“No.” She laughed at herself. It had probably sounded like that was her important news. “Preston was waiting by my car for me when I came out of barre class this morning.”
“You need me to kill him? Done.”
“No. Well, it’s not a bad idea, but I’m certain that would guarantee I’d never see Maddie again or you for that matter because you’d be in prison.”
The corners of his lips curled like he had the best secret ever. She trusted him, ninety-nine-point-nine percent. Yet that point-one percent held her heart captive in the hands of fear. Would she ever be completely free of that fear?
“I’m not happy that my ex-husband thinks you’re his business, but after you sent him to the hospital on my birthday he’s taken it upon himself to make you his business.”
Jackson shrugged. “Then tell him to call me and we’ll set up a business meeting, but until then he needs to stay the fuck away from you, or I’ll be the first one to make contact and it won’t be in the way of a phone call.”
There it was—that point one percent.
“I can call the police if it becomes a bigger issue.”
“I’m sure they’ll slap him on the wrist. They might even take away his favorite toy for a month or so.”
“Whatever, that’s really not my point. My point is that Preston did some looking into your past and he said it’s like you didn’t even exist before Omaha. Don’t you think that’s kind of odd?”
“Yes. I think it’s odd that your ex-husband is looking into my past.”
Ryn tilted her head to the side, crossing her arms over her chest. “That’s not what I mean.”
Jackson narrowed his eyes a mere millimeter. That minuscule change in his expression, that may not have been anything more than a muscle twitch, left Ryn feeling guilty for bringing it up.
“So I haven’t left my fingerprints all over my past. So what?”
Coughing out a sarcastic laugh, she gawked at him. “Fingerprints? What are you, a killer?”
“Do I look like a killer?” He smirked.
“I don’t think killers have a certain look, personality maybe, but not a look.”
“Well, if you think I have a killer personality then I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
Ryn shook her head, unable to keep a straight face.
“What do you want to know?” He moved toward her with slow predatory strides that sent tingly goose bumps shooting up along her skin.
She retreated, the thick mats under her feet mixed with that look made it impossible to balance. Her back hit the wall, saving her from stumbling, but trapping her in his larger-than-life presence as he wet his lips.
“Do you want to know my favorite color? The first girl I kissed? How many comic books I owned? The longest book I’ve read?”
Gulp.
“Yes,” she whispered, embarrassingly breathless.
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “Blue, like your eyes.”
He kissed her right ear. “Stephanie Mills, third grade.”
He kissed her left ear. “Three hundred and seventy-one. Batman was my favorite.”
He kissed the hollow area in between her collarbone, circling his tongue around it. “The Bible.”
“No way.”
He nodded while unfastening his jeans.
Ryn swallowed hard, her body stiff. “M-My period.”
Sucking her bottom lip into his mouth, he bit it with a chilling intensity as he stroked himself. “Don’t worry. That’s not where I’m going to put it.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Day
Luke pulled into his parents’ drive after taking the slower, nothing over thirty-five, less driven roads to ensure his precious cargo had a safe trip—in the trunk. To his surprise, she stayed quiet for the entire ride. Even when he got out, she didn’t make a single noise. He considered opening the trunk to check on her, but his instincts told him to just stay away. It was nothing more than the silence before the storm.
“Hey, Luke. You two have a nice drive?” Tom asked, helping Felicity fold sheets in the living room.
“We did. It was a perfect day.”
“Did you find a nice little place to buy and settle into when you move back here to get married and have lots of grandbabies for me?”
Tom rolled his eyes at his wife’s question.
“We did not.”
Felicity frowned.
“While I fully intend to marry Jessica and have a manageable number of children with her, I want it to be when the time is right.”
“Not everyone can be like your mother and I were. Perfect timing on everything.” Tom winked at Felicity.
“I’m in your wedding photos, sitting in the front row next to Aunt Beth. Brilliant timing, folks.”
His parents shared their usual we-wouldn’t-change-a-thing grins. If Luke were honest, he admired their decision to wait until they were ready to get married. They conceived him on their first date.
“Speaking of fate … where is Jessica? Did she go upstairs?”
Luke smiled at his mom. “I think she’s still in the car going through a few things she picked up on our outing.”