“Hey, did you, um…by chance, talk to Joaquin this morning about anything?”
The little furrow between her brows told him no. “He messaged me, saying he wanted to meet, but then everything happened and…”
Zy wasn’t surprised, but he was bitterly disappointed. Despite this morning’s shit show, he wanted Tessa so fucking bad he could almost taste her. “Once you have, we’ll talk.”
Later that day, Tessa hit the Send button on her email back to Joaquin. Her hand shook.
It was done. She had officially agreed to the new—and better—terms of their updated contract.
One without the clause that had kept her and Zy apart for ten agonizing months.
She swallowed as she stood, still half-dazed. She’d always thought one of them would have to leave their job before they could explore their feelings. Of course, she was happy the bosses had removed the barriers between them. And yes, she was impatient to be alone with Zy. Obviously, he’d known this was coming.
Her question was…why had the trio of hard-asses they worked for suddenly relented? Zy had appealed to them multiple times, always to have his requests fall on deaf ears. Why had they suddenly changed their minds?
Maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe she should stop questioning this new development and start enjoying it.
Maybe…but something tugged at her.
As she went through the day, she tried to focus on Kimber’s family. She spent the rest of the morning shopping and cooking, then all afternoon with Kimber’s sisters-in-law, Kata and Tara, as well as their kids. Joaquin’s wife, Bailey, stopped in, showing her hint of a baby bump, looking as rattled as the rest of the women. Tessa had tossed an early dinner in the oven, played with the children, and offered a shoulder to anyone who needed it…at least until Deke had come in and shooed her out so he could get everyone into hiding.
Tessa didn’t blame him. Even now, she felt the urge to head for her daughter’s daycare and hug Hallie breathless. Instead, she settled for calling to check in on her almost one-year-old, then heading back to the office to see if she could lend a hand. And yes, to see Zy. According to Joaquin’s email, the whole staff had received a new contract with similar terms, since it had been revised to “reflect the direction in which the current owners felt best for their business.”
So…after keeping her and Zy artificially apart since the day they’d taken over the team from the colonel, they suddenly didn’t care if she and Zy started hanging out? Dating? Having sex? Falling in love?
With a frown, she entered the office only to find Trees and Kane had already caught their flights to wherever they were headed. Zy and One-Mile were holed up in the conference room, on speakerphone with someone. She couldn’t hear the conversation, just muffled voices and the occasional curse.
When she peeked in to ask if they needed anything, Zy rose and walked out, shutting the door behind him before insisting that he and One-Mile were all good and to go home. He’d talk to her later.
Did that mean she’d see him tomorrow…or tonight?
Tessa still wasn’t sure as she picked Hallie up from daycare and drove back to her duplex. Not while she fixed dinner, bathed her daughter, sipped a glass of wine, half watched the news, and stared at the clock. Not while she read her baby a story and wrestled the fuss-bucket into her crib. Not while she paced her living room before deciding just shy of nine o’clock that a shower might help calm her and clear her head.
More than once, she picked up her phone to call Zy…before ultimately putting it down. Maybe he was still with One-Mile, organizing some rescue operation. Maybe he was helping the others look for Kimber. Or maybe he was thinking about what this change in their contracts meant for them. But there was no way this wasn’t on his mind.
Between this worry and her concern for Kimber, Tessa had no idea how she would ever sleep tonight.
A sudden, firm knock on her front door had her whirling around. Her breath caught. Her heart stopped.
With her stomach twisting in anticipation, she flipped on the porch light and peeked out the peephole. Today had proven that anyone associated with EM Security in any way needed to be careful. But as she’d suspected—and hoped—Zy stood in the circle of murky light on her porch, in a white tank, a black jacket, and faded jeans.
He looked like a man on a mission.
With her heart thumping, she eased the door open, not caring that her face was bare, that her hair was twisted in a messy bun, or that she was wearing plain green cotton pajamas without a stitch underneath. She was just happy to see him.
“Zy. What are you doing here?” Her question was silly. That wasn’t what she’d meant to ask, but she was so damn nervous. She knew precisely why he was here. Unless something had happened? “It’s getting late. Is everything okay?”