Blindfold: The Complete Series Box Set (40 page)

“Everybody's already asleep. If anybody gets up, they’ll see my ass and not yours as long as you’re still.” I pressed a kiss to her temple. “You’re sleeping with me tonight.”

She went still. “I am?”

“Yes.”

Her body was stiff in my arms, her voice soft. “And are you going to turn asshole on me again?”

“No.” I still wasn’t sure how I felt about what happened, about what any of it meant, or even if I had a name for what I felt. But I did know I liked the feel of her in my arms. That I slept better with her next to me.

And that I didn’t want her leaving.

Ever.

Chapter 10

Toni

A couple of things clued me into the fact that something wasn’t quite right.

The sun was coming in at the wrong angle. The bed was far more comfortable – and bigger – than mine had ever been. And it was quiet. Blissfully, serenely quiet. Also, I felt rested, which was really wrong, because I never felt rested lately, not between working for Isadora, worrying about Isadora and school.

School!

Shit!

I practically flew out of bed and came to a halt when I saw the clock.

“Shit,” I whispered. It was too late. I’d already missed my class.

One of the classes I needed to graduate and that I'd considered myself lucky to get into before this particular professor left on maternity leave – hence the reason for the odd scheduling. She was one of the hardest professors I'd ever had, but she was the best and I wanted to learn from the best.

Groaning, I tried to think as I headed for the shower. With hot clouds of steam and fragrant soap billowing around me, I tried to clear my head of the muddle of sleep.

See if I could find someone who had notes. Copy notes. Get assignments.

Make a sincere apology to the professor and hope she'd still let me stay in her class. I had a reason, of course. And a perfectly valid one at that, but I doubted my professor would see it that way. Only one of the ones whose finals I missed had let me make it up online. The other two had given me zeroes, making me glad I'd spent so much time pushing myself to get the best grades possible. I'd still passed.

But if I got kicked out of this class, I'd have to wait until the fall semester to take it again, and only if I managed to get in. I had to be careful or I was going to screw up everything.

Once I finished in the shower, I puttered around in Ash’s closet for a few pitiful minutes, hoping to find something I could wear.

The discreet knock I heard just as I was pulling on a burgundy button down shirt had me flushing. I had no doubt it was one of the staff, and even less doubt that they knew what had happened between Ash and me.

I didn’t know the woman's name, but she smiled at me as she held out a stack of clothes. “Here you go, Miss Gallagher.”

“Ah...thanks.” Recognizing my jeans and panties from yesterday, I took them gratefully. They smelled like they’d come fresh from the laundry, and I flushed at the thought of how they'd gotten there.

My shirt was in the pile, too but I liked the feel of the burgundy silk so after I put on my bra, I put Ash's shirt back on, tying it into a knot at my waist. After glancing around, I concluded that I’d left my sandals downstairs last night.

Now I had to find them and check on Isadora before trying to fix the mess I'd made of my class.

She wasn’t hard to find.

I just followed the sound of laughter to the kitchen, puzzled by how easy and light she sounded after last night.

When I saw the lean man sitting next to her in the cozy little nook, I realized I should have guessed the reason. Messy bronze hair, dancing hazel eyes...I knew who this was.

Both of them looked at me. The shadows were still in her eyes, but Isadora didn’t look quiet as frail as she had yesterday. I didn't need a doctor to tell me why.

Focusing on the man, I held out a hand. “Colton, I presume?”

“You got it. And I bet you’re Toni.”

We shook and I took the seat opposite Isadora. My belly grumbled demandingly at the smells drifting through the air, and Isadora gave me an understanding smile. “I hear you. They’re making omelets. I convinced them that was on the soft diet.”

“They’ll be fine.” I checked the IV bag. “The nurse has been out.”

“Yep.” She gave me a guileless smile. “I told them that you were taking a shower since you'd been up all night taking care of me.”

Flicking at a damp strand of hair, I shrugged. “I did shower.”

She grinned as she leaned against Colton, her expression telling me that she suspected the real reason why I'd been in the shower. She didn't say anything though. As I watched, her entire body relaxed as soon as she touched him. It was like she could breathe easier, think easier...just be, all because he was there. It made something in me sigh with envy.

“When did you get over here?” I asked.

He rubbed at his neck, eyes squinting. “Three? Isadora woke up and called me. I came right over. I would've come to the hospital...” There was a tightening around his mouth as he said it.

Isadora interrupted, her voice soft. “Don’t be mad, baby.”

“I’m not mad.” He kissed her temple. “I just think your brother is a dick. He could have called me.”

“Ash can be...” She hesitated.

“A dick,” I offered.

She started to laugh. “Well, yeah. Sometimes.” Then she glanced at the shirt I was wearing. “That’s a nice shirt.”

Shit.

“Ah...” I flamed red.

Fortunately, I was saved from an explanation by the timely arrival of food. We spent the next few minutes filling our empty bellies and then Colton stood up. I could read the reluctance in every line of his body.

“I have to go, sweetheart.” Isadora’s face fell, and my heart twisted. He bent over, gently kissing her as he brushed curls away from her face. “The assholes at the plant will fire me if I don’t show up. I’ll come back tonight, Dory. I promise.”

“Okay.” She gave him a game smile.

He caught her hand, kissed her fingers, and then he was gone.

I waited until he was out the door before I spoke, “He seems like a good guy.”

“He is.” Isadora was still looking at the doorway, as if waiting for him to come back. After a long moment, she turned back to me. “He’s definitely not a dick.”

“Ash has his moments.” I wasn't sure why I felt the need to defend him when I'd been the one who'd said it in the first place.

“I assumed you thought so or you wouldn’t be wearing his shirt.” She hesitated before asking, “So when did that happen?”

“Hmmm.” Lips pursed, I reached for the bread basket. I wasn't sure I wanted to have this conversation, but I did feel the need to stay at least a little while longer to make sure Isadora was okay. “Well, we were both pretty stressed, you know, when you disappeared and...”

“So you two were just...relieving stress.”

I looked up at her. She had a sunny, open face, but she managed to pack a lot of innuendo into those few words and the look in her eyes was telling.

“Yes...no.” I sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“You had sex with my brother.” She shrugged. “That’s not complicated. He’s a good-looking guy. The complicated part is that you have a thing for him.”

Shit. Was it that obvious?

“You’d rather I didn’t.” I nodded slowly. “Of course. I understand–”

“It’s not that.” Isadora smiled a little sadly. “If I thought it would save you the heartache, I'd lie to you, but I know you're the sort of person who likes honesty, so here it is. Ash doesn’t do commitment. I think you do.”

Well, that was honest. Trying not to let any emotion show on my face, I said, “Why do I get the feeling there’s a story here?”

“Because there is.” Not looking at me, she reached for her cup of tea and sipped. “It’s short, and not very sweet, and it’s probably a lot of why he’s such a dick. He was seeing this girl when our parents died. Lily. Sweet girl. I liked her a lot. She was...well, I thought she was perfect for him. She knew when to push, when to back off, when he needed to take a break. When I needed a break. She helped him get through what happened to Mom and Dad. They were going to get married.”

My heart froze. I must have made some sort of sound or moved – something – because Isadora looked up at me, her gaze solemn.

“About two years after Mom and Dad died, they were going to go on a romantic weekend to the Poconos. He told me he was going to officially propose, give her Mom's engagement ring. Then, the weekend came and he went to go pick her up, but she was gone.”

Gone? “I don't understand.”

“Neither did we.” Her voice was quiet. “He looked for her, came back home to see if she was here. Called up there. But she was gone. She never came back for the stuff she'd kept here. A couple days later, her roommate said she came home from work and Lily's stuff was gone. It was like she'd fallen off the face of the earth. Neither of us saw her again. Ever.”

I stared at her. “That’s...”

We finished the sentence together. “Weird.”

“It is.” She nodded, the expression on her face sad. “Ash used to be a little silly, you know. He used to laugh more. He used to play. But after that, he shut down. She'd been the one person he'd thought he could count on, that he could trust. And she left him without an explanation. He hasn’t let himself get close to anyone else since then.”

I understood what she was saying. Really.

But I had a feeling I was already in too deep. “Thank you.”

I pushed back from the table and rose. I needed to go. Now more than ever, because I had to think. Before I took more than a couple steps, however, I stopped, curiosity getting the best of me. “Hey, what was her name? Her full name?”

“Lily. Lily Ann Holmes.” Isadora smiled a little. “Don’t try to track her down on Facebook or anything. I already tried years ago. She’s a ghost.”

The familiar words sent a strange little shiver up my spine. I tried to brush it aside as I turned back towards Isadora. “I almost forgot. I need to look at your IV. After all, Mr. Lang did assign Dr. Toni to your case.” I tried to reach for a chipper tone of voice and failed, coming off tired and resigned.

“You should have slugged him instead of...well, you know.”

“I did that once. It didn’t have a lot of effect.” I didn’t realize what I'd said until after the words slipped out.

“You...” She started to laugh.

If I could have pulled it off, I would have laughed with her. Instead, I made a ridiculous attempt to prolong the examination of her perfectly normal-looking IV insertion sight. “It was my understanding that the nurse will discontinue it when she comes back out at noon. Did she confirm that with you earlier?”

“Yes, Dr. Toni.” She caught my free hand with hers and said, “Now quit stalling.”

“Stalling?” I wasn’t stalling. Stalling meant I had intentions of talking about it once I was ready. I didn’t plan on talking to her about this at all.

“If you don’t tell me the story, I’ll ask Ash,” she threatened.

My eyes narrowed. “You know, you look all sweet and innocent...”

“It’s an act.” She gave me a serene smile.

“I’ve figured that out,” I said wryly. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to fall for that look. I’m the queen at this. I have four brothers. You only have the one.”

“They can’t be any worse than Ash.” She made a face.

“Bet me. Four, remember? And I’ve met your brother. You haven’t met any of mine.”

“True.” She pursed her lips. “But, still, if you don’t tell me, I’ll ask Ash. You want me to get
his
version? Or yours?”

I sighed. “You’ve got a point.”

***

Doug promised he'd personally stay with her. There were any number of people within the house and Ash had put his security detail on full force as well.

Still, I felt like a heel leaving her.

But I knew she'd never let me stay, not once I mentioned missing my class.

Case in point, she waggled her fingers at me from her chair and gestured theatrically towards the door. “Go. Learn. Shrink.”

I gave her a smile and headed for the door. I was going to have to scramble now to make it to the professor's office before she left for the day.

Or not...

One of the cars was waiting at the curb. “Doug thought you could use a lift,” the driver said, smiling at me.

“Yes. Yes, I could.” Instead of hot-footing it to the subway, I sank into the leathery softness of the seat and closed my eyes, thinking about my conversation with Isadora.

I'd told her everything that had happened since she'd been kidnapped. All of it. When I'd gotten to the part about him having me arrested, she'd been furious. Then she said she didn’t know why I hadn’t just torn off out of there and told Ash to kiss my ass. She’d laughed when I told her I hit him instead. Her expression had sobered as I explained about Vic.

When I finished, I realized she would feel guilty about what had happened to Vic and me for a long time. That, of course, made me feel guilty. I shouldn’t have said anything.