by Stacy Gail
Yep. That was Payne in a nutshell. First, last and always, his focus was the House. “Business?”
“Scout showed me the practice skin you were working on, and it blew my mind. I need to see what you’ve got in your freezer at some point this week.”
Good grief, she’d forgotten all about those. “Oh, my practice skins. Okay, if I remember, I’ll bring them in tomorrow.”
“Uh-huh, right. Do me a solid, brother,” Payne said, pointing at Twist. “Make sure she doesn’t forget them, yeah? Just toss ‘em in a cooler or whatever.”
Twist nodded. “Cool.”
Angel didn’t know whether to laugh or roll her eyes. If this was what it was to become one half of a whole—to have others naturally turn to Twist for something that had to do with her, and vice versa—it was weird and wonderful all at the same time.
Payne aimed his attention back at her. “Once I see what you’ve got cooked up, I’m going to want an entire line of what you’ve been working on, starting with some watercolor ombre tats, and I’ll want it by the end of next week. No pressure.”
“Right,” she said faintly. Twist squeezed her neck in support.
“If those designs are half as good as what I’ve already seen, this is what I’ve got in my head. I want a massive, star-studded red carpet reveal of your new coloring technique to coincide with… shit, what’d you call that dumbass thing that’s going on next month, Scout?”
His assistant sighed, looking aggrieved. “For the third time, Fashion Week. Designers the world over will be showing their spring and summer collections.”
“In fucking autumn,” Payne sneered, exchanging looks with an equally disdainful Twist. “Whatever. All I know is that a lot of skin’s gonna be on display during this fashion gig, and a lot of media’s gonna be zeroed in on that skin. I want a piece of that media action for the House.”
Beside her, Twist ran a thumb in a lazy rhythm along her nape. “What are you thinking?”
“Scout’s going to contact some local talent from the fashion sector here in Chicago to put together a show of a new clothing line—I dunno, something we can sell in our store and online, nothing too fancy.”
“I want it to be fancy,” Scout added, and shot Payne an arch look. “If Ed Hardy can do it, we can do it, too. And way better, I might add.”
Payne rolled his eyes. “This is why you’re the one who’s going to choose the fashion designs and I’m staying the fuck out of that. Whatever we do come up with, though, it’ll compliment your designs, Angel. That’s going to be how we’re going to do a huge reveal for your newly invented coloring techniques. With the full-on media glare of Fashion Week on what you come up with, it should be the biggest reveal the House has ever had.”
“Holy cats,” she murmured, staring at him while Twist chuckled. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. Now, of course I’m gonna need you front and center when—”
Her phone chirruped, making everyone freeze as though a great celestial hand had hit the pause button on the room. Sending Payne an apologetic glance, Angel dug out her phone from her hoodie’s pocket, then groaned. “Oh, God. It’s my mother, probably wondering where the movers are and why their stuff hasn’t been taken care of and why didn’t I let the painters in and what the hell did the handyman do to the pantry door…” She dropped the phone on the table and stared at it as if she thought a cockroach might crawl out of it. “I can’t answer. I’m not up to it.”
“I am.” Before she could say a word, Twist plucked up the phone, thumbed the screen and brought it to his ear. “Hello, Mrs. Taylor. You’ve reached Angel’s phone. This is Twist Santiago, Angel’s fiancée.”
Payne’s eyes widened before he whispered, “Fiancée? You guys are engaged?”
“No, he just does that when he wants leverage.” She waved a dismissive hand as if trying to erase the word out of the air before turning her attention to Twist. “Give me—”
It was his turn to wave a hand at her. “Yes, Mrs. Taylor, her fiancée. At the risk of starting out on the wrong foot with you… Actually, you know what? I really don’t give two shits about starting off on the wrong foot with you, because the way I see it, you’ve already done that with me.”
Angel’s jaw dropped.
Scout gasped.
Payne chuckled. “Damn.”
“You’re not really in my lady’s life—her decision, and I respect that. Thankfully, you and your husband usually respect it, too. But while you two were off playing a silly game on some golf course with a bunch of has-beens in Arizona, you chose to saddle your daughter with your responsibility of packing up your shit instead of coming home like the adult you are and doing it yourself. Worse yet, you did this without once asking your own daughter how she was, to see if she was physically up to the task you were dumping on her. I’ll tell you how Angel was, though I thought it should have been obvious from her disjointed speech and general confusion when you spoke with her. Angel had a bad concussion after she’d been mugged by a man about twice her size, and had been unconscious in a hospital emergency room a mere ten hours before you called her to make sure she took care of your problems.”
Again she tried to reach for the phone. “Twist—”
“No.” To her surprise, Payne leaned over and caught her hand. His smile was sharp as he and Twist exchanged speaking glances. “This is his right to do this, so let him do it.”
Angel stared at him, uncomprehending. His right?
“Yes, Mrs. Taylor, I know you had no idea,” Twist continued, and his tone somehow matched the knife-sharpness of Payne’s smile. “One, because Angel didn’t tell you—a bad decision, but considering the doctor taking care of her warned us about possible decision-making hiccups with a concussed brain, I can’t blame her for it. And two, you didn’t listen to her. You were too focused on your problems to hear that she had some obvious problems of her own. Which leads me to what happened this morning, and how your house became a crime scene.”
Angel hid her face with her hands.
“Your daughter is as tough as they come, she’s got the heart of a lion, and there’s no one on this planet I admire more,” he went on, stunning her enough to drop her hands to stare at him while her heart suddenly felt too big for her chest. “She had the guts to make her way in the world without help from anyone, before she’d even graduated from fucking high school. What’s more, she has every badass down here at House Of Payne wrapped around her little finger. But as fierce as my Angel is, she’s still a hundred pounds soaking wet and with those toothpick arms of hers, she looks like she could be taken out by a preschooler on a sugar rampage.”
Payne snorted.
“Yet despite all that, you sent my delicate Angel to deal with inspectors and movers and handymen and God knows what all, by herself. You didn’t provide any backup for her. You didn’t send someone with some muscle and testosterone to make sure she stayed healthy. I tried to do that out of concern for her safety, but my brother got stuck in traffic this morning and couldn’t be there with her when someone showed up. This was a bad someone, Mrs. Taylor, a real bad someone. He’s now in police custody and will no doubt fail his mental health evaluation.”
That was true, but technically speaking no one had called Walt Hildebrandt. She wasn’t about to point that out to Twist now, however, since he seemed to be on quite the roll.
“If Angel hadn’t kept her composure and called me for help from a phone that she kept hidden, then managed to keep that line open so everyone knew exactly who had her and where she was, I could have lost the center of my universe today, and you could have lost a daughter that you don’t seem to care very much about. So you and your husband need to think about how you can do a better job taking care for your only child before you even consider picking up the phone again and dialing her number. Because lady, you need to know that if you don’t wake the fuck up and put Angel as the center of your world, I’m going to have a real problem with you even being in hers.” With that, he hung
up, then for good measure turned the phone off.
Scout let out a whoop. “Holy shit! Now that was a proper ass-chewing!”
“Good job.” Payne nodded like what he’d just witnessed was normal, everyday business, before pushing to his feet. “Scout, let’s bounce downstairs. Guys, stay in here as long as you need to.”
“What? Payne, both Twist and Angel have appointments starting at one, so—”
“Scout, they’re staying in here as long as they need to. I’ll take someone if they pitch a hissy about needing their ink, and you’ll keep juggling schedules to make everyone happy.”
“I hate juggling.”
“Suck it up, buttercup. This is why I pay you the big bucks.”
“I want a raise,” Scot shot back as Payne pushed her out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Silence rang around them for about half a minute before Angel managed to re-hinge her jaw. “So, um…”
“Don’t.” Twist pushed out of his chair and began to pace toward the windows like a caged animal. “Don’t even think about bitching at me for saying what I said, Angel. The air had to be cleared, because everyone has to understand that you’re not to be treated in a way that makes you unhappy or puts you in danger. I won’t stand for it.”
“Thank you.”
He did a quick double-take. “What?”
“I want to yell at you,” she confided, trying to be as honest as possible. “Like, hugely. But what you said… Twist, it was wonderful, every last bit of it. But even more than that, it made me realize how wonderful you’ve been when it comes to looking out for me. You’re better at it than my own family who’s supposed to love me. So thank you.”
He shrugged that aside, though his expression relaxed into what appeared to be wry relief. “Don’t thank me for doing what comes naturally. At this point, I feel like I’ve got a master’s degree when it comes to looking out for you.”
“Why do you think I called you instead of 911?” With a smile, she rose and began tidying up the remnants of their lunch. “I knew if I could manage to get a hold of you to let you know I was in trouble, you would find a way to get me to safety.”
“You don’t know how happy I am that you’ve finally figured that out, little girl. Took you long enough.” Strong arms came around her from behind and squeezed with gentle ferocity, even as his face came to bury itself in her neck. “I can’t even breathe right unless I know you’re safe and happy, so knowing you finally see that—and that you trust me to make you safe when you needed it the most—means the world to me.”
A thrill rippled through her at the admission, and she laid her hands over his corded forearms. “Is that what has changed in you?”
“Changed?”
“Yeah. There’s something’s different going on inside of you. Something good.” She turned in his embrace to gaze up at him, and her throat clenched hard on a surge of the sweetest happiness when she saw that beautiful, melting softness was still there in his eyes. She twined her arms around his neck and gave him a smile that she suspected reflected all the dazzling emotions overflowing inside her. “It’s like a terrible shadow that’s been there ever since I’ve known you—a shadow I thought was a part of you—has vanished from your eyes, and suddenly you seem a lot… I don’t know. Closer.”
That softness never wavered as he smiled down at her, while his arms tightened until their bodies pressed together in one long line. “Closer?”
“More free to touch me. More free to be your true self. Just… I don’t know. More free. Do you know what I mean?”
“I know exactly what you mean,” came the immediate reply, surprising her. “And I know exactly what the difference is.”
“What?”
“I saw myself in Walt today. And I have to admit, it wasn’t a pretty sight.”
Her jaw dropped. “Twist… okay, I don’t understand. You’re nothing like Walt.”
“Yeah, I am. He saw me as the source of all the shit that went down eight years ago, and deep down I saw it that way too. The one thing I didn’t see was how self-destructive and flat-out insane that way of thinking is. It wasn’t until I heard Walt’s ranting about how I was to blame for all the evil his demon of a son did that I was finally able to put it all in perspective. I realized that meeting someone and making them welcome in my life doesn’t make me responsible for whatever shit they decide to pull. That burden isn’t mine to carry, so I dropped it then and there. And I swear I’m not going to pick it up again. I’m not going to become another Walt.”
“My beautiful man.” She closed her eyes and lowered her head in sheer relief, and hugged him to her all the more when his lips caressed her brow. “You’ve forgiven yourself at last. I’m so, so happy to hear that.”
“It also helped to hear how proud you are of me for beating the shit out of that fucker,” he admitted, and his faint chuckle brought her eyes back up to his, only to find he was looking at her in a way that melted her bones. “For the first time since I’ve known you, I’m not worried that you might be ashamed of being with a man who’s an ex-con. Gotta say, it’s a great feeling, babe. I feel like I could fly.”
She almost growled, furious that such a thought had ever been in his head. “Twist, how could I ever be ashamed of you? You’re the greatest, bravest man I know. I’m so proud to be with you I wish I could shout about it from the top of Willis Tower.”
“My sweet Angel.” A breathtaking kind of anguish tensed his face a moment before he lifted her off the ground, coaxing her legs to wrap around him. Then he turned and headed for the long leather sofa, his lips leasing hers. “I can be anything when you believe in me, did you know that? When you give me that faith, you give me the whole world.”
“All I do is give you me.”
“Like I said, you give me the world. The only world that matters to me, anyway. Don’t ever stop, okay?”
“You’ll always have me.” As they went down on the couch, her thighs straddling his and their mouths mating in feverish need, she heard the promise resonating in her words, and she knew she meant it. In that moment, she gave him her faith, her support, her love. Not for a little while, but always.
Clothes became a hindrance, and with the clamor inside her to reaffirm that she was alive and safe in her man’s arms, propriety and decorum were sacrificed to a much more basic drive. When she paused to unlace her boots and shuck her tights, Twist watched her, his face taut with hunger and his dark eyes glittering with a fire that threatened to burn out of control.
“We gotta be out of our minds to do this in Payne’s office.” But he was already reaching for protection. “If he hadn’t said for us to take our time in here, even volunteering to take our appointments for us, I wouldn’t even think about doing this.”
“But he did because he’s a great man with an even greater woman, and he’s the kind of boss who understands what it takes to keep his people happy and productive.” Leaving her skirt in place but otherwise bare underneath, she resumed her straddling position and curled her fingers around his stiffened flesh, claiming him. “Ready to get happy and productive?”
“Ready to get happy, anyway. Productive would mean taking off the rubber, and I’d like maybe a year or so with it being just the two of us before we get busy with making our first baby.”
“A baby? Wait, you want—” She interrupted herself as he surged into her, his hand coming between them to drag through her wetness and to ultimately find the spot that drove her insane.
“Always so wet for me.” His voice was both rough and breathlessly tender, and it rippled through her like magic. Her interior walls stretched as he filled her, a sensation she reveled in while his free hand tangled in her hair to pull her mouth to his. “I love how you want me, baby. I love everything about you.”
Her heart jettisoned into the stratosphere and took her soul along with it, an emotion that only intensified the feverish stimulation that his massaging hand and being filled by him gave her. Her ability to s
peak vanished as she undulated her hips in an effort to chase down that explosion of sensation. It was on her almost before she was ready for it. Her head arched back as the rolling of her hips became a wild frenzy, and ecstasy showered through her in a sudden cascade that took her breath away.
Moments later, even as the shivery echoes of pleasure rippled through her, he gritted his teeth as if in agony, his eyes closing as he groaned and thrust into her with gentle savagery. She watched him as his orgasm hit him hard, and as the tension at last drained from his face to leave behind a look of sated exultation, she knew that even if they lived into their hundreds, she’d never be able to get enough of him.
Before she knew he was going to move, he dropped his face into her neck while his arms pulled her closer. “You’re making me hot all over again, watching me come like that. Better stop before we go for round two, and Payne never gets his office back.”
“You’re just so gorgeous, I have to watch you.” When his arms tightened in response, she rubbed her lips against his hair and savored the sensation. “Did you mean what you said about having a baby with me, or was that just like how you tell people you’re my fiancée whenever you need to gain the advantage?”
For a moment he was quiet before his head came up, and the dark eyes that locked onto hers were the softest she had ever seen.
“Angel, I tell people you’re my fiancée because it’s the best and easiest word to describe what you are to me. I do it so they’ll understand that you are mine, and I’m yours, and that we’re not to be separated, no matter what. We haven’t made it official, and I’m sorry about that—that’s on me. But you should know that from the first moment I laid eyes on you, something deep down and absolute told me that you and I belonged to each other. And I know you know it too. The moment you called us a team, I knew you felt the same way.”
“When you’re right, you’re right.” Dizzy fireworks of joy exploded inside her, and with her eyes swimming with warm wetness, she cupped her hand over his bristly cheek. “I guess that means it is official, then. I know I belong to you, and I’m so glad you want to belong to me. But most of all, I’m happy to have you as my best friend, my protector and the love of my life, rather than my enemy who throws away my food.”