That brought him back to Sadie. She was one of the brightest lights he knew. And he’d always thought that about her, regardless of his secret feelings for her. She seemed like someone who tackled life head-on and kept a cheery disposition all the while.
But now, in the cold light of their conversation, he was forced to wonder if he’d not only done her a disservice, but had also failed to see her as a whole, fully feeling person.
He knew the story of the Colton family. Her parents, Graham and Katherine, were killed in a story that had grabbed headlines for months. Her father’s role as Michigan DA had ensured the story remained top of mind for everyone in Grand Rapids, from the point it happened all the way through to the trial that had put the murderer away for life.
The pain of losing a loved one was hard enough. He knew that and lived it every day. And he also knew that those feelings only grew more intense when the loss came from such senseless violence.
He still struggled with the reality of moving on. And yet he hadn’t given Sadie the same consideration.
The woman who’d dominated his thoughts suddenly filled his kitchen and he watched, curious, as she padded into the room. She was freshly showered, her strawberry-blond hair in loose, damp waves around her head. She walked to the counter where the coffee was finishing the last few moments of its brew. She blew out a breath when it was evident she had to wait, before turning in a huff. “Do you sleep?”
“Of course I do.”
“Because I’ve seen no evidence of it yet.”
He wasn’t sure what had brought on the rush of frustration but opted for humor to deal with it. “You’re cheery in the morning.”
“I’m horribly grumpy in the morning.”
“You weren’t yesterday.”
“I was happy to be alive. Today I’m just irritated.”
The coffee maker made its final gurgle, indicating it had finished, and Sadie turned back to the counter, reaching for the pot like a lifeline. To her credit, basic manners had her taking two mugs out of the cabinet and pouring him one, but he was still thinking over what she’d said.
I was happy to be alive.
In the midst of his musings, he’d set that one aside. And it was jarring to have it shot back at him, and so matter-of-factly.
“Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Hmm?” She was busy doctoring her coffee, pouring in copious amounts of cream.
Suddenly frustrated, Tripp walked over and snatched his mug off the counter. She wasn’t wrong, but the fact that she could say it so casually over a cup of coffee was a surprise.
“That yesterday you were just happy to have your life.”
“What?” Genuine confusion marred a few subtle lines into her forehead, while a small furrow dug in between her eyebrows. Her reaction also seemed to magnify the purple and blue bruise that ran down the length of her jaw, a dark, lingering souvenir from her hospital stay. “What are you talking about?”
“You, Sadie!” The words were out like a shot, coffee sloshing over the rim of his mug as he slammed it on the counter. “You. And the fact that you almost died this week and you’re casually assessing it like writing out a grocery list.”
The coffee that spilled over was still piping hot and he moved to the sink to run cold water over his hand. The heat covering his knuckles had nothing on the rising ire that filled him.
“I’m not casually assessing anything.”
“Could have fooled me.” Tripp grabbed a kitchen towel to dry his hands before tossing it back on the counter.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He whirled on her, well aware it wasn’t the right moment for this conversation. But he was frustrated, and all of it had bubbled over, needing a place to land. “It means what it means.”
“That I’m not taking this seriously? That I don’t value my own life? That I’m not aware of what’s going on around me like the clueless woman I’ve been for the past six months?”
Her voice rose with each question and Tripp had the first flicker of recognition that he might have an equal partner in the battle clearly brewing between them.
He knew he needed to stop. Knew it, down to his bones. Yet no matter how that thought beat in his mind, thrumming in time to his racing pulse, he couldn’t pull back.
“We’re back to that again? That you’re some poor, clueless woman because your boyfriend was an ass?”
Shock waves rippled through the room, radiating out from where he stood. Only, this pulsating disturbance had a directed target, and he saw Sadie nearly stumble in place before something hard and stubborn seemed to lodge in her spine. She set her coffee cup down, oh so carefully, on the counter, before standing to her full height.
“I knew you were cold, Tripp. But I didn’t know you were an ass.” She turned to leave, the easy camaraderie they’d had for the past thirty-six hours vanishing with her, when Tripp moved.
Just like the words he hadn’t been smart enough—or hell, capable enough—to hold back, he wasn’t able to stop himself. His hand snaked out, grabbing her elbow to keep her from leaving the kitchen. His touch was light, meant to stop her versus hold her in place, but battle lit her green gaze as she turned to face him.
“Leave me alone, Tripp.”
He let go immediately, even as those hard breaths continued to build in his chest.
He needed to back off.
He needed to take control of himself and the situation.
He needed…her.
The already heated air between them shifted instantaneously, the hum of battle transmuting into something so full of need his own knees nearly buckled.
And then they moved. Both of them in unison. United in the same goal.
Tripp wasn’t sure if he pulled Sadie into his arms or she moved into them, but as his mouth came down on hers, he knew it didn’t matter.
They were both exactly where they belonged.
* * *
Sadie fought to catch her breath, but the press of Tripp’s shockingly impressive chest against hers, as his mouth kept up that delicious pressure, made steady breathing an impossibility.
And she didn’t care.
All she wanted was him. And this sense of belonging that went beyond her deepest fears, straight toward something she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Hope.
Somehow, some way, in the midst of some of the worst days of her life, Tripp had found a way to restore the one thing she’d never realized she’d been living without.
Only she knew it now.
And she was desperate to keep the feeling going.
Although she wasn’t a short woman, his tall, muscular frame seemed to dwarf her where he wrapped her in his arms as he pressed her against the counter. Her hands had gone to his waist and it was with excitement she realized that their close proximity meant she could explore that impressive physique to her heart’s content.
Never one to waste an opportunity, she did just that, her hands drifting over the thick sinews of his back before tracing the hard lines of his shoulders as his mouth continued to ply hers with long, sumptuous kisses that pulled at something deep inside her.
Something real and raw, and completely amazing.
Sadie opened herself up to him and, as she fervently drank him in, recognized something else.
She needed him.
It was a rogue thought that was just heady enough to pull her from the moment.
Tripp sensed the shift and lifted his head. “Sadie?”
“I—” The urge to sigh was strong but she held it back. “How did that happen?”
And how do we make it happen again? Not because we’re fighting but because it’s as natural to us as breathing.
“I’m not sure,” he finally said, his gaze still stark and hungry with unmet need.
“But you w
ere so angry.”
“I wasn’t—” He stopped himself before he nodded. “I was angry. But you just seemed so laid-back about everything. The current situation. And then you went right back to that place where somehow it’s your fault.”
Sadie stepped out of his arms and away from the counter, increasingly aware that thinking was difficult in such close proximity.
“Nothing about my life or how I feel is laid-back. Of all people, I thought you understood that. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“Sadie. Don’t walk away. You asked me why I was angry.”
“And now I know.”
His bright blue eyes clouded over, that crystalline gaze going cold. “You can be mad if you want, but I’m not wrong.”
“You enjoy sitting on that high horse?”
The anger that had tinged his words before was nowhere in evidence. Instead she felt the chill slash through her with each syllable. “I’m not sitting anywhere. I’m staring at a woman who is bright and wonderful and who needs to quit feeling sorry for herself and start realizing that she’s in danger.”
“Your compassion absolutely spills over.”
“You don’t need compassion. You’ve got five brothers and sisters as well as a host of soon-to-be in-laws to give you that. It’s my job to give you the truth. To keep you safe.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Tripp. Say it as often as you like. In the end, you’ll realize that they’re just words. Safety. Security. Sanctuary. It’s all an illusion anyway.”
Before he could reply, she shot out of the kitchen and up to the spare bedroom. It was time she got to work on not needing him so much.
* * *
“He’s so hot.” Vikki’s voice rang with authority and, since she’d said the same thing at least four other times in the past half hour, Sadie was getting close to kicking her twin. Lightly, of course, and only hard enough to push her off the double bed she sat at the end of.
“You’re not listening, Vik.” Kiely interrupted from her perch on the rolling desk chair in the corner of Tripp’s spare bedroom. “Because attractive or not, Lieutenant Hottie can’t be bothered to listen to Sadie.”
Vikki waved a hand, seemingly unconcerned. “He jumped straight to doing, and that goes a long way in my book.”
“There is something to be said for doing.” Pippa’s smile was dreamy, hearts and unicorns practically circling the air above her head where she sat on the floor. “All the doing.”
“Fat lot of help you three are.” Sadie added a satisfying harrumph before slamming back onto the pillows she’d propped against the headboard.
“We might be more helpful if you came up with some argument other than ‘Tripp McKellar is an ass,’ baby sister.”
“I’m the same age as you, Vikki,” Sadie shot back. It was an argument as old as they were, but it never stopped Vikki from using it in times of discussion. Or family disagreements. Or, well, ever.
“She’s a stickler for those extra minutes,” Kiely said before adding, “A fun fact you can use when you turn forty.”
“In twelve years. I’ll be sure to wait with bated breath.” If I make it that long.
Sadie fought off the terrible image that came to mind at the dismal thought. She was here now. She was with her family now. And Tripp—despite his ham-fisted way of dealing with whatever this thing was between them—was determined to see her stay that way.
Now.
If only her loved ones could see how crazy he made her…
“Much as I’m enjoying how readily we all feel we can and should—” Kiely eyed Vikki “—deliver love advice, we’re here to game-plan.”
Leave it to Kiely to get down to the heart of the matter, Sadie thought. Her sister had earned her stripes as a freelance private investigator, working with Colton Investigations, the FBI and any other qualified organization that could afford her. She had her finger on the pulse of just about everything and she had a way of subtly pulling everyone in line.
“Riley filled you in on how we’re going to try to take down Matthews.” Kiely directed the statement at Sadie, even as all her sisters nodded in unison.
“He was here last night with Ashanti.”
“It’s a good plan. But one that is going to take some really tight planning and flawless execution,” Pippa added, her dreamy-eyed stare vanishing as that of a hard-nosed attorney took over.
Although Sadie had been somewhat skeptical of the idea last night, she was even more so in the cold light of a new day. “Do you all think it will work? Is Wes Matthews, mastermind behind RevitaYou, so dumb to fall for a honeypot?”
“Yes,” all three of her sisters said in unison.
The unanimous agreement was swift, followed by all three of them talking at once.
“He’s a total pig,” Pippa said.
“Abigail’s trying to hold up under all this, but even she agrees her father can’t stay away from a beautiful woman,” Kiely added. “That horrible Meghan Otis just one terrible example in apparently a long line of them.”
“He’s a man,” Vikki scoffed in the loudest voice, as if her answer said everything, even as the gaze that landed on Kiely was clearly sympathetic. They’d all come to love Alfie in the short time Cooper Winston and his small son had been in their sister’s life, and everyone knew how dangerous Meghan Otis had really been.
It was that last remark that Sadie keyed in on. “We know I’m no expert on men, so maybe you’re right.”
Sadie saw the judgment flash across Vikki’s face before her sister firmly tamped it down. The urge to press her was strong, but Kiely had already launched in. “Cooper’s on the FBI task force focused on bringing Matthews in. They missed him twice in the Bahamas, but they’ve got tabs on him. The outreaches Ashanti has made so far have worked. We’ve got him nibbling on a baited hook. And if Matthews behaves as he has in the past, it’ll work again.”
“What are the next steps?” Pippa asked.
“Ashanti’s begun to make subtle outreaches on how to meet in person. She’s added a few…ahem—” Kiely’s normally indefatigable demeanor flagged a bit. “A few choice stock photos to sweeten the deal.”
Although she’d had limited sexual experiences before Tate, Sadie was well aware men were visual creatures. Obviously the added incentive of suggestive photographs was needed to get Matthews to give up his hiding spot.
And still, it seemed like they were missing something.
“You still don’t look convinced, Sadie,” Pippa noted.
“It’s not that I’m not convinced. Matthews is a pig and, if his own daughter believes this is his weak spot, it’s well worth pressing the advantage. But it feels like we’re missing something.”
Alert, Kiely leaned forward from where she sat on the desk chair. “Go on.”
“So, Brody got pulled into this relatively early on. The pyramid scheme had been active long enough that some people had a successful outcome, which was a plant to entice more investors. But it was also in place long enough to start tanking results for the next round of investors.”
“Which was Brody,” Pippa added.
“Exactly. And he got the loan from my scummy ex-fiancé to finance his way in.”
“But we know all this, Sadie. That’s why Brody came for help in the first place.” Vikki blew out a hard breath. “Even if he refuses to take it now.”
Brody’s disappearance had been a sore point for Vikki from the start. Sadie knew that, but she’d already warmed to her point, her CSI training to look beneath every surface kicking in. “And we’ve got Landon Street, who made the product effective but highly deadly.”
Her sisters nodded in unison, still seeming to follow where she was going.
“So in the planning of all this, who’s supposed to get out of here with the big score? Matthews works up the pyramid scheme but Tate is the funding and the muscle
? Yet now Matthews is gone? And despite Tate’s sick focus on me, he has to be thinking about pulling up stakes. There’s no way he can stay here any longer.”
“That’s true,” Pippa agreed. “I hadn’t thought about it like that, but you’ve got something here. It’s like Wes is off scot-free and Tate’s stuck holding the bag.”
“And we also already know the product has its limits.” Sadie continued with her argument. “Even if they get a few million so far off of investors, it’s all Tate’s loan money to begin with. Where’s the real cash coming from?”
“Not everyone needs funding from Capital X,” Kiely said. “Some of it came from people with genuine money to burn.”
“That’s it!” Sadie sat forward, the next layer of the scam they were about to create coming to life in her mind. “That’s how we get them both.”
“Both?” Kiely pressed her.
“Wes and Tate. Keep going with the honeypot because it’s obviously a powerful lure. But we need to turn the two of them against each other, too. There’s only so much money at play because a lot of it was Tate’s to begin with. He’s going to want even more than his criminal interest rates to get out of this deal with a profit. Especially since it’s blown his entire operation to hell and back.”
“You don’t think either of them has an exit strategy?” Vikki asked.
Sadie considered the question, even as she used what she already knew about Tate to form her opinion.
“I think each of them thinks he’s smarter than the other. So they might have an exit strategy, but it’s predicated on each thinking he has all the money in play. And that’s where we come in.”
Pippa stood to pace. “This is good, Sadie. Really good. If we can get them to turn on one another, we can tug all the loose threads. How it started in the first place. How they’re finding their so-called investors. And where they’ve been hiding the funds they already have in hand.”
“We can even get Brody’s money back.” Sadie sat back hard against the pillows, an image of Brody’s dejected face in the front of her thoughts. Although she’d been hard on him at first, assuming he was too focused on money instead of making strong choices, she’d come out the other side of that line of thinking. Brody had unfortunately been duped, on a project he’d believed couldn’t fail. As someone who’d been duped herself, through a “grand romance” with Tate Greer, she was hardly one to judge.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense December 2020 Box Set Page 13
