I could tell she wanted to argue so I was relieved when the front door opened and Laurie appeared. I was also thankful to see store bags in her hand, or I would have gone postal.

“Where have you been?” I asked anyway. I didn’t have the right to question this woman or what she did with her kids. Not to mention they weren’t my responsibility. I felt it anyway.

She held up the grocery bags, but her eyes weren’t on me. She stared at Lake who stared back. I did a double take because I couldn’t fucking recognize the look in her eyes. Whatever it was made Laurie pale and lower her gaze. I couldn’t let it go on another second. I gripped her elbow hard to catch her attention and pulled her away.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“What?” she snapped. All she was missing was the neck roll. I stifled the urge to grab said neck until she remembered who called the shots. I sounded like a chauvinistic prick, but this was what she did to me. No one else.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know what she was talking about.”

“The car,” I reminded her.

She had the good sense to appear afraid. “I don’t know,” she said again. “I don’t trust her. What if she testifies anyway? Do you really trust her?”

“Of course not,” I spat. “But she’s our only chance of beating the charges.”

“You think they’ll find something?”

Fuck. Did I lie to her? I was sure they would. I didn’t know how closely they were watching, but I knew the grocery incident wasn’t the last we’d hear from them.

“I think we should be prepared if they do.” I told myself it wasn’t a lie.

“Fine. I’ll be good.”

“You better.” I kissed her lips softly and walked her back over to Laurie. She must have sent the girls away because they were nowhere to be found.

“You’re supposed to be lying low and why did you leave them alone?”

She looked insulted, but I didn’t give a shit. “Do you think this is the first time she’s had to look after Maddie? Their father is a drunk, young man. I’d come home some days to check on Maddie in the middle of the day and find him passed out drunk on the couch. Sometimes as early as ten.”

“Why not leave them with someone who wasn’t drunk by ten?” Lake grilled. I shot her look to chill the fuck out.

“He’d find wherever they were and drive them home, drunk or not.”

I shook my head but didn’t say more. Every time she spoke about her husband, I questioned the decision to let him live.

“Look, we’re out of here. You have my number if you need it, but lay low, Laurie. You’re in more danger now than you were living with him.”

She nodded and waved goodbye from the porch as we drove away. I drove us to a hotel nearby for the night. It was too long a drive to make tonight. We decided to stay in since Lake had homework to get through. I ordered room service and pulled out my own laptop. We worked in comfortable silence until the food arrived.

I paid for the food and turned around to see her drop the last of her clothing on the way to the bathroom. She paused at the entrance and sent a come-hither look over her shoulder before disappearing behind the door. The shower came on as I set the food down and stripped as fast as I could.

She teased me all day, and even after I promised retribution, she found the courage to continue. I had to applaud her. Instead, I joined her and ate her pussy against the shower wall until she shook and collapsed to her knees.

“While you’re down there,” I prompted and fell silent. I waited to see what she would do. A teasing smile on her lips kept me guessing, but then she gripped me in her small, soft hands. I loved the look in her eyes as she gripped me with bold hands and stroked as she lowered her head ever so slowly. She never severed eye contact, and I loved that so fucking much.

Her tongue touched me with the shy, innocence of someone who had not been sucking me off on a regular basis for the last five years.

I loved that, too.

“I’m sorry I called you a cute, angry bunny,” she cooed and sucked me deep until my entire length disappeared down her throat. My head fell back against my will. I wanted to watch her.

I really did.

But she was so damn good at this.

My knees nearly buckled when she released me with a loud pop and hungrily wrapped her lips around the tip, but I wasn’t going out like that so I counted to ten in my head.

“Keiran?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to come in my mouth, ‘kay?” 

Son of a bitch. I should have known she wouldn’t play fair. She worked me over with her tongue and mouth. Her cheeks hollowed as she sucked me vigorously until I did come in her mouth. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out like a bitch when she swallowed my come in one gulp and licked her lips as if it were the tastiest fucking thing she had ever had.

We managed to finish our shower without molesting each other again. I stepped out first and dried off while she washed her hair. By the time I slipped into shorts, she was stepping out, so I grabbed a fresh towel and enveloped her in its warmth. She never liked the chill that came after leaving the steam from a hot shower.

“I’m starving.”

My lips quirked as I debated the dirty joke that popped in my head. She watched me curiously and then her eyes popped wide.

“Keiran Masters, don’t you dare say whatever dirty, dumb joke you’re about to tell. That’s Keenan’s thing.”

“I’m starting to think he’s the fun brother.”

“Don’t worry.” She wrapped her arms around me with a flirtatious smile. “You’re much more useful to me for things that matter. Like feeding me.”

“Come on, my sexy gremlin. I ordered chicken alfredo.”

We drove home early the next morning and spent the day playing in bed. I would tickle her until she cried, and she would wrap her lips around me and dare me not to come. We managed to keep it together until Monday night when I received a frantic call from Laurie.

“That was Laurie,” I announced, entering the kitchen where Lake was studying and cleaning.

“Oh yeah? How are she and the girls?”

“Not sure. She says Cassie was suspended from school today.”

“Oh no,” she exclaimed, but it sounded forced. “What happened?” I watched her casually spray and wipe the same spot on the counter with narrowed eyes.

“She punched Ryan Holder in the nose and kicked him between the legs. Do you know anything about that?”

“You asked me to talk to her and I did. What’s the big deal? She stood up for herself.”

“Or made it worse. We don’t know this kid or what he’s capable of.”

“Should I have told her to just accept the hell he’ll make of her childhood like I let you do to me? Would that have been smart?”

“It would have been safe.”

“Listen to me, Keiran. Ryan Holder is not you, and Cassie Finch is not me. It may seem like it, but our history is not being repeated. He’s a bully with a bad kid complex, nothing more.”

“You don’t know that.”

“But I know fear. I lived in it for ten years. It’s not always the same. She’s telling herself she’s too afraid to fight, but her eyes didn’t lie, Keiran. She wanted to. She just didn’t know how. I just wanted to survive you.”

“He’ll retaliate,” I gritted.

“And she’ll fight harder.”

“You better hope you’re right. Laurie is pissed. This might not end well for us.”

“If it helps, I didn’t tell her to hit him. I told her to trust her instincts. I guess her instinct was to punch him.” I shrugged as if it were inconsequential but the ten-year-old me who was too afraid to fight back jumped with joy.

“You better hope this doesn’t backfire on you.”

“It won’t. Do you know how much I regret never fighting back when I had the chance? A part of me wishes I could go back in time and punch you in the nose.”

I pulled her close and peered into her eyes. “But you were right, Ryan Holder isn’t me. He’s not a killer. I am. If you had fought back, I would never have been able to fall in love with you.”

“That’s the most romantic threat I’ve ever heard,” she cried. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

 

* * *

We managed to find normality once again, and it only took us two weeks to do it. Lake was busy with classes, and Jesse and I had finally secured the two clients we’d been working on for months now. It was Jesse’s idea to celebrate, but since Lake had a test to study for, we decided to throw an office happy hour celebration.

I stayed in my office until the last possible moment before taking a deep breath and entering the festivities. It wasn’t long before Jesse’s assistant, Samantha, was there to greet me. “Mr. Masters, are you staying for the party?”

“It looks like it,” I offered with warmth. I’d been hoping in the months since she’d been hired that she would catch the hint that I wasn’t interested, but she believed her looks and fake tits could get her anything she wanted.

Before Lake, it would have gotten her one night in my bed…or at least bent over the trunk of my car.

“Hey, man,” Jesse interrupted whatever else she had been about to say. He dismissed her with a look that managed to impress me, and she stomped away. “Good call on Roxboro earlier. You made us a shit ton of money.”

“He was an easier sell than he likes to think,” I remarked with a dry tone.

“Nevertheless, two clients in twenty-fours is a record for us. Couldn’t do it without you.”

“Are you always this emotional?” I snarled.

“Are you always this cold?” he countered and chuckled.

“Depends. Do you still want Lake?” We’d had this conversation many times before, but for some reason, I always needed the reassurance that he wouldn’t ever be after Lake.

“Ah, man, come on. I knew I shouldn’t have told you. It was one harmless crush for like two weeks. Then I discovered Mindy Jacobs. Remember her?”

“I vaguely remember a blow job or two.”

“Yeah, she did like blowing. Anyway, my crush on Lake passed when I discovered how easy high school girls were.”

“Lake was in high school.”

“Yeah, but she wasn’t easy and to be frank, man, she wasn’t easy for many reasons. It was hard to stay attracted to her when she was afraid of her own shadow. She’d jump at the sound of my voice. I felt like some kind of pervert.”

“Maybe you are.”

“You have nothing to worry about. Lake wants you, and I want—” He frowned and looked away. “I don’t know what I want.”

“I’m not worried.”

“Then what’s with all the hostility?”

“It’s fun when you sweat.”

“You’re an ass, you know that?”

“I know.” I clapped him on the back and changed the subject. Samantha eventually snaked her way back over, and that’s when I started drinking. I flirted around the edges of the legal driving limits, and when I reached my cap, I decided to call it a night. Without the option to drink, I couldn’t tolerate her nauseous flirting for another hour, so I called it a night.

I nodded to Jesse on my way out. He was chatting up an intern he was insisting we hire. I had to admit the kid was a genius. We had already discussed hiring him when he graduated.

Our office was located in the heart of Stanford, about fifteen minutes from our rental. Since it was late, it only took me about ten minutes to make it home. But when I got home, I found Lake’s car missing and the house completely dark. She should have been home hours ago. I checked my phone but didn’t find a missed call or message. I called and messaged her, and with each passing minute of no contact, I grew nervous.

I was just about to call her again when a knock at my door interrupted me. I didn’t hesitate to answer and ate up the distance to the door.

Maybe she had lost her key.

That notion was quickly dismissed when I opened the door to two suits and a yard full of police cruisers.

“Keiran Masters?”

“Yeah?”

“We have a warrant for your arrest.”