Briefly meeting up with Carter on my own quiet home turf is one thing.
Seeing him here, firmly in his element—and with his wife and children on his arm and surrounded by a large, loving family—is another thing entirely, and I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that.
A little over a month ago, I was chained in a bathroom after having narrowly avoided a brush with death.
A little over a month ago, I was still mourning the loss of the man I’m about to see, because I could never forgive myself for being so fucking stupid as to let him go in the first place.
A little over a month ago, I honestly didn’t care if I lived or died.
Now?
New life, new guy, new purpose.
New target.
And yet I know laying eyes on Carter still has the power to take me out at the knees. Back in Germany, even though I expected his arrival after he contacted me, seeing him in the doorway of my flat, it was all I could do not to drop to my knees right there and beg him to take me with him back to the States.
You never forget your first, right?
I’m nervous as hell as we head inside and approach the security checkpoint. Neither of us are carrying guns tonight, which feels…weird. It really does. We can’t even carry knives. Instead, we both carry sharp plastic kubotans in our pockets, because they won’t set off the metal detectors. Being completely unarmed just feels wrong to both of us, though.
“Ready, pet?” Jace whispers to me.
“Ready, Sir.”
In the ballroom doorway we pause and I let Jace take point. He scans the room and I imagine he’s checking out the same things I am—exits, logistics, traffic choke points, and evaluating our fellow attendees.
Noting the placement of law enforcement officers.
Not that we’re starting trouble here tonight, because of course we aren’t. If anything, our goal is to remain as invisible as possible.
Jace catches my elbow and guides me into the room, toward the back and away from the stage.
As if I’m drawn to a flame, my focus finds and locks on Carter.
“There he is,” Jace mutters as he realizes where I’m staring.
I can’t help it.
The man beside me is my Master, but so was Carter. I’d be lying and stupid if I denied Jace manipulated me to get where I am today, but I don’t mind. He’s proven himself to me.
I’m here, not just next to Jace butwithhim, and I refuse to leave as long as he’s willing to hold me close.
Jace snags us two glasses of water from one of the servers and I’m still watching Carter across the room when Jace speaks. “Ah, Owen.”
My focus switches as I turn and see Jace shaking hands with him.
“Jace, thanks for coming tonight.”
I’m staring at the former governor of Florida, Owen Taylor, Carter’s long-time best friend and, for the last eight years, his boss. Taylor has already shed his tuxedo jacket and rolled his sleeves up his handsome forearms.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Jace says. “Hey, let me introduce you to my friend, Tom Dorsey. He served in the Army.”
Owen shakes with me. “Nice to meet you, Tom. Owen Taylor.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” I spot the small tattoo of an infinity symbol on the inside of Owen’s right wrist. If his sleeves were rolled down, you would never see it.
That reminds me of the tattoo I spotted on Carter’s left wrist just a few weeks ago…
