“Basia!” Morgan greets me with a huge smile. I’m so relieved to see there’s no anger or anxiety in her round, mahogany brown eyes.
“Here you go, darling,” Caleb says quietly, appearing at my side with an empty plate.
“Darling?” Emily mouths at Barbara, but everyone hears her.
I sigh. Guess this particular cat is coming out of the bag anyway. “Thank you,” I murmur, then step on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. I’m a tall girl, but Caleb makes me feel small and feminine.
“Aww,” Mor croons, her eyes growing damp. Freaking pregnancy hormones. Now I’m all choked up.
“I’m going to be in the lobby with Teddy,” Caleb says, ignoring the swooning women.
“Okay,” I return shyly, then squeak when he pats my ass in farewell.
“Alright,” Barbara says as soon as the front door closesbehind his extremely firm ass. “What’s going on here? Besides the obvious.”
“The obvious too,” Mor says, fanning herself. “What’sthatlike?”
“So hot,” I say with a gust of air, dropping down on the couch next to Morgan, clutching at my empty plate. “Everything I was afraid to imagine. More.”
“Is he… kinky?” Emily asks haltingly.
“Why?” I ask with a purr. “You wanna know if I can join your Kinks R Us club?”
Barbara snorts, impaling a pickle on the twines of her fork. “I already know the answer to that.”
“Yes,” I say quickly, not wanting Barb to share about the tea drugging business. Not yet, at least. “I asked him to act out a…” I look at the girls, their eyes on me, Barbara’s fork halfway to her open mouth. “A rape fantasy,” I finish.
“Say more,” Mor breathes.
With a sigh, I look at the clock on the TV—noon.
“Fine,” I relent. “But we’re going to need mimosas for this.” I look at Morgan’s barely-there belly. “Or at least I will.”
Caleb finds us three hours later and three sheets to the wind—except for Mor, she’s just drunk on girl time. With a shake of his head, he mutters about calling for backup, then starts preparing to cook dinner.
Killian, Damien, and Ethan join us within the hour, like they were just waiting to be reunited with their women. It’s kind of sweet, watching these big, burly men go soft for their girls. Well, Killian doesn’t really get soft—maybe just slightly blunted. By the time we’ve eaten and drunk a few more bottles of sparkling wine, we stop pretending to be functional.
Morgan drops off first, nodding against Damien’s shoulder, and he says he needs to take her home. Killian and Emily stay a bit longer, then take off too. By the time Ethan and Barb leave, my eyes feel heavier than when Caleb spiked my tea. I don’teven remember him putting me to bed, but I’m there a few hours later, alone.
Groggily, I go in search of my boyfriend.
Who I actually find in the living room is Matilda, the Secret Service agent.
“Matty? What’s going on? Why are you here? Where’s Caleb?”
She looks like she wishes I hadn’t woken up, more emotion on her face than I’m used to seeing from an agent. But that might be because she’s still so new at it.
“Sorry, Miss La—Basia,” she begins, obviously choosing her words carefully. “Mr. Ward got a call and had to leave. He asked me to come up.”
Hair raises on the back of my neck as I get a chilling premonition. I cross my arms, hugging myself.
“Who was the call from?” I ask, wanting to know, but also afraid of the answer.
Matty sighs, then squares her shoulders.
“It was the stalker. He said he has your mother… He has Mrs. Langford.”
22
