He cups my face. “Damn I missed you.”
I lean into his touch, and his hazel eyes melt into mine. My bottom lip trembles. “I missed you too.”
“You’re upset,” he says.
I shouldn’t be. It’s a mistake to show weakness. “I just missed you, Riley. More than I knew was possible.”
“As much as I want to strip you of your clothes, shower the day off you, and give you what you’ve been missing, you have to meet my parents. They’ve been waiting all morning.” His lips form a grim line. “You shouldn’t have to after what you’ve been through, but I have little control over one facet of my existence, and they’re it.”
I pause, tears brimming in my eyes. “No, I mean, I missedyoulike everything about you.” I sniffle. “Sure, I missed that,” I add, letting my gaze flick to his groin region. “But it was hard to be without you.” I must be breaking some kind of rule by admitting this truth, but my near-death miss has me in my feels. “And I’m going to have to at least shower the blood off before I meet them.”
“So, don’t leave. Stay with me. Travel with me.” Jesse’s words ring out like a warning.You belong to him.Is that a bad thing, though? Now he has both hands on my face, cradling it softly. “I want you to stay with me.” His eyes say things his words don’t. He kisses me even though I’m covered in blood, but why would I think he wouldn’t. Blood is his job. He needs it to thrive, to stay powerful. Blood is currency, it’s life. Inside and outside. It’s even more valuable spilled than it is pumping through a body. Salty tears fall down my cheeks because I know why I’ve missed him, why this emptiness exacerbates when we’re apart. “Riley, I only feel safe with you.” My lips tremble. “I’m scared to be without you.”
He exhales. My last sentence striking a nerve. “I’m sorry, lamb.” An apology. “Fear is the one thing I can’t take, and it’s the main thing our lives bring.”
“I only trust you.”
He pulls back to read my eyes. “Why?”
“I struggle daily with that question. Why you and not Jesse? Why trust a man who can have any woman in the world by force alone?” I shake my head. “I can’t explain it.”
Riley’s phone rings, and he groans when he slides it from his pocket and sees who is calling. He ignores it. “There are a chain of hallways connecting rooms.” He presses his lips against mine once more. “Follow me. Let me show you.”
There is a hidden door at the back of the room. “Your thumbprint is the key to open this segment of rooms. No one else has access.”
I don’t ask how he got my fingerprint, but I can’t wipe the surprised look off my face as he uses my thumb to open the door to the next room. A bathroom with a connected bedroom.
“My print works, too. On the other side of the bedroom is a door that leads to a kitchen and an office. That’s the office I will primarily use, and exclusively use while you’re here.” He clears his throat. “I do not take meetings in that office. You and me. No one else has access. If you want to grant Jesse access, tell me. That’s your choice.” His grip on my hand tightens. “You’ve spoken of fear, and I can’t take it away, but I can safeguard the scraps of trust you’ve granted me.”
“Riley, this is too much.” The opulence is jarring. His golden gaze dims as he takes in my bloody clothes. “No, it will never be enough, unfortunately. This is what I can give you.” He swallows hard, slipping both hands into his slacks. “Fuck,” he hisses. “I hate that instead of this being a perfect escape for us, it ended up being a large panic room. I wanted this to be special, not a cage. I worked on having it designed and secured from the moment I arrived, hoping you would want to stay here with me when I’m here.”
“I love it. It’s beautiful, and this is far from a cage.” I hiccup. “I also hate hearing you apologize.”
He closes his eyes. “You were almost killed.” Shaking his head, he goes on. “There’s a spiral staircase in my office,” he nods to the door. “There’s another room up there that you have access to. Chaz will meet you there. She only has access to that room.” He grabs the sides of my face and kisses away the tears, and plants a long kiss on my mouth. It’s wet and warm, and I’ve forgotten for at least that moment that I’m covered in a dead man’s blood. He pulls away. “One more thing.”
Riley crosses the bedroom and pulls out a jewelry box from a nightstand drawer. He opens it and pulls out a diamond bracelet. The diamonds attach a slender, hexagonal charm on each end. I barely get a chance to see it before he’s fastening it around my wrist. I’ve never seen anything like it before. “I ordered this custom for you before I left the city. It’s a promise I hope you’ll never need, but if things get bleak and dangerous, you’ll know.”
Riley presses a languid kiss on my neck as I stare bewildered at my glittering wrist. “I’ll know what?”
He inhales at my ear, then shakes his head. “When you’re ready, meet me in the office. We’ll walk together to meet my parents.”
“I’ll know what?” I ask again as he presses his thumb into the high-tech lock.
“That you can always trust me. Don’t ever take it off,” he says simply before vanishing into the next room. I twist the bracelet, marveling at the single most beautiful piece of jewelry I’ve ever seen. The little hexagonal shape almost looks like a bullet. Fitting, I think. After a beat or two, I realize I’m alone. Really alone. Not even Reggie can follow me here. Isn’t this what I’ve wanted since the start? Riley trusts that I’m not going to break down because of what happened. He trusts me to meet his parents. To be his. He trusts me to be alone in a space that he’ll share with only me.
I swallow down the loneliness and embrace the inner Astor I need to pull me through this day. I shower in a bathroom the size of a house, throw on a robe and pad barefoot through all the locked doors that make it seem like I’m a warden in a prison instead of a prisoner. Riley’s office is rich and smells a little of sweet smoke—cigars, I think, remembering the one other time I’ve smelled the scent. The staircase is exactly as he described except it’s steep and I hold on with both hands as I climb to the top and unlock the last door. Chaz is there, on the phone, talking a mile a minute.
“Jesus Christ, thank God you’re okay. What the hell is going on, Drew?” Chaz is frazzled, but she still looks pristine, her makeup and outfit exactly on point.
“I’m fine,” I say, sitting down in a chair that she has the makeup and hair stuff in front of. “How did you find out? How did you get here?”
“Riley reached out when he knew you were coming and asked if I’d do a longer gig in Mexico. Offered to keep me salaried to be here for you whenever you need me, and I said, sure, because what the fuck am I crazy to say no?” She’s talking so fast I can barely understand her. “I rode in on the private jet with Jesse and several A Team employees, and Drew,” she whispers my name. “Jesse was acting strange. Strange as fuck, you hear? He was pacing the entire flight. Everyone was on edge. He was on the phone the entire time. I asked him why he was so upset when he wasn’t talking about it, but he looked at me like he wanted to kill me. When our jet landed, they were still cleaning up the mess that happened when you landed before us. Jesse wasn’t angry after that. He seemed terrified. He was ignoring calls the entire drive here.” Jesse is here. My heart pounds.
“Drew,” Chaz says, kneeling in front of me, putting her hands on my bare knees. “Don’t ask me why I know this, but I think Jesse had something to do with the kidnap attempt gone awry.” She swallows hard, and the emotion shining in her eyes is terrifying as it rings true. “It makes sense. How those bad guys knew you were there and when you would be there. Who else knew other than Jesse and the head of security? They keep the flight logs under tight security. Something like this? US to Mexico? No one else would know. I bet Riley Astor didn’t know specifics. A leak would be virtually impossible.” Virtually, I remind myself.
“Why would he have something to do with it? It sounds as if it would be a stupid move. Risky if no one else knew but him, it would implicate him immediately.” My voice shakes. “They almost shot me. Like, a guard died on top of me because the bullets were so close to hitting me. You think he had something to do withthat?” A shiver shakes my whole body, and I pull the robe tighter.
Her eyes go wide. “I know. I’d think it was an assassination attempt if they hadn’t fed me the kidnap-for-ransom story. IfJessehadn’t told me about the kidnap-for-ransom story,” she amends. “Drew.” Her voice shakes and her hands tremble so wildly, my legs shake. “Be careful. I’ve told you that once before, but that was a broad warning because the Astors are powerful and with power comes enemies. Now I’m warning you because something ain’t right, baby. This is dangerous and you’re caught in the crosshairs.” Chaz is telling the truth. Something that is in short supply these days.