Sleight Mistake (Stone Investigations Book 2) Read online

  ‘No need,’ Ryder said, navigating around his men and the furniture.

  ‘Slipping a bug in there will be no trouble,’ Gabe said. ‘Might be useful to know what—‘

  ‘Lacie will tell me,’ Ryder said, pausing by the entrance to the hallway to absorb his men’s cascade of admiration.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Gabe asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Ryder said. ‘Damn sure.’

  Leaving to do as Lacie had asked him to, Ryder garnered pride in their relationship. Lacie meant the world to him and he had to trust her. Never again did he want her to question that trust. Communication was important, but he was positive that after last night, she was taking that fact much more seriously.

  Settling herself and Sorcha on the doublewide slouch couch in the den. Lacie tried to erase her memories of lying on this couch with Ryder. It was almost as wide as a double bed and watching movies with Ryder here made her feel like a teenager with her first boyfriend, which had been a pleasure she was spared in her teens. Ryder was more than happy to fulfil every one of her lost experiences.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Lacie asked, focusing on her friend who was clearly in need.

  Sorcha bounced to the edge of the couch and gathered Lacie’s hands onto her lap, forcing Lacie to adopt an upright pose too.

  ‘Elijah’s been in touch with me,’ Sorcha said. ‘I told Ryder that this wasn’t about Elijah because I know he’s insecure.’

  ‘Ryder is not insecure and Elijah has been phoning here too, but I haven’t answered any of his calls.’

  ‘You should hear him out,’ Sorcha said and her expression of concern was valued but not necessary.

  Smiling, Lacie tried to reassure her. ‘I don’t need to. We have things under control here.’

  ‘He’s your friend,’ Sorcha said, releasing some of her grip on Lacie’s hands. Her concern became annoyance and the groove between her brows deepened ‘Just because you have a boyfriend now doesn’t mean you should turn your back on your friends from before.’

  ‘I haven’t,’ Lacie said. This wasn’t going to be as easy as a few platitudes. She had some anger of her own that she would do her best to dampen for the sake of Sorcha’s condition. ‘But last night he—‘

  ‘Because he cares about you,’ Sorcha said, leaping to Elijah’s defence. ‘If Ryder can’t accept—‘

  ‘This isn’t about Ryder, it’s about me,’ Lacie said, losing grip on the anger she’d tried to harness. ‘If you’ve come over here to lecture me about Elijah—‘

  ‘Matt wants to see you.’ Sorcha at least had the decency to appear contrite. She lowered her eyes and for a few stunned seconds, Lacie didn’t know what to say.

  Her first reaction to the utterance of her ex-boyfriend’s name was to withdraw her hands from Sorcha’s. ‘You spoke to Matt?’ Lacie asked, feeling irrationally betrayed.

  Sorcha stole her hands again. ‘He’s been pestering Elijah, but Elijah’s been standing in front of you. He’s been trying to protect you.’

  Her old life, her very old life, included Matt and Elijah as key players. But after she and Matt stopped seeing each other, she had seen less and less of Elijah and others in their circle.

  ‘He’s not doing a great job of it if you’re bringing it to me,’ Lacie said, she considered the new information. ‘Thanks for letting me know.’

  ‘That’s it? You don’t want to talk about it?’ Sorcha asked, flummoxed and deflated that they weren’t going to deconstruct every detail of what all this might mean.

  Depressurising her anger, she rubbed her hand on Sorcha’s wrist. ‘There’s no need,’ Lacie said. She would tell Ryder about Elijah and about Matt, and from there they would form a plan on how to move forward. ‘Have you heard from Bruce?’

  When her body sagged, Lacie’s interest was piqued. ‘I spent last night with Shep,’ Sorcha said with enough of a sigh to suggest she knew that she was acting inappropriately. That being said, if she really believed that, then she would not have spent the night with a man other than her fiancé.

  ‘You have to tell your parents,’ Lacie said.

  As though prodded in the spine, her posture righted. ‘That I had sex with a man who’s not my fiancé? Why would I do that?’

  It was becoming more obvious that not only did Sorcha and Shep care for each other, but that Bruce was not going to be the beacon of stability someone like Sorcha needed. ‘You have something with Shep,’ Lacie said. ‘Why are you afraid of that?’

  ‘I’m not afraid,’ Sorcha said, but from the uppity shade in her manner, Lacie felt that she was being dismissed. ‘I’m marrying the father of my child.’

  ‘If you can find him,’ Lacie said.

  Still the height of civility, Sorcha did spare her a brief glimpse of the stink eye. ‘Shep is going to find him.’

  If that wasn’t preposterous, Lacie didn’t know what was. ‘Your boyfriend is out to find your fiancé? Let me ask Ryder to—‘

  ‘Ryder is worried about you. There’s a nut out there who wants to wear your skin as a cloak!’

  Sorcha did have a flare for the dramatic. Lacie tilted her head to nod. ‘That’s lovely. I’m not worried.’

  ‘Says the woman who was recently held in captivity for weeks,’ Sorcha said, returning to some of her concern. ‘And who still struggles to get through a night without flashbacks.’

  ‘Ryder won’t let anything happen to me.’

  ‘You’ve said this to me before,’ Sorcha said. She lacked the faith that Lacie had. ‘Right before you were kidnapped.’

  ‘That’s not going to happen again,’ Lacie said. ‘Ryder—‘

  ‘You’re infuriating,’ Sorcha exclaimed and tossed Lacie’s hands off her lap. ‘He’s not a superhero. What’s so great about him anyway?’

  ‘He loves me,’ Lacie said. Ryder would focus on keeping her safe and wouldn’t rest until whoever was responsible for the gallery incident was found and

  ‘We know that. Every thing’s just so easy for you, isn’t it?’

  ‘Easy?’ Lacie asked. ‘You just said—‘

  ‘My life is a complete mess! What am I going to do, Lace? What do I do?’

  Sorcha collapsed into her arms and began to sob. Lacie calmed her as best she could, whispering soothing words, and stroking her hair. Sorcha had always had a tendency toward tears and the pregnancy hormones hadn’t helped.

  Once the crying jag had dwindled, Lacie tried to offer a solution. ‘Do you want to stay here for a while and get away from things?’

  ‘With you and lover boy? No thanks,’ Sorcha sniffed and stayed curled into Lacie.

  At least if Sorcha was here, they could limit her exposure to Shep and Lacie meant that in the intimate way it sounded in her head. ‘Ryder won’t mind,’ Lacie said. ‘Or if he does, I’ll make sure he hides it.’

  Ryder wouldn’t be wild about the idea, but he would put up with it. He always put up with Sorcha and her ways because he knew how important the friends were to each other.

  ‘We should go away,’ Sorcha said, easing out of Lacie’s arms.

  ‘Away where?’ Lacie asked, watching Sorcha open her purse to retrieve a Kleenex. ‘I don’t think Ryder will like that idea with everything that’s going on.’

  ‘Since when have you been ruled by a man? Getting away right now might be the best thing for you. The nut is here so you shouldn’t be. We can keep the circle small and make sure no one but us knows where we are.’

  Torn, Lacie struggled to make a decision. ‘I’m not ruled by Ryder. It makes sense for me to stay here where I can be protected.’

  ‘We’ll go and stay with my cousin Carlos,’ Sorcha said. With this new notion, Sorcha’s mood was becoming much more buoyant. ‘He has security.’

  That was a no go idea, though it was probably the best suggestion of where they could go to be safe. ‘You’re pregnant, you can’t fly.’

  ‘We’ll take a train down to Florida. Mason will take us sailing,’ Sorcha said referring to another of her cousins.
/>   ‘You on a boat when you’ve got about six weeks left of your pregnancy?’

  Searching for other ideas, Sorcha didn’t take long to come up with a new suggestion. ‘You want to be safe,’ Sorcha said. ‘It’s that or we go up to the cabin in New England, we could get an airlift from there if necessary.’

  ‘The cabin,’ Lacie said. ‘You’re talking about Elijah’s cabin?’

  Tutting, Sorcha flopped and shrugged. ‘Accepting a favour from a friend doesn’t mean anything other than he’s a friend. I don’t have to tell him you’re going to be with me… Come on, we could both do with getting away from things for a week or two. Once this kid is out we’ll never have the chance to get away.’

  That was a very good point. Sorcha deserved some rest and relaxation. After the baby was born, Lacie would have a competitor for Sorcha’s attention, though she didn’t mind when her opponent would be so cute. ‘I’m not sure—‘

  ‘Please, please, please,’ Sorcha begged, bouncing in her seat and taking Lacie’s hands to bounce them with her. ‘We’ll be in the middle of nowhere, there won’t be any trouble.’

  Lacie drew in a breath and knew she was going to fold. ‘Let me talk to Ryder.’

  ‘Yeah!’ Sorcha screeched and pulled her into a hug before she leapt up off the couch. ‘I’m going home to pack. We’ll leave this afternoon.’

  Sorcha didn’t give Lacie a chance to say anything else. She just ran out of the room and presumably out of the building. Lacie wasn’t keen on this idea but Sorcha was her best friend and life wouldn’t be the same after the baby was born. She just had to convince Ryder.

  ‘Just us, no men,’ Sorcha hissed. ‘Who do you see crawling all over the property?’

  Persuading Ryder that this trip was a good idea took some time. Lacie told him about Matt getting in touch with Sorcha and that Elijah wanted to help—which had been a tough sell. In the end the only way he would agree was if he could bring them here to check the place out for himself. So he and his men travelled up with the women and were putting security locks on the windows and a proximity alarm on the main road in, which was the only one wide enough for a vehicle.

  They’d been in the cabin for an hour. While the men worked, both women unpacked their clothes and while Lacie felt quite at ease, Sorcha was restless. ‘They’re nearly finished,’ Lacie said, sitting beside her friend in the large living room that the front door opened onto. ‘They just want a lay of the land.’

  ‘I thought Ryder was going to have a heart attack when he saw how close the trees were to the house,’ Sorcha hissed and lifted her legs onto the low table that stood between them and the view onto the front porch.

  The house was beautiful though modest, especially for someone of Elijah’s means. The wraparound porch was her favourite feature of the house. With the bedrooms upstairs and the kitchen dining area behind the living room, that was the sum total of what the house had to offer.

  Lacie had to admit that Sorcha had relaxed just by being here although she was griping, probably because it was one of her favourite pastimes. As picturesque as the house was in its situation, it didn’t have the same calming effect on Lacie.

  Ryder came down the stairs, which were behind the couch, flanked by Rocco and Gabe. Toby knelt on the floor beside the front window to close the plastic box that had contained his gadgets. As though they had some sort of psychic link, Ty and Will were moving toward the truck outside and Sonny came through from the kitchen.

  ‘We’re moving out,’ Ryder said when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

  ‘Thank god,’ Sorcha grunted and didn’t get up when Lacie moved over to open the front door.

  All of the men kissed Lacie on their way out except Sonny who offered an awkward smile before he shuffled off. Sorcha wasn’t budging from her spot on the couch, so she lifted her hand in a feeble farewell. Ryder was the last man to meet Lacie on the threshold and instead of requesting a kiss, she took his hand and led him onto the porch.

  The men were heading across the front yard, such as it was, and gave Ryder and Lacie their privacy to say goodbye.

  Drawing him over to the railing at the edge of the porch, Lacie exhaled and went into his arms. ‘You’re tense,’ Ryder said, brushing her hair over her shoulder to her back.

  ‘You’re leaving,’ she murmured into him although that wasn’t the sole cause for her negative mood.

  ‘That’s making you tense?’ he asked, suggesting he knew there was more to her melancholy.

  Taking her body away from his, she exhaled and prepared to tell the truth. ‘Honestly?’ she asked, looking left and right because despite being under an awning she was very aware of the men in the truck.

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘It smells like’—unease tickled at the back of her neck, making her shiver—‘where they took me that first night. The sounds, the moisture in the air, it’s…’ Distracted by the scene, she fazed out and when he touched her hand, she gasped and stumbled back. Shaking her head, she reoriented herself and tried to smile while taking his hand, but Ryder wasn’t going to be fooled.

  Opening his fingers, he caught hers and that anchor point meant so much to her. ‘If you want me to stay…’

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘I’m overreacting.’

  ‘Your feelings are healthy,’ Ryder said. ‘If you feel unsafe—‘

  ‘I’m being ridiculous,’ Lacie said. ‘It’s just the heebie-jeebies. I’ll be fine. Maybe it’s the prospect of sleeping alone, I haven’t done that in a while.’

  She refused to let Wallace and what he did to her ruin her life. Ryder was right, her unease was normal, it was a healthy reaction to her trauma. But she wouldn’t sit around in a cage for the rest of her life because she was stronger than that. Despite the difficulty, she had endured, their relationship had endured, and her faith in that gave her power to face her fears.’

  Ryder slid forward to bring their bodies into contact. ‘There’s an inn a couple of dozen miles south. The guys and I are going to stay there for the night… maybe two. I can be here in half an hour… twenty minutes if you’re naked.’ His tease made her laugh and that was exactly what she needed to chase her butterflies away.

  ‘And here I thought you might introduce me to phone sex,’ she said, raising herself high onto her toes.

  That idea made his brow rise in time with the corner of his mouth. ‘Dirty talk really works for you, doesn’t it, Baby?’

  A flicker in her throat prickled down through her ribs making every millimetre of her skin become hypersensitive. Diverting her eyes didn’t put him off, and he skimmed his hands up her arms to cup her face and bring their eyes back together. The intensity that bled from his gaze only made her body ache in hope.

  ‘How do you do that?’ she whispered. Completely enamoured and ready to do whatever it took to get her man naked. ‘I’m ready to bend over and pull up my skirt.’

  ‘I can work under the skirt,’ he said and with another half-smile, he made her shiver again. It was the way he looked at her, with that all-consuming devotion and dedication, that seduced her.

  Planting her hands on his torso, she slid them around his ribs to nestle her body on his. ‘I love you, Stone.’

  ‘Love you too.’

  Kissing the top of her head was a distracting manoeuvre. At the same time, he bent his knees and let his hands creep under her skirt to squeeze her ass. Protecting her modesty, he moved their bodies so that his blocked the view of the couple from the truck full of his colleagues.

  This was probably the point that he was supposed to walk away. But he didn’t. ‘My butt is getting a draft,’ she smiled.

  ‘Want me to heat you up?’

  ‘You flirt,’ she said, but didn’t take her arms away from around him.

  His mouth moved in her hair. ‘I’m flirting with you because I want you thinking about me. I want to be on your mind.’

  ‘You’re always on my mind,’ she said. ‘It’s five days, we’ll make it.’

/>   ‘I think we’ll need time away together alone after this.’

  ‘A week in bed at least,’ she agreed and enjoyed how their breathing levelled out in this shared embrace. ‘I love you.’

  ‘You’ve said that already which means you’re ready to say goodbye.’

  ‘Never ready and never goodbye,’ she said, tipping her head back. ‘Just behave yourself, will you? And be careful. I still have use for you.’

  ‘I’ll be careful,’ Ryder said. ‘We’re going to track this guy for you, Dusty.’

  ‘I know it.’

  In unison, they brought their lips together and while they sealed their goodbye kiss, Ryder’s hand came around to the back of her head. Slanting her head, he deepened the kiss and the moment they shared became more profound than any of their previous sexual encounters.

  Parting from her, the encounter was forced to end. ‘Love you, Baby,’ he said and with a final brief kiss, he squeezed her hand then dropped it.

  Running down the stairs, he headed for the truck, but glanced back to wink in sync with his emerging smile. In that split second, she read his mind and her cheeks flushed because the mental images he conveyed were carnal. Too soon, he was in the vehicle and driving away from her.

  Still watching the truck, Lacie felt Sorcha approach at her side. ‘Are they finally gone? I thought they’d never leave,’ Sorcha grumbled. Lacie couldn’t take her eyes from their rear lights, which eventually disappeared round a bend. ‘Are you crying?’

  ‘No,’ Lacie said. Sorcha peered around to examine her face and touched her index finger onto Lacie’s cheek to show her the moisture. Being emotional was usually Sorcha’s bag, not hers, and she couldn’t explain this engulfing reaction to watching Ryder and his men depart. ‘You’re going to hate me for this’—Lacie spun around to take her friend’s shoulders—‘I’m going to get drunk.’

  The first night was tough, but night two was worse. By night three, Lacie had given up even pretending to sleep. Spending time with Sorcha during the day was great. The woman carried a beauty spa with her, so they had plenty to do. They walked, they talked, and they pampered themselves. Lacie was enjoying doodling on her sketchpad, and barbequing for dinner which was something she hadn’t done for years.