Page 89 of The Merger
He’d had years with her, a lifetime, but he failed to see her. If he had been paying attention he’d know that her lack of caring that he slept around and often slipped off when they were out together meant that she wasn’t invested in the two of them being anything more than friends. Malcolm assumed all women wanted him and thought Sabrina was just biding her time until he was ready to show her attention. Worse, his narcissism was so extreme, he thought she’d settle for whatever scraps of him he was willing to share. He would never find out how passionate she was because I would never let her go.
We laid low at home for a couple of days. Sabrina slept most of the time. She kept telling me she was just exhausted from stress. I couldn’t help but hope it was something else, but every time I pushed her on it she told me it was too soon.
On the third day home I called the contact Colt had given me and had some dresses sent over. Very short, very sexy dresses. I hung them up on the back of the door for her to see them the moment she stepped out of the shower.
She gasped just as I imagined she would, and clutched her towel tight to her chest. “Stryker, what is all this?”
“We’re going out tonight. It’s time to be seen out and about and push whoever tried to kill us out of the shadows. I had Colt’s shopper grab you some dresses. He said she knew your sizes.”
Her hand dropped to her belly. She might have been telling me it was too soon to know, but I think both of us knew that something happened on the mountain. A bit of good to go along with the bad.
I grabbed her hand and brought it to my lips. “Exactly. You might not fit in these dresses for much longer. As excited as I am to see your belly grow round with our child, let’s focus on the here and now. It’s just the two of us, for a little while longer.”
She grabbed a red dress that was backless, and very short. Holding it against her chest, she gave me a scathing look. “Stryker, my towel is longer than this dress.”
“And you won’t be anywhere tonight without me, and I’ll love seeing you in it.” There was an edge to my voice that she picked up on instantly.
“You mean you want your brother to see me with you in this dress? The red one was front and center, telling me that is your first choice. You want to wave a red flag in front of the proverbial bull, don’t you?” she said.
My fists clenched as I thought about wringing his neck again. It took effort, but I forced them to release. “He was pretty determined to convince you to leave me at your mom’s party. He’d probably overheard that I was leaving the next day, and put the plan to kill me in motion. Me, not you. I didn’t even know you planned to come with me. I’m not even sure if it had anything to do with the embezzlement and money laundering. I think it’s possible he just wanted you away from me.”
“You really want to put ourselves back in the center of the bullseye?” she asked.
I tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’d love to keep you as far away from all this shit as I can, but if I’m right, seeing me alone won’t be enough to trigger him.”
She raised her eyebrows and watched me. “And you’re sure it’s him. Not anyone else?”
Pain lanced my chest. The idea that there was an unknown person out there who maybe did want both of us dead terrified me. My brother’s jealousy I could understand. Losing Sabrina nearly killed me. He’s had her his entire life, and took it for granted she’d always be there when he was ready for her. He just didn’t know he’d lost long before he ever took his shot.
* * *
“Iknow tonight is about being seen, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also enjoy ourselves. I haven’t taken you on enough dates and that is going to end. I’m sorry tonight isn’t only about us, but at least we’ll have some company.” I opened the door to the limo I’d hired and helped her in.
Sabrina clutched at the hem of her dress to try and prevent the very short skirt from showing off the sheer lacy panties I laid out for her to wear tonight.
“Hot dress,” Evie said and went to pass Sabrina a flute of champagne.
Jana grabbed it and passed it to Colter. She caught my eye and winked. I’d thought she figured out what had sent me into overbearing mode, but she hadn’t let on too much.
“We haven’t all been out like this, since-” she looked over at me, “this is the first time actually.”
“Gracie is with grandma and grandpa, and I plan to dance all night,” Evie said, doing a wiggle in her seat.
A smile cracked the stone-like façade of Beckett Anderson. He gave a sharp tug on his sleeves and straightened his cufflinks. “I’m going to be carrying you out of the club before eleven.”
“Wanna bet?” she asked and defiantly tipped up her chin.
Colter fidgeted uncomfortably as the foreplay between Evie and Beck grew.
Beck leaned over Evie, caging her in with his arms on either side of her. “When I win, I get a weekend of you being back at my beck and call.”
He leaned closer and whispered, but we could all still hear him. “I plan to work you very hard, for long hours, filling many roles.”
She shivered, and I had serious doubts she even wanted to win the bet at this point.
Jana chuckled at how uncomfortable Colt appeared while trying to act like he was engrossed in looking at the scenery flying by the car.
“Aww, is daddy getting uncomfortable?” Jana asked in a childlike voice.