Page 48 of Temptress
His jaw ticked and his face took on that reddish-purple color it always did whenever I had to get on his ass about something.
He slammed his hands down on the chair and pushed to his feet. “Fine,” he gritted. “We done here.”
“Almost.” I held out my hand. “Give me the flask.” He actually had the audacity to look at me like he didn’t have the first clue what I was talking about. So I spelled it out for him. “The one you took out of your locker and shoved into the waistband of your pants. You can either give it to me now, or get the fuck out of this club and don’t come back.”
The way his nostrils flared reminded me of an angry bull. He yanked the flask out and tossed it on my desk, causing it to bump into a framed photo I had of Darcy. “So, what? You’re spying on your own team now?”
“Not spying. Doing my job which is to monitor wherever there is a camera. It’s not my fault you aren’t smart enough to realize there’s one in basically every corner of this place. Oh, and while we’re at it, you want to try and get laid, you do that shit on your own time, not mine. And if a woman doesn’t look interested in whatever game you’re trying to run on her, that means she’s not, so you need to back the hell off. Now get the hell out, and so help me, Hosa, don’t make me call you back in here tonight.”
He stormed out, slamming the door behind him, and I let out a frustrated sigh, reaching up to rub between my eyebrows where I felt a stress headache coming on.
The hours ticked by, the bartenders issued last call, andfinallythe night came to an end. It was half past two by the time I pulled into my driveway, but the sight of my front porch light casting a soft yellow glow was all it took to wash the tension of the night away and put a smile on my face.
I’d managed to find someone trustworthy to keep an eye on Darcy for me the two times a week I had to work until close, but if Sloane happened to be off from the club on one of those nights, she always offered, and my girl much preferred her over the older woman from down the block.
On the nights Sloane was there, she always made sure to leave the porch light on for me.
I climbed the porch steps and slipped my key into the lock. Since I’d greased the hinges, the door no longer creaked when I opened it, so Sloane’s sleeping form on my couch didn’t budge. I closed the door behind me and locked it as I stared at my woman.
It was getting to the point that I loved walking through my front door and seeing her in my space. There was something about it that just felt right. I took the stairs up to Darcy’s room and slowly pushed the door open.
Her light was off and she was stretched out in her bed, her back to me, her pale hair spread out on the pillow all around her. My heart clenched at the sight of her like someone had reached right inside my chest and squeezed the organ in a tight fist.
I’d never known it was possible to love someone so completely, so fully that I would have given my life without consideration, until my baby girl came into this world. As I watched her sleep, I knew there wasn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do for her, and I could only hope I was doing right by her.
I moved quietly into her room, grabbing the blanket that had slipped and pulled it up to her shoulder before bending to press a kiss to her temple. Then I crept out of the room and pulled the door closed before heading back downstairs.
Sloane was still sound asleep on the couch, and as I sat on the edge of the cushion at the bend of her waist, the realization that both my girls were safe and under the same roof, where they should be, hit me like a wrecking ball. Most nights like this, Sloane would wake up, hit me with that smile that warmed everything inside of me, and she’d eventually head back over to her house, but I couldn’t stand the thought of her doing that tonight. Tonight, I wanted to keep her for as long as I possibly could.
She stirred, her eyelids fluttering open to reveal those gorgeous honey eyes, hazy with sleep. The moment she realized I was there, she gave me that smile, and suddenly it was harder to breathe. Jesus, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.
“Hey,” she whispered softly. “How was work?”
I huffed out a breath. “It was fine. I’m exhausted and ready to crash.”
Her expression went soft and sweet. “Okay, honey. I’ll head home so you can get some sleep.”
“Stay.” That one word passed between my lips without thought, but I didn’t feel an ounce of regret that it was out there. The thought of her walking out that door, of her crossing that stretch of grass between our houses, made my stomach sink like a ton of bricks. There wasn’t a chance in hell of getting any rest if I knew she was next door in that bed, all alone.
She frowned, the crinkle between her brows growing more pronounced. “What?”
“I don’t want you to leave. I want you to stay, baby. I won’t sleep for shit if you aren’t beside me.” I reached over and trailed my fingertips from her temple to her jaw, my heart beating faster when she nuzzled deeper into my touch.
It had never been my plan to meet someone else after Kim and I split. Since that happened, my whole focus had been Darcy. That was why I fought my attraction to Sloane so goddamn hard. I’d failed in love one time already. I would have been lying if I said that didn’t sting. I’d had no intention of going down that road again. Once burned, twice shy. But something about Sloane pulled at me in a way I couldn’t ignore. She’d burrowed beneath my skin without even trying, and now she was so goddamn deep, I felt her carved into my bones.
One look at that woman the day we moved into this house and I knew she was going to mean trouble for me. Then I’d gone and fallen in love with her.
That scared the shit out of me.
I wasn’t ready to say those words out loud—hell, I was barely ready to admit it to myself—but that didn’t mean the feeling wasn’t there.
“But... what about Darcy? She still doesn’t know about us, Si.”
“It’s the weekend. If I let her, she’ll sleep until noon. But I can set an alarm just in case.”
“I—”
I had no clue what she was about to say, but I couldn’t risk her turning me down, so I slammed my lips down on hers and silenced her with a kiss. It never failed that the moment my lips touched hers, a bolt of need and hunger so intense it shook me to the core hit me dead center in the chest.