A lock of hair had fallen in her face so I reached up to brush it away, my fingers ghosting along her cheek. “Are you okay?”
Her green eyes bore into me like the winds of a cyclone. I held my breath, ice water sluicing down my spine and heart pounding in my chest.
“Raven, I…I didn’t mean?—”
She reached her hand up to cup my cheek, cutting my words short. “I’m fine, Ryan. Don’t overthink, all right?”
I let out the breath, the hiss between my teeth filling the space between us.
“I’ll text you later, and maybe we could have dinner tomorrow before another busy week?” she asked.
I ducked my head and sucked her bottom lip into my mouth in response. “Be safe, all right?”
She donned a wicked grin. “Don’t worry. Anyone who fucks with me will have it coming to them. I bite back.”
I brought my lips close to her ear and whispered, “Promise?”
The app finished downloading,and I tapped the blue magnifying glass icon. After entering the login details Aaron had sent me, two camera feeds filled the screen.
I couldn’t quell my curiosity, and needed to test the cameras anyway, so as soon as Raven left, I downloaded the app. Tapping into each feed, I rotated the camera using the arrow controls and everything seemed to be responding adequately. The green night vision effect had an eerie feel to it, but both the outside of Raven’s apartment door and her office were dark and undisturbed. There was also a feature that allowed me to go back in time since it seemed the cameras recorded instead of just being a live feed.
This was full send stalker mode, but was it actually stalking if the person I was watching had just been in my bed, and I was simply doing it to make sure she was safe? The question lingered in my mind, and now that I’d gotten to know Raven, guilt tugged at me for watching her. That guilt was dashed when she walked into the frame of the apartment camera.
As I watched her fumble with her keys and disappear inside, I suddenly didn’t care what was wrong or right when it came to her. It didn’t matter in the beginning when I craved her so badly I couldn’t stop myself, and it didn’t matter now that I was falling for her. The aching feeling in my chest when Ithought about her was there from the beginning. Maybe it was an obsession at first, but it grew into something different. I knew from the moment I heard her voice that she was different.
I had to stop myself from grabbing my keys and driving to her apartment to tell her exactly that. She said not to overthink it earlier, but the fear of fucking this up lingered. I couldn’t lose her, no matter how much I wanted to make sure she knew she was mine. I would give her the space and whatever time she needed, but she was fucking mine and had been all this time.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Raven
“All right, what’s his name?”Mom asked over lunch the next day.
I blinked up at her, dumbfounded. “What do you mean? Whose name?”
She set her fork on her plate and dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “I know my daughter. You’ve met someone.”
Chewing the bite of salad I’d just taken thoroughly, I contemplated the best answer. I swallowed, sighing at the inevitable vulnerability I came here for in the first place. “I never said there was someone”—I looked to the side of the sunny cafe patio—“but yeah, I have.”
Mom knew when my flings turned into exclusive dating situations over the years, but I had never shared a lot of details. The main reason being I never got too deep into the feelings with any of them. With so much weight on her shoulders, I never wanted to place more worry on her.
When I looked back at her, there were a myriad of emotions in her eyes, concern being the most prominent. “Have you done yourresearch?”
I looked down at my fingers fidgeting with the napkin in my lap. “I don’t have to,” I said, my breath hissing through my teeth. “He’s my client.”
Looking up through my lashes, I saw Mom lean back in her chair. “Oh, this is going to be good. Go on, give me the 411.”
A laugh burst from my chest at her words. “Mom, no one says that anymore.”
She scoffed. “Well, I don’t keep up with all the new words the young people use. Now, spill the beans.”
“You’re my best friend, but you’re also still my Mom, so you don’t get everything,” I chuckled. “I was initially worried about the client aspect, but I trust him. He offered to move his accounts to a different firm.”
Her face morphed from playful to serious. “You don’t think there could be any ethical repercussions?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I trust him. Plus, I’ve thought a lot about it, and I’ve decided to let Mia run lead on his file. I’m not going to be involved, and I’m going to make the CFP board aware of the situation. I can create a firewall if necessary.”
“I trust you in your decisions, especially for your business. You’re smart and will do the right thing, whatever that needs to be.” Mom shifted from a look of seriousness to a playful one. “Now, tell me everything else! I want all the details about him. What’s his name? How old is he? What does he do? If he’s your client, then he's a businessman, right? Does he own a company?” Mom rambled when she was excited.
