I could hardly breathe. His words were clawing at my heart – my soul.
“We were inevitable, you and I. There is nothing in this world that could keep me from you pretty girl.” I took a deep breath and soaked in his love. It was pouring off him and into me. In that moment – I lost the last of my fear.
He loved me and I loved him. He was a lion, roaring his love at me, chasing away my insecurities and letting me be free.
“I’ve never known this.” I whispered.
“Known what?” He frowned in confusion.
“What it’s like to be completely in love with someone, and have them undoubtedly return the feeling.” I confessed softly.
Lawson’s eyes softened in what I assumed was sympathy.
I saw the moment he realised exactly what I’d just said. “You love me?” He asked, his voice torn.
I nodded my head. “I’m in love with you.” I gently stroked the side of his face. “I don’t think I fell in love with you. I walked into it. I choose you. I choose your kindness and your strength. I choose your banging body and your generous heart. I choose you Lawson.” I spoke the words with absolute clarity.
He gave me a boyish grin that made him look much younger than his 32 years. “You and me baby. I know we’ve rushed to this point, but we’ve got forever to take it slow.”
Forever.
I’d forced myself in the last few months to believe that nothing was forever – but when he said the words, I couldn’t help but believe it was possible.
54. Lawson
“I don’t know about this El.” I ran my hand through my hair. I knew it was a good plan, but my mind was screaming at me that it was too dangerous – that I should be keeping my girl out of harm’s way.
“Mark agreed that it was a good idea. You said yourself, you can’t stand being a sitting duck. Well, this is your chance to take control.” She took my face in her hands and stared into my eyes. “We’ll be fine cowboy. I’ll be fine. It’s the only chance we have to get a lead.”
I reluctantly nodded. “Have you checked your mail yet?”
It was early Monday morning, I’d drove Quinn and El home to get ready for work, and then driven them both here.
Ellerslie and I had a perfect weekend. I loved that girl more than my own life. And by some small miracle she loved me too. We’d spent yesterday talking, dancing and playing. It was exactly the type of life I wanted for us. I wanted us together. I knew it was too early, but I wanted El to live with me. She belonged there.
Quinn had stayed last night and she’d been over the moon for us. It was the best feeling in the world calling El my girlfriend, and seeing how proud my sister was of me was incredibly rewarding too.
“Yeah I sure did. There was nothing there.” El reassured me.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I wanted to be the target of this – not her. “That’s good, I’ll go and check in with Quinn and head back to my office.”
She wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed me tight. “Text me if there’s anything there okay?”
I nodded and kissed her forehead.
“And remember, I’m heading to the lobby at 12.00pm and you aren’t coming down until 12.15pm.” She reminded me.
I wasn’t happy about this part of the plan. El had come up with the idea and Mark had jumped all over it. The intention was that, if someone was ratting us out they would report to the stalker when El went downstairs. If photos turned up of El alone, then she was the target, if there was nothing until I was there, then I was the target. I wasn’t convinced, but as El happily pointed out to me – two beats one.
I need to find my damn balls.
“Yeah, yeah, I remember.” I grumbled.
She swatted my ass as I walked away.
“Lawson?” She called as I opened the door.
I turned back to face her and my breath caught in my chest. Light pooled around her from the windows and she looked so fucking beautiful. I stood there silently like an idiot – waiting for her to speak.
“I love you.” She said in a soft, sweet voice. My heart flipped. I was never going to get tired of hearing those three little words from her.
“I love you more.” I managed to choke out. I stepped out the door and quickly shut it behind me.
What the hell was that?
I’d seen that woman from every angle, hundreds and hundreds of times. But I had never, ever, seen her look that beautiful.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I glanced over at Weston, who was looking quite amused at my melt down moment.
“Quite the opposite West.” I shook my head in bewilderment as I headed down the hall. “Quite the opposite.” I repeated quietly to myself.
***
I checked my watch, again. And found only two more minutes had passed since I last checked.
11.45am
El would be heading down in about fifteen minutes, and then they expected me to sit here for fifteen more minutes after that.
Fuck that.
I pulled my jacket off the back of my chair and shrugged it on.
“I’m going to lunch Christie.”
“I’ll see you in an hour or so Mr. Pierce.” My assistant replied.
I made sure to walk slowly down the hallway to the elevators – I wanted to be seen. I didn’t want to ruin the plan completely.
I looked around in what I hoped was a casual manner when I reached the lobby. I’d looked into the angles of the photos we’d received and there was no consistency between the two. I didn’t say anything to El, but I think she was right when she guessed that the first photo had been taken from inside the building. It was just another reason I didn’t want her down here alone.
I couldn’t see anything or anyone that looked out of place as I walked towards the seating area to wait for El.
11.53am.
Seven more minutes.
My nerves were getting the better of me. I was sure it wasn’t normal to feel this way. I wanted her with me 24/7. I could have blamed it on the threat looming over our heads, but I was sure I’d feel this way regardless. I just wanted her with me.
My knee bounced up and down as I stared at the elevators.
11.59am.
Any minute now.
12.02pm… where the hell is she?
I was just about head back up and get her myself when she stepped out of the elevator – she didn’t see me.
Because I’m not meant to be here yet.
She had her attention focused on her phone and a moment later I felt mine vibrate with an incoming message.
“She knew one hundred little things about him, but when he kissed her she couldn’t remember her own name. – Michelle Hodkin.”
I was grinning like an idiot when she looked up and noticed me. She frowned and made a beeline for me.
Ah crap.
I held my hands up in surrender. “Before you say anything, I didn’t ruin it. I couldn’t leave you down here alone Ells. I made a call and I stand by my choice – I’m not sure why we didn’t plan it this way in the first place.”
She smirked. “Are you done?”
I shrugged and gave her my best charming smile.
She rolled her eyes. “C’mon you overprotective fool. Let’s have lunch.”
“Home is not where you are from, it’s where you belong. Some of us travel the whole world to find it. Others, find it in a person.”
- Beau Taplin
55. Ellerslie
“So Quinn called Brooke, Jemma and Stacey, they’re coming in three weeks.” I braced myself for his objections.
“No Lexie?” He asked.
“Na, she has to work, she’s pissed she can’t make it.”
“Okay, so it’ll be the five of you?”
I nodded. I had no idea what he was doing, he looked like he was counting something up in his head. “And Lisa.” I added.
“Okay so six of you. And me, Colt and Reeve.”
I nodded. “Yeah…”
“Okay. What are you planning on doing?”
“You’re not mad?” I blurted out.
He chuckled at my disbelief.
I blushed. “I mean, you weren’t exactly happy about it. You don’t mind do you? I can’t wait to see my girls. But we can stay in if you want us to.”
“Na it’s cool pretty girl.” He gave me a smirk. “I called for backup.”
I frowned at him. “Backup?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “My boys are coming too.”
“Really?” I squeaked in excitement. This was starting to sound like a great time.
“I called Rome, Josh and Logan and they said they were in, whenever, wherever.” His eyes were shining as he talked about them. I could tell they were important to him and I couldn’t wait to meet them.
“I’m excited to meet them.”
“I can’t wait to introduce you to them baby.”
“I’m looking forward to my new boyfriend meeting my friends too.” I smiled. “I know you’ve met Brooke, but brace yourself for Jem and Stace, they are firecrackers.”
I dipped my French fry in the ketchup, bit it, and dipped it again.
Lawson screwed his face up. “Did you just double dip in my ketchup?”
I laughed out loud. “Really cowboy? After all of the dirty things you’ve done to me, you want to complain about that?”
He laughed. “You make a good point Miss Rush.”
“But back to your boys – I’m serious about these girls. They’re a handful.” I giggled. Those girls had gotten me into more trouble than I’d care to admit.
“Don’t worry about it.” He said with a wink. “I think the boys can handle themselves.”
I had my doubts, but I’d let him figure that one out for himself.
“Do you want to stay at my house? Everyone I mean? I can pretend I’m not there while you paint nails or whatever the heck you girls do?” He leaned back in his seat as he spoke and looked up and down the street – it appeared casual, but I knew better.
“Thank you, that’s so sweet. I’d love to have the girls there. You won’t need to hide though. Get the guys to come too? We can make a weekend out of it.”
Lawson raised his eyebrows at me. “Are these girls single?”
I thought for a minute. “Yeah, Stace was seeing someone, but I don’t think it worked out. Whys that?”
He laughed. “You might regret asking these guys. Rome is a complete player, Josh can’t keep it in his pants, Logan is harmless – but those other two can be dogs.”
I snorted. “Sounds like they’ll give each other a run for their money.”
Lawson grinned. “Shit, what have I got myself into?”
“I was wondering the same thing cowboy.”
The shrill ring of Lawson’s phone interrupted us. “Lawson Pierce.” He answered. “Where?” His eyes landed on mine as he listened intently. “We’ll be there in 10 minutes.” He hung up. “That was Mark. We have to go.”
He waved a waiter over and handed him more than enough cash to cover our bill. “Keep the change.”
I didn’t even hear his reply, Lawson pulled me from my chair and dragged me down the street.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“One of Mark’s guys spotted him. Taking photos from the other side of the street. He lost him in a crowd. I need to get you out of here.”
“A man?” I asked. This was not good.
“A man.”
My heart sank – I was beginning to realise this was all directed at me.
Lawson was power walking us down the street and my arm felt like it was going to rip from its socket.
“Lawson. Slow down. He didn’t try to hurt us. Just calm down.”
He stopped in his tracks and shielded my body with his. “Please Ells. Just this one time can you please not argue with me.” His eyes were begging me, pleading with me to move.
“Okay.” I cradled his face. “Just please calm your shit.”
He took a deep breath and steered me towards the direction of our building.
***
“Did he get a decent look at him?” Lawson barked at Mark.
“He did, but he couldn’t see his face. It’s not going to be overly helpful information. He was average height, build and had brown hair.”
Lawson huffed out a breath. “So basically every bloody guy on the street is a suspect.”
Mark nodded. “Exactly.”
Lawson began pacing the room again. He’d been doing it virtually non-stop since we’d arrived back and he’d dragged me into his office.
I’m never going to get any work done.
“Have you received anything yet?” Mark turned to me.
“Huh?” I asked, still half in a daydream.
“Any envelopes, emails, phone calls?” He asked.
I shook my head. I had nothing – yet. “I haven’t checked my office though, Lawson brought me straight in here.”
Lawson stormed to his desk and ripped the phone from the holder. He jabbed at a few numbers and put the phone to his ear. “Weston, this is Lawson.” He listened to West speak. “Yes, listen, I need you to let me know if anything comes through for El, any mail, messages, emails, anything. Do you understand?”
Guess I’m not going back up any time soon.
“Good. Thank you.” He hung up.
“Lawson, I can check myself. I have work I need to do.” I snapped. I was starting to lose my temper. I knew the situation was turning to crap, but I needed to get my work done – I needed a distraction from all this bullshit. Watching Lawson in the process of losing his mind was only making it worse.
“No El. You’re staying where I can see you. I need you here to keep me sane.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well I need to work to keep me sane.” I pointed a finger at him. “I’ll make you a deal. I’m going to go upstairs and get my laptop. I will work from here for the afternoon, but for the love of god, stop that pacing.”
Mark chuckled and Lawson shot him a glare.
He went to speak but I cut him off. “I’m going now. If I’m not back in ten minutes you can send out a search party.” I jumped up and stomped out of the room before he could argue with me. I know he was just worried, but he could handle 10 minutes.
I grabbed my laptop and a few files from my desk. “Just redirect any urgent calls to my cell please West, and if you need me you can text or call me. I’m just downstairs.” I called out to him from my office.
“No worries El.” I heard him answer.
My phone beeped with a message and I groaned. I checked the time.
C’mon man, I’ve only been gone 8 minutes.
I swiped the screen and was surprised to see the message wasn’t from Lawson. It was from an unknown number. My blood ran cold as I saw the message – it was a close up of my face, I had my head titled to the side, rested on my hand. The look in my eyes was of pure love, and I knew that this was a picture of me looking at Lawson. It had been taken during our lunch today.
“You’re going back where you belong.”
That was all it said.
My hands were shaking so badly I dropped everything I was carrying with a loud thud that caused Weston to come running.
“El!” He yelled. “What happened?”
“Shit!” I bent down to pick all my crap off the floor.
Weston knelt down next to me and grabbed my arm. “What happened El?” He asked softly.
“A text.” I whispered. I shoved the phone at him and scooped up the rest of my stuff.
I heard Weston gasp as he read the looked at the message. “Oh no. Lawson is going to flip when he sees this.”
“When I see what?”
I snapped my head around and met Lawson’s eyes. I must have looked confused at seeing him.
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