't hide here in the curtains,” Sophie protested, leaning back to look up at me.
“Not if you keep wiggling like that,” I agreed. The living room wasn't as full as the front hall and dining room. The latter had been converted into a ballroom after we'd hauled the table and chairs into the garage, and most of the guests were there, dancing and drinking and generally having a great time. But we weren't alone in the living room, and if Sophie didn't stay still, we were going to get caught.
Sophie stopped moving, and her eyes went wide as she realized the voices filtering through the thick layers of silk came from people only feet away. Before she could protest again, I dropped my head and kissed her.
I could kiss Sophie for hours. Days. I loved fucking her, the way she went wild when I had her naked, and I was inside her. But with Sophie, just kissing her was better than anything I'd ever had with another woman.
Her mouth fit mine like she'd been born just for me, her soft full lips parting in welcome. The stroke of her tongue against mine made my knees weak. She was a lot shorter than me, an issue we usually solved by getting horizontal. Not a workable plan behind the curtains, but I was a good problem solver.
Her dress had a slit up one side, and I took advantage, running my hand over her hip until I found the place where the fabric parted. I slid my hand beneath, pulling the dress to her waist and lifting her in my arms. Bracing her back against the wall, I let myself fall into the kiss, taking her mouth over and over.
She slid her arms around me with a barely audible moan, one hand gripping my shoulder and the other buried in my hair as she pressed her body to mine. Those soft, full breasts pillowed against my chest, and I thought about later, when I would lay her across her bed and strip off all of this dark blue silk to bare her soft curves to my hands and mouth.
I hitched her up against me tighter, grinding my now hard cock into the heat between her legs, her whimper of pleasure driving me a little out of my head. I curled my hand over her ass, letting my fingertips dip into her pussy and she cried out.
I froze as, behind us, a woman said, “Did you hear that?”
Sophie went stiff in my arms. I tore my mouth from hers, and pressed my lips to her shoulder, both of us breathing hard and trying to hide it.
Annalise’s voice, laden with amusement, said, “I didn't hear anything. You must be mistaken.”
“No, I'm sure I heard something. Is there someone behind the curtain?” the woman asked, torn between curiosity and outrage.
I didn't mind being caught making out with Sophie, but Sophie would be appalled. Unfortunately, in our current situation, there wasn't a lot I could do if someone decided to cross the room and whip back the heavy curtains.
Annalise, somehow keeping her laughter at bay, came to the rescue.
“Oh no, I’m sure there's not,” she said. Then, after a short pause, “Is that someone tapping a champagne glass? I think they might be getting ready to cut the cake.”
High heels clicked on the hardwood as Annalise herded the woman out of the living room. I risked a peek to confirm we were alone before pulling back the curtain.
“We almost got caught,” Sophie hissed.
I kissed her temple and murmured, “I won't let you get caught, Angel.”
She gave a little sigh and leaned into me as we left the living room. It turned out Charlie had been cutting the cake—good timing—and we stood at the door of the dining room-turned-ballroom to watch. Annalise sidled up beside me.
I looked down with a grin and said, “Thanks for the save.”
She elbowed me in the side, leaning across me to send a wink to Sophie and said, “Anytime big brother. I like your girl. I don't care if you get embarrassed, but I wanted to save Sophie.”
“That's the new family theme,” I said, pretending to complain. “Everyone wants to save Sophie, and no one cares about me.”
“That's because she takes such good care of Amelia. And so far she's kept Amelia from burning down the house. That's a major accomplishment.”
Sophie leaned around me to catch Lise’s eye. “Amelia's the most fun I've had in years,” she said. “Even if I had to disarm a prank just this morning. I usually help her, but we all put our foot down. No pranks for the weddings. Especially not if they involve plastic frogs.”
We all looked up as Lucas fed Charlie a bite of the cake, popping it into her mouth and laying a sweet kiss across her lips. On either side of me, Annalise and Sophie both let out a sigh. Annalise said in a wistful tone, “She looks so happy.”
“I think she is,” I said.
“I love him with her,” Annalise said, fervently. Surprised by the emotion in her tone I looked away from Charlie and Lucas to see her watching our youngest cousin, her eyes filled with love, affection, and maybe a little envy. She went on, “He's strong, and Charlie needs someone strong. She needs someone she can depend on. Someone who will have her back when things get hard.”
“Charlie does a good job of watching her own back
,” I said.
Annalise let out a long breath and said, “I know. Charlie has always been stronger than anyone gave her credit for. She’s quiet about it, but when things get hard, she doesn’t fold. She doesn’t run. She’ll be a good match for Lucas.”
I heard what she didn’t say. “You’re not weak, Lise.”
Her chin dropped and she looked at the ground. “Not weak,” she agreed, “but not brave, either.”
“You should come home,” I said, knowing it was a waste of time.
She shook her head, a little sadly, I thought. “I want to. I'm thinking about it, but I don't know if I can.”
“You can't run for the rest of your life, Lise.”
“I don’t know if I can stop,” she said.
A new song started, and I took her hand, turning to Sophie. “You don't mind if I dance with my sister, do you?”
“Of course not. I'll be right here.”
I dragged Annalise, over her protests, onto the dance floor. I was an awful dancer, but Annalise wasn't, so we evened out. I glanced over her shoulder to see Aiden at Sophie’s side and scowled. He ignored me.
I was keeping my peace for now, but he and I were going to have to deal with each other. About the company. About Sophie. About a lot of things. After the weddings.
Following the line of my gaze, Annalise said, “I don't know what's up with you two.”
I shook my head. “You run away from home, and everyone welcomes you back with open arms. I join the army, and when I finally decide to come back, Aiden isn't speaking to me.”
“It's not fair,” Annalise agreed. “I could give you a bunch of reasons why, but it's still not fair. Do you want me to talk to him?”
“No, sweetheart. Aiden and I will come to terms on our own, one way or another. I'm back, and I'm not going anywhere. Aiden will have to deal.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
