Chapter 21
“Morning,” Daniela murmured as Cormac stepped into the kitchen—shirtless. The recessed lighting acted like a spotlight and he was basically a god just walking around.
The man should come with a warning label.
Ripped pecs, abs and biceps she could imagine stroking as he slid into her.
Well not imagine, just remember. Wait…no.
She absolutely couldn’t do this right now.
What was wrong with her? She’d managed to keep all that old shit boxed up in her mind, to lock it up so she could function.
Because remembering how things had been between them, how much she’d loved him, sliced her open. Not to mention the physical side of things between them had been off the charts. He’d paid attention to all her likes and dislikes and had made sure she climaxed every single time they were together.
But she couldn’t open herself up to getting her heart broken again. At least that was what she was trying to tell herself. It was hard to remember all her reasons when they were under the same roof and her memories were wreaking havoc on her.
“Morning.” He gave her a soft smile.
“You got in late. Hungry?” she asked, glad when she sounded normal. As if she wasn’t spiraling inside.
The way he swept his gaze over her, as if yes, he was hungry—for her—had her toes curling against the tile floor.
And her spiral started again. She couldn’t keep it together if he was watching her like that, as if he could bring her all the pleasure she remembered. Sometimes still fantasized about. No one had ever compared to him. “We’ve got croissants and pastries and I already made coffee.”
“Thanks,” he murmured, and the look he was still giving her sent a shiver down her spine as he headed for the pot.
She wasn’t sure if he was even aware of the way he watched her. It was something she knew she would never tire of.
She cleared her throat. “I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep last night but I crashed hard. What time did you end up getting back?”
“Around two. We had an interesting night.”
She sipped her coffee as he told her what had happened.
“I honestly don’t know enough about how Julian and Logan work together to know if Logan was going behind his back. My brother could be totally hands-off with that kind of thing. I just…didn’t think Julian was involved in drugs.”
Cormac nodded his agreement as he pulled his cell from his pants pocket.
She tried not to drink in the sight of him without a shirt on but it was early and she was only mortal.
She couldn’t even pretend to feel bad about enjoying the view.
Even as she thought about burying her face against his bare chest, inhaling that fresh spring scent from whatever bodywash he’d used, he was holding out his phone.
And bursting her mental bubble. Which was just as well.
“You recognize any of these people?”
She swiped through the pictures on his cell—a burner phone—that had shockingly good picture quality, taking her time with each face. At the final image, she tapped it. “This guy might look familiar but I’m not sure why.”
“My brother is running all their faces through a program.”
Daniela raised her eyebrows. “A program?”
“Facial recognition. He’ll also hack into a couple databases and plug the images in there as well to cover all our bases.”
“Your brother sounds scary.”
Cormac snorted. “He’s genius-level scary as far as hacking.
But he’s a good brother, good person. Truly good,” he added, looking almost thoughtful.
“He’s always lived his life the way he wanted.
I used to be a little jealous, then realized that I didn’t have to do things a certain way simply because I thought I did at one time in my life.
I don’t even know if that makes sense,” he murmured.
“It does.” She wanted to walk around the island top and pull him into a hug, even though that was a stupid idea. Beyond. But after that hug yesterday, being reminded of just how amazing he felt… She was tired of keeping walls up between them.
Maybe today was the day for stupid decisions.
Listening to that annoying voice in her head that was usually right, she slid off her seat and stepped toward him.
Thankfully he didn’t reject her hug—not that she’d actually expected him to, but a little fear had still settled in that he might.
She loved the way he felt; even the hardness of his bare chest against her face was comforting as she leaned into him.
And he smelled better than she’d imagined.
God, she wished her memories of the two of them weren’t so vivid, so potent.
But her body remembered exactly how talented and giving he was, and she wanted all of that right now.
“Any more texts from that psycho?” he asked against the top of her head.
She reeeally tried not to inhale that pure masculine scent of him as she laid her cheek against his chest. That was impossible though so she just enjoyed this moment. “Unfortunately, yes.”
He tensed so she stroked a hand down his spine, her fingers lingering in the hollow between the lines of muscle on either side.
She knew it wasn’t her imagination when he swallowed hard.
“Did you send your brother the screenshots?” he rasped out.
“Not yet. I was waiting to see what happened last night.”
“Good, because I have an idea.”
She pulled back slightly to look up at him, then nodded after he told her what he wanted to do. “I like it. It’s subtle. And doesn’t make you look like you’re trying to undermine anyone.”
He grinned down at her and for a long moment she thought he might make a move. Especially given the way his heated gaze kept flicking to her mouth. But then he stepped back, and the moment passed.
Even as she fought the disappointment twining through her, she grabbed her phone and sent screenshots to Julian with a text that said Thought you might want to see these.
As she set her phone down, she said, “I wonder if he’ll even care—” Blinking, she looked down at her phone as it started buzzing. “It’s Julian.”
She answered it mid-ring. “Hey.”
“Where are you?”
She blinked, surprised by the question.
“I just want to make sure you’re safe,” he added before she could answer.
His genuine concern surprised her. “Oh. I’m with Connor.”
Julian shoved out a breath. “Good. Don’t respond to Logan.”
“Wasn’t going to.” Her tone was dry. “I just wasn’t sure if you knew he’d been texting me so much.”
“No, I didn’t know. Not…this. He made it sound a lot different. I’ll make sure he leaves you alone.” There was a steel edge to his voice. “Can you stay with Connor today?”
“Yes.” She’d been planning on that too.
“Good. I’m going to talk to Logan, set some things straight. He won’t bother you again.”
“Thank you. Ah, Connor wants to talk to you. Do you mind?”
“No.”
She put him on speaker, then Cormac said, “Hey, it’s me. I know this is a weird question, but I just wanted to ask if you know where Logan was last night.”
Julian was quiet. “Why?”
“It’s probably nothing. But I heard from a contact that he’s been making some splashy deals and working with a couple cops under investigation. Someone saw the cops giving him duffel bags of money.”
A partial lie but one that might work for them. If Julian knew where Logan had been last night, then he knew about what had most definitely been payoffs. Cormac had told her that the cop part was just a guess and the investigation angle a total fabrication.
“Where did you hear that from?” Julian demanded.
“That, I won’t tell you. But in light of the way he’s been harassing Daniela, I figured I’d let you know what I heard. Do with it what you will. Could be nothing, but my guy… He’s not usually wrong.”
“Thanks.” Julian hung up before Cormac could respond.
“I wonder if anything will even come out of all this.” She’d learned long ago not to get her hopes up about anything. Which was a shitty way to live, but it was what it was.
“He cares about you,” Cormac added. “I saw that years ago even if he tried to hide it from your father.”
“You think?”
“I know. I’ve got sisters. And brothers. Yes. He’ll take care of this.”
“You look way too pleased about that.”
“If he kills Logan, then I don’t have to.”
She blinked at him as a whole mess of emotions detonated inside her. “Seriously?”
He lifted a shoulder. “He’s a threat to you.
He’s going to be dealt with one way or another.
If your brother handles it, then it leaves you out of it completely.
If Logan just disappears, then that could blow back on anyone, including you.
I don’t love that angle. Even in jail he could still be a threat to you.
” Cormac’s eyes went flinty as he spoke.
“I don’t want you doing anything to put yourself at risk,” she rasped out.
“It’s not a risk.” He sounded absolutely certain of that.
Which was a little terrifying. “Killing someone isn’t a risk?”
“There’s only a murder if there’s a body.”
She blinked at him once. Twice. “I…I don’t even know what to say to that.
” Even if deep down she loved the idea that he would kill for her.
And yeah, she knew it was messed up, but didn’t care.
She still felt surreal about having killed Dima Lebedev, about Greg being murdered…
“Wait a minute. Let me see that picture again. The last one.”
Frowning, he pulled out his cell, handed it to her.
She scrolled through the pictures again.
“I think this guy works at the courthouse. Or maybe he’s a cop.
I know I’ve seen him before but I can’t picture from where.
I think it might be from one of Greg’s files.
” She closed her eyes, trying to force her brain to work, then shook her head. “I can’t remember.”
“It’s okay. My brother will figure out who he is. Once we have a name it might trigger something for you.”
She nodded even as frustration slid through her. It wasn’t like it would change anything if she figured out who he was right now, but it was going to annoy her until she remembered.
When his phone buzzed, she saw the name Krystal on the screen. His sister.
“I’m going to take this,” he murmured.
He didn’t go far and she tried not to eavesdrop, but whatever they talked about… He was annoyed. And she wasn’t sure what to make of it. Because she’d heard her name more than once.
“Everything okay?” she asked as he stepped back into the kitchen.
“Yeah. Just family stuff,” he muttered.
Whatever it was, it didn’t involve her. And she knew it was stupid to feel hurt over that, that he wasn’t including her, but she felt a twinge in her chest all the same.
They might want each other, but this was another reminder that they didn’t have a future together. They lived two very separate lives, and if she eventually got free, she couldn’t take him with her.
No matter how much she wanted to.