“Working hard, Tim?” a loud voice came from the doorway.
Tim shrieked from being startled, and the Tim Tam packet went flying up in the air. All eyes swivelled to watch it fall face up on the floor.
“Crap,” Tim muttered.
Jared was standing just inside the door with his arms folded, casually leaning up against the doorway, amusement flickering in his eyes. He was wearing a pair of dark denim jeans, a fitted white t-shirt, navy jacket, and brown boots, but he’d trimmed his hair.
My face fell in disappointment.
“Hey, baby.” He grinned at me and stalked across the room. “I was waiting for you to come up but...” he gave a pointed glance at the biscuit packet “...I see you had other priorities.”
I put my tea down on the side table, and Jared yanked me up off the couch and planted his lips hard on mine. I whimpered and I wasn’t sure if it was because my head was going to wobble off or because the feel of Jared pressed up against me was more delicious than my feeble body could stand.
He moaned as I wound my arms around his neck and opened my mouth to let his tongue slip inside.
“I’ll...ah...just get back to the front desk,” Tim muttered from somewhere far away.
Lips still locked, Jared turned me around and sank down on the couch, pulling me with him. I shifted so I straddled his lap and met his tongue with my own. The kiss swiftly turned from tender to hot, and he broke away and sucked in a breath.
“Christ, you’re f**king hot,” he muttered as he stared at my swollen red lips.
“What?” I asked in a daze.
He looked into my eyes. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too but…” I ran my hands through the shorter silky strands.
He chuckled. “It will grow back you know.”
“Um, hi, Evie.”
I twisted from my straddled position to see Travis standing in the doorway with an amused expression.
“Hi, Travis.” I flushed and tried to struggle to my feet.
Jared, sensing my efforts to take flight, wrapped his arms around me and held firm.
I gave up with a huff. Jared, happy with my lack of mobility, turned to Travis. “What do you know?”
Travis folded his arms, looking just like Jared had a few moments ago, but his expression was worried. “Frank says Sarah Jenkins is the sister-in-law of Joseph Farrell who is the recently deceased brother...” he glanced pointedly at Jared “...of Jimmy Farrell.”
Oh my God, was he that Joe? I didn’t know he’d died. Jared hadn’t mentioned anything. My hands gripped tight on his shoulders. “He died?”
“Yeah,” Jared murmured. “Shit!” His voice grew louder. “Do you think he was following Coby in Evie’s car or following Evie?”
“Fuck. I don’t know. It could be either,” Travis said unhappily.
“Why would he be following me?” I asked in confusion. I didn’t even know the man.
“Coby and I were both on scene at the time Joe was shot. He may think Coby shot Joe and is tailing him, or I did, and he’s after you because you’re my girl,” Jared explained. He stood up and set me on my feet. “If he was smart enough, he’d just go underground, but it’s possible that he’s looking for payback.”
Travis nodded his agreement as Jared paced the room in full business mode.
“I’ll get Evie home soon and stay with her. We need a schedule to have someone on Evie at all times until Jimmy is located. Tell Frank to call Mitch. The police will need to be notified. I want everyone to drop everything that’s not urgent and get on to finding this bastard.” He swiped a hand down his face. “Shit.”
“Shit is f**king right,” Travis muttered.
“I’ll be right back, babe. Wait here and don’t worry. We’ll have this bastard locked up by days end.” Jared bent his head and with a brief touch of his lips to mine, disappeared through the door behind Travis.
Chapter Eleven
It was early, the sun just rising, and it was not a time of day I was overly familiar with or fond of. I won’t deny I enjoyed the quiet, but I was tired and the ability to get back to sleep had died a slow and painful death as I lay staring at the ceiling. Jared had been working around the clock for a week, and Jimmy was still at large. Not wishing to wake him, I sat on the front balcony of our duplex sipping a cup of tea and reflecting on the past week.
We’d played two shows, one at a place called The Cathouse and one at The Forbes, a shopping trip with Mac and Tim, nothing heard from Gary the Jettison Records scout, and a whole week of having Jared in my bed. It wouldn’t have been half bad, but considering every moment that I wasn’t with Jared I had either Coby, Travis, Henry, or Jake stuck to me like glue, it gave me an idea of how it must feel to be one half of a conjoined twin. I appreciated the sentiment that it was done in the name of keeping me safe, but blankets were less smothering, and the weight of concern surrounding someone following me left me slightly breathless whenever I allowed myself to think on it.
I felt the air stir as Jared came up behind my chair. He swept my hair over my shoulder and pressed a soft kiss to the back of my neck that sent cool goose bumps travelling along my skin.
“Morning, baby,” he murmured, yawning as he moved over to sit in the deck chair to the right of me. Hair mussed from sleeping, he smiled at me lazily, and I let out a long, quiet breath. His chest was bare but he’d slipped on the pair of jeans he was wearing last night.
“What are you doing up so early?”
I took a sip of my tea and waved my hand at the horizon before I answered. “I wanted to watch the sunrise.”
He looked out at the brilliant pinks, oranges, and soft blues before raising one eyebrow, looking back at me sceptically.
“Okay,” I said on a sigh. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Come here,” he ordered.
I shifted and crawled into his lap, breathing in his warm, male scent as I rested my head on his shoulder.
“Evie, I’m sorry. I’ve loved every minute of you being here, but I feel responsible for what’s happening with Jimmy. It’s been a good idea to lay low until he’s found, but maybe we can relax things a bit.” He rubbed his hands up and down my back in soothing motions. “We still haven’t had that talk yet either.”
That was ages ago. Damn the man, he had the memory of an elephant.
“We don’t have to do that now,” he said, sensing my sudden urge to flee, “but you need to know that I want you with me—permanently. I’m happy to wait for you to catch up, but it doesn’t mean I’m not going to do everything I can to make you want to take that jump because I’m right there with you.” He leaned in to kiss my forehead. “I know you’ve been hurt in the past, and I can’t promise that I’m never going to make you angry or upset you, but I wouldn’t ever do it deliberately. Just give us a chance, okay?”
Without waiting for a response, which was good because I needed a moment to think about what he’d said, he held on to me and stood up. The fact that this amazing, beautiful man wanted me was thrilling, and I knew I wanted him just as much. That was never in doubt. I just wasn’t ready to let those last, final pieces of myself go. That fact he was willing to give me time gave me some measure of peace.
Carrying me into the bedroom, he tossed on the bed and crawled up and over the top of me to lean down and press a kiss on my lips.
“I want you every minute of every day. You make me crazy,” he whispered as he nipped and licked his way down my neck before sitting me up to take off my camisole. He pushed me back down and finished his trail down my chest, peppering little kisses across my ribs as his hands ran up and down the length of my thighs. I moaned at the touch, and in response, his tongue traced a hot path along my hip bones.
He paused and met my eyes. “I think we should go on a date.”
“A date?” I repeated. My conversational abilities were at a disadvantage while his tongue and hands were caressing my skin.
“Yeah a proper date, just the two of us. We can go out for dinner, a movie, have some quiet time together away from everyone else. What do you think?”
He peeled the silk shorts slowly down the length of my legs, my breathing becoming shallow as his mouth moved between my thighs. What did I think? He was asking me to think?
When he’d finished the long drawn out process of doing wicked things to my body, we had another water conserving shower, and I was now in my wardrobe searching for something to wear. Since we’d signed on with Marcus to a regular, lucrative spot at the White Demon, Henry had decided to buy a car, and Jake, he and I were going car shopping today.
I pulled on my grey cuffed shorts with the hot pink pinstripes, a pair of silver sandals, and a plain white fitted shirt and trotted down the stairs to find Henry and Jake sitting around drinking coffee and munching toast while Jared was sliding on a pair of shoes.
I gave Henry and Jake a dirty look. “You didn’t make me any toast?”
Henry and Jake had the good grace to look guilty as they munched heartily.
“Babe.” Jared walked over to me. “You shouldn’t eat that,” he said. “It’s white bread, full of preservatives. Anyway, I gotta make a move.”
He kissed me gently on the lips, and I closed my eyes to savour the press of his body against mine.
“Evie?”
“Yeah?” I sighed as he pressed another kiss on my lips.
“You’ve parked me in.”
“Oh right.” I opened my eyes, slightly dazed. “You boys ready to go?”
Without waiting for an answer, I picked up my handbag and keys off the kitchen counter and waltzed out the door. I could do a drive through breakfast grab on our way to wherever it was one went to buy cars in Sydney. Henry and Jake would get absolutely nothing.
“Shotgun,” Henry yelled at Jake as they both tried to muscle each other out of the way, literally jamming themselves in the front door as Jared stood impatiently behind them.
“You bunch of wankers,” I called out as I got in the car and put the window down. “Get in the car before I leave without either of you.”
Jared and I shared a look of disbelief before he gave them both a shove out the door. He mimed that he would ring me as he folded his long sexy body inside his Porsche, gunning the engine impatiently as Henry and Jake ran back inside to get their wallets and phones. I backed out the drive and idled on the curb so Jared could get going, and he gave the horn a toot as he headed off in the opposite direction.
We drove along towards the direction of Parramatta Road as my stomach growled menacingly. “You two can suck it for not making me toast. I’m going to Macca’s and neither of you are getting anything.”
“Why would we? You heard the man. It was white bread. You know you can’t eat that rubbish, Sandwich.”
All I could manage was an attempted swat at Henry’s head in response because I was trying to drive.
Ten minutes later we were back on our way with Henry and Jake munching burgers, so I made Henry feed me pancakes dripping in syrup as I drove. My phone buzzed a message and Henry picked it up on instinct, long used to me having him answer my messages while I was driving. He did refuse to the other day, though, when Jared was getting particularly amorous while stuck in Adelaide, and I’d asked Henry to text something about where I wanted to put my tongue. Apparently, that was beyond the call of duty of a male best friend, but he’d refused to believe me when I told him I was only kidding.