Wire (Pierce Securities Book 2) (24 page)

“I’ve always hated her,” Peggy finally whimpered. “He’s loved her forever.” She gripped the arm rests of the chair she was tied to. “I just want her gone. Dale had all these grand schemes for revenge, but I just want her gone. I don’t care if she suffers, I don’t want to watch her go down in flames. I just want her gone. I want my Dale back.”

She continued to repeat herself, her voice getting smaller as she spoke, her eyes drifting to her lap.

“So you willingly married a man who was obviously in love with another woman?” Evan couldn’t help but think she’d brought this on herself, and was having a hard time being sympathetic.

“I didn’t realize.” She looked at him, her tears still tracking down her face. “Not until afterward. He’d always called her a friend, but it wasn’t until we faked his death and went to work with Roger that I realized he was obsessed with ruining her. He’d managed to convince me it was because he hated Paige, and I went along with it, but after the takeover and all that plastic surgery, I saw what he was doing. I tried to talk him out of his plans. He said he was ruining her, but I knew it was because he couldn’t have her. It killed me to know our life together was a means to an end for him. I’d thought he really loved me.”

“Do you realize he’s The Crimson Lady?”

She gasped, and Evan saw the genuine disbelief in her wide eyes. “How could he be?” She shook her head. “My Dale wouldn’t do that…”

A scoff escaped Evan’s lips as two uniformed police officers walked up to take her into custody. Evan couldn’t believe Stygman had the wool pulled over these women’s eyes so completely they couldn’t see what was plainly in front of them.

After Peggy was taken away, he walked into Paige’s room to see Krista standing next to her while Ryan looked out the window. Evan knew he hated hospitals ever since his grandpa had died.

“I appreciate you guys coming.” Turning to Ryan, he said, “I know this is hard for you, man.”

“No problem. I’m sorry I let her in here. We thought she was a nurse bringing an extra pillow.” Ryan’s eyes were sorrowful, and Evan allowed the pang of pity to radiate to his brother.

“It’s alright. All’s well, right?” It was a hard thing to verbalize, but he couldn’t fault his buddy for trying to protect Paige. He wanted to punch his friend in the nose, just once, to let him know how shitty it was to let a fake nurse into Paige’s room while Ryan sat outside making googly eyes at his woman. But the candid regret on his face told Evan he realized what he’d done.

Evan shrugged it off and turned to Paige, oblivious to Krista and Ryan sneaking out of the room.

“It’s so good to see those gorgeous green eyes, again,” he murmured, clasping her hand in his. Her fingers entwined with his willingly, and she tugged his hand to her chest.

“It’s good to see your sweet brown ones.” The oxygen she’d been breathing for the last several hours still hadn’t repaired her voice, but its husky quality sent a tremor of need to his groin. He ignored it, as now was not the time to be lusty.

Paige looked around the room before her gaze once again landed on Evan. “Um… what exactly happened, Evan? Why am I in the hospital? Did Peggy just really try to kill me?” The fear in her tone sent Evan climbing into her bed next to her. She was small, and he fit up against her just fine once he situated the tubes coming out of her.

Evan had been treated for smoke inhalation and some minor burns on his arms and feet, but he’d been lucky. Paige had inhaled way more smoke than he had, since she’d been unconscious. If he hadn’t have made it to her, she would be dead.

He kept his own voice quiet, not wanting to alarm her. “He drugged you and burned your house down.” Hoping to keep things simple, he didn’t over-explain things. There was probably a better way to break the news to her, but he didn’t know what it was. So he pulled her against him and stroked her back softly, hoping to ease the brunt of his words with his touch.

“Did you catch him? Before he got Miriam?”

Evan nodded. “Quinten was already at her apartment. He’d threatened her before, so he wasn’t taking any chances. Simon got Koen while he was watching your house burn, and I managed to get you out just in time.” Tears leaked out of his eyes at the thought of what could have happened. He sniffed them back, though. He could have a mental collapse later; right now, Paige needed him to answer questions.

But she wasn’t asking anything. He felt her shoulders shake, and he pulled back to see the tears streaming down her face, her lush mouth pulled back in a sobbing grimace. He pushed her head back to his chest, mostly so he could offer her the comfort she desperately needed, but also because he couldn’t bear to watch her pain. Pain she felt for Koen, the asshole who’d tried to kill her.

“I just don’t understand how he could do everything… just because I wouldn’t be his girlfriend. Years ago!” Her sobs were audible now, and Evan tried to soothe her, making the appropriate shushing noises and rubbing her back gently. “Why couldn’t he just get over it?”

“I don’t think I ever could,” Evan replied wryly. When she looked up, disbelief shown through her tears. “I don’t. I couldn’t ever let you go, Paige.” He wiped her face with the pads of his thumbs, holding her face in his hands. “I wouldn’t try to kill you, or sabotage your company like he did, but I’d tie you to my bed and make you see reason if you ever try to leave me again.” He smiled to show her he was only half joking, and she smiled back.

“You would?”

He kissed her nose, worried he might hurt her if he did anything else. “You bet I would.”

She pulled her mouth over to the side of her face in thought. “I’m not sure I would mind that at all, being tied to Evan Rocco’s bed, completely at his mercy…”

Evan snuggled closer, burying his nose in her neck and stifling his rage at the smell of smoke still permeating her hair. “You know, you can move in with me after they let you out of here.”

He was scared to see her face, just in case she thought this was too soon. If she got that scaredy cat thing going again, he would have to tie her up and drag her to his place. He really didn’t want to do that. He’d sort of been joking about the tying her to his bed business.

“Evan, I love you.”

Dumbstruck, he looked up at her face to see she was earnest. “I mean it. You said something earlier, at my house, about how you’d fallen in love with me, and I never said anything back. I just… needed you to know that I’ve always loved you.”

He smothered her face in joyful kisses while she batted him away. “I can’t guarantee I’m not going to freak out a few times while I get used to the fact that I’m living with Evan Fucking Rocco, but I’d love to give it a shot,” she giggled.

“Every time you freak out, I’ll just make love to you until you forget I’m a rock star.”

He couldn’t stop the smile from bursting across his face. “I love you, Paige Lawson. Since I met you in April, I’ve loved you. Now that I know you, I love you even more. There’s nothing you can do to change that, ever.” This time when he kissed her, it wasn’t because he’d lost control, or wanted her to get quiet, or to get a rise out of her. He kissed her because her toes deserved to curl. She needed to unwind and feel his love. He loved her, and the kisses he gave her were to prove that.

Evan led Paige by the hand into Ryan’s cabin for Thanksgiving barbecue. They were a little early because he hadn’t timed the traffic right. Surely, Ryan wouldn’t mind.

Of course, as soon as he walked in the door, the sounds from the bedroom told him otherwise. Holding a finger to his lips, he pulled Paige close, undecided what to do.

“Oh God, Ryan… Right there.”

“Fuck.”

The headboard was banging, and Paige let out a giggle before Evan’s hand clamped over her mouth to quiet her. His other hand clenched her hip, and he watched her eyes darken with understanding and desire. Evan clenched his fingers harder, realizing the auditory display was turning them both on.

“Yes! Oh God! Yes!”

“I’m gonna wring another one out of you before we’re finished…”

“Well then you’d better hurry before your friends… Oh! Oh! Oooohhhhhh!”

A guttural roar accompanied a shrill shrieking from the couple in the throes of ecstasy right before a crashing sound echoed through the cabin. Muttered curses and a giggle seeped through the walls as well as a low moan. They didn’t seem to be letting what sounded like the collapse of their bed stop them.

Paige gasped against Evan, and his roaming hands clenched her hip as she mouthed at him. “Should we go?”

Grinning, he led her out the door as quietly as he could, his erection straining painfully against his zipper. Even though it was listening to his coworker and his girlfriend, Evan was visualizing him and Paige. He managed to get her into his car before mauling her with his mouth.

“God, did that turn you on as much as it did me?” she whispered breathlessly as she fumbled with his pants.

“Fuck, yeah.” Twisting her into his lap, he pulled her panties aside at the same time as he lifted her skirt and speared Paige onto his hard length. Feeling her tight heat was enough to make him blow, but as she rode him, careful of the stick shift, he pulled up her blouse and freed her tits.

This woman was a fucking goddess he didn’t deserve. But he’d take her any way he could have her. He was living out a fantasy, fucking her in his car before eating half a cow for Thanksgiving. What red-blooded American male wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now?

Throwing her head back, Paige accidently honked his horn before she squeezed closer to him with a breathy giggle.

As she bounced up and down, Evan mouthed her breasts, listening to her moans of pleasure. This was going to be over before she came if he wasn’t careful, so he found her clit with his thumb and traced small circles over it, pressing down. When she tightened around him, suctioning him with her inner walls, Evan let go.

As she collapsed against his neck, breathing heavily, Evan realized Simon’s truck was pulled up next to them. Looking over, he saw his boss staring at them red-faced, Quinten grinning at them maniacally.

“Um…”

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Paige was blushing furiously, and Evan had to kiss her. She was just too damn adorable. “He doesn’t like me much.” She hastened to straighten her clothes.

“Naw, he’s just a teddy bear under all that gruff exterior. He acts like he doesn’t like anybody.” Evan had absolutely no evidence of this, but it seemed to reassure Paige as she crawled over his stick shift back into the passenger seat.

He got out of the car just as Simon and Quinten were getting out of the truck. Simon was blushing, not looking at either of them. “I wish someone had gotten Miriam’s deviled egg recipe.”

“Where is Miriam, anyway?” She’d really been taking a lot of time off lately, and Evan missed her, especially the food she always brought in to the office.

“Medical leave. She said it’s routine, but she’s taking two weeks.” Simon seemed grateful for the change of topic.

Before he could express alarm, Quinten asked, “Everything okay?” Nobody missed the tense of his shoulders or the grimace on his face.

Simon shrugged. “Hell if I know. That woman’s locked up tighter than Mother Theresa’s legs.”

Visualizing Miriam in a position the least bit sexual, even if it was a Mother Theresa innuendo, was too much for Evan. But he understood the sentiment.

As they all filed into the house, Evan was relieved to see that Ryan and Krista seemed to be finished with their sex, even though it was clear they’d been doing it. Both of them came from their room the same time the rest of them entered the house. They were both flushed and disheveled, and Simon didn’t hide his eye-roll from anyone.

“She’s learned the trick to my stove,” Ryan shrugged. “It’s a fucking turn-on.” Looking at Paige, he apologized. “Sorry, but it’s the truth.”

Paige muttered something about not needing to apologize and followed Krista into the kitchen while Simon, Quinten, and Evan followed Ryan to the barbecue pit outside, where Ryan proceeded to flip the biggest rack of ribs Evan had ever seen. His mouth watered in response.

“Hey, Evan. You got a Marine brother, don’t you?”

He nodded, unable to take his eyes off the ribs and noticing a brisket as well. He licked his lips. Today was a great day.

“When’s he get out?” Shifting his focus from the meat to his boss, Evan answered, “Sometime after the first of the year, I think. I can find out. Why?”

“I need a few more men. Your last case has given us more publicity and we’re starting to get more cases. The good thing about them is it’s a few protection details, and those are lucrative and usually pretty easy. You think he’d be interested in a job?”

“I can set something up.” Everybody at the company knew Simon had envisioned Pierce Securities as less of a PI firm and more of a securities detail type thing, but when they’d first started, they’d had to take what they could get. Now, apparently word was out that they were competent.

“What’s the deal with the case? Have you heard anything?” Ryan was looking at Evan expectantly, and Evan debated toying with the man about just having sex with Krista when he was expecting company, but thought better of it when he realized Simon and Quinten could just as easily rag on him for getting busy in the driveway.