Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(44)

“Why the fuck is his hand on her?” Robert’s whole demeanor had changed.

Ariel was here tonight as Ezra’s wife so she could get a better read on Becca. She’d explained that reading Becca’s reports and her social media would only tell her so much. Ariel wanted to get to know the woman who might have worked with Dr. McDonald.

Who hadn’t worked with that woman. No way. He couldn’t even think of it. She hadn’t known a damn thing. He couldn’t believe it.

“I thought this was all about the op, man,” Jax said. “She’s Ezra’s partner, not his lover.”

Robert actually growled the minute the word lover came out of Jax’s mouth.

“Seriously? You know you were supposed to be playing my lover, right?” Owen pointed out the flaw in his friend’s logic. “You certainly weren’t doing it to make Ari jealous. Or were you?”

Robert’s jaw tightened as he obviously tried to gain control. “Of course not. She knows damn well I wouldn’t sleep with you.”

But he was worried she might sleep with Ezra. “She turned you down because she wouldn’t sleep with a coworker. I know Ezra technically isn’t on the payroll, but I assure you she thinks of him as a coworker.”

“She didn’t turn me down at all,” Robert said quietly. “I did it. I kissed her back when I first started living at The Garden, and it got out of hand. And I realized how much I could hurt her. We agreed to go back to what we’d been before, therapist and patient. Friends, sort of, because of how we work together. I’ve come a long way. I can control myself now. I won’t hurt her physically. But she’s angry because I left her behind in London. I’m trying to show her that maybe we could try again after all this is over.”

Jax hissed slightly. “Man, they do not like to hear things like that. Women tend to want to go through all the things. The good. The bad. All the stuff.”

“You’ve been married for five minutes, Jax,” Robert shot back.

“Yeah, but it’s been a good five minutes.” Jax sighed as though thinking about something amazing. “It hasn’t been long, but I know one thing I’ve figured out. If you’re a couple you’re together no matter what. You don’t give up because being together is the most important thing. River isn’t merely a gift to protect. She’s my wife and she’s got a say in everything we do.”

“Oh, you learn quickly, baby.” River pushed through the swinging door and walked straight up to her husband, throwing her arms around him and lifting her face for a kiss. “Nothing is sexier than being a partner and not a prop.” He lowered her back down and she grabbed a corkscrew. “I take it this man-talk is brought to us by the sight of Ariel with another man? I ask because I know this isn’t about Owen. He’s already running away and hard.”

“I am not running,” he complained. “I’m giving her space because she obviously doesn’t want me here.”

“She had a rough day at work and she’s still unsettled,” River replied, picking up two wine glasses. “Which you would know if you hadn’t gotten all man hurt because she didn’t become a puddle of goo at the very sight of your handsome face. Go and make her laugh. Be charming and non-threatening. Try not to look like a crazy caveman. If you need tips on how to do that, look at Robert right now and then do the opposite of him. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll try to get Ezra back here and then Ari and I can solve the case while you guys gossip.”

She strode out to the living room, the door swinging behind her.

Jax grinned after his wife. “She gets sassier with age.”

She was definitely a far cry from the woman he’d first met. She’d been sad, closed off and suspicious.

If Jax had walked away the first time she’d rejected him—over a misunderstanding—they wouldn’t be here. That wasn’t how it would work out for him and Becca, however he could do his job and still be good for her.

But not if he let her walk away because he didn’t even try.

From his vantage he could see her through the opening between the kitchen and the bar. She hadn’t put her purse down. She was glancing around like she was trying to find a way to get out of this gracefully.

He couldn’t give her the chance. He grabbed a second glass and poured out two fingers of whiskey. “I’m going in.”

“Damn straight you are,” Jax replied. “Ask her. She won’t be expecting it because almost no one in this world is open and honest when they feel vulnerable. I was too stupid to know how to behave and it saved me. Be bold.”

Bold. He could do that. He clutched the glasses and strode out to make his play.





How to get out? It had been a mistake to come tonight. Maybe if she hadn’t walked in and seen Owen she could have gotten through dinner, but seeing him again had thrown her off kilter.

She could fake a text. She was a doctor. Everyone knew doctors had emergencies all the time. A research emergency. That might work. Something could have gone wrong in the lab and she needed to get back. Except there was zero chance she was going back there tonight.

Damn it. She hated being this wishy-washy, hated not having a plan in front of her.

It had been an hour since she’d left the office and she couldn’t find her calm. She could tell herself that the feeling she’d gotten while standing outside her office had been nothing but a trick of memory, but it still sat there in her gut.