11. Beck
CHAPTER 11
Beck
Someone pounded on the door. But it wasn't my front door. No, it was the neighbor's.
Luna’s door.
I had dropped Alice off at school since the nanny had a doctor’s appointment and stopped back home to get something from my office when I heard the knocking.
I opened the front door to find Sebastian on Luna’s stoop.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked my friend.
Sebastian turned. “I'm supposed to go to the job site with Luna this morning to set up her security, but I haven't heard from her.”
I frowned. Luna Marks might have pulled a disappearing act on me nearly a decade ago, but the woman lived for her work. There was no way she’d be intentionally late or miss a meeting.
Something’s wrong.
“I assume you called her?” I asked while jogging down my steps and then up hers.
Sebastian gave me a look to let me know exactly what he thought of that dumbass suggestion.
I held my hands up. “Got it. You know her passcode, right? Use it. It could be an emergency.”
He glared at me.
“Now,” I growled.
The man rolled his eyes, something I'd bet money he picked up from Faith, turned his back to me, and punched in the combo.
“Finally,” I muttered, pushing past him, a swell of panic rising inside me. “Marks, you here?”
I jogged into the kitchen and living area, finding them both empty.
A groan sounded from upstairs, and my gaze went skyward. I took the stairs two at a time, launching myself toward her bedroom, slowing down when I found it slightly ajar.
I ignored the sounds of protest behind me from Sebastian and pushed open the door. There was a mound of sheets on the bed, but no Luna from what I could tell.
Another moan.
My feet swallowed the distance between me and the bathroom.
For a second my heart stopped.
There she was, in a black silk two piece that hardly covered anything, her red hair slicked back against her face, falling out of a loose bun, and her head resting on top of the toilet as if she had fallen asleep there.
Christ . I'd bet my company she’d fallen asleep there. Her heavy eyelids flickered as I knelt next to her.
I rested a hand on the nape of her neck. “It's me. The bane of your existence.”
“Ugh,” she groaned. “Go away.”
“You scared us,” Sebastian said from somewhere behind me. “I'll get you some water.”
He left, and I took in every detail of the woman in front of me.
She winked an eye open and somehow managed to glare with her good eye.
“Go,” she croaked.
I tsked. “Is that how you say thank you to the man that saved your life?”
She narrowed that solitary eye even further.
I nodded to the toilet. “You done here?”
She leaned her cheek against the porcelain.
“I'll take that as a yes.” I scooped her lithe body into my arms, easily carrying her back to her bed. My heart thudded in my chest, and I prayed that she was too out of it to hear it. The woman gave me a fucking scare.
With her safe in my arms, I finally managed to refill my lungs with oxygen. I hadn't done that since the front door unlocked.
“Go home, Beck,” she said, exhaustion coating her tongue.
I drew the covers over her body, averting my gaze as I hid her smooth, exposed skin.
Luna curled up into a ball, brow pinching. “Fuuuuuck.”
Just then Sebastian reappeared, glass of water in hand. “Drink this.”
Luna stirred. “Sebastian is here? Why?” Then she must have remembered because she groaned out, “Missed our meeting.”
I sat on the edge of her bed as Sebastian rounded the other side to hand her the glass.
“Don't worry about the meeting,” he said.
Luna sat up with a hiss.
Seeing her in so much pain made me feel panicked in a way I usually managed to avoid. Being in the military had made me cool under pressure.
All that training was tossed out the window at the sight of Luna Marks in bed looking more helpless than I'd ever seen her.
“What can we do to help? Do I need to call an ambulance?” My voice was gruff. What would have happened if she didn't have a meeting with Sebastian? If I hadn't gone home to get some work done before going to the office?
We would have missed this.
I would have missed this. How long would she have laid here suffering? When I was little, I saw my dad suffer from the odd migraine, so I’d recognized this for what it was. She needed care. More than we could give her.
Luna tried to sit up but pinched her eyes and started back down. “Take care of my project site, Sebastian. I need those cameras.”
“Work can wait,” I scolded.
“I can take care of it,” Sebastian told her, ignoring me.
Luna lifted her head enough to give me the evil eye before clutching her brow again.
“That's it. You're coming with me.” I headed towards the dresser and picked out the first set of clothes I could find. There was no way in hell I was bringing her to the ER dressed as she was. I pointed at Sebastian. “You go work on her site, and I'll take her to the hospital.”
Luna chimed in, voice strained. “No hospital.”
I gently lifted her up, careful not to jostle her as I slipped on an oversized NYU sweatshirt over her head. I tried to be as nonchalant as possible, completely ignoring the fact that she still smelled like citrus and sunshine. Her hands slowly raised in the air for me to drag the fabric down, swallowing her toned body.
“Pants next,” I said, trying to keep my tone light, not giving away how much it pained me to be this close to her body. The last time we’d been this close…
Not the time to think about it.
Luna mumbled but despite her protests, she was oddly compliant, stretching her legs off the edge of the bed, sending her shorts higher around her thighs.
I caught Sebastian's worried gaze. “Turn around.”
Sebastian's brow knit in confusion glancing between us before turning to face the door. “You’re taking Luna to the ER?”
“Yes,” I said. Leaving no room for discussion. “You take care of whatever you were supposed to be doing for Luna. That way she can focus on getting better.”
“Sure. And why should you be the one to take her to the ER?”
So much for taking me at my word and leaving.
Luna lifted a brow as if also wanting an answer to Sebastian’s question while I wrestled the sweatpants on her. “Why the hell are these so tight?”
“Leggings,” Luna and Sebastian said in stereo.
I continued to battle with the stretchy material. “They are the fucking worst, is what they are.”
“You obviously haven't seen how good my ass looks in them.”
I pinched her ass, and the woman yelped, a tinge of rouge touching her cheeks.
This formidable woman blushing? She must be sick.
By some miracle, I managed to get the leggings secured around her waist. Luna placed a hand on my chest to steady herself, her pupils dilating as if trying to focus on me.
A strand of auburn hair fell across her flushed face. My fingers brushed it aside, and a zing coursed through me at the touch.
Luna swallowed hard.
I held my breath as her eyes locked on mine. Then she shoved me. Not hard enough to rock me backwards but hard enough to break the spell.
She glanced over her shoulder at Sebastian. “Protect my job site. I don't want anything else to get stolen.”
When she turned back to face me her eyes bulged, and her face turned green.
Uh-oh.
Luna scrambled off the bed and back into the bathroom, back to the spot we’d found her in.