Page 27 of Property of my Boss

She was right, sex appeal works, because I’d do anything for this woman, including selling myself up the river.

Chapter Fourteen

Tilly

I have a bad feeling. A weird, confusing, uneasy type of feeling I’ve never had before. It’s like I know Tucker has done something wrong, and I’m sure it involves Wren somehow, but I almost don’t want to know.

I mean, I want to know what happened to my friend, but I’m afraid that means I’ve been a complete idiot this entire time. I’m not ready to face that yet. I’m not ready to admit that sex appeal worked just as well on me as it was supposed to on him. Hell, maybe better.

Headlights on the highway, Tucker drags in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I have something at the cabin I need to show you.”

“Okay… what is it?” My throat tightens the more he talks.

“It’s a picture.”

I pinch my lips together and stare out at the shadowed pines whipping by, wondering why the suspense. “A picture of what?”

He pauses for so long that I have to look over to make sure he’s still breathing. “The photo is of Kade, Wren,” his jaw clenches, “and their baby, Beau.”

My head spins. “What? Their baby? She never told me she was pregnant.”

“Kade, Atlas, and I opened Serenity Pines as a front for a relocation business we run. Kade had the capital to pay for the place, and Atlas and I were the paid help. Kade didn’t see it like that, though. He listed us all on the deed. A couple of years later, Wren came to us when she was pregnant, looking for a way out. She didn’t know Kade was here. When he saw her, he went ballistic and took her away. They relocated together with the help of our team.”

I narrow my brows and twist toward him. “What do you mean she relocated? I’ve looked online everywhere. I can’t find a trace of her.”

“She’s not going by her legal name anymore. She’s another person entirely. Think of it like the redneck version of witness protection.”

My chest tightens, and I don’t know what to believe. “So you knew this whole time where she was? Where she is? I want to see her!”

“You can’t see Wren ever again,” he pauses and reaches toward me, but I pull away, “I’m sorry. I don’t even know where she is exactly. Every relocation receives an envelope with details of their new life. The knowledge inside that package isn’t transferred to anyone else.” He takes a deep breath and slows the truck as he says, “What’s happened here between you and I,” there’s a shake in his voice, “I have real feelings for you, Tilly.”

I shake my head as he flicks on the blinker and heads down the long dirt road that leads into the campground. “I have feelings for you too, which is why this is so complicated.”

“Telling anyone about what I’ve done puts our clients at risk.”

“And you,” I groan, “how much time does someone get for something like this? Falsifying documents, and lying to federal investigators?” I sigh, my stomach churning. “You didn’t tell me to protect Wren. You told me so you could protect yourself, and I’m the idiot that believed you were something more. Besides, how do I know you’re still not bullshitting? Maybe she is dead.”

He shrugs. “Maybe when the asshole comes back in the morning, you’ll believe me. He claims he’s working for the mayor, and that he knows where she is. Apparently, he’s the one who dropped the photo I have. He wants two hundred grand by morning, or he’s taking his evidence to the mayor.”

“What? I’ll call my brother. He’ll help us.”

Tucker shakes his head as he scrubs his big hand down over his face. “Your brother would turn me in the second he heard any of this.” Silence ensues as he pulls the truck up into the corral beside the cabin. “I was over at Kade’s old place cleaning things out the other day, and your brother wanted nothing more than to nail me to a wall.”

I don’t know what to say because he’s probably right. I’d like to think my brother would help me if I asked, but this is the evidence he’s been trying to get for months now.

He turns the engine and glances toward me in the dark. “Why would you want your brother to help me? A second ago, I was a liar.”

“I don’t know what I think,” I say, swallowing hard, the scent of apples still in the air as though the sweet scents of cinnamon and spice have permeated our clothes. “Wren hated the mayor. He was awful to her. I know she deserved better, and though I’m sad I won’t see her ever again, I’m glad she got away from him. We actually joked a few times about her finding someone who could make her disappear, but I didn’t think it was real.” I pause and stare at Atlas who’s walking across the packed campground in the dark. “I don’t like that it took you so long to tell me, but I understand why it did.”

“No,” Tucker groans, “I don’t want you to understand. I want you to fucking hate me and leave because, if you stay, I will ruin you, Tilly. I will take all the goodness in your heart and I’ll turn it dark.”

I stare toward him, knowing exactly what he’s done, what he’s capable of, who he is.

Maybe he is darkness. Maybe he will ruin me.

Hell, I’ve known since I met this man that whatever urges my body had around him were wrong, and yet, for some reason, I want to crawl up onto his lap, spread my legs, and let him do the filthiest, most vile things to me.

Maybe that’s a mental disorder. Maybe it’s love. Maybe I’m desperate for touch and human companionship.