21. Lara
21
LARA
I frown when I reach for Rory and just end up with empty sheets.
I sit up, wiping at my eyes. I look at the clock on the bedside table, and I’m shocked by the time—almost eleven. I have slept almost twelve hours. I guess I’ve been stressed and not sleeping well, but last night, I slept like a rock next to Rory.
He’d been so upset by what he’d done, but I can’t deny that something about it turned me on. He’d wanted to protect me. He’d done it for me, and that means something to me.
What exactly it means, I can’t say.
Maybe I just don’t want to admit it. It’s getting harder and harder to deny that I have some kind of feelings for him.
I sigh and stand up, heading to the shower. I spend so long under the hot spray that the water starts to cool.
After dressing, I walk out of the bedroom and almost smack into Raquel.
She grins, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. She’s wearing it down today, and it bounces around her throat.
“Hey there, Mrs. Murphy.”
“Please, call me Lara.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Okay. Lara. Rory asked me to watch out for you today.”
I huff out a breath. “I don’t need security following me around the house. What am I going to do, trip down the stairs?”
“You never know.” She grins at me, and I can’t help grinning back.
“Well, I think I’ll go to the pool again.” I miss swimming back at home, and I thoroughly enjoyed it last time, so why not take advantage of it.
“Good thing I brought my bikini.”
I stare at her. “You’re going to swim with me?”
She shrugs. “I can watch out for you and swim.”
I smile, grateful to have some company. “Let’s go.”
“So, what’s it like being married to Rory?”
I glance over at Raquel. I can’t tell her how I really feel. Hell, I’m not sure of it myself.
“It’s not like I had a choice.”
“Sorry,” she mumbles. “I’m just curious. I haven’t seen Rory since he was a kid. I was wondering what he’s like now.”
Slowly, horror sweeps over me. Surely, she and Rory hadn’t?—
“Don’t worry,” she says quickly, reading my face. “Rory and I have never had a thing. I’m married.” She holds up her right hand, which has a small, white-gold band on it.
“Oh,” I breathe.
“Happily married.” She chuckles. “My wife would be mad I’m even swimming with you. She’s the jealous type.”
“ Oh .”
“The pantsuits didn’t give it away?” she teases, and I can’t help but laugh.
We step into the pool house to change when we arrive, and I wear a simple white one-piece with cutouts around the hips. Raquel wears a modest bikini, just a simple black one.
She jumps into the pool, splashing me, and I squeal.
I step in at the shallow end, getting used to the cool water, instead of cannonballing like last time. The saltwater feels good on my skin, and I make a note to myself to tell Da to upgrade ours.
“So... are you going to tell me what Rory’s like now that you know I don’t want to jump his bones?” Raquel says, and I chuckle, floating on my back.
All that’s missing now is Paige’s famous mimosas.
My heart clenches. I miss her terribly. I miss all of them. All I can hope is that everyone’s doing okay in my absence.
“He’s... good,” I say awkwardly. “I mean, he’s a good person.”
I don’t feel the need to lie to Raquel, not exactly. She’s security, not Niall’s right hand. Of course, I can’t talk about our real plan, but I can at least talk to her like a friend about what I feel for Rory.
“Kind of weird for a Murphy.”
My eyes snap to hers in surprise. “But you work for Murphy.”
She shrugs. “I work for anyone who pays me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loyal to Niall. He’s helped me out a lot, gotten me through some rough times. But I know what kind of man he is. And what kind of man he isn’t. And ‘good’ isn’t something I’d use to describe him.”
“Rory’s different,” I insist. “He’s nothing like his father.”
“He never was.”
I sit up, starting to tread water before swimming over to where Raquel is sitting on the steps at the shallow end, half-submerged.
“What was Rory like as a kid?”
“You’re awfully interested for someone who was forced into this,” she says in a low, teasing tone.
I sigh. “Fine. I like him. He’s hard not to like.”
She smiles. “You’re right about him, you know. He is a good person. He always had the biggest heart, even when he was a teenager. He cared so much about his sister, his mother, his father. He was devastated when his Ma abandoned them.”
I frown. I lost my mother young, but I don’t know how I’d feel if she abandoned me instead of passed away.
“How old was he?” I ask quietly.
“Too young to be left to be raised by just Niall.”
My heart breaks for him. “Did you know her?”
Raquel shrugs. “Not really. She kept to herself. I was nineteen when I started working for Niall. I guess I was learning the ropes instead of paying attention, because when she left I was shocked. One day she was here, the next all her things were gone. Niall kind of went off the rails after that.”
We sit in a comfortable quiet for a few moments, just sitting in the water.
I can’t imagine what it was like for Rory and Bree.
“You haven’t tried to escape recently.”
I blink, looking over at Raquel. “Didn’t think I’d get very far.”
I don’t tell her that I don’t want to escape, that in fact, I don’t want this thing with Rory to be over, but I’m thinking it.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Security is pretty tight around here.”
Raquel gives me a smile. “Thanks. I like to keep it that way.”
“Have you ever... had to hurt someone?” I think about Rory and what he did for me.
Raquel shakes her head quickly. “Not seriously. Just a couple of broken noses.”
I gape at her. “You’ve broken someone’s nose?”
“Had to defend myself.” She huffs, and I hold up my hands.
“Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you.”
“No offense taken.” She looks over at me curiously. “You know, I see the way Rory looks at you.”
My heart skips a beat. “How does he look at me?”
“Like you’re someone important. Like he’d be lost if you weren’t here.”
“You think so?” My throat tightens.
Is it possible he feels the same way about me as I’m starting to feel about him?
“He’s different now. Like I said, he used to be so sweet, but he holds that part of himself back now. Tries to hide it. With you, it still shines through.”
I swallow hard and look down at my feet shimmering under the water in the sun’s rays.
“What are you two doing out here?”
Rory’s voice startles me, and I turn my head to look at him, a bit worried he’ll be angry. Instead, he’s smiling softly.
“Swimming.” Raquel grins and dives into the water to do a lap.
I twist on the steps so that I can face Rory.
“I had to get out of that room for a little while.”
He nods. “That’s understandable.”
I frown up at him. “Where have you been? You were gone when I woke up.”
Something passes across Rory’s expression that I can’t quite read. “Had some work to do.”
“Work?” I frown wider, standing up on the steps. “Accounting work, or...otherwise?”
“Otherwise.”
He doesn’t give any further explanation, and the way his expression is shuttered means he doesn’t want to, either.
I take a deep breath.
Hopefully, he’ll tell me when he’s ready. When he can. It may be something to do with his father, something he can’t tell me publicly.
Rory doesn’t speak when I put on a towel and head back to the bedroom, and he doesn’t talk to me, either, just following a few steps behind me.
I can’t help but worry.
What is he hiding?
Chapter Twenty-Two