11
TOBY’S POV
“Wes?” I called out as I stepped in to the Vaughn guest house Mr. Vaughn had let us use while we were here looking out for his daughter. It wouldn’t be big enough for us under normal circumstances, but since we spent the nights blowing off steam, running around on all four paws because we’d spent so long on two feet, we weren’t all here at the same time.
I knew Stark and Lucky were searching for Renee at the Vaughn home, hoping to find her before her father noticed she was missing. From what I could work out from reading between the lines, there had been some kind of family argument over breakfast, and Renee had stormed off with no one seeing her since.
Since Wes was supposed to be the one watching over her at that exact moment, it seemed logical to me that I seek him out before I freaked out.
And I was definitely on the verge of freaking out. Especially seeing how taut Stark’s neck muscles were. The vein in his forehead had been throbbing too, which wasn’t a good sign. If he lost his shit, we were all in for it.
“Wes, brother, are you here? We have a situation…”
My words trailed off as I heard something unusual. The bedroom to the left, which Wes was using, had some sounds coming from it. Giggling and talking. Wes wasn’t in there alone. Worse than that, he was in there with a woman. If Stark knew that Renee had gotten away because he had been neglecting his duties with a woman, then shit was really going to hit the fan.
I didn’t want to be the one to discover this situation, but it seemed to me it was too late for that now. I was going to have to confront him. And as my twin brother liked to remind me, I was no good at lying.
That was why Trey and I never did the whole twin swap thing when we were younger. He could have done it easily, lies fell off his tongue without a second thought, but for me, I just couldn’t do it. I did not stand a chance.
“Wes?” I called out one more time, because I wanted him to come out of that bedroom. I really, seriously didn’t want to have to go inside. “I need you to come out now.”
He must not have been able to hear me, but I could still hear him and a woman giggling inside his room. I pressed my ear up to the door to try to find out who was inside with him. Not that I was expecting to hear a voice that I recognized…
No, it can’t be, I thought determinedly as I quickly pulled back. No way.
I had to be imagining things. I was just thinking about her voice because she was on my mind all the time. And, unfortunately, not just because I was working with her, but because I was insanely attracted to Renee Vaughn.
I clutched my stomach, trying my hardest not to freak the hell out. This was even worse than hearing that Renee had gone missing. I potentially knew where she was now, but it didn’t feel good at all. There was a strange tinge of jealousy twisting in my gut.
I headed for the small kitchenette to pace, my hands still resting on my stomach while I tried to work out what my next move was going to be. The problem was I needed to be absolutely certain that was Renee in there with him, otherwise she was still missing. But I really didn’t want to hang around to see her with Wes and whatever was going on between them.
What was that?I snapped my head around as I heard a door opening. It wasn’t the front door—Stark hadn’t decided to follow me here, which I suppose was for the best—so it had to be Wes and whoever he had in that room with him.
I swallowed hard. I was not ready for this. I could never be ready for this.
“Toby, I thought I heard you,” Wes called out jovially. He was shirtless, and clearly oblivious to the way my eyes burned through my body as he joined me in the kitchen and patted me on the back. “Sorry, buddy, I should have answered you.”
I wasn’t paying him any attention though. I couldn’t. I was staring behind him at his companion. It was Renee and she was in an oversized shirt I recognized as belonging to Wes. There was no mistaking what had happened here.
Oh God. This was hard to accept. I’d been doing my best to avoid any one-on-one time with Renee ever since that moment between us. Of course I wanted to spend more time with her, I wanted to know what was there between us, but we’d decided on friendship only. She was getting married, and on top of that, she was Trey’s ex-girlfriend.
That was how I had been justifying it to myself. That was how I had just about managed to keep away from this woman, but now it seemed like I had missed the mark.
“Hey, Renee, do you want a muffin or a coffee?” Wes asked. “Toby, you want something?”
Renee nodded coyly, so I did the same. She could hardly meet my eyes; it was as if she knew this was all kinds of crazy and she didn’t want me to be in the middle of it. Too late. I’d been in the middle of it ever since I accidently walked in on her naked.
Wes started the coffee pot, grabbed some muffins out of the basket, and took one over to Renee. All I could do was watch in horror as he broke off a bit of the muffin and fed it to her, unabashedly, unashamedly, as if they were still in their own little world.
I wanted to grab Wes and ask him what the hell he thought he was doing. Was he trying to stop Renee’s wedding? Whether we liked it or not, there was nothing we could do about it. Was he trying to get murdered by Stark? If our boss was here now instead of me, Wes would be destroyed.
But he didn’t seem to care. Wes was happily acting like he was a young couple in the first throes of love with a woman he couldn’t ever have.
I needed to do something. I curled my hands into fists at by my side, trying my hardest not to do anything rash. I gritted my teeth together hard, refusing to allow the anger to explode. The last thing I wanted to do was make this even worse. I honestly couldn’t stand it.
“Everyone is looking for you,” I said through my teeth. “People are worried you have gone missing, Renee.” I hated the way her face fell as I said this, but I had a job to do. “I think everyone is worried that you won’t be ready for tonight. It’s the gala, remember?”
Renee’s eyes nearly popped out of her head in surprise. Clearly, she didn’t remember. That irritated me way more than it should have. It wasn’t my responsibility to get emotional about the charity gala tonight. “Oh right, of course.”
God damn it. Her sweet voice had been haunting my dreams for way too long. Immediately, all the anger melted from my body as it hummed with desire. The way Renee looked at me suggested she wasn’t quite done with me either. Even if she had just been with Wes, it didn’t seem to matter. She yearned for me too. I could see it, I could feel it, which was incredibly confusing. My thoughts darted all over the place.
“Will…will your husband be joining us tonight?”