SASSY IN STILETTOS ARe version (29 page)

Caleb didn’t like the sound of this plan. “I need
to keep an eye out for you. My guys—”

“Are good, but not you.”

“Then what are you suggesting?”

“That we pack her up and move her to Jaya and Alec’s.
The wedding is in two days, and both of them are prepping already and have
moved into the hotel. Jaya already insisted I move into her place till we sort
out”—she darted a glance at Annie—”my little situation. They have enough room
and security to make fort Knox look penetrable. And you’ll control it all. Both
of us will be safe, and you can stop running yourself ragged.”

She had a point. It was a better solution, and
Sabine wouldn’t know to look for the girl there. Plus, he knew that Alec and
Jaya’s house had a pretty sick panic room built in, in case of emergencies. “That
might work. I’d have to work out some details with Alec.”

“In the meantime, let’s take her back to my place
for the night.” She turned to the girl. “If that’s okay with you? You can have
a shower. A home cooked meal. Maybe call your grandmother, if Caleb says you
can.”

Caleb winced. Calling family was not part of the
plan until he knew Sabine was contained. But he’d figure out a way. The joy on
Annie’s face was too much to ignore. He’d been in touch with her grandmother
over the years. Checked on her once every few months or so. “It looks like you
have it all figured out.”

Micha smirked. “I knew you kept me around for my
brains.”

His gaze skimmed her body. Yeah, her stellar mind
was why he’d fallen in love with her. But her killer body was why he wanted to
keep her in bed for the next month, doing nothing but sinking into her warmth. He
forced his attention back to Annie. “What do you say? Will that work for you?”

A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips as
she nodded. He’d done it. After years of searching and never finding out what
happened to that little girl, he’d finally found her. Beaten and battered, but
not broken. And she remembered that he’d tried to save her once. She didn’t
think he’d failed her. And she was willing to trust him to look after her
again. Thanks to Micha. If he didn’t already love her, this would have sealed
it.

“I promise you, I will deal with Sabine. I will
make her pay for any pain she put you through.”

Annie bowed her head. “Will you kill her?”

He frowned. He’d killed people before because he’d
had to. He didn’t want to go back to the part of his life where killing was
part of his lexicon. It didn’t sit well with him. “I’m not one for killing
people. But I will make sure she pays for what she’s done to you now. And if I
know Sabine, for what she did to you then. Micha’s right. She knows me, so she’ll
be trying to hack my financials and will find properties in my company’s name. It’s
better I don’t hide you here. This time, I promise you, I will keep you safe.”

She rubbed her eyes, then sticking her middle
finger gently into each, she removed her contacts. Wide blue eyes stared back
at him. “I believe you.”

A cloud of white surrounded Micha’s head as she
helped Jaya step into her wedding dress. The deceptively simple, A-line cut had
a mountain of tulle and several petticoats.  “You couldn’t go with mermaid
dress or with simple sheath, Jai?”

Jaya laughed. “You know full well you two helped
me pick this one out. Don’t complain now.”

Micha escaped her tulle captors and stood up. Ricca’s
delicate fingers zipped up the back of the dress. They’d practiced their roles
dozens of times, to be more efficient, per Jaya’s request, of course.

Micha had to smile. Thanks to her friend’s
constant planning, they weren’t all running around like chickens with their
heads cut off. When she and Ricca stepped back, neither one of them spoke.

Jaya looked resplendent. Her skin looked as smooth
and rich as melted milk chocolate. She’d wound her hair up in a simple high
bun, showing off her slim neck and elegant jaw line. The dress was pure Vera
Wang simplicity and so perfect for Jaya, showing off her tiny waist and her
toned back.

Tears pricked at Micha’s eyes, and she rapidly
blinked them away. “Jai, you look beautiful. Seriously awesome. I’m really
happy for you.”

Jaya and Ricca stared at her. When Jaya spoke, her
voice was incredulous. “Micha? Are you crying? No pussies in my camp. Now buck
up. It’s a wedding. I need you and your usual moxie.” Jaya rolled her eyes. “Tears.
From Micha Bennett. I’m taking away your badass card.”

Micha grinned. “Shit, even I’m not that much of a
hard ass that I won’t sniffle at a wedding.”

Jaya grinned back. “No. But you’ll ruin your
makeup and be all raccoony for the pictures. I mean the better to make me
appear more beautiful, my darling, but honestly, not such a good look.”

Ricca laughed. “Jai, don’t tease her. She’s in
love.”

Micha swiped at the tear that escaped down her
cheek, then quickly applied powder to cover the telltale track. “I’m not in
love.”

Ricca rolled her eyes. “Hmm-mm. Then what would
you call it? You and Caleb have obviously come to some kind of
detente
. Hell, better than a compromise, because he’s back
to looking at you like you’re a sprinkles cupcake and he has a serious sweet
tooth.”

Micha flushed. This was
her
job—to rib her friends about their men and love lives. She only ever had to endure
mild ribbing regarding flings and one night stands. She wasn’t sure how she
felt about the turned tables. “He doesn’t look at me like that.”

Jaya stepped in to rescue her. “Ricca, My is
right. That’s not how Caleb looks at her at all.”

Micha sniffed. “Thank you.”

“He looks at her like she’s walking around naked
and he can’t decide what part of her to lick first. You know, hungry. And a
little frustrated. With a touch of indecisiveness.” She giggled.  “And then
there’s the hint of possession if anyone even dares glance in her direction.  Did
you see him last night when you guys were all at our house? I swear he growled
at Alec and Beckett for even hugging her.”

A grin tugged at Micha’s lips, but she schooled
her expression quickly. “Cut the shit, you guys. I’ve never teased you this
bad. You two are terrible.”

Jaya grinned. “We’ve learned from the best.” She
smoothed her hands down the bodice of the dress. “I have my something borrowed
and blue. But what I want is some single girl deets on my wedding day, so you
better get to talking, otherwise I’m not walking down that aisle on time.”

Micha laughed. “As if you would keep that fine
piece of ass you’re about to call hubby waiting.”

“He is a fine piece of man, isn’t he? A fact he
proved last night. And this morning, and right before you guys arrived.”

Ricca inhaled sharply and smacked the bride on the
arm. “Jai, he’s not supposed to see you before the wedding!”

Jaya shrugged. “No such thing as bad luck for us.
We went through a hell of a lot to get here. Nothing will ruin this day, unless
Micha doesn’t get to talking.”

Ricca then smacked Micha on the arm. “You heard
the woman. Spill. Besides, Beckett and I have a bet on how long it took you
guys to make up.”

Micha’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“Yep. He said you’d make up the next day, and I
said you’d make up the day of your trip. There was no way you guys would be
locked up in a car together and not feel the tension.”

“Ricca, I cannot believe you.” Her friends taking
bets on her love life—what the hell would be next? Besides, Ricca had the clear
upper hand; she knew Micha, and if it hadn’t been for the confined space of the
car, she wouldn’t be talking to Caleb now.

“Beckett also said you’d talk it out. But I threw
in that you’d screw like bunnies first. There’s too much crackle between you
guys not to.” Ricca shrugged.

Micha wasn’t sure if she should laugh, cry, or
make Ricca her bookie. “And what were the stakes?”

“Five hundred large and the loser has to spend two
days around the house completely naked.” Ricca winked and flashed a grin. “I’m
so hoping I win.”

Jaya and Micha met gazes, then howled with
laughter. Micha wrapped a hand around her middle trying to hold it in. “Can we
get viewing tickets for this?”

Ricca clapped with glee and did a dance saucy
enough to make most video vixens jealous. “I won, huh?”

Micha rolled her eyes. “Yeah. You had the
advantage. You know me.”

“He knows you too, but I know you better. So…”
Ricca waved her hands as if trying to hurry Micha up with the story.

“We uhm, we worked things out,” Micha hedged.

“What?” Jaya stared at her. “That’s it? Come on.
You have to do better than that.”

Micha was unaccustomed to be in the vulnerable
position. Sucking in a deep breath, she exhaled deeply. “Well, I was still
pretty pissed when we headed up to L.A. And you know how important that
interview was.”

Ricca scowled. “Did Simon behave?”

“Of course not. He used every trick in the book to
try to rile me up. And I stayed perfectly cool. Too bad the same couldn’t be
said about Caleb.”

Jaya covered her face. “Please tell me he didn’t.”

Micha nodded. “Oh, he did.” Then she gently
removed Jaya’s hands from her face. “You’ll ruin your make-up.”

Jaya only stuck out her tongue at her and Micha
rolled her eyes. “So yeah, Simon was his usual self. Overall too charming for
his own good and a little smarmy, but then, he goes into full I had the love of
my life and lost her mode.”

“Wait, he’s in love with you?” Ricca asked.

“How did Caleb take that? “ Jaya jumped in.

Micha answered as best she could. “No. Simon is
not
in love with me. I haven’t heard from that man in
years. He’s only saying that now because I’ve crossed into his sphere of
consciousness. Next week, I’ll cross back out again, and he won’t remember me. It’s
how he is.” She turned to Jaya. “As for Caleb, he acted like an overgrown ape.”

Ricca giggled. “Beckett’s going to be so pissed
that he lost the bet.”

“Well, at least you bet on
me
.
You should have seen Caleb. There was one point when I was touring the grounds
with Simon and there was this suspicious sound, so he comes barreling into the
shot and literally throws Simon aside and covers me like I’m POTUS and there’s
a sniper on the roof.”

“God, that’s so sexy,” Jaya whispered.

Micha shook her head. “Oh, not you too, Jai. I
thought Ricca was the hopeless romantic. Simon could have been pissed enough to
cut filming and cut off the interview entirely. The whole rest of the
interview, if you look closely, you’ll see Caleb’s shadow literally towering
over me in several shots.”

Ricca laughed. “Come on, cut the guy a break, he’s
in love.”

Micha snorted. “His love and hormones could have
cost me my job.”

“Given the way you describe the day, it doesn’t seem
conducive to making up,” Jaya said as she added the teardrop pearl earrings to
her ears.

Micha flushed. “Yeah, well, there’s more to it
than that.” Conscious of the time, she quickly recounted the bare bones of
their interaction in the car bay. She left the more risqué details to their
imaginations, but she had it on good authority that they had pretty good
imaginations.

Both of them sat back when she was done. Neither
spoke a word. Ricca looked a little dazed as she mouthed the word
wow
over and over again. And Jaya’s jaw went slack.

Finally Jaya spoke first. “So that’s it, you guys
are together now?”

Micha shifted uncomfortably. “Well, yeah sort of. We’re
going to wait till things die down to figure it all out but pretty much, yeah.”
She hesitated before adding, “When we left L.A., he brought me to my mother’s
house.”

Both of them stared at her. Ricca’s voice was hushed
and she asked, “As in your birth mother?”

Jaya frowned. “I thought those records were
sealed.”

Micha chewed her bottom lip. “He has a hacker on
the team who sort of unsealed them for me.”

Neither Jaya nor Ricca spoke for several seconds. Then
Ricca asked, “Did you meet her?”

Micha gave an exaggerated sniff as she tried to
ward off the tears. “I couldn’t do it. I watched her working in her garden, and
all the shit from when I was a little kid wondering who I was came back, and I
couldn’t do it. I could not make it out of the car. I sat there, frozen. Then
it hit me. I made my own family. I don’t
need
to
meet her. If I’m ever ready, I know where she is.”

Jaya reached out and grabbed her and Ricca’s
hands. “At the risk of sounding like a cheesy seventies song, we are family. The
best kind. I love you both.”

Micha rapidly blinked away tears. “Enough with the
heavy stuff.”

Ricca stood to help Jaya with the buckle of her
shoe and patted Micha’s arm as she passed. “Back to Caleb, then. Are you cool
with this? We know how you feel about relationships. About being vulnerable at
all. You hanging in there? It all sounds a little intense.”

For the first time, Micha let the question sink
in. Since she and Caleb had returned from L.A., it had been a little hectic with
getting Annie settled and in contact with her family, then the wedding prep. They
hadn’t had a lot of time not sleeping or actively entwined around each other to
actually talk. But surprisingly, she felt okay. She didn’t have the usual panic
about being attached to someone. And she knew that no matter what happened with
them, he wouldn’t let her lose her family. He took care of the people
considered his. “Yeah. Actually, I think I am.”

Both the girls beamed at her. “Thank God. I
thought you’d be an old lady and we’d be harassing you about finding somebody
and not chewing men up and discarding them.”

“I’m not that bad, am I?”

Then answered in unison, “Yes.”

“Fine. I have a bit of a commitment problem.” Micha
crossed her arms over her chest. “You guys don’t need to worry about me. I
think Caleb can handle me. I’ve tried everything to push him away, and he won’t
go. That’s the guy I need.”