The Dom Who Loved Me (Masters and Mercenaries #1)(44)

A piece of paper slipped out of the briefcase and fell to the tiled floor. Sean knelt down to pick it up. His blood went cold. He recognized the paper. It came from the personalized stationary Matt Wright kept on his desk. Grace had shoved a pad of that stationary in Wright’s desk as Sean had walked in the office. This note wasn’t written in Grace’s handwriting. A strong, clean masculine style was on the note. How was Grace connected to this damn address? It was innocent. It had to be. It was something he would have to figure out later. He quickly took a picture of the note with its address and account numbers of some kind. He sent the photo in an e-mail to Eve.

A cell phone trilled, and Sean heard Jake talking quietly.

“Yeah, Tag, he’s here. Hold on, I’ll let you talk to him.”

Sean met Jake as he was walking out of the kitchen. Sean had turned his cell phone off before he’d joined Grace in the bedroom. He hadn’t wanted any distractions, but now he got to deal with big brother’s lecture. Jake shook his head as he handed Sean the phone. Adam sat at Grace’s bar, a bag of frozen peas over his left eye. In the course of forty-eight hours, Sean had punched both Liam and Adam. He really had to stop beating the shit out of his teammates. It was becoming a habit.

“Yeah, what’s up?” The only way to deal with Ian was to brazen his way through it.

“I need you to get your ass down here, Sean.”

Big brother sounded dead serious. He was in full-on CO mode, and Sean had been in the service long enough that a bit of obedience was ingrained. “Yes, sir.” But only a bit. “I mean no. Ian, just tell me what you need. I can’t leave right now. I had to give Grace a little sleeping pill. I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave her alone.”

His brother’s low growl pulsed into his ear. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You get your ass into Dallas. I want you standing at my desk in an hour. That is an order, Sean. Leave Jake behind if you can’t stand the thought of Sleeping Beauty being left alone.”

“Fine.” Sean knew when his brother had become an immovable object. If he didn’t get out to the office, Ian would come after him, and he couldn’t risk that. He would go to the office, take his lecture and be back to Grace long before she woke up. She would be a bit foggy in the morning, but he could blame the wine. It would be an excellent excuse to keep her away from the office. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

He left Jake and Adam in Grace’s kitchen with express orders to make sure she was safe. He didn’t feel right about leaving her unprotected. He’d been the one to put the drug in her system. He wouldn’t leave her alone. Sean hopped into his borrowed Benz and was glad he knew his way to the office with his eyes closed. He was fully on auto-pilot, his world narrowed down to one thing and one thing only—Grace Hawthorne. For the first time in his thirty-two years, he was in love. There was no question in his brain about it now. He loved Grace Hawthorne, and there was a ridiculous part of him that wanted to shout it to the world. He’d found his other half. He loved to talk to her. He adored how kind she was and how quick she was with a comeback. And God, he loved the way she submitted to him in bed.

He’d tried to hold himself apart, but he just couldn’t. He wanted her too much.

He thought about the note in her briefcase. Ian would make a big deal of it. Ian was a paranoid *. Sean loved his brother, but he was practical when it came to him. Ian had been through a lot. He didn’t trust anyone he didn’t have twenty-four/seven control over or a blood connection to. Ian held himself apart from everyone on the team. Ian was all about the job in a way Sean had never been.

Sean got on 183 driving east toward the building in downtown Dallas that housed McKay/Taggart. This was his last job. He knew it deep down. After this job was done, he was going after what he really wanted. He was going to culinary school. Everyone would laugh, but it was a goal of his. Grace wouldn’t laugh. Grace would support him. Grace would kick his ass when the going got tough and pick him up when he wanted to quit. Grace would be his taster, his cheerleader, his partner, his biggest fan. Grace would be the reason he reached for what he wanted. And what did he want? He wanted to cook, and he wanted a family with Grace. He wanted that stupid ass white picket fence and a couple of kids.

He wanted everything.

It was all too soon that he was pulling into the parking garage and sliding out of the Benz. He hoped Grace wasn’t used to the Benz. His real car was a classic 1972 Scout. He would trade it in for a minivan if she wanted him to. Well, maybe not trade it in, but he would buy a minivan if that was what she wanted.

The elevator ride to the fifteenth floor happened in the blink of an eye.

“Hey, Sean. How are you?” Eve stood waiting in front of the reception desk, her arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing jeans and a button down shirt, a sure sign that she’d been called in from home. Eve usually dressed to the nines for work. She was all about the power suit.

Eve standing there waiting for him put him on high alert. Eve was the PhD on the team. She was the freaking shrink. Sean stared at her, utterly wary of what she was about to say. “I don’t know how I’m doing. Why don’t you tell me?”

Her smile lit up the room. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail that made her look years younger than the thirty-eight she actually was. “Oh, dummy, I am so happy for you.” She threw herself into his arms. Sean found himself hugging her despite his confusion. “Grace is lovely.”