Page 199 of Taken Away

Oddly enough, Bennett had been the easiest part of it. He'd wrapped an arm around her sometime after midnight and simply held her. No questions about Anne. No careful attempts to pry at the tension between mother and daughter. No well-meaning advice.

Only the steady rise and fall of his breathing against her back.

It should have helped.

Instead, her brain had spent half the hours until dawn staging a hostile takeover.

Anne was here. Actually here. Not in a voicemail, not three states away, not safely contained behind a phone line she could ignore.

Anne was in Mabel's house.

Which meant Blackwood had officially entered a new phase of chaos.

Wherever Anne went, drama followed.

Aubrey stared at the Mercer proposal spread across Mabel's desk.

Growth projections. Expanded distribution. New market penetration. Increased production targets.

The numbers were impressive.

A soft knock sounded against the open office door.

She lifted her head.

Bennett stood in the doorway in dark jeans and a black T-shirt, coffee mug in one hand.

Seeing him settled her nerves.

"Morning," he said.

"Barely."

His mouth twitched. "Didn't sleep?"

"No."

"Me neither."

That surprised her. "You?"

His expression stayed neutral. "My bed suddenly got crowded."

Heat climbed into her face.

The bastard actually smiled a little.

Aubrey threw a pen at him.

He caught it one-handed.

"Conference room's filling up," he said.

Just like that, the smile vanished.

Business. Walter. Lockwood. Vanessa Mercer. The expansion proposal.

Aubrey glanced at the thick packet in front of her. "Everybody already there?"