He pointed at the front door of the brownstone. “Let’s go in and nap. We have a meeting at about six o’clock in the morning at Galloway’s to talk to some fellas who are still working regular first-shift jobs.”
He kissed my hand, then got out, and I finally opened my door seconds before he would’ve done it and climbed out to join him. Rowen’s gaze seemed to be everywhere all at once as we walked toward the front door, and I probably should’ve been on high alert, too, but after crashing and unexpectedly dealing with Mom back-to-back, I just couldn’t be bothered.
“I hope Vail isn’t having trouble sleeping,” I grumbled as he put a number into a keypad on the front door. I didn’t see a spot for an actual key, but the locksnicked, so that probably didn’t matter. He held the door open, and I went in ahead of him, flipping a switch I spotted. Lights blazed on, showing a simple white hallway. A dark room off to the right looked like it might be a man cave.
“He understands. If I recall correctly, Vail and Lor will be tutoring some kids at the mansion today, children of the staff. The boss pays for the children of his house employees to go to some fancy private school, and they needed some help because before now they’d gone to a public school in the city. They were having trouble keeping up. Then Vail was planning to spend the evening with Lor working on a presentation. He was asked to speak somewhere, and ye know he takes that quite seriously.”
“Is it safe for him to do that?”
Rowen shrugged. “If it isn’t, he’ll do it all online. Either way, he was delighted about it, but some work needed to be done.”
“You’re saying we won’t be missed.” I felt like the world was ending and walked across the hallway to sit on the steps there. I rested my chin on my palms and my elbows on my knees.
“Is this mood because of yer low blood sugar?” Rowen asked, and he slowly stalked toward me until his shoes were touching mine, then tugged on a strand of my hair. When I glanced up at him, he flashed me a smile.
Shrugging, I didn’t move. “I also hate everyone being gone.”
He crouched in front of me. “I’m here.”
“You are. I’m sorry.” I felt very serious as I apologized, and my mood seemed to capture Rowen because he nodded, mouth in a firm line. When he leaned in, he kissed me, and the pressure of his lips on mine was steady and felt just right.
“Go get comfortable,” he whispered before pecking my lips again. “I’m gonna run out for a few things we’ll need, and I’ll bring our belongings in when I come back.”
“How long?” I mumbled.
“Fifteen minutes, tops.” He crossed his heart with his fingertip and winked, the type of thing I’d seen him do when he was trying to tease Vail out of a bad mood, and that both made me happy and sad because Vail wasn’t here.
“Okay.”
He brushed a kiss on the tip of my nose, and I swiped at him because his beard tickled. “Keep yer gun on ye till I’m back.”
My mood didn’t improve as I explored the downstairs of the house. It wasn’t a very big place. I went upstairs to the bedroom—nothing fancy, just a bed, a closet, and four walls in a boring cream-and-white theme. Rowen’s parting shot—keep my gun on—had me grinning, and I snickered as I stripped everything except my red boxers and the brown leather holster and gun. I felt pretty damned good as I found the bathroom and checked my hair in the mirror. My insulin pump was secure on the waistband of my boxers as I gave it a wiggle.
“You’re sexy, Fallon Maher, and a handsome redhead is gonna fuck you tonight if you play your cards right.” I raised finger guns at myself in the mirror, then made some faces until I felt better. Yeah, what the hell did I have to be sad and mopey about? Hopefully Rowen went to the store to buy lube.
I rushed back downstairs and checked around, but there were no great places to drape myself that were interesting in the man cave, so I rushed into the kitchen. I hopped up onto the counter and tried out a few different poses, finally deciding to bend one knee and stretch out a leg. I rested my hands behind me on the counter.
The front door opened, and I snickered under my breath. “In the kitchen,” I called.
I made sure I was wearing my best smile and cocked my leg at an angle so Rowen would get a full picture of all the goods when he stepped into the kitchen, then nearly fell off the counter as Mickey McCorkell wandered in. His mouth dropped open and he slapped a hand to his carrot-red hair.
“Fallon! Why are...?” He stumbled backward and fell on his bony ass on the floor, then winced.
“What areyoudoing?” I shouted back.
“What the hell are both of ye doing?” Rowen bellowed, and my heart leaped. He glared from the kitchen doorway.
We jumped to our feet and spun toward him.
“Out!” he barked at Mickey, who raced off. The front door slammed behind him. I didn’t blame him. Rowen’s face was red and a teeny vein on the side of his neck I’d only ever seen straining when he was fucking stood out.
Rowen crossed his arms, and if this was Cillian or Aspen, I would’ve thought maybe I was in for a spanking.
Grinning, I shrugged. “Sorry?”
He only shook his head. “Get dressed. We have word Reyes is in the city, and Sloan wants us all out looking for him.”
18
