“I’m going to jump in the shower and then blow out my hair.” She narrowed her eyes. “And, no, you can’t join me because I want to eat before work so the girls don’t yell at me, and if we shower together, we’d take twice as long since you can’t keep your hands off me.”
Austin grinned then stood up, naked and so freaking sexy Sierra had to keep her mouth closed lest she start drooling. His cock was only semi-hard considering they’d just finished coming less than five minutes ago, but, damn, he was big. Lucky her.
“You know, we’d save water if we share. Think of the planet, Legs.”
She rolled her eyes even as she walked into the bathroom to turn on the water and get about her morning business. She closed the door behind her, but he walked right in. Well then, apparently they were past privacy in their relationship.
That was fast.
She jumped in the shower while he did his own business, and Sierra thought about where her life had been and where it was now. Here she was in a pretty freaking serious relationship even though neither of them said it, and now she was sharing a bathroom with the man.
“By the way, Legs, the girls aren’t the only ones who’ll be pissed if you don’t take care of yourself and eat.”
“I’m going to eat as soon as I get out. Promise.” Her body warmed at the thought he cared for her in more ways than just in bed. They were slowly becoming more entwined in certain ways outside the bedroom. They ate lunches together during the day and had meals together at night. He’d fixed her window, and she helped him pick out curtains for, of all things, his living room. He made sure she ate, and she made sure he had a game plan when it came to helping his father deal with what was to come.
They were a couple, and there was no way she could deny it.
Not that she was sure she wanted to anymore.
By the time she got out of the shower and blew her hair out so it was decent for work, Austin was in the kitchen wearing only a pair of jeans and pouring oatmeal into bowls.
She smiled then walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Hey, Legs, you smell good,” he rumbled as he added fruit to hers and brown sugar to his. “I figured oatmeal would be better than bacon and eggs. I don’t have any yogurt, or I’d have made that for you.”
Sierra took the pot from his hands, set it down, and then stood on her tiptoes to cup his face. “Thank you.”
His gaze traced her face, then he lowered his lips to brush along hers. “You’re welcome, Legs. Now eat so we’re not late.”
“Don’t you need to shower?” she asked as she sat at the bar next to him.
“Yeah, but I can do that quick while you put on your makeup or whatever you need to finish up.”
They sounded so much like a married couple that Sierra had to take a step back. They hadn’t been together that long, but they sure were acting like it. One day at a time, she reminded herself. She wasn’t ready for marriage and babies—she wasn’t sure she’d ever be—but sitting there that morning she thought it could be a possibility.
“Did I fuck up the oatmeal?” he asked, and she blinked.
“What?”
“You just went pale for a second. You okay?”
She shook her head to clear it then smiled. “I’m fine.” Really. She was. For the first time she thought she could be. “What are you plans?”
“I have a couple consultations, then I have to work on a client’s leg for most of the day. I’ll be free at noon for an hour or so for lunch and then will be busy until I get off work. You?”
She nibbled on a strawberry. “I need to go over the books while I’m not up front. I’ll have lunch off, but I’ll probably be working late since books take forever.”
Austin licked his spoon then stood up, taking their empty bowls to the sink. “I should be done by seven or so for a late dinner if you just want to come over here. I’ll pick up Chinese, and we can just relax.”
“Two nights in a row?” she asked.
“You got a problem with that?” He stood right in front of her, his body big but his presence bigger.
She thought about it then shook her head. “No. Actually, I like it. Pull me out of the books when you get done, or I’ll end up there all night. I’ll have to stop by my house and pick up another change of clothes while you get the food.”
“You know, it would be easier if you just left things here.”
She let out a breath. “True, but I’m not ready for that. Okay?”
He nodded then kissed her again. “Okay. I’m going to go jump in the shower. I’ll be quick.”
She smiled up at him and wondered how the hell she’d ended up here and, at the same time, didn’t want to leave.
By the time lunch rolled around, Sierra’s nerves were fraying. It had been a non-stop morning with customer after costumer needing one-on-one care. While that normally would have made her feel like she was on top of the world, her books were calling her name. Jasinda had the flu, and that meant Sierra was on her own for the day.
Not something she could have handled if it wasn’t for sheer perseverance.
Lunch with Austin had been hurried since they both had to get back to work. She ignored Hailey’s pointed look followed by mouthing the word “oaf” over Austin’s back. So, Sierra had gotten it wrong before. Whatever. She’d judged, and so had he, but they were past it.
Now, thankfully, there was a lull, the store being empty, and Sierra could catch her breath. Eden was still going great in this first month of opening and she knew she’d have to hire another person soon so she wouldn’t burn out. There was only so much she could do.
The bell over the door rang, and Sierra turned to see who it was, only to have her smile freeze on her face
She remembered that woman and her prey.
Shannon.
Austin’s ex.
Oh, goodie.
“Good afternoon, how can I help you?” she clipped out through a false smile. The ice princess was back, but she didn’t give a damn. From the gleam in Shannon’s eyes, the other woman wasn’t there for a scarf or dress.
No, she was there for another reason entirely.
Whatever.
Shannon lifted a lip in what might have been a smile but was more of a smirk. “I’m just browsing. I’m not sure you’ll have anything that appeals to my…taste and quality here.”
So it was going to be like that, was it? Good to know. Sierra really didn’t like jealous women who gauged their self-worth by the men they snared in their web. Shannon was one of those few who gave women a bad rep, and she had no use for her.
“I’ll be around if you need me then. Enjoy.”
Shannon lifted a red-tipped finger. “Actually, sugar, I have something to say.”
Sierra folded her hands in front of her. “Yes?”
The other woman’s eyes narrowed. Sierra wouldn’t back down though. This woman meant nothing to her other than being in Austin’s past. In fact, if it wasn’t for Shannon being who she was and Sierra’s muttered comment when they’d first met, she and Austin might never have met the way they did. Who knows what would have happened otherwise?
“I don’t know who you think you are walking into my town and acting like you’re the shit, but you’re not good enough for him. You’ll bore Austin in another week or less, and then he’ll be back to me. He always comes back to me.”
Well, that was a lie in so many ways that Sierra wouldn’t even bother to contradict her. “If that’s how you feel, you can keep thinking that, sugar. However you’re boring me, so you can go now if you’re not going to purchase anything. Claim whoever you’d like, but you won’t be chasing me away.”
She’d done enough running in her lifetime as it was.
“You’re an ice-cold bitch, you know that?”
Sierra raised a brow. “I’ve heard that a few times in my life.” From Jason’s parents actually, but she wasn’t going to think about that. “If we’re done, I have a business to run.”
Fate hadn’t worked her way in the past, however, so she knew better than to get her hopes up.
Becky ran through the door at that moment, her face red. “I’m here. I’m here. Traffic was horrible. Accident on 70, but I’m here now. Go in the back and work on the books, and I can handle it here.”
Sierra snorted then hugged the woman hard. “Thanks, honey. I don’t want to think about numbers right now, but I don’t have a choice.”
Becky wrinkled her nose. “I wouldn’t want to either, but that’s why you’re the boss and I’m the lowly peasant.”
“Peasant my butt.” The bell rang again, and Sierra stepped away. “Have fun; I’m going to go drown in numbers.”
“Better you than me,” Becky mumbled before sighing and greeting the two women walking in.
Sierra went to her small office in the back, sat down, and took off her shoes. She stretched her toes and cursed the person who invented stilettos. It must have been a man.
Her cellphone buzzed, and she picked it up, not looking at the caller ID. “This is Sierra.”
“There you are. I knew we’d find your number. There’s no use hiding from us. We will always find you, you murderer.”
Sierra almost dropped the phone at the cruelty and anger in the voice.
The voice that shouldn’t have been able to find her so quickly, but there was a restraining order in place for this.
“Marsha, you know you shouldn’t be calling me.” She swallowed hard, her palms clammy, her vision blurring.
“You think I care what a little piece of paper says? You killed my son, you little bitch. You killed him, and yet you get to walk away free and open your little shop like you don’t care. You weren’t good enough for Jason, and you turned him into a freak with your trollop ways.”
Sierra closed her eyes, trying to find the strength not to yell back, not to do anything but hang up and call her lawyer. Marsha and Todd couldn’t hurt her anymore. They couldn’t take anything else from her that she hadn’t already lost because of one careless action.
“You need to leave me alone, Marsha. Jason is gone, and we can’t bring it back. But I didn’t kill him.” If she kept saying that, maybe she’d believe it.
“You killed my son!” Marsha screamed into the phone, and Sierra couldn’t hang up.
She deserved some of the taint on her. The scars on her body hadn’t been enough.
The familiar echo of thoughts she’d thought she destroyed went on a loop in her.
Murderer.
Killer.
Slut.
Freak.
Tainted.
Whore.
All the words Marsha had used over and over again when they’d lost their son would never be banished from Sierra’s memory no matter how hard she tried to scrub them clean.
She’d always be dirty.
Scarred.
“Sierra, this is Todd.”
She held back a sob at Jason’s father’s words. The man never yelled, never showed any other emotion except clear indifference.
“Yes, Todd?” God, why was she subjecting herself to his? Why was she allowing this man and woman to ruin her life again?
She didn’t deserve it. She tried to tell herself…but it didn’t ring true.
“Marsha made the unfortunate decision of allowing her emotions to rule her call today; however, none of what she said was false. You are the one who laid false claims on the memory of our son. You were the one who led him down the dark path of the sickness that is Dominance and submission. I realize now you’re truly mentally ill and need a man to tell you what to do to live. In order to do that, you ruined our boy. You made him believe he had to hit you, and in doing that, you hurt him. That would have been cruel enough, but then you killed him that night.”
Sierra’s body shook, the familiar refrain slamming into like a lethal blow. It didn’t matter that she didn’t believe Todd’s words. The fact that the man and his wife believed them beyond any degree of doubt made it matter.
“We are not done, Sierra. We will never be done until we have justice.”
He hung up then, and Sierra stared down at her phone, her body going numb. She’d thought she’d been so safe, so free. She’d tried to find a place to call her own, a man to do the same.
Yet it would never be enough.
Damn it. She wasn’t this person. She wasn’t weak or something to be spat on because people didn’t understand. What they thought was evil and tainted they fought against.
After she wiped her face with a scarf she had in her drawer, she called her lawyer, ready to fight. Or at least put on a brave face when she lied to herself.
A woman answered the phone, and Sierra cleared her throat, holding back the tears that would take over if she didn’t find the way to be stronger than the person others had made.
“I need to speak to Mr. Trust,” Sierra said, surprised that her voice was so clear. Flat maybe, but not shaky.
“He’s in a meeting at the moment. May I take a message?”
“Tell him it’s Sierra Elder, and I need to talk to him immediately.”
“Oh, Ms. Elder, Mr. Trust told me you might be calling. He said to put you through right away. Please hold.”
Well, it seemed that Rodney was expecting her call. What could she make of that? Clearly. something was going on that meant Jason and her past were far from over.
“Sierra, damn it. I was going to call you after I got more information, but from this call, I guess I was too late?”
Rodney was a middle-aged man who’d never been married because he’d married his job long ago. He might have put on a little weight around the middle, but other than that, he still looked like he was her age. He’d been on her side from the beginning, her only friend when everything had gone to hell.
If she had been ready for a lover when they’d first met, she knew they’d have found each other in bed. By the time she was ready, though, they’d passed into the stage where they needed each other more as friends than a causal fling.
The man worked like a dog and had protected her when no one else would.
Now it seemed he’d have to do it again.
“Marsha and Todd called me,” she whispered. She didn’t need to be as strong for Rodney…much like she didn’t need to be around Austin.
She’d deal with that thought later.
“Damn it. You have the restraining order in place.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. They didn’t call from their number, and I didn’t record it. What can I do? I don’t care anymore, Rodney. I just want to move on.”
He let out a breath, and Sierra wanted to throw the phone. “They’re not going to make that easy, honey.”
“What are they doing now?”
“They’ve tried criminal suits out the ass, and that hasn’t worked. They don’t have a leg to stand on. Now they’re going through the civil courts and trying to find a way to make you pay. If they can’t get you in jail, they’re going after everything else you have.”
“Eden,” she breathed.
“Eden. Damn it. I’m sorry. I’m working on what I can, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stop this one from going to court. If they base it on emotional damage to themselves rather than what happened to Jason and get a sympathetic judge, they could find a way in.”
Her stomach revolted, but she held down her lunch. God, her lunch? It seemed like ages ago that she’d sat with Austin and seen his face and those gorgeous blue eyes.
“What are we going to do?”
“I’m going to try to find a way to fix this, Sierra.”
“And if you can’t?”
; “Just because they might get it to court—honestly, they don’t have a legal leg to stand on—doesn’t mean they’ll win.”
“They lost their son, Rodney.”
“You lost him too,” he snapped back. “You lost so much more.” He let out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m working on it and will keep you posted. Live your life, Sierra. Try to find a way to make it. Okay?”
“I’ll try.” They said their goodbyes then hung up.
It seemed the past would never leave her. It would always lurk in the corner like a shadow. She looked down at her books and shook her head. She wouldn’t be able to think tonight. They would have to be put off until tomorrow.
She would just go home, take a bath, drink a glass of wine, and try to forget it for a moment. Wait, no, she couldn’t do that. Austin was expecting her at his place.
“Sierra?”
Speak of the devil.
She looked up at Austin and lost it. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she let out sob. He was on her in an instant.
“Oh, baby, what’s wrong?” He picked her up like she was nothing and held her to his chest before sitting down in her chair. It creaked, and she prayed it didn’t break under their combined weight.
He soothed her while she cried, kissing her softly and running his hands down her side.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered when she was done.
“Baby, tell me what’s wrong.”
“I…” She would she realized. She’d tell him everything. He’d seen her scars, yet he’d never asked her about it. He’d trusted that she’d tell him eventually and now that time had come.
“I don’t want to talk about it here. Let’s go to your place, and then we can talk.”
He searched her face then nodded. “I don’t want you driving though, okay? I’ll have Maya and Jake take your car home when they get done, if that’s okay. We’ll get your stuff and then head to my place.”
She nodded, feeling drained. “I’ll tell you, Austin. I’ll tell you everything.”
He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Okay, then. Let’s get you home.”
Home.
She liked the sound of that.
She just prayed that when she told Austin her story he wouldn’t ask her to leave.
[Montgomery Ink 00.5 - 01.0] Box Set Page 28