Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Knox’s phone beeped from where it lay on the corner of his desk, and his eyes skimmed the screen. Seeing Mason’s name, he immediately snatched it up and swiped the screen to answer before he could draw a full breath.
“Yeah?” Was Everleigh okay? What if something had happened to her?
“Think I’ve got something for you,” Mason spoke without preamble. “May have found our photographer.”
His worry quickly morphed into anger, and fury simmered in his veins. “Where are you?”
“At the coffee shop. Everleigh met up with a friend and guess who showed up.”
It said a lot that he was more than a little preoccupied wondering just who the friend was, and whether the person was male or female. He forced himself to focus on the more important information. “Who is it?”
“Not sure,” Mason responded. “Male. Mid-thirties. Trim build, brown hair. But he looks familiar. I think I saw him last time we were downtown.”
He didn't believe in coincidence. “Tail him. Find out who he is, where he lives, everything you can. I'll cover Everleigh.”
“I'm sure you will.”
He could hear the teasing in Mason’s smart-ass remark. “Go screw yourself.”
Mason just laughed. “No need—”
“So help me…” he growled, cutting him off. “If you say something about my sister, I will murder you.”
The jerk just laughed louder, and he gritted his teeth. “Cover her ‘til she leaves.”
Mason was still laughing when he disconnected a second later and shot off a quick message to Everleigh.
Coming to see me tonight?
His knee jiggled nervously beneath his desk as he anxiously waited for her response.
A sense of calm descended over him when it came less than ten seconds later. Of course.
With those two words, it was as if a dam inside him had broken.
He shoved his chair back and stood, swiping the files off his desk and shoving them into his backpack in one movement.
He snatched up his keys and phone, debating whether to pick up Chinese or Italian as he left his office.
At the last minute, he grabbed the blueprints for the new house, a nervous anticipation bubbling in his veins.
They hadn’t discussed much over the weekend, choosing to keep the topics light and carefree.
But now he couldn’t wait to tell her all about it, show her everything they’d talked about all those years ago.
He wondered what it would be like to have her there with him permanently.
He didn’t want to scare her off, so he’d kept his mouth shut.
Soon enough, though, it was a topic he planned to broach with her. Because now that she was back in his life, he didn’t want to be away from her for a single day.