I don’t want to keep secrets from her. I don’t even need to.
“I’m going to make sure no trail was left from my idiotic attempt to commit fraud. Lambert is trustworthy. A snake, but trustworthy, when he’s taken care of. He knows I can make his life miserable if he crosses me. But I need to make sure the information didn’t leak out anywhere else.”
“Okay. Rory and I were actually talking about going to Denver anyway.”
Should I ask why? I want to…but I don’t. She has to tell me in her own time. “You want her to tag along? I’m happy to get her a room at the hotel I’m booking us at.”
“She’s as hard up for money as I am right now.”
“Callie, I was making the suggestion because I’m happy to pay for it. She can drive down with us tonight if you want.”
“I’ll text her. Hold on.” Callie pulls out her phone.
A few seconds later—
“She’s in. What time do we leave?”
“Five. We’ll eat on the road.”
“Shouldn’t I pack something?”
“Sure. Head on home and take care of that now. I want to get on the road right at five. Tell Rory to be ready.”
She nods. “I’ll pack for her while I’m at home. I’m pretty sure she has students all afternoon.”
“Good. And Callie?”
She lifts her eyebrows.
“Whatever’s going on, I got your back. Always.”
“Donny, nothing—”
“I know. I love you, baby.”
The angles of her face soften, finally. “I love you too.” She leaves my office, closing the door behind her.
Something’s bothering Callie.
I want to help her, but I’ve got so much of my own stuff to deal with right now. The secrets and lies of my family.
Someone’s out for blood.
Real blood, and my father nearly paid the price.
Murphy paid a price too, though not in blood, and that’s on me. I’m the one who started the energy board thing. Damn. I thought I could nip it in the bud before any damage was done.
I was wrong.
Now a stranger has whatever else was hidden in Murphy’s apartment.
Maybe it was nothing.
Or maybe it was something…and maybe it all ties into whoever wants my father—or Uncle Joe—dead.
I look toward the thermostat on the wall near my door.
Seventy degrees.
But it suddenly seems much chillier.
We make it to Denver by eleven p.m. Once we check into the hotel and Rory is settled in her room, Callie and I enter our own.
The safe-deposit key I found in my bathroom is burning a hole in my pocket. I called Monarch Security yesterday, and they’re finding the requisite footage. Until that arrives, I have no idea how the key got into my bathroom.
Callie picks up her small suitcase and places it on one of the two luggage racks. Her eyes are heavy-lidded. She’s tired.
She’s frightened.
Frightened, and I’m not sure of what.
I stride toward her, kiss the back of her neck. “What’s eating you?”
She sighs softly. “Nothing. I’m fine. Just…exhausted.”
“You and Rory didn’t talk much on the drive.”
“Rory was asleep.”
Indeed, Rory had fallen asleep in the back seat. Neither of us wanted to disturb her. “Why do you think she was so tired?”
“I don’t think she’s been sleeping well. The breakup with Raine and all.”
“Raine is here in Denver. Maybe they’ll work things out.”
“Maybe.”
I grip Callie’s shoulders and turn her around to face me. “Callie, what’s wrong?”
She falls into my arms but says nothing.
I kiss the top of her head. “It’s okay.”
She pulls away, her eyes glazed over as if she’s holding back tears. “Nothing’s okay, Donny. Your father got shot.”
“My dad is going to be fine.”
“He still got shot. What if it had been you out jogging that morning?”
“I hate jogging.”
She punches me lightly on my upper arm. “I’m serious! This is all too close to home. And now Brendan’s place. And…”
“And what, baby?”
She burrows her head back into my shoulder. “Nothing. Just…nothing.”
She doesn’t cry, and although I know in my heart something else is bothering her, I don’t push. I’d move heaven and earth to ease whatever Callie’s going through, but she’s clearly not ready to tell me.
I simply kiss the top of her head. Perhaps she is just fatigued. We all are. This is a mess.
I hold her for several minutes, until she finally pulls away.
“Donny?”
“Yeah?”
“Take me to bed. Please. Let’s forget about all this crap, at least for a little while.”
“Oh, baby,” I groan.
Even with everything on my mind, Callie still calls to me. Her body to my body. Her heart to my heart.
I take her lips in a gentle kiss, but within a second it’s clear that gentle isn’t what she’s after.
Fine by me.
She probes my mouth with her tongue, and I respond with my own, until the kiss becomes a raw mass of lips and moans.
She walks forward, pushing me along, until the back of my legs hit the king-size bed. Without breaking the kiss, she pushes me down onto the mattress, our mouths still joined, her lush body on top of mine.