“Good, I don’t want you to worry because I’m going to make sure you’re safe. And Evie too,” I assure her, threading our fingers together.
“I swear to God, Lockwood, if you don’t open this door right now—” Missy shouts, but King cuts her off.
“Woman, take a chill pill.”
“Excuse me?” Missy’s voice rises an octave.
“We should probably let them in before Missy wakes the entire street.” Bella chuckles. It’s a relief to see her smile after hearing the fear in her voice. She steps past me, keeping our hands connected, and approaches the door. She looks back and gives me a wink before turning the deadbolt and letting Missy and King inside.
Missy engulfs her friend into a tight hug, eyeballing me and our connected hands as she does so. “Are you okay? Kingston wouldn’t tell me anything—”
“I didn’t have anything to tell you—” he tries to cut in, but she just barrels on, ignoring him.
“And even though he wanted to come here on his own, there’s was no way I was going to let that happen.”
“Who’s with Oliver and Layla?”
“They spent the night with Hudson and Alice tonight.”
“Anna,” King cuts in, this time getting Annabelle’s complete attention. “Jordan, what is going on?”
“He called,” I explain.
“Who called?” Missy asks no one specifically.
“Anna?” King asks.
“Yes,” I reply.
“Who called?” Missy demands.
“Benito,” Bella answers.
“What did he want?” King asks, creating a ping-pong conversation.
“He wanted me to give you a message.”
“Wait, back up. Who the fuck is Benito, and why the hell is he calling Anna to give you a message?” Missy asks. King gives her the quick rundown, catching her up on the last few days’ events. All the while Missy watches from her peripheral as I pull Bella to my side and kiss the top of her head. She doesn’t miss how Bella leans into me either, but she doesn’t say anything about it.
“I’m sorry this is happening, Anna. You know we don’t take kindly to threats against our own.” King hangs his head. This isn’t his fault. It’s mine. Had I been able to bring Benito to justice beforehand, this wouldn’t be happening now. No, this is my fault. “You said he had a message?”
“Yes, he wants you to back off,” Annabelle explains, and even though I’ve already heard Benito’s message once, it’s no less surprising. The man has always been one step ahead, but this investigation has just barely begun.
“How long has this investigation been going on?” I ask King, needing to verify the facts before I offer my thoughts.
“Officially, two days, but the request hit my desk two weeks ago,” he explains. “Is it possible he still has an informant in the department?”
I nod, thinking about every interaction I’ve had at the department since signing on to help King on this investigation.
“King.” I swallow hard, thinking about the only conversation I had regarding Benito and happened to have Bella’s name brought into the mix. The day I intercepted the request form. “The only one who knew I was looking into Benito again because of the request form was the captain.”
The room goes so quiet, you can hear a pin drop in the next room.
“Stan?” he asks, using the captain’s real name, and I begin to think on his involvement in the case when I transferred in and was assigned Benito’s case. I was the new guy. No one expected me to get anywhere with it, and it wasn’t a shock when I didn’t. “That would explain how Benito got Annabelle’s name and information about her daughter. And two years ago, he wasn’t the captain.”
“No, but he had close working on the case, and I often found him studying the timeline we set up in the boardroom. Which is why I took it down and moved everything over to my apartment.”
“Was there any part in the timeline he seemed the most concerned with?”
“Yes, but it was a part of the timeline we didn’t have a lot of leads on. Supposedly, Benito had a meeting with someone important from town, but we never managed to find out anything about it, or even if it was a true happening.”
“Maybe because he was the one Benito was meeting with?” Annabelle’s voice comes out like a whisper. “Could Stan be the mole you’re looking for?”
The air grows suddenly cold as the possible truth of her words settles around us.
“It’s possible,” I answer to no one in particular because there’s no doubt we’re all thinking the same thing.
We found the mole.
ANNABELLE
I’m busying myself in the kitchen, wiping down everything I see, when Missy finally gets her chance to corner me.
I’ve been expecting it since the moment her eyes landed on Jordan’s and my connected hands when they arrived, but in pure Mississippi Rivers-Cole fashion, she waited for the dust to settle and the men to mosey off to do their own thing.
“You were with Jordan Lockwood on Christmas, weren’t you?” she demands, wasting no time. I continue to wipe at the pristine countertops, avoiding eye contact.
“Missy—”
“Are you guys a thing? How long has this been going on?” she barrels on, ignoring my attempt to get control of the conversation.
“Please, stop right there.” I look up at her, and she quiets immediately. I take a slow, deep breath and finally say the words I’ve been holding back. “Yes, I was with him. I don’t know exactly what we are, but it’s been going on for almost six months. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I’m not sure how I feel about it all still, and quite frankly, he and I haven’t had that conversation yet.”
“Wait, what conversation?” she frowns.
“The one where you talk about whether it’s just a fling or something… deeper,” I explain, looking at her like she’s crazy. After all the shit she put King through when they couldn’t decide what they were to one another, I don’t understand why I need to explain what conversation I’m talking about.
“Um, Anna, have you seen the way that man looks at you?” This time, I frown because I have no idea what she’s talking about. “Whatever is between you is definitely deeper. And by the look on your face much deeper than I even think you realize.”
I swallow, feeling a different kind of fear surge through me.
“The man is nuts for you and has been since the day he laid eyes on you,” she continues, but her words only make the feeling inside worse. She was there the first time he walked into Cole Securities, but surely, she can’t be serious.
“He likes his bachelor lifestyle,” I point out because we both know his reputation in town.
“I don’t know. You said this has been going on for almost six months.” She tilts her head and studies me like I’m some kind of weird science experiment gone wrong. “With all the rumors about him being a hit-it-and-quit-it player—no, I think the right woman has finally come along.”
“Queenie,” King calls from the other room before appearing in the kitchen. Jordan is close behind him. “We should get going and let Annabelle get some rest.”
She steps back from her spot at the counter and crosses the room.
“Don’t wear her out too much, Lockwood,” she murmurs before shooting me a wink.
“Anna, I don’t expect to see you tomorrow, but we will be assessing your security system and protocol,” King tells me, being his typical overly protective self. But the truth is, I don’t mind it. I just wish I could somehow provide Evie with the same security, but we can’t do anything without causing unnecessary suspicion on her side. “Lockwood, is it safe to assume you’re going to stay with her tonight?”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” he responds, and I avert my eyes back to the countertop as I feel his gaze fall on me. “But I will be in tomorrow to assess the situation with you.”
“There’s no sense me acting like the world is going to end because of one phone call.” I lift
my eyes and meet each set of eyes around me, daring them to challenge me. Pushing aside the last effects of the phone call, I decide to be the strong woman I told Jordan I was. I decide to be who I’ve always been. “I will be in to work tomorrow, like normal, and I refuse to let Benito the scumbag ruin the way I do things.”
“Which is why I’ll follow you to work tomorrow instead of driving you there myself, like I want to do.” Jordan nods without argument and crosses the room toward me. “I know who you are, Bella, and I will stand by you as we navigate through this and bring Benito to justice.”
“Wow,” Missy whispers, interrupting the moment. “Definitely found the right woman.”
King clears his throat. “All right, well, we’ll leave you to it and be on our way. Come on, Queenie.”
He takes her hand and all but pulls her out of the room, leaving Jordan and me in silence.
“Did you fucking hear that, Kingston?” Missy asks, still sounding awed over Jordan’s words to me. King doesn’t respond but continues to usher his wife out of the house. “He’s definitely found the right woman.”
The sound of the door closing freezes my blood, as Missy has spoken six words that can’t be unsaid, and I’m worried about the repercussions.
I have no idea what’s going on in his head, but I can only imagine.
He’s never given me a reason to believe what’s between us is more than what it’s been. Hot sex, and lots of it.
And now, for Missy to challenge his bachelor ways with six simple words, I have no doubt we don’t have much time left together.
“Bella.” Jordan’s voice spurns me into action, and I drop the washcloth on the counter before walking into his waiting arms. Needing the connection more than anything to divert us both from the uncomfortable silence, I quickly shed my pajama bottoms and reach for the button on his jeans, but his hands meet mine and he stills them.
“Bella, we need to talk,” he murmurs, trapping me with his eyes.
I swallow hard, feeling like a deer stuck in the headlights of an approaching car. Did he hear Missy and me talking?
The way he looks at me, I just know something is different now. Something has changed.
Damn you, Missy!
“Jordan, please, if you’re going to end this tonight, just wait,” I blurt. Instead of taking the high road on this one, I do the opposite. I beg. Something I said I’d never do. My chest tightens as I begin to believe he’s finally at the end of his need for me. I feel the pool of tears threatening to fall, and it takes everything in me to keep from letting them. I never thought I’d feel this way when it finally ended between us. “I don’t think my heart can take it.”
He lifts a hand and cups my cheek. “What makes you think I’m going to do that?”
“You’ve never given me a reason to believe this is anything more than an itch to scratch,” I manage, finding the courage to speak the words. “I just never thought I’d let myself fall this far down the rabbit hole.”
“Do you really believe that’s all this is between us?”
“Please, not tonight.” I shake my head, begging him with my eyes because my heart can’t say the words.
“Bella, I thought I made myself clear the very first night.” His hands rest on my bare hips before pulling me flush against his hard, lean body. “This isn’t a fling.”
“No?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “Is that why you’ve insisted we keep what has been happening between us a secret? Because you thought I wasn’t serious about you?”
“Do you want the truth?” I ask, and he nods. “I did think we were a fling because I’ve never seen you get serious about anyone.”
“There wasn’t anyone important enough to get serious about,” he admits. “Until you.”
“Before you, I hadn’t been with anyone in fifteen years,” I confess, feeling a lightness in my chest. Jordan knows I’m a widow, but he also knows the kind of woman I am. He’ll never have to compete with Darren’s ghost. There’s room for both of them there, and what’s happening here isn’t about Darren or my life with him. This is about Jordan and me, and our future together. “I wasn’t celibate, but no man ever made me feel the way you make me feel. It shakes the ground under my feet.”
“That good and you don’t know where we stand?”
“I know where I stand.”
“Isn’t it obvious, Bella?”
“If it were obvious, I wouldn’t feel this insecure about it.” I half-smile, trying to understand the feelings churning inside of me since the start of this conversation.
“I adore you. Everything about you. I never thought I’d meet a woman like you, one who leaves me breathless when I’m with her and gasping for breath when I’m not.” He pauses to lean in, pressing his forehead against mine. “We are real. This is happening, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”
“Jordan—" I gasp, feeling dazed and a bit speechless. I feel like a fool for doubting and questioning everything, but I was blinded by fear because I’m already in love with this man. Only I wasn’t ready to admit it to anyone. Not even myself.
“You are mine, Annabelle George, and you have been since the day our paths crossed. Is that clear enough for you?” He hooks his finger under my chin, tipping my face up to meet his eyes. My heart swells with warmth because for the first time in a long time, I feel I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“Clear as day, Detective.” I smile and lift onto my toes, placing my lips against his, letting go of all the doubt and confusion. “Now, take me to bed or lose me forever.”
Chapter Six
Annabelle
“Bella, we need to talk to you.” Jordan’s voice is a welcomed interruption from the constant worry in my gut, but the look on his face scares me a little. The guys have been closed off in the meeting room, working on their case against Benito, since we arrived this morning. It’s been a quiet day. Too quiet for my taste. “Can you come and talk with us?”
I stand from my seat, my heart dropping into my stomach.
Shit, do they know something more?
Is Evie all right?
“It’s about Evie, but she’s okay,” he explains, and I realize my thoughts weren’t internal like I thought they had been.
Crossing the room, he takes my hand, giving me the courage to face whatever is to come. We walk into the large meeting room, and I notice everyone’s eyes on us.
It’s the first time they’ve seen us together, and while they approve of Jordan, they’re still protective of me.
“Anna, please have a seat.” King motions to the empty chair next to him. “I had Sneak do some digging this morning because we wanted to make sure Evie is well taken care of until we can get a handle on this case, but something is wrong. We’ve discovered some… disturbing news.”
“Is this about Adam?” I ask.
“Yes, it is, but it affects Evie too. Did you say they share an apartment in San Francisco?” He picks up a manila folder sitting in front of him and passes it to me. I open it, noticing Adam’s name at the top.
“Yes, he’s working at some special law firm while Evie finishes her master’s degree.” I frown, not sure what I’m supposed to see, but I flip through the report regardless.
“Anna, he’s not in San Francisco. In fact, he hasn’t been there for the last four months.”
“That can’t be true. Evie said—”
“According to the documents in your hand, his name was removed from the lease on the apartment in San Francisco four months ago. Although his name does pop up around the same time on a mortgage for an apartment in Manhattan. He’s mentioned again in the New York Times in an engagement announcement, only it’s not Evie’s name next to his. It’s a woman named Morgynn Meyers.”
“That’s Evie’s best friend. Wait, this can’t be right. Are you sure you have the right man?”
“Anna,” Sneak chimes in. “I would never bring information to the table I wasn’t a thousand percent sure on.” I nod, k
nowing he’s telling me the truth. He wouldn’t give King a report on someone unless he crossed all the t’s and dotted the i’s.
“She lied to me then?” I surmise, trying to understand why Evie would do that. “I don’t understand.”
“When you told me about Evie and Adam, you did say that when it came to Adam, your relationship with her is a bit strained,” Jordan speaks, but I stop him. “Maybe she didn’t know how to tell you, you were right about him all along.”
“Her best friend?” I ask King, flipping through the folder again, this time stopping at the article he’s referring to, and sure enough, there is a picture of Adam and Evie’s best friend Morgynn staring at one another as if nothing else in the world matters. “I’m going to kill that sorry excuse of a—”
“Trust me when I say, we all want a go at the bastard,” Sneak talks again, and the men around the table grunt in agreement with him.
“Which brings us to the biggest problem: Evie’s safety,” King finally circles about, reminding me of the reason behind their investigation into Adam. My heart drops into my stomach, and it takes everything in me not to book the next flight to San Francisco and kidnap my daughter to bring her home with me. “I suggest we put a man on her. Anything more, and we risk her finding out what is happening.”
“Why don’t we fill her in? Maybe if she knows what’s going on, she’ll take it easy on us and just come home to Anna until this all blows over,” Dizzy offers, but he doesn’t know my daughter. She might look like me, but she’s stubborn and proud like her father. Maybe that’s why she didn’t tell me about Adam.
Shit.
Where was she on Christmas then?
“That won’t work,” I say before giving them a brief rundown of my daughter and how Dizzy’s idea, though practical, is not how you want to approach Evie. “She can’t know because then she’ll know we looked into things, and knowing my Evie, that isn’t a can of worms you want to open.”
“Understandable.” King smirks because he knows how my daughter is from all the stories I told him about when she was a kid. “Dizzy and Hudson, I’m not sending you out on anything since your wives will have my balls for it. That leaves Zero, Charlie, Bear, and Marley—”
Lost in His Kiss Page 4
