Sleight Mistake (Stone Investigations Book 2) Read online

  ‘I’d settle for a little spontaneity,’ Sorcha sighed. ‘You’re having all the fun these days.

  ‘I know you’re fed up,’ Lacie said. Sorcha swiped a flute of champagne from a waiter, but Lacie stole it from her before she could drink. ‘It will get better.’

  ‘When?’ Sorcha demanded. ‘I can’t drink. I can’t flirt. Any guy who smiles my way runs a mile when he sees the bump. No one wants to dance with me, and I’m stag so I can’t even fawn over the guy whose fault this is.’

  ‘You mean have him fawn over you?’

  ‘Is that too much to ask?’ Sorcha asked. ‘I’m carrying his baby, and half the time he doesn’t even show up!’

  ‘Sorch—‘

  ‘I can count on one hand the number of times he’s stayed over at mine in the last month. Three times we’ve had sex, Lace. Since we found out he was alive, that’s it, three times!’

  ‘Three,’ Lacie said.

  She and Ryder had sex before sharing dinner last night, and had made love before falling asleep too. In the truck, after lunch, Ryder had delivered her another orgasm, and they’d enjoyed some afternoon delight. Lacie had never had sex so frequently in her life, not that she was complaining. She swallowed more champagne then put the glasses on a side table half finished.

  ‘Do you want to go up to your room?’ Lacie asked. Sorcha still had a bedroom here at her parents’ house, which the women used sometimes to get ready in or crash in after festivities were over. ‘We could go to the AV room and watch videos.’

  ‘There’s a party on,’ Sorcha said. ‘We’re not supposed to wander around the house.’

  Lacie had experience with that. ‘It’s ok. I’ve seen the security—we can take them.’ Sorcha didn’t react to Lacie’s joke.

  ‘I used to rule these things you know,’ Sorcha said, with slumped shoulders, she frowned into her hunch. ‘I was the belle of the ball. Every guy wanted to dance with me and the women wanted to talk to me. I was the centre of the party, everyone wanted to be with me.’

  ‘Your life is going to be different now that you’re engaged and going to be a mother. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be bad.’

  ‘It’s easy to say that when you’re on the outside looking in. My life is over, completely. I’m going to be one of those sad, pathetic women with no personality or interests of my own. I’ll be stuck in a loveless marriage, burying myself in a bottle, surviving on a dozen Xanax a day.’

  ‘It’s not going to be like that,’ Lacie said. Sorcha ripped her hand away when Lacie tried to take it.

  ‘Easy for you to say!’ Sorcha snapped. ‘If you were knocked up right now you’d be singing a different tune! I didn’t want this baby, or a husband, and now I’ll be lumbered with both!’

  Speechless, Lacie absorbed the vision of her wide-eyed friend who was breathing so hard that her chest heaved with every laboured inhale. ‘You have to embrace the—‘

  ‘You’re with a guy who adores you, and serves up sex at breakfast, lunch, and dinner! He told us already that he didn’t take this gig for the money! He took it because he can’t bear to be apart from you!’

  Sorcha had been with men who were obsessed with her and when she was in those relationships, she complained of being suffocated, so her venom right now didn’t make sense to Lacie.

  ‘Sorch, I—‘

  ‘Forget it, Lacie, go be with your adorer. You hate these things anyway.’

  Sorcha was angry but Lacie couldn’t fathom why. Knowing how Sorcha could be when she got herself in a mood, Lacie knew that trying to talk to her friend now would accomplish nothing. People didn’t shy from reminding her that she disliked these kinds of social occasions and they were right. And since she had come here for the friend who didn’t want her now, it was time to leave.

  Lacie wouldn’t risk driving with even a sip of alcohol in her system, so she scanned the room for a man in black. Toby was closest and as luck would have it, he was darting into the outer foyer. Crossing the room to follow Toby’s path, Lacie found Toby and Ty alone in the space now that all of the guests had arrived.

  ‘Can one of you lend me twenty dollars?’ Both men reached for their rear pockets, but carried on whispering to each other. ‘What’s going on?’ Lacie asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ Ty said, doing a double take when he noticed the dress. His frown cleared to a grin. ‘Wow, Boss got a treat tonight. Has he seen the dress?’

  ‘And what’s under it,’ Toby muttered, earning him a swot with her clutch. Ty was the flirt of the group and Toby had an awful poker face, which was why he was mostly found at home hiding behind a computer screen.

  They both held two tens toward her, so she took one from each of them. ‘Did you lose a bet or something?’ Ty asked.

  ‘Tell Ryder I’m going home.’

  ‘Wait, wait,’ Toby said, closing rank with Ty to block her exit. ‘Take the truck.’

  She fished the valet ticket from her bag and handed it to Toby. ‘Give this to Ryder. I’ve had a drink. He can bring the truck home when you guys are done.’

  ‘We’ll take you home,’ Ty said, lifting his wrist toward his mouth. Lacie caught his arm before it reached his lips and lowered it for him.

  ‘I can get myself home,’ she said. ‘You all have a job to do, and your numbers are already down.’ No one ever mentioned Wallace around her but she could do the math. Jamie Wallace was in jail and he’d taken another of the SW men, Eric, with him. So they were two men short of what they were used to working with.

  ‘Boss won’t like you going home alone,’ Ty said. ‘We’ll be skinned if he hears we let you out that front door by yourself.’

  Opening her clutch, she appeased them by fishing out her house keys. Holding them up, Lacie showed that her panic button was attached to the key chain. ‘I have my panic button. If bad things happen, I’ll push it.’

  ‘And we’ll be far away from the danger and won’t be able to help you,’ Toby said.

  ‘I do walk down the street alone,’ Lacie said. ‘Tell him I’ve gone but if he chases me down I’ll know who to blame, and your boss won’t get laid for a month.’

  As serious as she played it, she was just teasing about holding them accountable and punishing Ryder. But these men were here to do a job and she didn’t want Ryder rushing after her.

  It was nice to have someone care about your wellbeing, but they both had lives and work, which meant they couldn’t be together twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Ryder couldn’t do anything for her at home now anyway, she wanted to have a long soak in the tub before Ryder finished with his duties and came over to pamper her.

  He could still go back to SW as he did still own the building, but after slipping out of her bed last night and rushing their encounters today, she knew he would come over to her apartment. Tonight would be about kissing and caressing. He’d spoil her with hours of devoted foreplay designed to torment her, and prove that adoration Sorcha alluded to.

  Lacie did have a lot to be proud of, and happy with in her life. Sorcha was scared and confused. Lacie would take the hits if Sorcha needed to vent. There had never been a more important time to be a good friend to Sorcha and Lacie would step up to the plate.

  Chapter Five

  The phone had been ringing when she got into her apartment and she spent the better part of an hour telling Ryder that she was fine and that he could come over when he was finished working. He had.

  Lacie had her bath and went to bed, just like she’d planned. She awoke in her favourite way, with Ryder’s head between her thighs. The pampering lasted hours, they made love until neither could anymore, and fell asleep wrapped in each other.

  Her sleep was disturbed by nightmares, which often woke her. No matter how she tossed and turned during the night, she always woke up in Ryder’s arms. It was a wonder that he got any sleep at all through her fitful escapades.

  After fooling around in the morning, he left her to get more sleep while he made breakfast. Lacie didn’t get much shut
eye because she was preoccupied by her argument with Sorcha. Checking her phone for messages from Sorcha left her disappointed. It was clear that Sorcha wasn’t ready to make-up just yet.

  ‘You look worried.’

  Startled by his voice, Lacie looked up from her phone to see Ryder at the top of the stairs with a breakfast-laden tray.

  ‘You didn’t have to do all of that,’ she said, pushing herself up into a seated position. ‘I could’ve come down to the kitchen.’

  ‘I was a jerk last night,’ he said, presenting her the tray and straightening the pillow behind her back while she steadied the food. ‘I’m grovelling.’

  Examining the warm pancakes, the hot coffee, and the single rose in a narrow vase, she almost didn’t want to disturb the beautiful sight. ‘We had a lot of sex last night,’ she said. ‘I didn’t think I’d have to engrave my forgiveness into stone.’

  ‘You and Sorcha had a falling out?’

  ‘How did you know that?’ she asked, picking at a blueberry on the edge of the pancake plate.

  Ryder launched his length onto the bed beside her. ‘You’re easy to read,’ he said, sitting up to take his coffee from her tray. ‘What did you argue about?’

  ‘We didn’t argue,’ she said, disappointed that she wasn’t in the mood to enjoy Ryder’s efforts from the kitchen.

  ‘What was it about?’ he asked, blowing steam from the top of his cup.

  ‘Men,’ she said, wrinkling her nose as she tried to think of how she could be more specific without betraying Sorcha’s confidence. ‘Sort of.’

  After taking a mouthful of coffee, he put his cup back on the tray. ‘What did we do wrong?’ he asked, cutting her pancake with the side of her fork.

  ‘I don’t understand it,’ Lacie said then he fed her the pancake.

  ‘Understand what?’

  ‘I understand that she’s scared because everything in her life is changing… but she’s so angry.’

  He speared another blueberry and put it to her lips. ‘So it wasn’t an argument as much as a one sided tirade.’

  Lacie breathed in the berry and popped it between her molars before she swallowed it. ‘She’s scared.’

  ‘She takes advantage of you,’ Ryder said, watching the breakfast tray as he cut a few pieces of pancake into bite sized chunks.

  Lacie wasn’t sure what she wanted Ryder to say. She knew that he and Sorcha weren’t close, so she felt the need to defend her friend. ‘Her life is upside down.’

  ‘She made the choices.’

  ‘She’s pregnant.’

  ‘Women all over the planet are too,’ Ryder said, showing no sympathy for the turmoil in Sorcha’s life.

  Hoping further explanation would prompt some empathy, Lacie edged into the truth. ‘Bruce isn’t helping her.’

  ‘She chose to marry the guy,’ he said, forking more pancake into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed then opened for more. ‘What’s wrong with him now?’

  ‘He doesn’t love her. They spend no time together and they’ve had sex three times this month. I can’t imagine how… you look after me all the time.’

  ‘I like looking after you.’

  ‘I know. But imagine if I was pregnant with your child.’ His grin flashed up and her hand came up in a halt gesture as her eyes landed on his to convey her sincerity. ‘I’m not propositioning you. Don’t get any ideas.’

  His grin didn’t fade. He actually came closer. ‘So, you’re pregnant with my kid, what else am I imagining?’

  Trying to show him what distress Sorcha was in, she summarised her situation in terms Lacie hoped that Ryder would understand. ‘Imagine you’re ignoring me and we never spend time together. We never make love.’

  ‘Not possible,’ Ryder said, shaking his head. ‘We all knew Booth was an idiot before this. Why is Sorcha surprised?’

  He didn’t seem any more understanding in the situation, he just sipped from his coffee cup. ‘It’s not the fairy tale I suppose,’ Lacie said. ‘She’s scared.’

  ‘That’s not your fault,’ he said, putting his cup back down.

  ‘I know that,’ she exhaled and fixated on the tray again to admit her own guilt. ‘But I’m so happy with you, and we’re not in the position Sorcha and Bruce are.’

  ‘We’re together by choice.’

  This time when he offered a fork full of pancakes she didn’t open. Ryder took this as a sign to discard the fork and put the tray on the floor out of the way. When that was done, he gathered her into his arms and laid them down.

  ‘I can’t imagine marrying a man who didn’t love me,’ Lacie said, appreciating the warmth of his embrace.

  ‘Because you never will. We’re already crazy in love, now all I have to do is get you down the aisle.’

  ‘Not this again,’ she said, sorry that she had managed to give him the perfect segue. ‘We’re not talking about us.’

  Turning his mouth down against her, he mumbled into her hair and she heard the enjoyment in his voice. ‘I’m still on the “pregnant with my child” bit.’

  Moving on from a conversation she didn’t want to have. Lacie took her thoughts to the future to see if she could envision a happy future for her best friend. ‘I can’t imagine Sorcha with a baby, maybe it will change her. She’ll step up when it’s time… won’t she?’

  That was apparently a question Ryder didn’t want to answer because he body swerved it entirely and changed the subject. ‘What do you want to do today?’

  Happy not to push him when he didn’t push her, she went with this new conversation tangent. ‘I have work to do, and a meeting before lunch. Darwin wants to meet tonight.’

  ‘You told me.’

  ‘Dinner at eight he said,’ she said.

  ‘I’ll be there. I thought we could do something together today.’

  ‘You have a debrief to do.’ Nudging him with her head to prompt him into action had no effect, he stayed put. ‘And you still need somewhere to live. Shouldn’t those things take priority?’

  ‘Nothing wrong with this place,’ he said, snaking a hand around to grasp her breast.

  ‘You can’t live here,’ she said, turning her head up, but she didn’t have the scope to see his face.

  ‘I stay here all the time,’ he said, fondling the flesh under his palm.

  Determined to make her point and not be distracted by sex, she stayed on point. ‘Staying here and living here are two different things.’

  His hand stopped playing, but it stayed curled around her. ‘You have a problem with us living together?’

  ‘No,’ she said, trying to wriggle out of his embrace.

  ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ he asked, pulling her back to roll her body under his. ‘What are you not saying to me? Speak that mind of yours I love.’

  ‘I laughed in Sorcha’s face at lunch yesterday.’

  His expression turned curious. ‘That’s not like you.’

  Trying not to look him in the eye, she lowered her chin. ‘I couldn’t help it, she… she asked if I ever worried about you—‘

  ‘And that made you laugh?’

  Drawing her eyes upward, she stared truth into his wondrous gaze. ‘Cheating on me, she asked if I worried about you being unfaithful.’

  ‘And you laughed in her face?’ Lacie nodded. ‘I love you.’

  His lips were headed for hers but she spoke to forestall him. ‘But last night… I was heartbroken when you accused me of messing around with Elijah.’

  ‘I trust you,’ he asserted, determined not to break eye contact. ‘Last night wasn’t about you, it was about him. I only want to look after you.’

  Lacie wasn’t sure she was buying that. ‘You were ready to murder Elijah. I saw it in the way you looked at him.’

  ‘While you were doing that, I was looking at him looking at you.’

  ‘Can you read minds?’

  ‘I didn’t have to,’ Ryder said, some of his ease morphed into that disgust of last night. ‘The guy was all over you. He wo
uldn’t let you go.’

  ‘Are we going to argue like this?’ she asked, the breakfast might have been forgotten but she still lay naked in their mussed sheets on her back under her hulk of a man.

  ‘I don’t want to argue at all,’ he said, smoothing her hair and softening again.

  ‘We argue,’ she said, though it was a rare occurrence and she wondered if they were still blinded by the haze of new love and sexual attraction.

  ‘Not about this,’ he said. ‘I love you. I trust you—‘

  ‘How can I be sure when—‘

  ‘I was ready to walk away from everything, my work, my men… you were the one. I trusted you and you, you trusted them. You’re my world, Lace, and I’ll never do anything to endanger you. I’ll look out for you because you are my number one priority. I won’t apologise for that.’

  He really did adore her and she couldn’t doubt that. Taking a breath, she opened her hands on his sides. ‘I don’t want you to apologise,’ she said. ‘I want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I love you, and I have no interest, or inclination toward any other man. I want you.’

  ‘Then we agree,’ he said and returned his grin. ‘I do believe it. I just want to look after you, it’s my priority.’

  This time she let him kiss her, and his hand found its way under the cover to fondle her bare breast.

  ‘No funny ideas,’ she said, twisting her head away from their kiss. ‘I have a meeting.’

  ‘What kind of meeting?’ he asked, rolling off her to let her depart the bed. Except she didn’t. She had a meeting, but it wasn’t as imminent as she had led him to believe.

  ‘I’m not allowed to tell you,’ she said. Reaching for the snap on his jeans, she unfastened them and squeezed her hand around his immediate reaction to her intrusion.

  Locking his fingers behind his head, Ryder stretched out to allow her perusal. ‘Who says?’