CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
With a glance at her phone, Sky reminded herself he wasn’t calling because he was visiting Sean. She simply had to do as he asked and prove she was woman enough to wait, be patient, not bombard him with texts, and to trust him. Kiddo wouldn’t have waited. Kiddo would have been texting him like crazy and hanging around outside his house all the time. Kiddo had to be halted in her tracks. Nevertheless, she ached for him.
A customer approached and ordered two lattes with an extra shot each. On auto pilot she made the coffees and snapped the plastic lids on. Dropping them into a holder, she passed it over to the customer.
That’s when she though she saw Rory in the shifting crowd. Just a flash of black leather and a stubbled chin that seemed familiar.
Imagined it.
She looked away He would have texted, had he been on his way.
“Espresso please.”
Her head snapped up.
Rory was standing there right in front of her.
She covered her mouth with her hand, afraid she would cry if she didn’t.
“Hey?” Concern marked his expression.
“I thought you were visiting Sean.”
“I did first thing. You’re next on my hit list.” He grinned.
Giddy, she set about brewing the espresso. When she returned with the cup he leaned as close as he could.
“Are you finishing soon? I have a proposition for you.”
She nodded, glancing at the clock. “I’ll be done here in about twenty minutes. I can’t leave any earlier today. I’m on a final warning.” She rolled her eyes to let him know how she felt about that.
Rory laughed, lifted his cup to her and sauntered off.
She thought he might get restless, but no, he stood nearby, watching her with a half smile on his face. Dressed in his biker leathers, he looked incredibly hot and sexy. The fact he’d come straight to see her made her heart race. Jittery and excited, she had to stop looking at him in case she dropped a cup or tripped over a cable.
He’d mentioned a proposition. What was it?
It was the slowest twenty minutes of her life.
Eventually, it was time. When she waved at him, he nodded and sauntered away from the spot where he’d waited. She threw off her apron and darted out the door at the back of the Coffee Hut. She knew where he’d be. In exactly the same place he’d waited the day he’d come with her bag, under the electronic announcements board.
As she approached her heart raced, her body aching to run to him and hold him. He threw his backpack over his shoulder, weaving through the oncoming crowd toward her at top speed. Relief flooded through her, and it morphed into a dizzy rush as she watched him jog toward her.
Capturing her in his arms, he lifted her from her feet.
She kissed him, hugging him gratefully.
He laughed. “People are staring.”
“I don’t care,” she replied.
“You crazy, rebel hearted woman.” His eyes glinted.
“No, it’s you.” She clutched at his shoulders gratefully, adoring the way he felt under her hands, hard and strong and alive. “You make me this way. I can’t help myself when it comes to you.”
He stared down at her for a silent moment, then put one finger to her lips. “Come on, we need to get out of here. Kristaps is waiting outside with my bike.”
“Kristaps?”
He laughed at her reaction. “Yes. He’s doing me a favor so I could come by and collect you.” He winked, grabbed her hand and set off at a pace.
Collect me for what? Filled with wonder, willing to go anywhere as long as it was with him, she darted alongside him, breathless with laughter. His mood was infectious, and it was so good to see him happy, without the shadows he’d had in his eyes when they’d met at the funeral.
Outside, on the crowded forecourt, taxis and mini buses were lined up to collect and offload. Rory quickly navigated the chaos of passengers and baggage. Passing along the concourse he turned down the side of the station into a side street.
Sky caught sight of Kristaps sitting astride Rory’s Triumph with two helmets over his arm. Kristaps was looking about anxiously. A traffic warden loomed on the other side of the street.
“Just in time,” Kristaps announced, and climbed off the bike.
He handed over both helmets, one directly to Sky.
“Thanks buddy.” Rory gave him a fist bump. “I owe you.”
“No worries. Get going before this traffic warden comes over.”
Rory mounted the bike.
Sky wriggled her tight uniform skirt up a bit to enable her to climb on behind him. Kristaps stared at her, eyebrows lifted, a smile on his face.
Rory was just about to pull his helmet on when he caught sight of what she was doing. “Oh, crap. I forgot that you’d be wearing a skirt.”
“It’s my only spare, but it won’t stop me!” Grabbing the hem of her barista uniform skirt she tore a slit up from the hem, the length of her thigh. “See!”
As she pulled on her helmet she heard the guys laugh.
“She’s a crazy, sexy lady,” Kristaps said, “no wonder you love her.”
Rory had pulled on his helmet and was starting the bike, so she couldn’t see his expression. He gestured at her and she climbed on.
Kristaps waved them off.
The traffic warden shook his head as they shot by.
Elated, Sky settled in behind Rory. She didn’t even know where they were going. It didn’t matter. She clung to his back, grateful to be there against him, grateful to be with him again. Everything else melted away into nothing.
Rory handled the bike masterfully, despite the heavy rush hour traffic. He weaved through the traffic, revving the engine at traffic lights, making her blood rush. The joy of being with him and the thrilling ride was a double hit of excitement. It made her emotional and when they reached the destination about twenty minutes later, she was giddy.
Once he switched the engine off she climbed off and quickly pulled off the helmet. She’d assumed he was taking her to his place, but when she looked around she didn’t recognize the place. By the looks of it, he’d pulled up at the entrance to a park.
“Where are we?” In one corner of the park, adjacent the entrance gates stood a vast thicket of hedge.
Rory nodded at the hedges. “The park house.”
Sky craned her neck. “There’s a house in there?”
“Yes, the lodge, it used to be called. Years ago the park caretaker used to live there, but the council sold it. No one wanted to be in a park at the time, but George bought it, and he grew the hedges so it’s really private.”
“This is George’s place?”
“Come on, let’s go inside.”
“How?”
Rory laughed. “Follow the hedge until you find a gate.”
“You’re enjoying this!”
“Yup.”
God that smile looked good on him. “Do I get a prize?” She winked as she set off, following the perimeter.
“Of course.”
Sky trailed one hand along the foliage as she went. After thirty feet or so the hedge turned a corner, which meant they were out of the view of the park entrance. Another twenty feet or so brought her to an indent. A green wrought iron gate was barely visible amongst the trailing branches. “It’s like a secret garden.”
“In you go.”
She lifted the latch on the gate and went in. Ahead stood a funny little grey stone house. It had a steep roof and a turret with a small window looking across the park. Rory pushed the bike up the pathway toward a long shed at the side of the house. It had clematis growing all over it to make it look pretty. Sky watched as he opened up the padlock and chain and pushed his bike inside.
“It’s like being in the countryside,” she said when he rejoined her, amazed at how different it was inside the hedges. The distant sound of dogs barking and an ice cream van where all that pulled her attention away from Rory and the quaint house with its odd little turret.
“That’s what George said. He said he loved London, but this was his sanctuary.” He nodded at the door and she saw an old piece of driftwood pinned over the door. Carved into the wood was one word, Sanctuary.
She snuck her hand into his, feeling overwhelmed, feeling a little lost.
He led her around the side of the house. A glass extension was surrounded by tall meadow flowers. He pointed through the window. She saw an easel set up there. Next to it was a tall stool, upon which sat a tabby cat. The cat appeared to be staring at the easel expectantly, which made her chuckle. The cat turned their way.
“Do you think you could paint in there?”
She nodded. “Where did the easel come from?”
“It’s a treat, from me.”
Sky could do no more than squeeze his hand. He’d bought her an easel. It meant so much.
Barking sounded from inside the house. In a flash of grey fur, a massive Irish Wolfhound stood up against the window ledge, tail wagging vigorously.
“Oh my, he’s huge.”
“He a good lad.” Rory went closer to the window. “Sit!”
The dog sat down but was still large enough to be able to peep over the window ledge at them. Rory gestured at a wrought iron bench in the garden, in the midst of the meadow flowers. “Before we go inside, I’d like to talk about my proposal. While I have your full attention.”
“You always have my full attention.”
“I won’t once you meet the dog and the cats.”
Sky laughed softly. “Ah yes, that might be an issue.”
She took a seat. When Rory sat beside her, he took her hand in his and studied her rings and nails thoughtfully.
“So, what’s this proposal?”
His expression turned serious. “I want you to get into Art College, to live your dream. I talked to Draco about it.”
She frowned. “Draco?”
“Yes, I wanted to be sure he’s on board with my plan, and he is.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of this, especially if Draco approves.” She rolled her eyes. “Besides, I’ve got my application in.”
“Yes, but I don’t want you to be doing barista shifts any more. I worry about you having to save in advance and how you’ll cope when you start. I want to help you.”
“That’s kind and I appreciate it but you can’t Rory.”
“I can and I will. Do you remember when you wanted to help me and you were upset that I wouldn’t let you?”
“Yes, I was hurt because you helped me.”
“Well, I do want you to help me, and if you like this proposal I think we can make it work for us both.” His eyes were bright, but there was tension in him, as if he wasn’t sure how she would react.
It made Sky wary and she pulled away. “Come on, out with it, you’re making me fret.”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “That’s exactly what I don’t want to do. Look, I need help at the workshop. I thought maybe you’d be like an office manager, take the calls for bookings, scheduling and stuff. I also want to get security cameras fitted so I need someone with one eye on the screen. I’d like a hand with the accounts. We both need to be trained for that, but we could train together.”
“Wait, you’re going to keep working at Halliday’s?”
“I have to, it’s what George wanted.” Sky frowned, but then Rory’s expression broke, and he laughed. “George wanted me to take over the workshop if anything happened to him. He left it to me in his will. If I pull a big enough profit his daughter Kate has shares so she’s earns a bit too.”
“Oh Rory, that’s amazing.”
“Its been tough, but once I got my head around it, I wondered if you would come and work with me instead of doing the barista stuff, hang out, maybe do the books, or answer the phones, make coffee for anyone who calls by.”
“You want me to make coffee, like your own private barista?” She arched her brows at him.
“Shit no. I mean yes. Sorry Sky, this is all coming out wrong. Look…I want you to have a job if you want it, but what I really want is for you to be able to go to Art College and I’ll be able to help you out now.”
Help? “The family thing again? You’re being big brother now?”
He shook his head. “No, not at all. My life is changing, fast, but the only sure thing I know is that I want you to be part of it.”
Inhaling sharply, Sky blinked back sudden, unbidden tears.
She tried to follow what he was saying, but those words kept echoing around her mind. I want you to be part of it.
“There was a lump sum, his savings, which he left for his daughter. Apart from that he left me his stuff, and his workshop. Kate didn’t want to deal with the business, said it was a weight off her shoulders to have it looked after, just wanted to be sure I kept his name going, which of course I will. It’ll always be Halliday’s. He’d lived frugally and what he didn’t put into the business he invested for her, and she’s happy with that. His will left the house to Kate. Kate wanted to keep it as an investment, but doesn’t want to rent to a stranger, someone who wouldn’t want the pets. So she said I could live here rent free if I maintain it, and if I ever move out and sell, she’d split the profit with me. So…I have a home, and a business. I promised him to keep it all going. I need to do justice to George’s memory. It’s a really big deal. I can hardly take it in, that’s why I had to get away, think for a while. I decided I could cope, if you were part of it.”
Sky swiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he rattled on, making her laugh, “the house needs work, George hadn’t done anything to it for years and it’s full of motorbike junk. Kristaps is going to come by tomorrow and make a list of work to be done. It’ll take time but it would make a lovely home, for both of us, together, if you’re willing.”
“Stop! Stop talking!” She shook her head, laugher bubbling up and escaping her. “Rory all you had to say was you wanted me to be part of it, part of your life. You could’ve stopped there.”
Because all I want you. I love you. The words were drumming in her head and in her heart, louder, louder, daring her to blurt them out. But how would he react? Her body was on fire with need for him. She rose to her feet, attempting not to explode in a torrent of gushing adoration. “The details aren’t important, the fact you want me around, that’s enough.”
Rory stood up and looped his hand around the back of her neck, closing in tight against her. “The details are important. I want to help you get your dream, and now I can. I love you Sky, always have.”
“I love you. I’d live in one room with a futon forever if it was with you.”
His eyes twinkled and he laughed at that. “That futon can go to hell. I want you to be with me, always.”
Emotion frothed inside her. “In that case, you’d better take me in and show me around, hadn’t you?”
He fished a key out of his pocket and led her to the door.
And when he opened that door, it was their entrance to a new life.
Together.
###
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DRACO
Lara Compton is in her first year of a business degree, but what she really wants to do is impress her dad and beat her older brothers into his favor. When she overhears her father talking about a mole within their finance company she decides to play detective. What better way to investigate than to secretly hire one of the hackers who broke into their computer systems the year before?
Draco Vaughn spots the attractive woman stalking him and confronts her. She’s hot, she’s flirting, and he’s interested. However, Lara surprises Draco by offering him a job with a big financial company—and it’s only the same company who sent his stepbrother Sean to jail. Tempted by the prospect of getting inside to make the company owner suffer, he agrees to take on the job. What he didn’t account for was the unstoppable attraction between him and Lara, and the layers of subterfuge he finds in the corridors of power.
Working closely, Lara and Draco’s undercover detective hunt runs in parallel with an intoxicating affair, a powerful relationship that won’t be denied—no matter what Draco discovers, and who it will hurt.
EXCERPT
Draco lingered at the diner longer than usual, because of her presence.
People came and went but she stayed, so he stayed. Or maybe she stayed because he did. The thought amused him. Whichever it was, the curiosity appeared to be mutual.
Shortly after he’d noticed her, he caught her taking surreptitious glances his way from beneath her eyelashes. When he caught her eye, she quickly shifted her attention back to her laptop and her face flushed. She didn’t want to get caught looking at him. Either she was shy, or it was important he didn’t notice her.
What was she, an undercover cyber crime cop? It was a distinct possibility. This diner was where his stepbrother, Sean, had been hanging out when the cyber cops turned up and arrested him, over a year ago. In fact, if the cops had arrived a few minutes later, all three of them would have been there. Draco knew he shouldn’t come back here, but they’d had good times in this place before Sean’s arrest, and he missed those days. It was a familiar haunt and it kept drawing him back
If she was a cop, was he under suspicion? It didn’t compute, because he hadn’t hacked for ages, not since Sean had been sent down. Rory and Draco had made a pact. No hacking any more.
Miss Prim and Proper seemed a bit too young to be a plain clothes detective. She looked the part though, in black framed glasses and a tight business suit. All the suit did was show off her curvaceous figure. Draco guessed she was the same age as him, maybe even a bit younger, it was hard to tell with the heavy spectacles. If she was police, she wouldn’t find anything incriminating on him or his laptop. Since Sean had been sent down, Draco had stuck to the pact.
Amused at the possibility she was going to try to arrest him, he anticipated her coming over, presenting a badge, asking him to accompany her for questioning. Could be interesting. Could be a chance to get her number.
Then there was the other guy. A lanky, smartly dressed guy who sat in the booth directly behind her. Draco had the feeling they were together, even though they’d arrived separately. The guy, who was smartly dressed and older, looked out of place as well. He studied his laptop too, but every time the girl picked up her phone to send a text message he picked up his own. Coincidence, or comparing notes? It was the weirdest setup. Draco wanted to know why it was happening.
Mostly he wanted to know the girl. There was something intriguing about her. Intense, that’s what she was. Edgy, like she had a wild side she was keeping in check. The idea of it made his interest levels soar.
Who was she? Maybe his cyber crime cop guess was off. They definitely weren’t regulars. The pair of them looked particularly out of place. Sometimes people came in who had a meeting nearby but they made a quick escape after they checked the place out. The diner was pretty much a greasy spoon, not for the likes of her, that was for sure.
She was attractive but was trying to play it down with her glossy blonde hair tied back sharply. The suit was all wrong for her. Too uptight. He figured it was either new, or she wore it to create an impression. Maybe both. When she’d first entered the diner, Draco caught a breath of her perfume as she passed by. She’d taken a booth away from his on the opposite side of the long narrow coffee bar and observed from behind her laptop.
Just then he caught her having a look at him, and it went on for so long it made him twitch. The scrutiny of law enforcement? He ought to get out of there, but something about her made him stay, made him take that risk.
He’d always been observant and he was blessed with a photographic memory, but since his step brother Sean went into prison over a foolish hacking challenge, it was like his senses had been heightened. He was always watching for something that they’d missed or should’ve been aware, a step that could’ve stopped Sean going down. That moment had changed their lives, otherwise the three of them would still be together taking on the world
From what he could make out across the diner her eyes were dark, possibly a shade of brown. Draco detected no lipstick. Her mouth was beautiful, kissable.
Imagining kissing those lips, he smiled her way.
She blushed, her face coloring quickly, and looked away to fiddle with her bag. Either she was squirming in her seat because of his scrutiny, or she was about to leave. He couldn’t possibly let her leave without getting a closer look, and he didn’t want her to leave first.
Pocketing his phone, he slid out of his booth
Would she follow him, try to make an arrest?
Only one way to find out.
He did a circuit of the diner before he left, taking a good look at the lanky guy as he passed. He could cover the distance to the door in seconds. He’d be on the street and away down the back alleyways. They could still catch him, but he took the risk.
The lanky guy pocketed his phone and looked in the other direction, clearly rattled. Draco figured Lanky wasn’t just overseeing the girl—which was one possibility—he was watching Draco as well. But she was in charge, she was at the front. Definitely something weird about it, and the quicker he figured them out the better.
Slowing his paces, he came up behind her. She turned her laptop off and glanced over her shoulder as he came up behind her. Her eyes were definitely a darker shade of brown. Their gazes locked. Draco saw instantly how shocked she was at his approach.
Finally sure, he smiled directly at her, letting her know he’d figured her out.
Seconds later he was out the door.
Breaking into a jog, he turned down a nearby alleyway, drew to a halt and put his back against the wall. The passageway was narrow and shadowy, a small gap between the buildings. Would she send Lanky out, or would she come herself? He didn’t have to wait long to find out.
He heard the bell chime on the diner door.
When she passed the end of the alleyway, Draco reached out and pulled her into the shadows with him…
Publication date: March 30th 2018
Available to preorder for your Kindle now!
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Also available in print from Amazon.
SEAN
Rowan Vaughn doesn’t need a man. All men do is break your heart. So when Sean Rattigan drives into town on a Harley Davidson—ripped and brooding—she has to lift her jaw and act like she doesn’t care. Sean is the one who stole her heart and promptly disappeared with it. She isn’t going to give him the satisfaction of falling on her back for him all over again.
Fresh out of jail for cyber crimes—and with a pack of hungry gangsters on his trail, slavering for his hacking skills—Sean Rattigan heads to Wales, determined to lay low in the land of the dragons. Seeking only a bed for the night, he calls on his stepsister, Rowan. But the magnetic attraction between Sean and Rowan is more powerful than ever, and their passion is quickly reignited.
Rowan has a confession to make, but Sean disappears again without hearing her out. Furious, Rowan vows to give him a taste of his own medicine and follows him to London. What she doesn’t know is Sean left her behind to protect her, and she’s about to walk into the mother of all gangland showdowns.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Saskia Walker is an award-winning British author and a USA Today Bestseller. Her short stories and novellas have appeared in over one hundred international anthologies and several international magazines. After writing shorts for several years Saskia moved into novel-length projects.
Fascinated with seduction, Saskia loves to explore how and why we get from saying “hello” to sharing our most intimate selves in moments of extreme passion. Her novels DOUBLE DARE and RAMPANT both won Passionate Plume awards and her writing has twice been nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award. She has lots more stories in the pipeline! Saskia lives in the north of England on the beautiful Yorkshire moors, with her real life hero, Mark, and a house full of felines.
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