Chapter 28
Harmony
Asoft orange glow comes in through the blinds as I lounge on the most comfortable bed imaginable. I sigh and spread my arms out wide, sinking farther into the fluffy blankets. The pillows are like resting my head on a cloud and the room smells like fresh linen and roses.
It’s a like a hideaway. A little vacation.
Elias jiggles the door handle as he inspects the lock, shattering the illusion. I pray we’re far enough away from Serenity and Summer that they’re safe.
I eye the bag Abigail gave me. She probably had good intentions, but something is still bugging me about Patrick.
Maybe once Victor’s security personnel shows up, I’ll relax a little.
Victor sent me a text saying they should be here in an hour.
I never imagined he’d get them here so quickly, but money gets things done.
When Victor said he paid for an extra room for his men, I thought there would be one or two of them, but no, there are a dozen.
And he practically reserved the whole floor.
He brought in enough guards that it looks like royalty is staying here.
If anything, at least I can live like a princess for a few days.
Elias’s phone rings, and he pulls it out of his pocket, answering. “You’re there?”
He pinches the bridge of his nose as he listens and paces away.
“Can you get on video so I can check?”
A second later, Elias pulls the phone away from his ear and looks at what I imagine is a video call. I prop up on my elbows, hoping to get a glimpse, but Elias shifts so that I can’t see.
“Okay, show me.”
He says nothing as he stares intently at something on the screen. “The girl passing around the tubes isn’t there.”
I immediately sit up and scoot to the edge of the bed. Is he trying to find who roofied me? Or who at least helped.
Sully’s soft voice filters through the phone. “The manager said she quit the day after you and Harmony were at the night club.”
Elias nods. His face looks calm, but his free hand clenches and unclenches. “Then it must be her. The bartender was already cleared. Get her name and address, and we can go from there.”
He strides back over toward me but says nothing. He watches me as I stare up at him. I raise my brows, waiting for him to say something, anything to fill me in on his plan.
“We found out who roofied you.”
If only Elias caught on before she quit. They’d at least know where she was. Now they have to start their search with only her name. “What now?”
“Sully is going to see what address the club has on file. Then we need to figure out who hired her,” he says before moving to the windows. He makes sure each lock is secured.
“Who is going to come in through our fourth-floor window?”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “You never know. We didn’t think anyone would do something to your drink, and look what happened.”
Point taken. I pat the bed beside me, but he doesn’t listen. Maybe I can distract us both. “Come sit with me.”
“I can’t relax a single muscle knowing that you’re in danger.”
He finishes checking the last window and prowls over to me. Even with his disinterested words, a heat dances in his gaze. My heart jumps in anticipation. Maybe now I can make him feel good, too.
“What about once the security team arrives?”
“If you keep looking at me like that, I’ll put that backtalking mouth to work,” Elias says, his voice rumbling out.
I press my thighs together, and my core clenches. Liquid heat flows through my veins. “Is that a promise?”
He chuckles. “I’ve missed you so much.”
I can tell. The outline of his dick is already visible through his jeans. Everything about this. Us. Together. It just feels so right. I can’t believe I stayed away for so long when I had this perfect man waiting for me.
Maybe there’s a way we can make this work.
I look down at my hands, any horniness I had vanished.
He doesn’t want to leave Granite Falls, and I don’t want to stay.
But he has a lot more keeping him here. He has real roots when I don’t even have a place to live when I go back to New York.
His family needs him. And he owns a thriving business—which I saw firsthand when I was trying to help sort through his paperwork—and his own house.
All I have to do is accept the fact that my mother is gone. But also remember that she’ll never be forgotten as long as we remember and celebrate her. Then I’ll have Serenity, Summer, and a loving boyfriend.
“What’s going on in your mind?” Elias’s voice is gentle as if he’s scared I’ll flee like a scared baby animal.
I glance up at him. Concern is etched into his handsome face. “Nothing. Everything is okay.”
He kneels in front of me, his face level with mine. “Are you sure? You can talk to me about anything.”
“I was thinking about my mom.” But that’s all I say. I’m not sure if we’re temporary or if he’s in it for the long run, and I don’t want to burden him with my grief.
“She’d be so proud of you.” He grabs my hands and gives a light squeeze. “While you were gone, I visited with her a few times after she got sick. You were all she could talk about.” A soft smile graced his lips. “She always showed me your grades from university. All As, smarty pants.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“There were times you and Serenity were busy, so I dropped by to make sure she was okay.” He shrugs. “It was no big deal.”
My head is whirring with all of this new information. “You probably made her so happy.”
“Your mother always made sure to include me in everything when we were together. It was the least I could do.”
My heart swells so big that it feels like the dam will break and all of the water will come flooding out.
God. How did I ever think I moved on from this man? My heart always belonged to him, even now.
“Elias—”
He stands abruptly, cutting me off, and strides over to his suitcase. He closes his bag a little harder than necessary, and the movement is like whiplash. “Let’s get ready for bed. You probably need your rest. You’ve been through a lot.”
I blink a few times. That sudden change can’t be a good thing. “Is everything okay?”
Elias storms off to the bathroom without a word. A few moments later, the shower turns on. My stomach turns over. Is he mad? No, that doesn’t make any sense. Our last conversation wasn’t bad.
I grab Abigail’s bag and start searching for the wine.
My old cow pillow I must’ve left at her childhood home is stuffed inside, and I pull it out.
This will make my stay here a little homier.
Squeezed to the side, I find the bottle of wine and place it on the kitchen counter.
I go back to the bed to find my backpack, and I rummage through it.
The lingerie my sister bought calls to me.
Not only did she buy what I wore to the night club, but she also got me a second pair of matching panties and bra.
The bright red is sexier than I usually wear, but I’m not usually trying to attract a man. Tonight I am though.
Holding it in my hands, I hesitate. If he comes out of the shower and I’m just wearing my bra and panties, is it too forward? My cheeks heat at the memory of him fingering me until I lost all sense of time.
Maybe not.
The bathroom door opens, and steam flows into my hotel room, and I imagine it curling into a finger, beckoning me over.
Elias comes out shirtless with only a towel around his waist. My eyes narrow in on the three-inch scar on his side, and I almost reach out as if I can make it disappear.
Another jagged scar runs down the front of his arm.
Was this from the injury that inevitably made him retire early?
I swallow, my tongue suddenly heavy as I take in the rest of him.
I’ve felt his muscles and seen them through his clothes, but this is a whole other level.
He has a six pack with a thin dusting of hair leading from his belly button and dipping beneath his towel, and I want to trail my tongue down it.
He stops before me and pulls me in for a hug. I wrap my arms around his waist, and he rests his head on my shoulder, gripping me to him. Neither of us moves a muscle. Nothing about the embrace is sexual but, instead, more … intimate.
“I’m sorry for how abruptly I went to the bathroom.” Elias holds me even closer. “There’s another reason that I visited your mother.”
My heart squeezes—any thoughts of sex gone in an instant. “What is it?”
“Do you remember how I told you that Tía Vicki was in the hospital when you left?” His words are spoken into my hair, soft and vulnerable.
“She was also diagnosed with cancer like your mother. Where your mother’s was bone cancer, my aunt’s was her thyroid.
” His voice drops even more until it’s almost a whisper.
“We caught it early thankfully. So when I found out about your mother, I knew she couldn’t be alone. ”
A tear escapes my eye, and I clench my fingers into him. “Oh, Elias. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“At first, I was mad you left me, but now … I didn’t want to bring up your painful memories. Even though my aunt had Kami and me there a lot, she was still lonely and scared. I didn’t want that for Mrs. Worrik.”
My pulse quickens as everything comes crashing down around me. It all makes sense now. Him not answering his phone and not going to New York with me. None of it has to do with us but because of his deep loyalty to his family.
I tighten my arms around him. “If you had told me—”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t want to stop you from achieving all that you were meant to, but now that you’re back, I just wanted you to understand that it’s not that I didn’t love you. It’s because I loved you enough to know what was best for you.”
His first conversation with my sister makes more sense now. My chest tightens as their words come back to me.
Serenity’s angry, “Well, good. You’ll just hold her back.” With his soft, “I know.”