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He’s walked right up to her door in broad daylight disguised as me, plans to let himself in, and surprise Alexis. Only it will be Claire who comes face to face with the maniacal son of a bitch dressed up like me. I know she’s more than capable of a one-to-one showdown with this son of a bitch, but I also know that he intends to ensure she doesn’t leave that house alive.
“Take the subject out before he walks through that fucking door! Take the fucking shot now!”
I hear rustling and static in the background as people move around. “Subject is down,” says the best sharpshooter on our team. “Repeat—subject is down!”
“Roger that,” I reply before I connect with Claire, whose texts are blowing up my phone faster than I can read.
“Status, Claire?”
“Good here. The neighbor wasn’t the neighbor but Darwin’s sidekick. She got spooked and went for her gun when she heard a shot. I had no choice but to take her out.”
“Roger that. Great job, Claire. Get a print confirmation, and I’ll send the cleaners in to get started on this ASAP.”
Chapter Twenty
Alexis
Allieand I both listen in absolute stunned silence. Sheldon’s arms tighten around me, and I sink into his strength, holding my breath along with everyone else in the room.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Claire. You were right about everything. His ability to hack into the communication lines, using multiple women to do his dirty work and provide cover, and even Darwin sending someone else in for Alexis before showing up in disguise. I can’t thank you enough for all that you’ve done, Claire. I know you have a tight timeline and just slipped this in to help me. I really appreciate it and our talk. I’ll wire the rest of the money, and Claire, take care,” Sheldon says into the phone, hugging me tighter as he disconnects.
Sheldon’s phone buzzes again. “Hey, Nick, how’s it going?” he says, his eyes alight with amusement.
Allie visibly tenses at the mention of Nick’s name and rummages in her purse looking for something, seemingly not paying any attention to the conversation that appears to revolve around her.
“She’s fine and sitting right here. Wanna talk to her?” Sheldon asks, laughing as Allie shakes her head vehemently from across the room. She visibly pales when Trent and Liam both walk in the door. Allie gets up and walks over to me, tugging on my arm and pulling me toward the couch in the corner, away from where the men are congregated and glaring at the two of us.
“Before you find out from someone else, and I’m sure that you will, I did it. I did it, and I’m not sorry, and I would do it again. It was the only way to get those Neanderthals to let me go to the hospital. I’m so sorry that I dragged you into all this drama, though, and that you were almost hurt. I didn’t expect for you to go with me when I did it, but then I got the message about Jan and I couldn’t not tell you.”
My eyes narrow at my friend as her rambling starts to become clear. “What did you do, Allie?”
“I might have put something in Trent and Liam’s drinks to knock out the cavemen long enough to allow me to sneak out.”
“Jesus! You are serious right now? And you let me believe they were sleeping? Allie! Seriously? What were you thinking?” I ask, but I should save my breath because she didn’t intend for me to go with her, and her doing whatever it takes to get back to the job she loves is hardly a surprise.
“Unbelievable,” I whisper, pulling her in for a hug, fairly sure she’ll be hearing far worse than any reproach I could dish out as Liam and Trent’s eyes pin her from across the room.
“Time to face the music,” I tell her as she rolls her eyes skyward, but she follows me to the group and goes to talk with them just the same.
Sheldon’s still on the phone. “Alright, have it your way, man. The girls are staying at the Towers tonight while we get a cleaner to take care of the mess and change all the locks on the doors. I also want a new security system installed. Can you get one of the teams on it?” he asks.
I can only imagine how tired he must be, traveling all the way to the United States from Italy, then dealing with all of this, and my heart swells with love for this dominant, bossy man.
Allie excuses herself to go lie down, looking as guilty as she should, and I make a mental note to find out what the heck is going on between her and Nick when we’re alone over a nice pint at Donovan’s.
Sheldon’s off the phone now and watching me from across the room. I psych myself up for the apology I’ll need to give to the man who was open and honest with me about what he wanted and didn’t deserve the behavior of a woman who wasn’t yet secure enough in her own desires because she was still scared of what people or society would think, and I will tell him every single word of that when we are alone. Sheldon makes my blood sing with desire, and he just left a hugely important assignment and flew across the ocean to deal with all of this crap for me. He at least deserves to know exactly how I feel about him, even if he’s not interested in me for a long-term relationship with all the baggage that I bring, but for now, I head straight for his arms to nuzzle into his protection.
Sheldon pulls me close and kisses the top of my head, while his strong hand caresses my lower back.
“I’m going to be in the back room on the phone for a while,” my mom speaks up, glancing at her phone as she nonchalantly walks out of the room.
I smile at Sheldon. “She’s really a sweetheart. My best friend, really, besides Allie and Jan,” I mention.
“She seems genuinely nice, but not an exceptionally good actress. Who do you think she’ll call now that she has to call someone, or did I get that wrong? Would she tell us she’s going to call someone and then not do it?”
I laugh out loud because he so just nailed my mom, who is most certainly, as we speak, trying to decide which one of her friends to call just to ensure she didn’t flat out lie to us. “She could have just said she was going to give us more time alone, huh?” I remark, suddenly swallowing past the lump that has formed in my throat, realizing that everyone has left the room, and we are now alone.
It’s just me and Sheldon, and he hasn’t loosened his hand from around my waist or given me any of my personal space back. Being this close to him makes every erotic pulse in my body tingle with need.
