Claiming Sarah (Ace Security #5)(56)

Felicity put her hand on Sarah’s arm. “He loves you too,” she said bluntly.

Sarah blinked.

“He does,” she insisted. “All I’ve heard in the last few weeks is stuff about you. How brave you are. How smart. How great you are at your job. He can’t stop talking, thinking, or worrying about you.”

Alexis leaned across the table and took Sarah’s hand in hers. “When I was lying in the trunk of that car and was being taken who knows where, one thing kept going through my head.”

“What?” Sarah asked.

“That Blake would find me. Somehow. Someway. He’d find me. I think when you have that bone-deep conviction in your soul that your man will move heaven and earth to keep you safe, that’s how you know he’s the man you were meant to fall in love with.”

“Cole promised that if Owen got ahold of me, he’d never stop looking for me until I was back home,” Sarah said.

“And do you believe him?” Alexis asked, her eyes boring into Sarah’s.

“Yes,” she said.

“No,” Alexis said, shaking her head. “Do. You. Believe. Him? Like, if you were lying on the ground being stabbed, or raped, or someone was burying you one shovelful at a time—”

“Alexis!” Grace interrupted. “Gross!”

Alexis waved her friend’s words off and kept staring at Sarah with an intensity that would’ve been scary if Sarah weren’t already drunk. “No matter what happens to you, or how long it takes, do you believe that he’d never stop looking for you? Do you believe that he’d still love you no matter what? If you had scars all over your body or if you were defiled?”

Sarah didn’t immediately answer. She thought about the look on Cole’s face as he asked her to be sure before he took her to his room. She remembered the force in his tone as he’d said “Mine” before he’d made love to her.

Then she licked her lips and nodded. “Yes.”

Alexis smiled then and sat back. She picked up her glass and took a long swallow. “Good.”

Sarah was glad when the focus of the conversation turned from her and her relationship with Cole to Grace and the twins. Nate and Ace were apparently growing like weeds and, now that they’d begun to walk, were getting into anything and everything.

She was mellow from the alcohol and from the feeling of finally being accepted into a group of women who seemed to truly like her for her. Not because she was a good CNA or because they wanted her business or just because she was with Cole.

An hour later, Felicity put her phone down on the table with a thunk and grinned at the group.

“What’s that smile for?” Grace asked her friend.

“I hope everyone’s had enough,” Felicity said.

“Why?” Bailey asked.

“Because I’m betting the guys will be here to pick us up in about seven and a half minutes.”

Surprised, Sarah squinted at the numbers on her watch. “It’s not that late.”

“I’m thinking I’ve had enough to drink, and as much as I love you girls, I need some one-on-one time with my man,” Felicity said.

“What’d you do?” Alexis asked.

“I texted Ryder and told him that everyone was talking about babies, and maybe it was time we stopped just talking about them ourselves and did something about it,” Felicity told them.

“You didn’t!” Grace exclaimed.

“Right on!” Alexis said.

“It’s about time,” Bailey said with a grin.

“Since he’s at Logan’s with all the guys, I’m sure he told them. And I’m guessing when Cole hears that we’re all talking about getting knocked up, he’ll be here along with the others in about”—she looked at the nonexistent watch on her wrist—“seven more minutes.”

“Oh God. I need to go!” Sarah exclaimed, suddenly panicked, her eyes wide. “Cole’s gonna think I’m insane for wanting babies this early in our relationship!”

She hopped off her chair and stumbled, almost going to the floor, but Bailey reached out and grabbed her arm before she could flee.

“Stop panicking,” she ordered.

Sarah shook her head. “I can’t!”

The next thing she knew, she was surrounded by Grace, Alexis, Bailey, and Felicity.

“You were the one who said he brought up babies first,” Felicity reminded her. “And I know my friend. This isn’t going to faze him.”

“It is!” Sarah exclaimed.

“He’s gonna come busting through that door, ready to impregnate you here and now,” Felicity told her with confidence. “Trust me.”

Sarah swallowed hard.

“I’ll bet you,” Felicity said. “Anything you want. But you better not bet anything you aren’t willing to lose.”

“He’s going to be upset, Felicity,” Sarah argued.

“He’s not. And if I’m right, you have to go with me to get a tattoo. You can pick what you want, but you have to go through with it.”

“And if he’s upset and weirded out that we’ve all been talking about having babies?” Sarah asked.

“Then I’ll take care of everything associated with your move to your new apartment. I’ll pack up whatever you haven’t boxed already, arrange for a truck to get it here to Castle Rock, get the storage unit for whatever won’t fit in your apartment, and unpack all your shit for you.”