“No. He only said something when I asked if he was feeling well enough to go home.” I reached over and took the delicate white teacup with a brown design covering the top half, and took a sip.
“Hmm,” Evaleen said as she sat back in the creamy upholstered seat. “What did he say?”
“I guess,” I said before lifting the tea to my lips again and wondering how long she was going to stare at me. How long they all were going to stare at me.
“You guess what?” Aria asked.
“No, that’s what Jagger said, ‘I guess.’”
“Oh,” they all chimed in at the same time.
“Then what do you think, Evaleen?” I asked noticing how much she wasn’t looking at me now.
Evaleen went through a range of facial expressions. Some I had never seen on her before. She finally settled on one—pity.
“You should have at least asked if you could talk to him later. Even if it was to let him down.”
Darn it to heck.
I felt bad with how I reacted to Jagger. There had barely been a free moment of time that I hadn’t gone over my lack of response, or the kiss before it, in my head. I was hoping when I came to Morgana’s bridal shower at The Lemington for afternoon tea today that my friends would tell me I did the right thing. Even lie if they had to.
“Ugh, I knew it. I got worried.”
“About a kiss? Or was there something wrong with David? That would explain why you ran off,” Aria asked after she swallowed the last bite of her pastry. “You know what? These are really good.” It was hard to understand her with her mouth full of confection.
“No, not about the kiss. And, there was nothing wrong with David. He only needed to be picked up from the sleepover. I guess it was about everything. How long it’s been for me and he’s a government agent,” I said.
“Was. Was a government agent. He’s a free player now.” Evaleen winked at me.
Everyone went silent at the table.
“Evaleen, did you just wink at Tiffany?” Morgana asked.
“Yes. There’s nothing wrong with winking at someone,” she said picking some pieces off her scone and popping them in her mouth.
“Edgar is rubbing off on you.” Morgana chuckled.
“Anyway, Drake. Where’s your mom and grandmother? I thought for sure they’d be joining us,” Evaleen said.
Morgana shook her head. “Mom said she’s too busy giving the baker specific instructions and tutorials about my upcoming wedding cake.”
She shook her head laughing before growing serious. “Grandma’s RVing again. She’s in the Upper Peninsula now. She promised she would be back for the wedding and told me she had a big surprise for me she wants to give me before the wedding.”
“Let me guess, a female blowup doll?” Aria chuckled.
Morgana’s grandmother, despite much evidence to the contrary, believed Morgana was a lesbian. Actually, it wasn’t so much belief, more like intense desperation. She wanted Morgana to be a lesbian so she could prove to her knitting group that she had a diverse family. There was some fierce competition in that knitting group.
“I don’t know. I just hope she doesn’t interrupt the wedding when the minister asks if there is anyone that has reasons why the bride and groom should not be married to speak now or forever hold their peace,” Morgana said as she grabbed a scone.
“I’m sure it will be a nice gift. She does love you,” I said having met the woman at a dinner Henrik had a few weeks after their engagement.
“Enough about me, how about that kiss,” Morgana said wiggling her eyebrows.
“It was just a kiss,” I said and it felt like the biggest lie of my life.
It wasn’t just a kiss. When he touched my lips, my toes curled and heat crawled into crevices I never imagined I had. The potency burned and his tongue had yet to leave his mouth. I felt sure that kiss had the capacity to produce an orgasm. Because if David hadn’t called, I might have climaxed, standing half on my gray rug and half on the wood floor. I relished every second of that off-kilter kiss.
“Whatever you need to tell yourself, Blackburn. But understand that safety is fine, but risk is the only thing that will bring reward,” Evaleen said.
There was silence again.
“Edgar has been rubbing off on you. Either that or this pregnancy has changed you,” Morgana said.
“And how have I changed?” Evaleen narrowed her eyes at Morgana making me believe there was plenty of the old Evaleen around.
“You’re more . . . uh, how do I say this without sounding like a jerk?” Morgana tapped her chin.
“You’re squishier,” Aria added.
“What?” Evaleen said before snorting.
“You know, softer . . . with emotion. I think you’re still badass, but your kickass-ness has some suppleness to it.” Aria nodded, satisfied with her response.
“Now that’s settled. Blackburn, you need to talk to him. Even if it’s to say goodbye.” Evaleen reached over and placed her hand on mine.
“You’re right. It had been so long since a kiss happened to me. Afterward, I thought, well, I thought a million different things. None of them good. And in any of my thoughts, not once did he let me know that he wanted me. That he might want more.”
Aria growled and everyone sitting at the table, and a few others nearby, turned to look at her.
She lifted her finger and pointed at me. “No. No, you don’t. Tiffany, you are gorgeous. You are stronger than any of us. Sorry, Evaleen, you might be badass, but Tiffany has the inner strength of twenty buffalo.”
Evaleen nodded. “It’s true. As Dixon pointed out earlier, I’m squishy. But seriously, Blackburn, how you managed to handle losing your husband the same night you almost lost your son, it’s humbling that you made it through without losing your mind. And on top of that, you have spent the last decade being your son’s body, his voice, his caregiver, and his only parent. I’m nothing compared to that.”
She squeezed my hand as the tears began to roll down my cheeks.
“I hated you when I first met you,” Morgana said, and I glanced up to find her reaching for my other hand.
“You were beautiful and nice and were hanging on the arm of the man I wanted. I’m ashamed to say it, but I took my anger for how Henrik ran from me and directed it to you. But it took less than an hour when I sat with you during one of our first SWIM Meets to realize I could never hate you. You’re the person every woman wants to be.”
I knew my face was a mess with tears and I had to let go of Evaleen and Morgana’s hands to grab a tissue in my purse.
“I thought this was Morgana’s day?” I said in between sobs.
“No, Tiffany, it’s our day. I wanted my bridal shower to be us ladies. You three have been here with me through all the ups and downs with Henrik. It wouldn’t feel like a bridal shower if I wasn’t celebrating my ladies!” Morgana said and then stood. She started to shake her hips as if something more contemporary than Mozart was playing.
“I’m afraid there’s no dancing here, miss.” A server rushed over and spoke directly to Morgana, “If you insist on dancing, I must ask you to leave.”
Morgana turned toward the short man with matching red hair. “Fine. We’ll just take it to my room. Send your best champagne to the Eternity Suite.”
The man’s eyes widened as he stood a little taller. “Of course. Right away.”
“You got a room?” Evaleen asked as she stood from her chair, grabbing the gift bag for Morgana she brought to the bridal shower.
“Actually, Alex got us a room. He wanted all of us to have fun for the day,” Aria said with a smirk. “And we are going to have so much fun. In fact, there might be a surprise waiting in the room.”
Aria clapped her hands and headed toward the elevators. In her enthusiasm, she forgot about the rest of us.
She ended up in the elevator before us and we finally met up on the twelfth floor.
“You ready, ladies?” Aria asked in front of the door
to the room.
“Yes,” Morgana said as Evaleen and I nodded our heads.
Aria knocked on the door.
“Don’t you have the key—” Evaleen was cut off when the door opened and standing there was a gorgeous, half-naked man. All he wore were jeans. No shoes, no socks, and definitely no shirt.
“Please, ladies, come in. Your room is ready.”
We walked through the large entryway with marble tile floor and a round glass table with a beautiful flower arrangement on it filled with lilies. Putting our purses and Morgana’s presents down on the table, we walked in awe into the next room which was a huge living room with a wall of windows overlooking the Chicago River.
“Oh my God! Is that a yellow grand piano?” Morgana shrieked before turning toward us. “Quick, does anyone here know how to play piano?”
“I know chopsticks,” Evaleen said.
Morgana turned to Aria. “Where is the surprise? I mean, other than this amazing room, but Alex got us that. You said you had something.”
Right at that moment, a different tall man, ripped with muscles, only in jeans came up to Morgana. “May I offer you some cake?”
He was British.
“Here is your gift, Morgana. He will be your personal servant all night, and that includes overnight. So—” Aria said before Morgana cut her off.
“If I wake up in the middle of the night and want cake, he would be there to serve it to me?” Morgana said with a tremble in her voice as a lonely tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.
“Yes,” Aria said and was instantly seized by Morgana in a bear hug.
“This is my dream come true,” Morgana said in a half sob.
I smiled and was thankful Henrik said he would look after David tonight. I think he was going to invite Edgar over, make it a guy’s night.
The man who opened the door and two more men, all dressed only in jeans, came into the room.
“Tiffany, meet Lagi. He will be your server for the evening.” Aria brought over a tall man with thick, curly dark brown hair and deep caramel skin. He looked like a model who would be advertising the islands of the South Pacific.
I blushed and gave a small wave. “Hi.”
Aria said with a sly smile, “Why don’t you two stand next to each other so I can take a picture.”
This was weird and exciting and uncomfortable. I wasn’t used to being waited on and to have half-naked men paraded around in front of me didn’t feel right. But, if it made Morgana happy, I would try my best to have fun.
I scooted closer to Lagi as he wrapped his thick arm around me. His touch was soft, gentle, as if he knew I wasn’t comfortable with all this.
“Now smile.” Aria held up her phone and the flash went off. “Perfect. I’m totally posting this.”
Aria tapped at her phone a few times and just before she turned to Morgana to take her picture, she leaned toward me. “My followers are so used to me posting my art. But, I’m sure they won’t mind seeing some man candy.” Aria winked at me.
EIGHTEEN
Jagger
“He’s killed her,” I said as I stared at the image on the screen.
The past few days hadn’t been good. No, actually, they had been some of the worst days of my life. I’d rather be tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse in the desert with ten large men taking turns using me for boxing practice, than dealing with Tiffany acting like our kiss never happened.
And then I saw the picture. That’s when I imagined every worst possible outcome. In each of them, I’m too late and she’s dead.
“You shouldn’t be calling me, Jagger,” Tenn said over the phone.
I called him this morning in desperation. There had to be some way Tenn could look up this guy Tiffany was standing next to. He seemed seedy, suspicious, and must have been a criminal.
“What could I do? He’s probably going to hurt her. She’s not safe. I need your help.”
I heard Tenn groan in the background. “Fine, what’s his name?”
“I don’t know.”
There was silence for several moments.
“You don’t know? Then how am I going to help you?”
“Don’t you have access to the ITA’s face recognition software?”
“Yes, but—”
“Tenn, please. If this were reversed and you were the one desperate for my help, I wouldn’t think twice about it. I would be there for you no matter what.”
When I saw that picture on Aria’s site, it felt like my heart was being fed into a shredder. I wanted to reach through my phone and pull her out of there. Away from his arms and into mine.
It’s not like I had been stalking her or her friends on social media, or anywhere on the Internet. Maybe a little. But I had to make sure Tiffany was safe. That nothing out of the ordinary was happening to her. Specifically, any risk that she experienced from getting to know me, and of course, marrying me.
I knew how to deduce where she was based on what was in the photograph. The furniture and, even better, the view from the window behind them, gave me everything I needed. Tiffany was downtown, in the Eternity room at The Lemington.
I tried calling her, several times, but she didn’t answer. What could I do? I grabbed my keys, intending to head down to the hotel and make up a story about being a federal agent and needing access to the twelfth-floor rooms. But when I was about to open the door to my tiny apartment that backed up to the red line, I stopped.
That was why I didn’t deserve Tiffany. I would lie to everyone just to get near her. Something was very wrong with that. My career went into the gutter because of what I would do to be near her.
That’s why I needed Tenn. He could do all that for me.
“Fine. But just this once. Send me the image and I’ll get back to you. But don’t call me anymore. I can’t be talking to you,” Tenn said, his voice hushed and I assumed Katlin was probably nearby.
He hung up and I pushed send on the image I already had waiting for him.
Then I waited. My foot bounced up and down. Glancing at my phone, I swiped the screen back on. He hadn’t responded yet. I put the phone down and started to bounce my foot again.
Standing, I went to the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat in the refrigerator. Glancing at the clock on the microwave, it stated it was eleven thirty. Only one minute had passed since I had gotten off the phone with Tenn.
“Fuck,” I said slamming the refrigerator door. I could hear something fall inside but I didn’t care.
I needed to get out. Take a walk. The fresh, late summer air might help clear my mind. Maybe I’ll take a walk to the lake.
Doing just that, within minutes I was out the door and walking the three blocks to the park. Once I went through the tunnel under Lake Shore Drive, I was there. Among the dog walkers, baby strollers, rollerbladers, and the evil squirrels. There was something about the squirrels in Chicago. I think they were tougher than the mobsters.
Without thinking, I headed south. Did I do that on purpose, I don’t know, but I ended up not far from Tiffany’s building. I like to think it was subconscious but I know it wasn’t.
A refreshing walk turned into a twenty-minute dash to Tiffany’s place.
I turned away from the park and back onto the city sidewalks. Since her building faced the lake, there weren’t that many people on her side of the street. Therefore, I couldn’t help but notice her as I grew closer. She was half a block from her building heading north and I was a block away, heading south.
Just as she glanced up from digging into her purse, she saw me. I braced for the worst. Pretending she didn’t see me or making a U-turn and disappearing.
But something much worse happened. When she lifted her hand to wave at me, some guy ran up and grabbed her purse. She tugged back, and my heart pumped so fast I thought it might give me superpowers.
I don’t even remember crossing the street as I ran to her.
“Let the fuck go, bitch. Don’t make me take out my knife.” The
mugger let a hand go and started to reach into his pocket. But, this happened right when I got there.
Tiffany fell back, letting go of her purse. The thief had officially stolen her purse and threatened violence, which made it okay for me to rough him up. I would have tossed him around anyway, but at least I can tell the police I was afraid he would take out his knife and did everything in my power to stop him.
The idiot didn’t count on a highly trained former secret agent to be directly behind him as he lifted the blade from his pocket. The moron turned which made it almost too easy to grab his knife-wielding arm—which I did. I wrapped my other fist so tight around his greasy ponytail I thought his scalp might bleed.
“Going somewhere, motherfucker?” I said and let go of his hair so I could punch him in the face. And the stomach. Just for good measure, I kneed him in the balls too.
The knife fell and I kicked it away, into the street.
He couldn’t run anywhere, even if I let him out of the hold I had him in. I pinned him to the ground and forced his hands behind his back. When I gazed up I found Tiffany standing there, her ponytail askew and a few other people around her.
“I called the police. Man, that was a cool takedown. Are you a cop?” One of the guy’s in a bike helmet asked.
“Something like that,” I said but focused on Tiffany, looking for any signs of injury. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just a scrape on my elbow,” she said but most of the color had drained from her face.
The police arrived shortly after and we explained what had happened. I informed the police that there were security cameras outside the building if they needed security footage.
Once we were done, I insisted Tiffany go to the hospital but she refused. Instead, I guided her to her apartment. Once we were inside, I told her to lie down in her room. I found her first-aid kit and cleaned up her elbow.
“What if it’s broken. I may have ninja moves but I’m no doctor,” I said with a chuckle trying to lighten her spirits.
She had been quiet coming up to her place. I was worried there was more damage than she was letting on and Tiffany might be in shock. Checking her pupils, I saw they weren’t dilated. Perhaps it was just taking a while for the situation to settle in for her.
The Spy Ring (Cake Love Book 4) Page 11