by Stacy Gail
“Ice, no—”
“That’s why I pushed you away after our first date,” he went on, even as she tried to tell him how wrong he was. “In a single day, I’d gone from thinking I was finally free of the shit-filled corruption of my world, to realizing that when it came to Damien Eisen, nothing could ever be as simple as announcing I was no longer his brainless spy.”
“God.” She closed her eyes and tried to calm the frantic beating of her heart. But heaven help her, every word he said struck at her coldest, darkest fear—the fear of somehow revealing the secret at the heart of the Fairfax family. “I get it now. The people closest to you, if…if they have secrets—”
“They won’t be secret for long. Yeah.” He leaned in, and she opened her eyes when she felt the touch of his lips against her brow. “Like I said, my old man’s a master at finding a person’s pressure points. He found mine in Ethan, because I cared about him. That was when I realized I had to change tactics. I had to get rid of all my pressure points by living as honestly and out in the open as I knew how, and break free from anyone who meant something to me.”
How terrible. “So you dropped out of law school, cut yourself off from our circle of friends and opened a tattoo parlor on the beach.”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Totally changing every possible facet of your life like that…” She shook her head, distraught on his behalf as well as her own. “How brave that was, Ice. That took some serious chutzpah to put that plan into action.”
“I didn’t have shit for a plan until you walked through the door, found me drunk off my ass and not giving a damn about anything. You were the one who steered me in a new direction. You gave me a reason to look forward to getting up in the morning. You brought me back to life, Sunny. No, better than that,” he corrected himself when that would have been more than enough to make her year. “You brought me a new life, a life I loved living. Just by being there, you made everything beautiful.”
That confession filled her chest with unbearably sweet light, though a shadow of confusion remained. “If that’s true, why did you throw it all away?”
“We were getting too famous. We’d attracted a kind of attention I’d done my damnedest to get away from. And I’m done talking about his bullshit,” he added when she opened her mouth to question him some more. “Nothing brings me down faster than talk about that sonofabitch who raised me, and that’s the last thing I want to feel when I’m naked with you. I don’t have to tell you that we could be spending our time in a much more pleasurable way, do I? Or do I have to show you?”
All at once she realized there was a definite and spectacular hardening of his cock going on, and she reached a hand between them to stroke his impressive length. “Showing is always better than telling, don’t you think?”
He didn’t answer, but by the time he took his place between her legs she was certain he agreed with her.
Chapter Twelve
Purr.
Purr.
Purr.
Dear God, Sunny thought groggily. Her world was now so absurdly cat-filled that even in her dreams she couldn’t escape the freaking felines. Next she’d be shopping for all sorts of cat-themed apparel.
What a nightmare.
PURR.
“Goddamn it.” Well and truly pissed, Sunny started to sit up, then froze when some sort of weight fell off her chest. Half-asleep with a mess of hair in her eyes, she blinked blearily at the unfamiliar gold and black comforter draped over her, then at the fluffy calico sitting an inch or two away. “Oh. Right. I remember you. I guess you weren’t a dream, after all.”
For an answer, the cat purred louder and rested a paw on her comforter-covered lap.
“Yeah, okay. You can come up. Just don’t expect me to speak LOLcat to you, because that’s just a bridge too far.” Slumping back down into the pillows, Sunny turned her head to look at the empty side of the bed where Ice had been the night before.
But wasn’t there now.
In a heartbeat she was wide awake and drowning in a tsunami of insecurity.
This is a bad sign, her mind nagged at her. Waking up alone, with his side of the bed stone-cold.
Wait.
Was it stone-cold?
Curiously she swept a hand along the empty expanse of bed up to the pillow that still held the imprint of Ice’s head.
Yep.
Downright glacial.
He hadn’t even bothered to wake her. Where was he, and why did he leave without waking her? Was this a not-so-subtle hint that he was done with her, and was now waiting for her to get her lazy butt out of bed so he could kick her out?
“Crap,” she muttered, rubbing a hand at the sudden tension in her brow. “Here it comes. The morning-after weirdness. God, I hate this part.”
For an answer, Spike climbed onto her stomach and hunkered down, eyes slitted and purring like an engine.
“I don’t suppose your new owner told you whether or not he wants me to get up and politely vacate without speaking a word to him,” she muttered, beginning to scowl as her attention went from the empty side of the bed to the empty space of the open door. The way she saw it, an open door was an unspoken invitation to get the hell out. “Is he even in the apartment? Maybe he forgot I was here and just headed out to work already. Do me a favor—go look for me.”
Not surprisingly, the cat didn’t move, except the lazy twitching of her plume-like tail.
“This morning-after crap probably wouldn’t be so awkward if he were here. Then again, I can make anything awkward. It’s like my mutant-level gift. I’d wear a cape, but I’d probably get tangled up in it. See? Awkward.” Absently she petted the cat’s fuzzy head while staring up at the ceiling. “Awkward, and now I’m talking to a cat. I’ve seriously got to find a new job before I turn into one of the cat people and start meowing.”
“Good to hear you’re open to new possibilities,” Ice announced from the doorway, fully dressed and carrying large Starbucks cups in his hands. “Because whether you know it or not, that place where you’re working now is sucking you dry.”
“You’re not telling me something I don’t already know.” Wild hope fluttered in her chest as he came to lounge on his rumpled side of the bed and handed her a coffee cup. The cups were the largest size possible, so if he wanted her gone, he didn’t seem to be in any hurry about it. “What’d you get me?”
“Half-caf, no-whip skinny vanilla latte, with three sweeteners and a dash of cinnamon.”
That was when she discovered her heart could melt. “You remembered.”
“How could I forget an order like that?”
“Most men would forget an order like that.”
“Learn this, Sunny, because I’m not going to tell you again.” The look he leveled at her would have knocked her panties right off her body, had she been wearing them. “I’m not most men. Morning, by the way.” Without waiting for her to reply, he set their coffees on the nightstand, then leaned in to kiss her like he’d been waiting to do that all morning.
Morning.
Oh crap.
Morning!
“It’s morning,” she blurted out in his face before automatically glancing at her wrist. When she discovered it was naked—like the rest of her—she cast wildly about the room. “Oh my God, what time is it? And why don’t you have an alarm clock? Every adult has an alarm clock. What are you, five?”
“Do they still make alarm clocks? I use my phone.”
“What time is it? And could you move this cat off me? I’m trapped under it.”
“It’s a quarter to nine, and I think you should call in sick today,” he added while she groaned in dismay. “Better yet, just tell them you’re stuck under a cat. If anyone’s going to accept that as a legitimate excuse, your bosses will.”
When he was right, he was right. “Franklin and June once missed a manufacturer’s meet-and-greet because some feral cat they’d been taking care of finally curled up next to them and to
ok a nap. When they called in, my first thought was that they’d been kidnapped because they were whispering and sounded terrified of being discovered.”
“So call in. Spend the day with me.”
She hesitated, then cursed when he grinned at her inability to hide how tempted she was. Jerk. “How can I spend the day with you? Don’t you have work today?”
“It’s not like you’ve never spent a day at a tattoo studio.”
“Yeah, because I worked there.”
“You could work at House Of Payne, too. Payne’s bound and determined to get you on staff,” he added, shocking her. “But don’t worry, I set him straight. I told him there was no way in hell you’d ever leave your fun-loving, taco Tuesday-eating, LOLcat-talking coworkers, because you’d finally found a place where you could wear cat ears in public and not feel judged.”
“Shut the hell up, you didn’t.”
“But Payne’s determined,” he went on, shaking his head. “Of course, it might be too intimidating for you to even think about working at the House. I get that. I know how you studied them as the best working model in the business, so I’d understand if you thought you weren’t up to the task.”
“I hate you.” She sighed, staring up at the ceiling. “I hate how well you know me. I hate how we both know that all you’re doing is pushing my buttons, and I hate that I’m letting you.”
He waited until she was done. “So that’s a yes, right? You’re coming into work with me?”
“Of course it’s a yes.” Like there was ever any doubt. “What time do you have to be in?”
“Ten. We’ve got plenty of time.”
All at once her girlie parts began to tingle, and her eyes locked onto his. “For what?”
“For me to trade places with that cat.” With the beginnings of a smile that made her toes curl, Ice pulled the comforter aside, making Spike leap down from the bed. “You’re going to like being trapped under me one helluva lot more than being trapped under a cat.”
Sunny wasn’t at all surprised to find out he was absolutely right.
“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into playing hooky,” Sunny remarked as Ice guided her through House Of Payne’s back door. They’d swung by her place for a quick change of clothes, and it really had been quick. Claire had been out running errands, so Sunny had practically dashed through the house in the obvious hope of getting out of there before her mother returned. Ice didn’t blame her; while he and Claire had forged a tenuous kind of peace the night before, he understood that Sunny wasn’t anxious to stir the pot. “I feel so guilty. I’ve never called in sick when I wasn’t.”
“That’s not normal.” He helped her out of her coat, then because he couldn’t resist, bent his head and kissed the side of her neck. It was crazy, what it did to him smelling the scent of his soap on her skin. Suddenly it was the sexiest scent in all of creation, and all he could do was remember how he’d lathered her body up in the shower, only to get her slick in another, far more satisfying way. If he had his way, he’d never shower alone again. “Then again, the place where you work isn’t normal, so look at this as a much-needed mental health day.”
“A mental health day? Is that what this is?” He turned back from hanging up their coats to find her right in his space, looking so damn fuckable it took every ounce of strength he had to not slam her against the wall and bang her into oblivion. “I thought today was something else.”
“Yeah?” That wall was looking better and better. “What’d you think it was? Tell me.”
“I don’t know. Maybe a chance to make up for lost time?”
“Baby, if you’re talking about making up for all the time we should’ve been fucking each other’s brains out, a single day of playing hooky’s not going to cut it.” Almost without him noticing, he’d backed her up against the coats lining the walls, so hungry for her he couldn’t stop himself from rubbing his chest against hers. Damn, she was all kinds of soft in all the right places. “It’s not even a drop in the bucket. It’s more like a drop in an ocean of time we’re owed. Today’s just the beginning.”
“The beginning.” Something he couldn’t decipher moved through her eyes. Then she looked up at him in that serious way that begged him to kiss her until she smiled. “Call me crazy, but that sounds ominously like you’ve got plans.”
“You got a problem with plans?”
“I’m not sure I’m living a life that’s built for plans. I don’t want to let you down.”
“Right now the plan is to live day by day. You can handle day by day, yeah? Day by day’s a cinch.” He dropped his mouth to hers and let the crazy-good rightness of kissing her fill him. He never wanted it to end, but it was damn important she knew her own mind. “Say it, Sunny. Say you’re going to give me your days, and in return I’ll give you my nights. Call it an even swap. Tell me that sounds like a good plan to you.”
“It does.” The smile that played around her mouth told him she meant it, and with his heart beginning to pound in time with the need throbbing in his dick, he leaned in for another kiss just as the door leading to the parking lot opened.
“Morning, Ice. Whoa, is that Sunny? Hot damn, you brought me Sunny. Thanks, man.”
Ice turned to look at Payne shrugging out of his coat. “I didn’t actually bring Sunny around for you.”
“Yeah, but it winds up as the same result, so it’s all good. Hi, Sunny, remember me? We need to talk.” Like he was fucking blind to the fact that Ice was about to get busy giving his woman’s tongue a workout, Payne gestured toward the stairs. “Come on up to my office for a chat while Ice gets to work slinging some ink.”
“Hell, no.” Ice determinedly slung an arm around Sunny and held her tight to his side. “I’m sitting in on this conversation.”
Payne rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “And here I was, thinking you came in to work today so you could, y’know, work.”
“I’m sitting in on this conversation.” His grip on her tightened, and he gave the other man a scowl to let him know he was not fucking around. “I’m not going to say it a third time.”
“Hard-ass.” The grudging admiration in Payne’s tone was unmistakable before he turned in the direction of the stairs. “Come on up, Sunny, and bring the hard-ass with you. This is going to be fun.”
Sunny wasn’t sure what Sebastian Payne’s definition of fun meant, so she had no clue what to expect as he led them up the stairs and through a set of double doors into a large contemporary-styled office with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto The Loop. The walls were decorated with framed art she recognized as Payne’s work, along with a few brilliant 3D pieces that had to belong to his wife, renowned artist Becks Delgado. But she barely had time to admire the décor before Ice guided her to a sleek black leather chair opposite a chrome and glass desk that looked more like a cockpit than an actual workspace.
“Okay.” While Ice sat next to her, Payne took the chair behind the desk, and all at once the seemingly laidback man she’d seen downstairs disappeared. In his place was a steely-eyed businessman who was clearly in the mood to haggle. “Let’s get down to it, Sunny. How happy are you where you’re working now?”
So much for small talk. “Since it’s two minutes away from home, I can’t complain.”
He took that in with a slow nod. “You’re that much in love with home, I take it?”
“For the time being, it’s necessary. I have a family member who’s being cared for—in-home hospice.”
“My sympathies.” It seemed genuine, and she had to give him high marks for the concern that shadowed his brow. “My mom had stage-four breast cancer—died before I made it big, so I couldn’t afford anything even close to in-home hospice. As long as I live I’ll never forget my final hike up to the hospital to say my goodbyes, and it seemed to take forever for me to get there. The last thing I wanted to do was go into that room and say those goodbyes, but I didn’t want her to go alone, you know?”
It was impossible to stop the
tingling in her sinuses, so she didn’t even try. “Yes. I know.”
“But in-home hospice. That’s a beautiful thing, if a family can cover that. Your loved one has professional people monitoring their health around the clock, yeah?”
She nodded. “Live-in nursing staff and a personal physician checking in via Skype every twelve hours for updates, in addition to real-life house calls every other day.”
“With all that professional support, I’m guessing that’s why you’re feeling comfortable enough to start looking elsewhere for a job? Ice and Scout mentioned you were thinking of moving on to greener pastures,” he went on when she lifted a brow. “I don’t know the distance between your home and here, but before you start looking anywhere else, I wanted to make sure I got my two cents in with you. Before you make any decisions on a career change, you need to give House Of Payne a good, long look.”
“Her family home’s not that far from here—ten minutes or so, even in shitty traffic.” Ice shrugged before he reached for her hand. Something unbearably sweet curled deep inside her as he squeezed her fingers in silent support. She hadn’t even known she needed it until that moment. “If there’s a problem at home, you do understand she’d have to leave to be with her family, yeah?”
“Absolutely. Hell, I’ll even drive you there myself. But before that drive happens,” he went on, leaning forward, “you should think about giving the House all you’ve got to offer. Namely, help Scout run a tight ship, keep the lunatics in the asylum in line, and basically do whatever an assistant manager does to keep shit running smoothly around here. Think that sounds doable?”
Sunny pursed her lips, lacing her fingers with Ice’s without fully realizing she was doing it. “Sounds okay for a part-time job, but it doesn’t sound like much of a challenge.”
“Considering what a three-ring circus this place is on a weekly basis, it’s a helluva lot crazier than I’m making it sound, but I hear you. That’s why you’d wear another hat in addition to backing up Scout.”