by Stacy Gail
“My old man called in with an update.” Ignoring her—not taking her seriously was looking more and more like his thing to do—he grabbed up the soap and began working up a lather. “Wesley Wilson Newburg is making noises about pressing charges against me for assault and battery. But since he was the one with the gun who took a shot at me while holding you hostage, it’s a safe bet he’s going to be laughed out of court.”
Took a shot at me.
With a shudder, she recalled the single gunshot that had temporarily deafened her, and she had to rest her forehead against the tiles to keep herself moderately upright.
Wesley had taken a shot at Styx. Her Styx.
She could have lost him.
All things being equal, she was lucky she still had him around to be mad at.
“He’s also given up his associates, which is basically half of Chicago’s criminal population,” he went on when she didn’t answer. Slowly, gently, he started lathering up her shoulders and back. “Come to find out, when you’re both the thief and the fence for stolen goods, you get in bed with a lot of shady people. Even now, law enforcement all around this area are making busts because you brought Wesley down.”
“I didn’t bring him down.” Again her voice was weirdly unrecognizable—flat, without emotion or life. Something was wrong with her, and it had her vaguely unnerved. It was like her emotional plug had been pulled. All she could think was that she could have lost him, and her life would have ended with his. “You did, with your superhero delusions.”
“I love that you know who Luke Cage is.” He moved closer, into the spray, and she couldn’t help but flinch and cry out when he hugged her.
“What the hell…?” In a heartbeat, he turned her even as he bent to examine her torso.
“It’s okay,” she said, knowing full well it wasn’t. She’d seen the black and purple bruises all along her right side when she’d undressed. “I’m just sore. It’s fine as long as I don’t touch it or lie on it.”
“That…fucker.” The rage that rumbled in his tone alarmed even her deadened nerves, bringing her back to some semblance of life. “That motherfucker. Should’ve killed that fucking little weed when I had the chance.”
“Enough. Please.” A sob ripped out of her out of nowhere, and she was as surprised by it as he looked. “I just want to stop talking about it, and thinking about it, and thinking I could have lost you, because every time I do, I feel like I’m going to throw up. Every time I look at you, I think how close you came to death today, and it makes me feel like I’m dying, so that’s why I can’t look at you. That’s why I need to be alone right now.”
“That’s too damn bad for you, because being alone is the last thing I need, and I think deep down you feel the same way. You’re just too much in shock right now to know it.”
Goddamn it. “Don’t make the mistake of not taking me and what I’m feeling seriously, Styx. Nothing pisses me off more.”
“Then don’t you make the mistake of mourning what could have happened to me when I’m standing right here in front of you. Open up your eyes and see me here with you, Syd,” he said, catching her chin in his hand and forcing her to look right at him. “You’re right. I can’t know how rocky you’re feeling right now, because I’ve never been hunted for days, betrayed by someone I called a friend, and taken hostage at gunpoint by that very same so-called friend. It’s got to be fucking with your head big-time, and I don’t blame you for wanting to curl up in a defensive ball so you can shut the world out. But I won’t let you shut me out. Believe that I’m the one man who’s rock-solid for you while the rest of your world crumbles. You can always count on me to be here.”
“I do.” She searched his beautiful face, a face she’d loved from the first moment she’d caught sight of him, and felt the numbness locked around her heart begin to melt. “I just… Until that moment, when I realized you were in the grocery store running straight into danger, I had no idea that I loved you so much. I grew up in a family that didn’t put much emphasis on things like love. It’s not a natural first thought for me, and it sure as hell isn’t a familiar feeling. I’ve never been this vulnerable before. Today I learned that it can be terrifying to love someone as much as I love you, and I can’t figure out if that’s a good thing. I’m terrified to be so utterly lost in you.”
“So,” he said after he’d taken a few moments to chew that over, while hot water continued to stream down over them, “what you’re saying is that I’ve become your everything, and when you faced the very real possibility of losing me, your everything, it was the most terrifying experience you’ve ever gone through. You’re not sure how to deal with the new reality that another person has become the center of your universe, and because you can’t control that other person, you feel like everything in your life out of control.”
Thank goodness, he was finally understanding her. “Exactly.”
“Welcome to my world.”
Her heart came to a screeching halt. “What?”
“You think you’re alone in this? I’ve been lost in you from the moment you helped me gather up my mail. You looked up at me and I forgot how to breathe. I’ll never forget that moment, because that’s the moment I stopped living just for myself. You locked those gorgeous fucking eyes on me, and in that moment I started living for you. Scared the shit out of me.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Dreams like this never came true. Not for her, anyway. “I think I’m still in shock,” she said faintly, while hope fluttered painfully in her chest. “Did you really just say that?”
“Hell, yeah, I did. Meant every word, too.”
It took most of her courage to put a voice to the question burning in her brain. “Are you saying you love me?”
“Didn’t you get that message when I told you I’d been waiting my whole life to wake up beside you?”
A sound of pure exasperation escaped her. “That was very sweet, but it’s not telling me that you love me.”
“Okay, so I’m telling you now.” Taking much greater care this time around, he hugged her to him, which was a good thing. Without his support it was entirely possible she would have collapsed in sheer relief. “I now get how Trey claimed he knew Maeve was the woman for him the moment he saw her. I get it, because that’s how it was for me when I saw you. Maybe it’s a twin thing, or maybe I was just as lucky as my brother when it came to finding that one woman I was meant to spend my life with. I just know you belong to me. You belong in my life. In my family. In my home. In my bed. And I belong in yours. That’s how we are. That’s how we’ll always be. I love you, and you love me, and no idiotic little shit like Wesley fucking Newburg is going to take that away from us.”
The last vestiges of her numbness washed away like the water going down the drain at their feet, and suddenly all the jagged pieces inside her fell into place. A rocky laugh escaped her as she reached up to frame his face with her hands. “I must be dreaming. I can’t believe my pretend boyfriend became the love of my life.”
“Yeah, about that.” His grin was so wicked she fell in love all over again. “Like I said, I took one look at you and knew you were my woman. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve gone after you like a heat-seeking missile until you had no choice but to realize I was your man. But you had a lot of crazy shit going on in your life, considering someone had just tried to splatter you across I-90, so understandably you were distracted. I had to nail you down in place some other way until there was a time you could focus on me. That’s when I got creative and came up with that pretend girlfriend bullshit.”
Her jaw dropped. “Seriously?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I wanted you to get used to me being in your life, even though the life you were living at that moment was in total chaos. I bought myself some time to make you fall for me, while I did my damnedest to keep you safe. It seemed like the best way to go.”
“You could have just said you were interested in having a relationship with me.”
<
br /> The look he gave her would have withered plant life. “You kidding? After learning you’d watched me for fucking weeks but didn’t get hot enough for me to make sure our paths crossed? No way, Syd. If our roles had been reversed and I’d spotted you all those weeks ago, I would have moved heaven and earth to make sure I became a permanent fixture in your life. But since you obviously didn’t feel the same way, I figured I was way more hooked than you were. I wasn’t going to take any chances on allowing you to slip away.”
“You’re wrong about that.” Dismayed that he could ever think that, she rolled up on her tiptoes to brush his lips with a gentle kiss that promised so much more. “You’re just braver than I am, reaching for what you want and making your dreams a reality. I took one look at you, and every other man on the planet disappeared. There was only you. There is only you.”
“Damn straight.” His soap-slick hands slid down to her ass and pushed her against his hardening cock, and the light in his eyes began to smolder. “I know you’re hooked now because of how mad you got at me today. When my old man called earlier, I asked him about the time my mom had gotten so pissed at him when he’d gotten injured at the crack house—the place that was destined to become the house I grew up in.” Again, that wicked grin flashed. “My mom wasn’t thrilled to raise her kids in a former crack house, but she was fucking livid with my pops for nearly getting himself killed.”
She chuckled, then slowly rubbed her belly against his growing hard-on. “So I was right about that.”
“Yeah, you were. And that’s how I know you’re just as hooked as me, Fun-Size. No woman gets that mad at her man unless she’s crazy in the head about him.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m crazy all over for you, not just in my head.” Her fingers slid through his wet hair as she kissed him again, and the passion that had been waiting beneath the numbing ice flared to life. “Just promise me you’ll never again be so careless with the one man who is my everything, okay? Promise me.”
“I can only promise to walk through fire to get to you, and rage at any goddamn thing that gets close enough to hurt you. I once said that men are dogs who’re only brought to heel by that one special woman, but I’m not going to be put on a leash, Syd, not even by you. I love you too much to not run into the fire to save you, if that’s what I need to do. So that’s what I promise, and that’s going to have to do. Tell me it’s enough.”
Those precious words rang through her all the way to her soul, and she could feel the hotness of her tears mingle with the water running down her face. “It’s more than enough, my darling man,” she whispered and held him close. “It’s everything.”
Epilogue
Five days later…
“Okay, I’m convinced.” Styx sat back against the pillows propped up against the headboard, shirtless, bed-tousled, and so gorgeous Sydney couldn’t stop looking at him. “Spinach doesn’t completely suck. At least not when you make it.”
“I’m proud of you for broadening your horizons.” Carefully setting her plate on the bed tray she’d fixed for a surprise breakfast-in-bed morning, she was pleased to see he’d demolished the chicken Florentine crepes she’d made, and grinned at how he’d announced he wanted her hollandaise sauce on everything from that point on, even her. “I think I’m going to do this every Monday morning from now on. Generally speaking, Mondays are total crap, so breakfast in bed should offset the Monday-ness of Mondays.”
“You’re in my bed, Fun-Size, so every day starts off with a bang. Literally.” With a smile, he pulled on her until she sprawled on his chest, then brought her mouth to his. Sydney let herself sink into the kiss, her body still tingling from how her man had woken her up—with his head between her legs, his body partially lying on top of hers, and his granite-hard cock within easy reach of first her hands, then her mouth.
Talk about starting the day off right.
Afterwards she’d discovered they were both famished. Since she no longer officially had a job to get ready for, she’d set about making the breakfast she’d been planning on, only to discover he wanted her back in bed. She’d brought breakfast with her, determined to start the day off right with a meal that didn’t come out of a box, and it had gone better than expected.
Slowly but surely, she was teaching him what real food was, which was a good thing. If she went the rest of her life never having to lay eyes on a frozen pizza, she’d be a happy woman.
“I don’t suppose you have much time left before you have to get ready for work,” she murmured, distracted by the hand he’d snuck under the shirt she wore. It was one of his T-shirts, her favored lounging clothes, and he seemed to enjoy her fashion choice was well, since the loose fabric allowed him plenty of room for exploration.
“I should be in the shower right about now.” Beneath the shirt, his hand glided up to her breast so his thumb could lazily stroke back and forth over the sensitive nipple. “Think how much water we’ll save if you join me. I’ll wash your back, and you can—”
The peal of the doorbell cut him off. Half a second later, he was out of bed, grabbing up his phone and swearing an impressive blue streak.
“It’s like you have a fucking camera on us,” he all but yelled at the phone, and Sydney stifled her laughter as she, too, scrambled out of bed to pluck up her robe. Most of her belongings had made it over from her old apartment across the street to Styx’s place—or their place, as Styx insisted on calling it. Almost everything was still boxed up and stacked against the wall in his studio. Her silky kimono-style robe, though, was an absolute essential. “Is that it, Trey? I start getting busy with my woman, and you just have to fucking interrupt us for shits and giggles?”
“Like I don’t have better things to do than fuck with you.” She heard Trey’s voice emanate from the phone as she followed Styx out of the bedroom toward the front door. “Actually, check that. I usually make time in my day for that kind of shit, because fucking with you is more fun than Christmas. But as it happens, I’m here on official business, so get dressed and open the damn door, already.”
Sydney’s breath caught audibly at that, and it was clearly loud enough for Styx to hear. He glanced back at her before pulling her to his side. “Nothing gets to you, Syd. Just remember that, yeah? I won’t allow it.”
“Right.” She tried her best to sound calm, but that was hard to do when suddenly all she could remember was that shot ringing out and a bullet flying his way.
Grim-faced, Styx opened the door to his brother, who looked sharp in his uniform and coat. As Halloween closed in, the weather had turned chilly with a vengeance, with a snowy forecast that made all the would-be trick-or-treaters groan. “I’m not sure if I should say good morning, T.”
Trey strolled into the foyer, brows raised. “Why wouldn’t you? You’re not seriously that pissed off about my shitty timing, are you?”
“You said you’re here because of official business.” Styx shut the door behind his brother, still unsmiling. “That can only mean one thing.”
“It’s Wesley, isn’t it?” Sydney said, fiddling nervously with the collar of her robe. She’d made her peace with Trey the day after she’d been taken hostage, genuinely sorry she’d threatened to kill him when he’d been blameless. Her contrition seemed to amuse him greatly even as he forgave her, going so far as to dub her “El Syd,” the mightiest five-footer in all of Chicago. “I just knew we hadn’t heard the last of him. He’s the kind of person who believes he’s smarter than everyone else, so I’m guessing he thinks he’s found a technical loophole to wriggle his way out of trouble.”
“Nope, though you’re right about the wriggling,” Trey drawled, rolling his eyes. “He’s gone through everything, from yelling about false imprisonment, to his latest claim of police entrapment. According to him, he knows his rights, the Chicago PD has violated absolutely all of them, and the Hardwick family is out to get him on a personal level, because our father’s first arrest as a rookie cop happened to be his father. All I can
say is if he didn’t want to be arrested by a Hardwick, he shouldn’t have committed crime in Chicago. He’s a fucking loon.”
“Don’t underestimate him,” Sydney warned, edging closer to Styx. “He might only be a couple inches taller than me, and he looks like he crawled straight out of Napoleon Dynamite’s gene pool. But don’t ever forget he was in charge of a theft ring that covered a good portion of Chicago.”
“Illinois and Wisconsin, actually,” Trey corrected, shocking her. “And you’re right. Newburg doesn’t look like much, but he’s probably as close to an actual criminal mastermind as I’ll ever see in my career. There have been over forty arrests so far all over the western Lake Michigan area, thanks to his confession, and I suspect there are going to be plenty more before it’s all said and done. This guy had his monogrammed little tentacles into everything.”
She wasn’t surprised in the least, but she didn’t care about any of that. “Is he still pressing charges against Styx?”
“Actually, that’s the first part of the news I’ve got for you.” Trey took a deep breath, as if savoring the dramatic pause. If she hadn’t just gotten back into his good graces, she would have kicked him. “Newburg understands he’s looking at one helluva lot of years behind bars, as federal prosecutors have been brought in to put together a RICO case against him. Ultimately his lawyer suggested he might want to get on the good side of the law for once and drop that frivolous assault charge. He did, and the prosecutor’s promised to take a couple years off their sentencing recommendation. As a little guy who’s looking at a long stretch in a federal prison, he’s got to be hoping that every little bit of cooperation will help.”
“He can hope all he wants.” Styx’s tone so vicious it was almost unrecognizable to Sydney’s ears. “The only way I’ll be happy is if that piece of shit never sees the light of day as a free man again.”
