Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(27)

Owen grabbed his shirt and dragged it over his head before picking up her cardigan. “Sorry, love. We’re busting out of this place. Here.” He held it out for her, helping her into the plain cardigan she sometimes thought she wore like armor. He smoothed back her hair and placed the sweetest kiss on her forehead. “You look perfectly respectable.”

Something about how chaste that kiss was made any potential embarrassment fly away. This didn’t have to be awkward. It had been the single best sex of her life, and she would think about him for-freaking-ever. She grabbed her bag and turned to the doors as they slid open.

“Thank you,” she whispered, a secret smile turning her lips up. “It was good to meet you, Owen Shaw.”

He was right beside her, their hands brushing but not quite tangling together as they faced the seventh floor. A small crowd had gathered. Her coworker Carter Adams paced at the back of the crowd. River and Jax and the man she’d seen earlier dealing with the moving van were there. He was an attractive man, like Jax, but neither could hold a candle to her Owen.

Not hers. He’d only been hers for a moment, and that was okay.

“And you, Becca Walsh,” he said in that deep, sexy accent.

“We heard you were stuck when we got back from our run. Carter told us,” River was saying as she exited. “I was worried. I would freak out if I spent four hours in that tiny box.”

“I had good company,” she said, her smile widening. “Good night, guys.”

Carter fell in beside her. She should have known he would hear about the elevator. He was friends with Colin. Carter had been one of the first people she’d met when she’d moved here.

He could also be a bit of a busybody.

“Who was that man? Are you okay?” Carter asked.

She didn’t want to spend her evening listening to Carter complain, because that was mostly what he did. “I’m perfect and that was Owen Shaw. He was perfect, too.”

“Who is Owen Shaw?” Carter glanced behind them, probably looking at the man again.

“I think he’s new in the building.” They’d had more important things to talk about than which apartment he lived in. Maybe he was one of the new guys.

“There was a delivery for you,” he said. “I put it on your bar.”

They’d exchanged keys when they’d gotten to know each other. Sometimes she locked herself out and he could be helpful. He also accepted packages for her when she wasn’t around. “What was it?”

“Well, it wasn’t from that guy, I’ll tell you,” he retorted. “I think it’s from Cathy.”

Ah, the surprise she’d mentioned. She opened her door. “’Night, Carter. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She let the door close behind her and turned. A brilliant arrangement of flowers was sitting on her bar.

Cathy had remembered. Today was the anniversary of her hiring at Huisman. Two years to the day.

Those gorgeous blooms reminded her that she’d made a new start. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and smiled.

Maybe that promise she’d made to her mother wasn’t so far away after all.





Chapter Five





Owen grabbed his bag and followed Robert off the lift. He was in an oddly good mood. He was about to get his arse kicked, and it had been worth it.

She had been worth it, and the truth was he couldn’t wait to see her again. Allowing her to walk away from him had been an indulgence. His instinct was to tangle his fingers in hers and tell her to take him back to her place so they could do things right and proper this time.

Not that it hadn’t felt right. Nothing in his life had felt as right as getting Rebecca Walsh up against a wall and shoving his way inside her.

She’d been hot and tight around him. He could still feel her nails digging into the flesh of his shoulders and back. He wanted to see the marks she’d left there.

He hadn’t marked her. She might like a bite of pain. He would definitely like to look at her shoulder or the nape of her neck and see a mark, one he’d put there. He loved the fact that her nails had scratched down his back, damn near drawing blood.

He would explore it with her the next time they got together.

Because there was definitely going to be a next time.

“Are you all right?” Jax was walking behind them, but he’d noticed River was back at the door to the apartment she shared with her husband and their big mutt.

She winked her husband’s way and they disappeared inside.

“I’m fine, mate.” He wasn’t supposed to know Jax either, but Jax seemed to have forgotten that fact. “I think I’ll take the stairs next time though. I’m Owen.”

Jax stared down at his hand. “She’s gone, man. We’re safe.”

Owen lowered his voice. “You can’t know that.”

He started down the hall toward the flat he was supposed to share with his lover. They needed to put some distance between them and Becca. Once he’d rounded the corner, she wouldn’t be able to see them.

The door to his flat was open and Ezra Fain stood there. Well, well, the gang was all here. “Yes, we can. While the elevator was down, we were able to wire this whole floor. All we had to do was monitor the stairs. We managed to get into her apartment. We didn’t stay long, but we’ve got it bugged now. Dante thinks he can get into her office tomorrow night. But getting into her lab is going to be more difficult. Tucker, what’s she doing right now?”