Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(32)

He hated sessions, hated having to talk about his feelings, going over the same things again and again and again because his life never changed.

Except it kind of had now. Becca was in it. He would have to talk about her. It might be worth it if Ariel could give him insights on how to manage easing his way into Becca’s life.

“I’ll work on the flat,” Owen offered. “Maybe if I get things in order, he won’t be so angry with me.”

Jax looked up at him. “Are you sure? You usually hit a pub by this time.”

He usually found the bottom of a bottle by seven or eight at night and then opened another. He found the idea unsatisfying tonight. “No. Go on with the others. I’ve got work to do here.”

Jax gave him a smile that let him know that he wasn’t merely surprised, but somewhat pleased, and left.

Or was he mistaking suspicion for surprise?

“This is accounting for the last quarter.” Ezra moved toward the table, sitting down and starting to spread out the papers. “I wonder why she’s bothering with balancing the accounts. She has an accounting department for that.”

“I got the idea she was a hands-on kind of manager.” She seemed fairly type A when it came to work. She would need someone to force her to relax, to enjoy her downtime. She’d needed him to take over before she’d given up and allowed herself to simply take the pleasure he was offering her.

It struck him forcibly that she was exactly the type of woman who could use a Dom.

“I find it interesting that she’s only looking into one account.” Ezra glanced up. “This could be nothing at all, but I’ll send a copy down to Phoebe Murdoch.”

Owen moved to the box marked clothes. It wouldn’t be full. None of them had much to speak of. He found the plain T-shirts and jeans and hauled them out. Robert had some suits somewhere. He would hang them up before they wrinkled.

“Are you sure you did it for the right reasons?”

He glanced over and his boss was staring at him with intelligent eyes. He could never forget that Ezra Fain was a predator, and he often killed what he caught. “I made a call. I think it was the right one. I’m not going to lie to you. The lady is sexy as hell and I enjoyed myself, but I understand that this is a mission.”

“That wasn’t what I was worried about. I’m worried you did it to prove yourself.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t really, but would it be so bad to prove myself? Big Tag still hates me. He’s never going to see me as anything but the man who betrayed his brother. Tell me he doesn’t think I’m the one who gave us up in Colorado.”

“We don’t know anyone gave us up,” Ezra argued.

“Levi Green knew our location. He knew when Jax walked into those woods and he was waiting for him and River. There’s no way that was a coincidence.”

“Levi is a tricky one,” Ezra allowed. “Never underestimate him. And if anything, I think it was Solo who gave us up.”

“That’s not what Big Tag thinks.” He knew exactly what Big Tag thought because he’d overheard him one day at McKay-Taggart. “Big Tag thinks it’s one of us.”

“We disagree on that.” Ezra gathered the papers and placed them back inside the folder. “He can be paranoid and he hasn’t spent as much time with the team as I have. Owen, I don’t think you would betray us.”

“Well, history might have something to say about that.”

Ezra strode over and put a hand on his shoulder. “You didn’t do it for money, man. You did it for your family. You should have trusted your team more, but I can understand. It’s time to forgive yourself for something you can’t even remember doing and move on.”

He wasn’t sure it would be that easy for him, but as he started to unpack, he thought about Becca and, for a moment, his life didn’t seem so bad.





Chapter Six





The next morning, Becca searched her bag for the folder again and bit back a curse. Damn bag. She was switching to one she could close up. It had to have happened on the train. The train had been full, as it usually was at that time of day, and she hadn’t gotten a seat. Right before the Spadina stop, she’d dropped the damn bag and it had spilled over everywhere. She’d had help gathering it up, but she’d lost the folder she needed.

And she hadn’t figured it out until this morning because she’d spent the whole evening thinking about Owen Shaw. She’d dreamed about the man last night, and he’d been on her mind all morning long.

She was not doing this. It had been a hot moment, but she wasn’t falling head over heels for the first man she’d slept with. Fucked. Fucked hard and good and well, and she hadn’t even seen him naked.

Shouldn’t she at least see him naked?

She grabbed her bag and walked out of her apartment. If she hurried, she could grab a coffee before she headed to the office.

The elevator dinged and opened, but she was so not doing that. Stairs were her friends.

Would she get in if Owen had been the man stepping into the elevator? She’d only gotten a glimpse of the tall man with brown hair entering, but he definitely wasn’t Owen. Did he even live in the building? She hadn’t asked. It seemed like a big oversight. He could have been visiting friends.