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  I toss the keys in a bowl on the table. “Freak or not, you’ll have to find another place to crash, Agatha.”

  Clear blue eyes give me a mock outraged look. “You’re kicking me out? I’m practically homeless right now!”

  I take Sarah’s bag and walk towards the bedroom, calling out over my shoulder. “I’ll book you a hotel room. It’s on me.”

  Agatha gives the bewildered Sarah a sweet smile before turning to me and growling. “I hate hotel rooms! Why else would I crash here?”

  Sarah hesitates, before asking, “What happened to your apartment?”

  “It’s being remodeled,” Agatha tells her, ruefully.

  I walk back into the room. “Sorry, kid. Why don’t I drop you over to the main estate?”

  Agatha sinks into the couch. “I hate that place. It’s too big and quiet.”

  “Isn’t your grandmother there?”

  Agatha leans over to pick up her phone and shoots me a dirty look. “You know damn well why I’m not staying there. I’m calling Ian.”

  My face darkens.

  I am starting to get the feeling that it is more than just flirty banter between my friend and Agatha. “Why Ian? Go to Zayn’s place; it’s bigger.”

  Agatha studies me, a knowing look on her face before she gave me a sickly sweet smile. “Bite me.”

  Sensing the tension in the room, Sarah speaks up, “If you’re kicking Agatha out because of me, please don’t–”

  I shake my head, cutting her off. “Don’t worry about it.” To Agatha, I say, “You, go wash that thing off your face. You look like a female Hulk.”

  Agatha makes a face at my comment and sniffs derisively as she gets up. “As if you even know who the Hulk is.”

  She pads out of the room, the cat following her, its tail in the air.

  Sarah gives me an uncomfortable look. “I feel bad now. I can go to Seth’s place. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind letting me stay there for–”

  Imagining her wandering around another man’s apartment in a thin night robe, my blood boils, and I let out a snarl.

  “No.”

  Sarah narrows her eyes at me in a way that tells me that I am seconds away from getting into trouble. “Excuse me?”

  I struggle to control myself. “You’re safer here.”

  She still seems annoyed, so I put my arms around her and plant a kiss on her soft cheek. “What do you think of my apartment?”

  Sarah looks around, and I wait with bated breath.

  With a heavy sigh, she says, “I mean, it could be better, but it’ll do for now.”

  I snort. “I’m serious.”

  She gives me a smile. “I’ve only seen part of it, but it’s lovely. Did you decorate it?”

  I feel the warm flush of pleasure at her approval. “Yes, I did. Wait till you see our bedroom.”

  Her teeth sink into her lower lip. “Our bedroom? I’ll sleep in your room?”

  I lean down and capture her lips before pulling back with a smirk. “Do you think I’m going to let you leave my bed?”

  “I can already tell you’re going to be a very clingy boyfriend,” she deadpans, earning her a swat on her ass.

  “Guys, keep the foreplay to a minimum till I leave. I don’t want to have to blind myself.” Agatha walks out, still in her pajamas, cat tucked under her arm, and face freshly washed. “Ian’s on his way here.”

  “You know I could always get the locks on Philip’s apartment changed for you.”

  Agatha gives me a dry look. “It’s like you’re not even trying to be subtle. I’m staying with Ian, and that’s that. Now take your nose out of my business before I hurt you.”

  When I make a small noise of dissent, Sarah leans into me, whispering, “I thought you liked Ian.”

  I tuck my hands in the pockets of my pants and grumble. “It’s complicated.”

  I feel her form lean more heavily into mine and I realize that she had a few exhausting days. “Come on. I’m going to put some food in you and then it’s off to bed with you.”

  Sarah sits down on the couch and looks over at Agatha. “You don’t have to go, you know. Not because of me.”

  Agatha grins at her. “Oh, don’t feel bad. Ian’s brothers are staying over at his place, and we’re going to have a movie marathon tonight. Besides, I was planning to go there anyway; Fergus is too bossy.”

  I frown. “I am not!”

  Agatha rolls her eyes at Sarah, who giggles, sobering up immediately when I glare at her.

  “I’ll whip up something for you.” I shake my head at the two women and roll up my sleeves. Seeing the way Sarah eyes my forearms, I raise a brow, amused. “Keep it in your pants, Rivers.”

  Agatha flings her arm around Sarah. “Don’t talk to my girl like that.”

  “Yeah!” Sarah agrees, bobbing her head up and down enthusiastically.

  Laughing, I leave them to their devices, take out some vegetables from the fridge, and start chopping them. I overhear Agatha ask Sarah about her work, and I realize that I never bothered to learn much about her.

  Maybe ‘bothered’ is too harsh a term.

  We simply never got the time. It was one incident after the other. But now with Sarah living here, I would get more opportunities to get to know her better.

  My eyes flicker to where Sarah sits huddled on the sofa with Agatha, and I feel glad that Agatha is making an effort to befriend her. From what I know about Sarah, she never had the time to form close female friendships.

  Agatha has an idea of what is happening in Sarah’s life, but she hasn’t broached the subject, for which I feel relieved. As I walk over to them with some snacks, I overhear her say with pride in her voice, “He always loved cooking, so Philip pushed him to make it into a career. Fergus has studied in a lot of culinary schools. He even went to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. They liked him so much that one of their top chefs offered him a job in one of his restaurants. He was there for two years.”

  Sarah sounds astonished. “Then why is he running a bar here?”

  Agatha shrugs. “He likes bartending. He’s got a whole chain of restaurants as well. He divides time between all of them.”

  She frowns. “Although, once he starts expanding again, he can’t do that anymore.”

  “Who’s Philip?”

  I put down the bowl in front of the two of them. “Philip is Agatha’s brother. He’s on his honeymoon these days. You’ll meet him soon enough.”

  Leaving them alone, I return to the stir fry noodles.

  Women had come and gone from my life, and I had never held more than a casual affection for them. Sarah is different.

  She matters.

  And it blows me away how easy she makes it for me to love her.

  My knife freezes mid-air.

  Woah. Where did that come from?

  I don't love Sarah.

  I glance in her direction, where she is talking to Agatha, waving her arms in the air, her expression animated, and my chest grows warm.

  However, I am distracted from my thoughts when the sound of the front door opening has all of us looking up.

  Ian is wearing a suit with a long camel-colored trench coat that tells me he came directly from the office. Zayn has his usual leather pants on, and I wonder what dragged him away from his club.

  I raise a brow. “Just because you have keys doesn’t mean you can barge in whenever.”

  Ian grins. “Then don’t give us keys to your place. Hi, Agatha. You look lovely, as always.”

  Agatha bats her eyes. “I know.”

  “I have a sharp knife in my hands,” I comment casually, making Agatha throw a dirty look my way.

  Both men stare at Sarah and then at me before Ian introduces himself. “You must be Sarah. I’m Ian. We talked over the phone.”

  Sarah’s eyes light with recognition. “Oh, hi! You sound much nicer in person.”

  Ian chuckled and then gestures towards his companion. “This is Zayn.”

  Zayn nods at her. “Hello.” />
  Sarah slides out of her seat and comes to stand beside me, and I like it. “Sarah’s going to be staying with me for a while.”

  I look at her. “I’ve already told them about Bryan.”

  Sarah nods, the smile draining from her eyes, and it kills me to see the bright look in her eyes, replaced by grief. I put down the knife and drag her into my arms, my chest to her back. “I think one of the Street Serpents was casing her building, so it made more sense to relocate her immediately.”

  Zayn nods. “Smart. But they’re not stupid, either. They’ll find out.”

  “Not if she lays low. Or sticks by my side.”

  Zayn runs a hand through his hair. “One of their men was found dead yesterday, so there is going to be enough intergang politics to keep them distracted for a while. If she stops asking questions, it’s likely that they’ll forget about her.”

  Sarah asks, “How does he know so much about them?”

  I shake my head. “We try not to ask.”

  “Who was it?” I ask. “The man who died.”

  Zayn shrugs. “A relatively low-level member, Dominic.”

  “That’s the guy who tried to drug Sarah,” I say, my blood running cold. “How did he die?”

  Zayn narrows his eyes and then glances at Sarah. “I’d rather not say. But I find that interesting.”

  Sarah presses herself closer into my form. “I mentioned the drug part to Roy, but I didn’t give any names.”

  I could hear the fear radiating from her. “You don’t think he…?”

  I instantly assure, “It wasn’t your fault. It was most probably some fight gone wrong.”

  However, I don't believe that. It was too much of a coincidence.

  Zayn speaks up, “Either way, one of their men is a frequent visitor to my club on East Side River. He likes to ramble when he’s drunk. Shouldn’t be much of a problem getting him to talk.”

  Ian grabs Agatha’s bag from her protesting form and slings it across his body, his hands tucking into the pockets of his pants, pushing the trench coat back. “I can track your brother’s financials, Sarah. Latest credit card activity, phone activity, GPS location.”

  Agatha beams. “Ian’s a hacker.”

  “Good job not making me sound like a criminal, Agatha,” is Ian’s dry response.

  When Sarah glances up at me questioningly, I assure her, “He’s not. He’s a Crisis CEO. Hacking is just something he excels at on the side.”

  Zayn strolls over to the counter and twirls some of the boiled noodles with a fork and puts them in his mouth. “I know a few Russian hackers who would disagree.”

  When Ian perks up at the sight of food, I growl, “Leave. Sarah’s had a rough couple of days. She needs to eat and rest.”

  Zayn gives me a sober look. “I’ve also had a couple of rough days. I think I ought to stay and eat.”

  When I bare my teeth at him, Agatha tells him, “Come on, Zayn. I’ll buy you a pizza.”

  Zayn gives her a suspicious look. “Why? What do you want from me?”

  Agatha just shrugs. “What? I can’t be nice to you?”

  “Sure. When you’re not being a bitch.”

  As the two glare at each other, Ian intervenes. “All right, children. Let’s leave the grownups alone. I’ll buy you both a pizza, so kiss and make up.”

  Locking the door after them, I see Sarah yawn and then she looks at me. “I like your friends.”

  She thanked them, and Zayn was a little wary when she started tearing up a little. However, now they are gone, and I can see the exhaustion setting in.

  I turn off the stove and force her to sit down at the counter. “A hot meal, a bath, and a night’s rest; you’ll be as good as new by tomorrow.”

  And sure enough, once I fed her and she took a warm shower, she lay down in bed and was out like a light.

  Resting my head on my hand, I lean next to her and watch her sleep.

  I hadn’t been making light of the fact that she had had a rough couple of days. But now that she is here, I am going to make sure she takes it easy.

  I run my fingers through her damp hair and press the strands to my lips, my heart quivering in my chest.

  I might be in love with this woman.

  The thought both scares me and makes my heart skip a beat.

  10

  Sarah

  Living with Fergus isn't hard.

  Although it has been three days, I feel very comfortable.

  Though his lavish lifestyle does throw me off every once in a while, it is something I could grow accustomed to if he would stop giving me small pieces of dainty jewelry.

  Even now he is sulking on the large sofa in the living area because I refused the diamond-encrusted earrings that I found next to my bedside this morning.

  I lick the yogurt off my spoon and sigh. “You can’t be that mad at me, Fergus.”

  He turns up the volume of the television, making me roll my eyes.

  I honestly don't know where he is even digging up these pieces of jewelry from. He went to his restaurant in the morning after dropping me to my school and picked me up promptly at three. I can’t imagine him hoarding jewelry to hide around the house for me to find.

  I heat the pasta in the microwave and walk over to where he is and sit down next to him. “Are you going to ignore me for the rest of the day?”

  Focusing on him distracts me from thinking about Bryan. Ruby, his girlfriend, called me on my cell phone, worried when I didn't answer the house phone. She is currently in Nebraska, staying with her brothers. Bryan made sure she was safe before he disappeared.

  She is four months along and texted me a picture of her belly. I heard the forced cheer in her voice and remembered that I am not the only one who is scared.

  However, I have more hope than I had a week ago.

  Ian managed to track down Bryan’s credit card transactions at a gas station. He is looking into it. And Zayn said that he heard whispers. However, Fergus told me to let him handle it. When I protested, he firmly explained to me that nobody would try to cross Zayn. Even the Street Serpents weren’t stupid enough to attack Zayn.

  I wondered whether Zayn runs the underground world.

  When they came over to deliver the news, a struggle broke out between Agatha and Zayn over the last slice of pizza, and I watched as the ninety-pound woman attempted to suffocate the ‘king of the underground world,’ who is double her size, with a throw cushion.

  I chuckle as I remember the fight from yesterday and how Ian was forced to lift the cursing Agatha off Zayn, who smirked at her, his face red from the lack of air, and then quickly stuffed the slice of pepperoni pizza in his mouth.

  I see Fergus glance at me before he quickly looks away, back at the television screen.

  I am not going to let him ignore me.

  I pick up my fork and twirl the spaghetti and hold it out to him. “Want some?”

  “No,” his tone is curt.

  I shrug. “If I wanted to talk to walls, I could have done that back home.”

  When he still doesn't say something, I decide to try another tactic. Putting down my bowl on the small glass coffee table in front of me, I crawl into his lap.

  Seeing the flicker of interest in his eyes and the attempt to hold on to his anger makes me hide my smile.

  I press a kiss to his freshly shaven jaw.

  Nothing.

  Not one to give up, I pepper his face with small kisses until I finally find his mouth.

  He might be trying to imitate a stone statue, but one thing I learned about Fergus is that he is very responsive to my kisses. I bite his lower lip, a punishing sting which I soothe with my tongue. I love his sensual mouth.

  Right now, he watches me with hooded eyes, that blue gaze of crushed topaz searing into my soul, rendering me unable to look away.

  My abdomen tightens with need as I taste his mouth, sip from it, coax him to play with me. And he does.

  I hear the soft thud of the remote on the carpet as
his hands come to settle on my body, running over my curves in a proprietary manner, leaving a burning trail behind as he pulls me closer to him and takes control of the kiss.

  His tongue is hot as it twirls around mine, licking the insides of my mouth, making me whimper in need. His hand brushes against my chest, and I feel the air touch my breasts, telling me that he has unbuttoned my blouse.

  His hands don't hesitate, his mouth still keeping me occupied by burning my brain cells off one by one, as they push down my bra and cup my full breasts.

  My nipples instantly pebble, and my skin tightens with want and desire.

  He uses his thumbs to rub against the hard nubs, making me grind against him to get some relief. I moan into his mouth, a soft, desperate sound, and he sucks on my tongue, twisting my nipples in a gentle manner.

  Hearing the phone ring, Fergus ignores it.

  “Shouldn’t you answer that?” I murmur against his mouth, losing myself into the wicked things his hands are doing to my body.

  “I have better things to do right now,” he replies before pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses against my jaw and collar bones.

  However, when the phone doesn’t stop, I push at him. “Just go!”

  Growling under his breath, Fergus reaches out and picks up his phone.

  As he starts speaking into it, I fix my bra, and I am buttoning up my blouse when he gives me a disappointed look.

  I give him a sweet smile and press a kiss to his cheek and settle against him to finish my meal.

  My lower body is still throbbing with need, but I am also hungry, and now that his hands are no longer driving me wild, my stomach demands sustenance.

  I have only ever slept with one man before, and even though it had been an okay experience, I haven’t found myself understanding the delights of sex that all my female friends used to rave about in high school.

  I have also never been that confident in my looks. I mean, I know I am not a troll, but I haven’t exactly been attracting a lot of male attention. But with Fergus, since the day I met him, there has been this spark. Even when he has lifted me off the ground when I fell, his rough hands on my skin had me feel small and feminine.