27. Blakely
The coldnessof the room seeps into my bones as I open my eyes, finding myself alone in bed. I groggily stir from sleep, only to be met with the sound of commotion from downstairs. After taking my time in the shower, I quickly dress in nothing but Aidan’s T-shirt and head downstairs to join him. He’s been patiently waiting for answers, and I’m ready to give them to him.
Walking up to him, I notice he’s standing with his bare back to me, cooking something that smells delicious. As I wrap my arms around him, I’m greeted by the comforting scent of his cologne.
“Smells good. But you’re not supposed to be up,” I say the words against his skin, feeling the goosebumps rise beneath my lips.
He turns his head, his lips meeting the soft strands of my hair as he plants a tender kiss on my head. “Morning, Tink. Hungry?”
“Hmm.”
“Sit.” His words make me blush, reminding me of last night.
The aroma of freshly made American pancakes wafts towards me as he places the plate down in front of me, alongside a colourful mix of fruits and a giant glass of iced chai latte. As I take a large sip of my chai, I can’t help but let out a contented sigh and look at him with surprise.
“How did you know it was my favourite? Last time, you brought me coffee.” I watch as he settles onto the bunker stool and smirks in my direction, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“I know you.” He winks at me and says, “You’ve always taken your drinks as sweet as your cunt.”
A small laugh escapes me as I shake my head. “Seriously? Are we making dirty jokes now? “
He ignores me and says with a smile. “And to answer your question, you have had the same ritual with your drinks for years, hot or iced. Or obsession, I should say.” He pauses. “You have a favourite coffee for each season. Hot pumpkin latte for the autumn season, white chocolate coffee for winter, and iced toffee latte for spring and summer.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “You tend to go for a refresha or frappuccino during the summertime, but chai lattes, iced or warm, are your favourite. No matter the season.” He grabs some grapes before eating them.
“How do you know that?” I ask, stunned by the fact he paid close attention to my drinking habits.
“Baby, there’s not a thing I don’t know about you,” he says, winking at me.
After a few minutes of silence, he clears his throat and speaks once more.
“So. Do you want to start? Because I have so many questions.”
Pinching my nose, I’m surprised it took him this long to ask. “We should maybe sit on the sofa.”
We set our plates in the sink and make our way to the living room, the aroma of fresh coffee wafting through the air.
“So. Kore, huh?”
I bore my eyes into his. “Aye.”
“Are you going to elaborate, or should I keep up with my questions?” He lifts an eyebrow, silently waiting for me to continue.
My chest rises as I take a deep breath in preparation for my reply. “Aye. I’m Kore. After your sister was drugged and killed, I knew that nothing would ever be the same again. Like you, I was devastated and felt as though my whole world had come crashing down.” I pause, looking at him. “Your father called me for the first time when I had already left the U.K. He suspected that some people close to him were involved in trafficking young women and needed my help gathering some information. I just couldn’t say no. Collecting information is my job, after all.” I’m waiting for any sign from him, but he’s waiting for me to continue. “So I dug around and found who was behind it. The job was beyond my capabilities at the time, so we concluded that the optimal resolution was for me to slowly feed you the necessary information anonymously.” Without moving a muscle, he remains completely attentive to my every word, which encourages me to keep going. “After a while, he reached out to me and informed me that two nieces of the mafia Don had been kidnapped, and he had reason to believe they were sold in a different country.”
“Emilie.”
“Aye. That’s how I met Riccardo.” I shift in my seat. “As soon as I had all the necessary information and received confirmation that they were in France, Riccardo arrived and immediately deployed his team to rescue them. I went with them.” I pause, remembering that day like it was yesterday. “The sight of women in such a state of brokenness was something I had never encountered until that moment. While Emilie survived, some of the other victims were not as lucky. Her sister’s escape is nothing short of miraculous, and I’m still trying to understand how it even happened.” Crossing my hands over my knees, I continue, “It wasn’t until a few months ago that we finally learned the identity of the sellers, though we already knew who they had been sold to. From that point on, I made it my mission. I had to do everything in my power to help these women and save them from the same fate as your sister and Emilie.” I pinch my nose, trying to dissipate the migraine nagging me. “Your father and I discussed it for a long time, going back and forth on the topic. He was clearly unhappy, but he knew there was nothing he could do to change my mind.” Saying that is an understatement. Caleb’s protectiveness was always a mystery to me. I understand why now. He wanted me safe. Helping him behind a screen and going on the field are two different things, and he was not ready for me to be mixed with that. I guess he saw me grow during all these years. We are a team. I’ll never say that to him, but I love that old man.
“That’s why you had to train with Tim,” he says, nodding in understanding. I can practically hear the gears turning in his brain.
“Aye. I knew from the start that you had sent men to watch over me, and it didn’t come as a surprise when I found out Tim was one of them. So, when he introduced himself to me and told me that Cal sent him to train me, I said nothing for a few weeks. He saved me multiple times. That’s when he made the decision to never let me out of his sight.” He nods in understanding. We had this conversation regarding Tim, but maybe now he understands a bit more about my relationship with him.
“How was Tim able to keep contact with us in Linlithgow and be in the hangar?”
“The guards worked in shifts, which allowed us to have him on the outside to keep contact with you and to join us when I needed him to. The fact that Jonas had been undercover for the last several months made the entire process run smoothly.” As he puts the pieces all together, he nods in understanding.
“So, Tim has been juggling working between us both this whole time?”
“He has. He was by my side when we rescued Em, refusing to let me face the danger alone. So, I decided to create a team a bit like yours. Two, actually. Most of them are from Scotland. Some of my French team stayed in France because they have families, which is totally understandable. The people on the team that you’ve met are from here, as you probably noticed with their accents. That’s why it has been easier for me to keep an eye on what is happening here.”
“I won’t ask how you got the information, but why did you send me details about people targeting to kill me?” He shifts on the sofa, trying to find a comfortable position.
“Because even if I hated you, I never once wanted you dead.” As I anticipate his next question, I take a sip of my chai to gather my thoughts.
“How? How did you do it? Some messages came in when you were with me. How is it possible?”
After hearing his question, a smirk forms on my face because, seriously, he should know me by now. “It was either me, planned in advance, or Cailean sending you the information. The plan was meticulously crafted to ensure that no one would suspect me.”
“Simple as that?”
“Simple as that,” I repeat.
With a sigh, he releases the breath he had been holding, “I never wanted you to be part of that.” I’m about to speak, but he cuts me off, “Let me finish. I’ve never wanted you to be part of that. All I ever wanted was for you to be safe. But you’ve accomplished so much, and I cannot express enough how proud I am of you. I know for a fact now that I was wrong thinking you couldn’t handle it. And I’ve never been happier to be wrong about something,” he finishes with a smirk. “Okay, so what now?”
I leave my spot and make my way over to sit next to him. “Now? Now, we continue on. Just because Fusco is gone, it doesn’t mean that the drug and sex trade has disappeared. Something bigger is coming. So we continue what we’re doing. As a team.”
“A team?” he says, the corners of his mouth turning up in a grin. “Does that mean you’re staying here?” I feel his warm breath on my skin as he leans in, his fingers grazing my face.
“Like I have any other choice. Don’t pretend I have a say in the matter as if you’d actually let me leave.”
His grin spreads from ear to ear as he leans in close to my lips. “You’re right, baby. You don’t have a choice. You could go anywhere, but I’ll always be there to bring you back. You’re mine as much as I’m yours. I refuse to spend another day without you.” His lips barely brush against mine, leaving me wanting more. As he takes my hand in his, his lips deepen the kiss, and I feel a small, cool object slide onto my finger. My breath catches as I break the kiss and stare at my hand.
“What is this?” The surprise is evident in my voice. The gold ring glints in the light, drawing my attention to the deep green emerald at its centre, reminding me of his eyes. The same style I had shown him years ago.
“That, Tink, is a ring. I’m not a romantic kind of guy. It was bound to happen, and you knew it. You belong to me, and I want nothing more than for you to be my wife.” The peppery taste of his kisses lingers on my lips.
“So, I don’t have any say in the matter?” His kisses make my heart race, and my breathing becomes shallow.
“Nope. You called me your fiancé.”
“W-what?”
“You called me your fiancé in front of Fusco. Not that I didn’t like it, but I want to hear the words ‘my husband’ coming out of your mouth.”
“You could have at least gotten on one knee.” My voice comes out hoarse and scratchy.
Who am I kidding? Of course he would not. It’s not how he does things.
“Oh, but baby, I’ll kneel for you anytime, just not for that.” His touch sends tingles down my legs as he traces circles on my thighs beneath my shirt.
“I love you in my shirt. But it needs to go.” He rips off the shirt, leaving me standing there completely exposed.
“No underwear, huh?”
“Aidan. You’re insatiable.” I feel my breath catch in my throat as his hands move further up.
“I’ll never have enough of you. Now, spread those thighs. I’m not done with my breakfast yet.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I’m deep into my book when he interrupts me with a sudden, “I have something to show you.” I can’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed while reading, like time had stopped.
I spent the afternoon on the phone with France, the conversation growing tense as I informed them of my resignation. I haven’t said anything to Em yet. She’ll have to decide for herself if she’s going back. After that, I baked, creating a tempting array of cupcakes, cookies, crepes, muffins, and other delectable treats for everyone tonight.
Do I really think I can appease my brother’s anger with treats?
One hundred percent, aye.
Everything is ready for them.
With a quick adjustment of my glasses, I raise my head to look up. “What is it?” He knows he piqued my interest.
“Come and see for yourself.”
I grasp his hand tightly, and he pulls me up to my feet before leading me down the corridor. I’ve never been in this part of the house. I know his office is here, but I never felt the need to snoop into his personal space. He unlocks his office door and uses a light push to guide me inside. I look at him, searching for any hint of what he wants me to notice.
The decor is just wow. As soon as I enter the room, my eyes are drawn to the dark desk in the centre and the mini bar in the corner. The walls of the room are painted with a rich, dark grey, which gives the space a dim, shadowy feel. A black sofa nestles in the corner, its presence only noticeable by the subtle glow of the lamp. The French door on the other side suggests that the en suite bathroom is nearby.
“What am I supposed to see?” His smirk is tinged with amusement.
“We established this is your home now.” He lifts his hand before I have time to give him a sassy comment. “So I want you to feel like it is.”
The French door swings open, and I am greeted with an incredible sight that leaves me speechless. Behind the door is a massive library with a ladder and a pouffe that looks like a cloud to lie on. The walls of the room are painted with my favourite colour, a dark forest green colour, with a desk made of polished wood sitting near the windows. The library looks exactly like the one I always dreamt of. I notice he has already arranged the books on the shelves. Approaching, I notice that the spines are meticulously aligned.
My throat is so tight it’s hard to swallow. “They are…” I trail off, overwhelmed by emotion.
“Aye.” He gestures to the stack of books and says, “These are the ones you had before you left.”
He built me a home library for my 16th birthday after I bothered my brother and him to have one. It was small, but it was cosy. It was my sanctuary. When I wasn’t around, he always found me in there cuddling up with a huge blanket on me and my Kindle. I can’t believe he kept all of the books after all this time.
“You kept everything?”
“I did.” I can feel his chest pressed against my back. “I told you it was just a matter of time before I came for you. Our time apart was never going to be permanent.”
“How? When?” I’m in disbelief, but the evidence is right in front of me.
“When you left. I had nothing but the library to remind me of you. So, I bought this house and built you a new one. I remember how you excitedly painted a picture of your dream home library. So I built it hoping you’d see it one day.”
My eyes well up with tears as I turn towards him.
“You made me a ladder. A fucking ladder.” My vision is obscured by the tears streaming down my face. I blame my return for my emotions. I’ve never cried this much since I came back.
I feel his warm breath on the crown of my head as he leans in to kiss me.
“I did. I recall that being non-negotiable for you. Take a look at the pouffe.”
There are no questions in my mind as I walk towards it. At the top of it sits a brand new Kindle, its clear case glinting in the light, accompanied by a voucher for a sticker shop. I turn to look at him, and he meets my gaze with a small smile.
“Your Kindle was a relic from another era, almost as old as you. You needed a new one. Just to clarify, I refrained from ordering any decorative items for your Kindle, which is why I opted for a voucher. That way, you can buy as many smutty stickers as you want.” With a twinkle in his eye, he winks at me.
With a smile on my face, I sprint towards him, and we lock eyes as I jump into his strong arms. “I love you.”
“I love you too. I guess you like it?”
“I freaking love it.” His smile stretches from ear to ear.
“Plus, I get to enjoy the sight of you reading as I work,” he gestures towards the open door to emphasise his words.
“Is your mind capable of thinking about anything besides sex?”
“When it comes to you? Absolutely fucking not. I intend to fuck you in every corner of this house, starting with this one.” Just as he starts to kiss my neck, the sound of the buzzing at the main door interrupts us. He lets out a loud growl that makes me laugh.
“Too bad for you, big guy. Let’s go before my brother breaks down the door.”