Adored (Masters and Mercenaries #8.5)(60)

“See, I told you he would still be here.” Laurel rushed up the steps to the building, Remy following behind her. She had a bag in her hand. Chocolate chip cookies from Mitch’s favorite bakery and his earbuds. He’d left them behind this morning. He could buy more, but this particular pair were the ones that fit the best. He always complained that he must have a weird ear canal because most didn’t fit.

He wouldn’t be comfortable without them. She wanted to make sure he had everything he needed. He didn’t particularly like to travel. He was doing it for her, so she was going to go out of her way to make it nice for him.

But she’d wanted to surprise him and get in one last good-bye kiss, hence the subterfuge.

“You’re lucky he’s on a private plane because the rest of the world has to go through security, and that means getting to the airport two hours ahead of the flight,” Remy complained.

Remy, it seemed, wasn’t looking forward to a whole weekend of watching two women. He’d seemed awfully flirty until he’d seen the lineup of movies she’d chosen for her sister’s sleepover. He wasn’t a big fan of the romantic comedy. From what she could tell, Mitch’s sudden trip had also screwed up a date Remy had planned, though it had taken him a few minutes to remember the woman’s name.

Candy. She was fairly certain Remy had met her at a strip club. Her bodyguard didn’t have particularly good taste in women.

“Security isn’t so hard to get through. You just have to avoid mornings and weekends.”

Remy opened the door for her. “Yeah, it might not be hard for the curvy little white girl who looks like she shits sunshine. Try looking like me and having a metal plate in your head. See how those TSA officers treat you then.”

She laughed as she started up the stairs. “I do not look like I shit sunshine. I’m very tough.”

“You keep on believing that, chère.” They had made it to the fourth floor when he stopped. “I’ve got a call from the office. I’ll be right here.”

That was all for the best since she intended to have an impromptu make-out session with her man. She’d already given him something to remember her by. She’d woken up in the early morning light with Mitch’s hands on her body, his mouth covering her skin with kisses. He’d made slow, lazy, languid love to her. And then he’d taken her to the shower and washed her off, holding her like he never wanted to let her go.

It didn’t matter that she could still feel him. She wanted one more kiss before he left.

She walked through the door, happy that he’d gone with the windows. Even when they hadn’t been speaking, he’d given over to her wants. The building was still filled with gorgeous natural light.

Sharon wasn’t at her desk, but that wasn’t shocking. Her purse was still here and that was. She usually took Friday afternoons off for whatever baseball/soccer/school play was going on that day. Sure enough, there was a little slugger baseball bat sitting behind her vacant chair.

She smoothed down her skirt and started back toward Mitch’s office. She loved what she was doing now. Because they were a nonprofit, she was allowed to do far more than a paralegal at a big firm would be allowed to do. She loved the feeling that she was making her city a better place to live, but she missed getting to see Mitch all the time. She even missed their silly battles over decorating and what to cater in for lunch. She kind of missed her old office.

“And what exactly do you think to gain by this play?”

She stopped outside of Mitch’s office. It sounded like he had a client in there. His voice was hard, like this was a nasty, come-to-Jesus meeting. He had some clients who required a firm hand. Some people thought lawyers were like genies unleashed from their bottles—capable of granting them anything they wished. Mitch tended to put those clients in their places, and very quickly.

“It isn’t my fault,” a low voice said. “I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this. Harvey was supposed to tell me where he hid the designs. He was supposed to give up the designs or go to jail. And Frances was supposed to vote with me.”

Who was Frances? He’d mentioned a Harvey? He couldn’t be talking about Harvey Dixon. Her heart threatened to stop as she eased to one side and saw through the half-open door that Patrick Dixon was in Mitch’s office. He had a gun in his hand and Sharon as a human shield in front of him.

“This should have all been over, but that prick went to Frances when I couldn’t pay him anymore,” Patrick was saying.

“Austin? The man you hired to kill my girlfriend?” Mitch’s voice was practically arctic.

“He wasn’t going to kill her. He was supposed to scare her and you into filing police reports against Harvey. Austin was going to confess he’d been hired. He was going to serve some time in juvie and then get out and I would have given him a job,” Patrick whined.

“But the little f*cker got greedy,” Mitch surmised.

She couldn’t see him, but from the sound of his voice, he was likely at his desk.

“What did you do to Frances?” The man she had to figure was Harvey Dixon took a step toward his brother.

“Move again and I kill her.” Patrick tightened his hold on Sharon, who whimpered.

Poor Sharon. She just wanted to be around her grandkids. What was she going to do? She took a step back, still able to hear everything that was going on.