Chapter 12
Chase: Is Rapunzel safely squirrelled away in your ivory tower yet?
Zeke: Don’t you have a company to run?
Chase: Don’t you???
Zeke: You think so little of my ability to control my temper?
Chase: Who said anything about anger ;)
ZEKE
Having followed the sounds of my son’s excitement, I lean against the doorframe and silently watch as Chloe and Diego interact.
He’s clinging to her like a limpet, and she’s wrapped her arms around him like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
For the look in his eyes, she may as well have hung the moon.
My fingers close a little tighter around my take-out coffee cup.
“Having fun?” Chloe’s eyes jerk my way like she’s been electrocuted.
She pats Diego softly on the back to signal him to move and stands, smoothing down the front of her shirt.
It’s only then I notice what she’s wearing.
Worn acid wash Levi’s that hug her curves like a second skin and a white button-up that hangs loosely from her delicate shoulders, sleeves rolled.
There isn’t a scrap of make-up on her face and half of her hair is pulled back into a claw clip.
She looks relaxed and…breathtaking. Somehow younger than I’ve ever seen her.
“You look…different.” I clear my throat when I see her quirked brow and realize my assessment hasn’t gone amiss.
She glances down, her brows slightly creased. “Oh, these are my home pants.”
“Home pants?” My lip twitches in amusement.
“Yeah, like pants you only wear at home.” She fidgets and smooths her hair back.
Using one hand, she gestures between her denim clad legs and the bedroom.
“Home pants, meet new home.” I raise my brows, full on fighting laughter now as she laughs nervously.
Diego grins up at her, his pudgy hand on her knee.
“What, you don’t have home pants?” She shoots back.
“No Chloe, I don’t have home pants.” It only takes a beat and then I begrudgingly smile, letting out a pull of air and pressing my forefinger and thumb into my eyes briefly. This woman.
“What’s his name?” Diego asks, tugging on the fabric of her jeans. He looks back at the bed with a light frown.
“Erm…” Chloe’s eyes creep between us for a second before she swallows. “Mittens. He’s called Mittens.” She nods, shifting on her feet.
Diego turns and holds out a hand in the direction of what might just be an oversized street rat. “Come here, Mittens.” The cat, if you can call it that, doesn’t even blink the one milky eye he has remaining.
“Is that thing house-trained?” I grumble, eyeing the black tail swishing back and forth like a viper.
“Mittens!” Diego repeats loudly, leaning toward the cat with a frown on his face. Either this cat is deaf, which is a real possibility looking at the state of it, or that isn’t its name. “Are you sure?” Diego blinks back up at Chloe, who is looking decidedly…sheepish.
“Erm, well…” She glances over at me, and it looks like she’s silently pleading with me to save her.
I’ll do no such thing. “What’s the cat really called, Chloe?” I roll my eyes and take a sip of my coffee.
“Pussy Galore,” she says so quietly I almost don’t hear it.
The coffee hits the back of my throat just at the wrong time and I end up choking. “What the fuck?” I mutter under my breath as I cough into my fist.
“Pussy Galore?” Diego is too young to understand why this is a fucked-up name for a cat, but clearly, he thinks it’s odd. “Daddy, what does Galore mean?” His dark chocolate eyes pin on mine, full of innocence.
“Ah, it means lots of something.” I clear my throat, watching the cogs spin in his little head. He pauses thoughtfully and it feels like Chloe and I both wait with bated breath.
“Because he’s a pussy cat and there is lots of him?” he asks brightly, his gaze bouncing between us.
“Yeah buddy.” I clamp down on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing.
“So much pussy,” Chloe deadpans, but her shoulders begin to shake silently, and she looks like she might lose it at any second.
“The biggest pussy I’ve ever seen.” I nod, and a small, strangled sound slips from her lips before she slaps a hand over her mouth.
Diego scoffs, looking at us both like we’re insane. “He’s not that big, Papi. The ones on the TV are bigger.”
“Yeah, Papi. Gosh, so silly of you.” Chloe gasps, not even trying to hold back now. And it’s infectious because now I’m laughing too.
“You two are silly,” Diego says, but he’s laughing even though he doesn’t understand why.
“Come on, mi chico angel, Maria is looking for you.” I jerk my head in the direction of the hallway and after a parting grin at Chloe, he obediently trots over. “Let me know if you need anything.” I can already hear Diego’s soft steps tracing cheerily down the hall.
“Like if I can’t find a big enough drawer for my collection of battery operated—”
“Chloe,” I warn, tightness streaking through my gut at the thought of her pleasuring herself just across the hall from my bedroom.
“Zeke,” she levels, tilting her chin up with a smug smirk on her face. The light from the windows spills across her long wavy hair, throwing it into a glistening red halo.
“Keep poking the bear, don’t be surprised when it bites.
” Heat-laced talons scrape at the back of my spine, urging me to close the distance between us and give that sharp tongue something to do.
Her pupils dilate and the remnant of humor dies on her lips as we lock gazes.
It takes a Herculean effort to wrestle that thought back into its box, filed away for later.
“I’m headed back to the office. I’ll see you tonight.” Without waiting for a reply, I turn and get the fuck out of there before I do something stupid.
“Yes, sir,” I hear her mutter as I round the corner.
***
I swipe my hand over my face, feeling the scrape of stubble under my palm. “Tell Damien I want the announcement to run tonight and get me Lucien Driver on the phone.”
Jacob nods and leaves my office. Lucian Driver is one of the best private investigators in the city.
But what gives him an edge? He’s ex-Delta Force and isn’t unused to handling people and situations that lend themselves to a darker nature.
Which is exactly what I need, as this job will take him to the depths of the Columbian jungle where the scum of the earth gathers to scheme and wreak havoc on innocent communities in the name of greed.
The light starts to blink on my phone, and I snatch it up. “Lucian,” I bite, already tense.
“What is it this time? Snooping for information about a product launch, or has another woman decided that the best chance of snagging the great Zeke Guerra is to get pregnant?”
I let out a low humorless chuckle, because truly? Either would be a thousand times more favorable.
“A little closer to home this time, brother.” I lean back in my chair and turn to look at the skyscrapers. My eyes home in on the blinking red light that I know to be my building in the distance, where Chloe is unpacking her things as we speak.
I give him the bare bones of it, because he is smart enough to fill in the blanks. He lets out a low whistle when I’m done. “So, you’re really going to convince the world you’re in love until I blow this thing wide open?”
“That’s the plan.” His responding laugh irritates me, and I grip the arm of my chair.
I’ve known Lucien long enough, and he’s helped me out of enough binds, that he gets a longer leash when speaking to me.
Not to mention he’s fucking huge and looks like he could eat kids for breakfast. But there is only so much I will tolerate, and he knows it.
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be an ass, it’s just…well, do you even know what love feels like between a man and a woman? Hard to portray something that you don’t know.” Lucien sounds sober enough now and I let out a deep breath through my nostrils.
He’s right, of course. I have no experience.
Even for the woman who bore the most precious thing in my world, I’ve never felt more than a fleeting interest. A superficial flash that burns moderately for a few weeks or months and then hisses out of life as quickly as it came.
Then again, Sandra isn’t exactly what would be considered easy to fall for by normal standards.
She’s more interested in the prize, in saying she has something other people want.
Whether that’s clothes, the latest designer purse, a new fire pit featured in Architectural Digest… me. Or failing that, our child.
“It can’t be that hard. All I have to do is make doe eyes at her in public and keep my dick in my pants. Job done.” My jaw twitches in irritation. That last part still stings.
“Okay, but what about when you introduce her to your father? That’s going to be harder to pull off.”
I grind my molars so hard I’m sure they will be nothing but dust. The thought of Chloe anywhere near that man makes my blood boil. “I plan to keep that interaction short and sweet.”
Jacob knocks on my door and gestures to my phone, where my second line is blinking. “Mia Walker,” he mouths and I nod, frowning.
“Lucian, I have to go. Keep me updated on progress,” I snap and then hang up before he can answer, swiping a button to pick up Mia’s call.
“Business or pleasure, Mrs. Walker?” I drawl, knowing that she wouldn’t be calling me if it weren’t something important either way.
“Business and trust me, I take no pleasure in this,” she grumbles and I hear her blow out a cool breath.
Mia is Chief Operating Officer for Investigame, an educational tech company that’s been edging toward the Fortune 500 for the last couple of years.
She’s smart as hell, a total knockout, and she managed to bring the most reluctant bachelor in the city to heel.
Even when I watched them walk down the aisle, I couldn’t quite believe it.
“What do you need?” Whatever it is, if it’s in my ability to give it to her, she can have it. Once you’re in the circle, that’s the way we do things.
“I need you to tell me everything you know about Anthony Sweeney.” She huffs and I think I hear her chair creak like she’s leaning backward.
“Huh, so you’re on the receiving end of that asshole’s schemes? Well, I’ve got good news and bad news for you, kid.” I grin, clicking the tip of my Mont Blanc ballpoint.
“Oh yeah? Hit me.” Mia sounds so aggravated that I chuckle.
“The good news is that if that asshole is after you, you’re officially swimming with the big boys. The bad? He fights as dirty as they come.”
“Fabulous news,” she quips as I stand and trace a familiar path to the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office.
The city sprawls below, cars crawling like ants, never ending and unaware of my presence.
“He’s claiming an overlap in software, but it’s a bullshit ploy to get the courts to order us to release our algorithm. ”
Yep. That sounds like Sweeney. “You didn’t want to take this to Mason?
” I have to say, asshole he might be, I have to begrudgingly admire the balls of anyone who goes after Mason Walker’s wife.
Walker is a stone-cold shark with the power to crush anyone’s career.
And his wife and daughter are the best motivation he could ever need to use that sway.
I hear a protracted sigh. “You know my husband, Zeke. I love him dearly, but if he catches wind of this, he will go all hellfire and brimstone. I’ve worked hard to get here and—”
“You want to handle this yourself.” I nod, my lips twisting into another smile.
“Yes.” She sounds relieved I get it. “So please don’t tell him?”
I consider this for a second, weighing my response. “As long as you're not in danger, I’ll keep my mouth shut. But Mia? I meant it when I said this guy fights dirty. The moment he crosses the line, Mason will be the first person I call.”
“Deal.”