Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(40)

Felicity raised the hand he’d kissed and palmed his cheek before saying, “It’s a good thing. Because she’s a greedy bitch, and she’s going to want to see, sooner rather than later, what you’re packing down there.” She gestured to his crotch with her head.

Ryder laughed as she grinned saucily at him and walked away, her hips swaying more sexily than he’d ever seen before.

Yeah, he liked this Felicity Jones. A fuck of a lot.





Chapter Twelve

Felicity sat next to Bailey in the tattoo parlor as the artist worked on the ink on her back. The crude tattoo that Felicity’s ex-boyfriend had put on her was gone, and in its place a masterpiece was slowly emerging. There were three huge mountains and a river at their base. Mist was rising from the water, and the tattoo artist was currently working on shading in a beautiful sunset behind and around the mountain peaks. There were several birds embedded into the design, the same birds that Grace and Logan had on their own bodies. Felicity had one of the same bird designs put on her arm as Bailey was being worked on.

“How you doing?” Felicity asked her friend.

“I’m good. Surprisingly, the shading doesn’t seem to hurt as much as the outlines of the mountains did.”

“It’s going to be so amazing when it’s done, Bail,” Felicity told her friend. “Seriously.”

Bailey picked up her head and propped her chin on her hands as she pierced Felicity with a look. “Thank you. Now tell me what’s going on with you and Ryder. I tried to get Nathan to talk to me on the way down, but he claims it’s none of his business.”

Felicity leaned back in the chair, picked at the bandage covering the new tattoo on her arm, and shrugged. “In a nutshell, a man who I’ve been trying to avoid has found me. He’s pissed at something I did a decade ago. I was really scared at first, but now I think I’m just angry at the whole situation.”

Bailey blinked. “What? Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell all of us this before?”

“Because it wasn’t an issue,” Felicity said. “It wasn’t until I drove home for my mom’s funeral earlier this year that the guy found me. He followed me back to Castle Rock, or had one of his flunkies do it. He bided his time, and now he’s been . . . I’m not sure of what word to use for what he’s been doing.”

“Stalking?” Bailey suggested a little aggressively.

Felicity shook her head. “No. Taunting. We both know he’s in town and that he could simply kill me at any point. But he gets off on scaring women. Scaring me. So he’s doing little shit to annoy me and try to break me.”

Bailey’s eyebrows drew down in concern. “But he won’t, right?”

Felicity shook her head. “I can’t deny I was freaked out at first. I wanted to run again. But Cole wouldn’t give me the money I put into the gym to start it up. Then Ryder came into town.” She shrugged once more. “Now I’m just pissed.”

“And you and Ryder?”

Felicity pressed her lips together. “I like him.”

“And?”

“I think he likes me back.”

Bailey laughed then. “I don’t think there’s any ‘think’ about it. Nathan didn’t have details, but he did tell me that Ryder has been sleeping at the gym with you for almost the last month.”

“He’s protecting me.”

“Is that all?”

“Well, up until this morning, yeah.”

“What happened this morning?” Bailey asked immediately, not missing the opening.

It had been a long time since Felicity had talked to a girlfriend about anything related to boys. It felt good. “He . . . we . . . well, let’s just say I’m hoping that tonight we’ll do more than just fall asleep in each other’s arms.”

Bailey held up a hand, and Felicity fist-bumped it as they both grinned.

“Do you remember what you told me about the Anderson brothers a while ago?” Bailey asked.

Felicity scrunched up her nose and shook her head.

“You said that you were sorry there weren’t any Anderson brothers left for you.” Bailey paused dramatically before continuing. “Looks like there is one more Anderson brother for you, after all.”

Felicity just stared at Bailey for a second before her lips twitched. Then she smiled. Then she was laughing. She laughed until tears were streaming from her eyes. Bailey joined her, and the tattoo artist had to stop and hold the needle up and out of the way since her canvas was moving too much with her giggles.

When they’d finally calmed down enough for the tattooist to continue, Felicity said, “I had forgotten all about that. But what are the odds?”

Bailey stretched out a hand to her friend. Felicity grabbed it.

“I’m not sure I’m the best person to give advice. Grace is probably much better at it than I am, and you’ve known her longer, but if Ryder is anything like his brothers, you have nothing to worry about. I don’t know your story or anything about the man who is taunting you, but you’ll get through it. I have no doubt. You’re strong and insightful, and Ryder looks at you like Nathan looks at me. When I’m having a bad day, struggling with my crappy past decisions, all it takes is waking up with Nathan’s arms around me to make me realize how lucky I am. One thing I’ve learned is that I can’t change my past. All I can do is look forward to my future. And for the first time in a really long time, I can say that I honestly do look forward to it. As long as Nathan is by my side, I can handle anything life throws at me . . . even a hormonal teenage brother who is determined to be a ‘real man’ like Nathan and his brothers are.”