Secret Obsession (romantic suspense) (Red Stone Security Series Book 12) (15 page)

Once Seleste was out of earshot, Ruby leaned a little across the table. “What does
nuera
mean?” She’d learned a lot of Spanish since she’d started working with Jules, but some words she couldn’t even begin to guess. Not unless Jules used it in everyday conversation.

Montez just lifted a shoulder, his expression unreadable. “I’ll tell you later,” he said, after a long moment. “But first I want to get back to that nurse costume you brought up.”

She laughed, the weight that had been on her chest for days finally lifting. She wasn’t sure what kind of future she and Montez had but she sure wanted the chance to find out.

After dinner Montez walked her back to her car, which was parked across the street from the shop. Thankfully Julieta had dropped off her purse so she hadn’t had to go back to the shop to get her stuff. Even though it was summer, a cool breeze kicked up as they headed down the sidewalk.

When Montez picked up her hand and slid his fingers through hers, she was pretty sure her heart was about to beat through her chest. She’d never been so excited about a man before. She could admit she was cynical when it came to the opposite sex, but he pretty much blew away all of that.

“I want to take you out again,” he murmured as they reached her car.

“I would like that.” She turned to face him, glad he was still holding her hand. The hum of excitement punching through her, wondering if he’d kiss her or not, was unbearable.

“I’ve got to work tomorrow night, but how about Wednesday?”

“Sounds good.” Did it ever.

“Pick you up from work?” he murmured, his gaze dropping to her mouth, hunger simmering in his dark eyes.

Ruby nodded, unable to find her voice.

They both leaned in at the same time and when his lips brushed against hers, she saw those clichéd fireworks. A wild energy buzzed through her as he grasped the back of her head and held tight as his tongue teased against hers.

She could totally fall for this man. She’d seen her mother go through loser after loser, had been so adamant that she’d never let a guy close enough to hurt her. Then she’d met Montez and he’d shoved his way right into her heart without even trying.

She nipped his bottom lip, moving closer into his embrace. His erection was thick against her stomach and the feel of it made her groan into his mouth. As she clutched onto his shoulders, he pulled back, his breathing erratic.

“Gotta stop now,” he rasped out.

She nodded even if she didn’t want him to. But they were in public and yeah, they didn’t need to have a crazy make-out session on the side of the street—across from where she worked.

“Call me when you get home,” he said. “So I know you made it safe.”

“I will. Or I can just text.”

“Call. I want to hear your voice.”

Pleasure slid through her veins, warming her from the inside out. She wanted to hear his voice too and it touched her that he wanted to know she’d made it home safe. “I will.”

He waited until she was in her car and had pulled away before heading back to the restaurant. As soon as she was on the road she slid her Bluetooth earpiece in and called Raegan. She’d thought about calling Jules but wasn’t sure how weird it would be to talk to her about Jules’s older brother.

“Hey, Ruby,” Raegan said, picking up on the second ring.

She couldn’t hold back her excitement. “Guess who I just kissed?”

Chapter 13

Ford covered his surprise at seeing Grant leaning against his truck in the parking lot outside the range. One of the officers on security must have let him through because civilians weren’t supposed to be here. His surprise immediately morphed to concern as he realized there was only one reason Grant would be here.

He shoved his sunglasses up on his head, broke into a jog. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, coming to stand in front of the former detective. Had something happened to Raegan? He hadn’t talked to her in three days, hadn’t known what the hell to say to her after seeing her kissing that guy.

Grant pushed up from the truck, and despite wearing a suit, he looked nothing like a typical businessman. He looked a little like a caged animal—and like he wanted to deck Ford right across the face. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t fucking dead.” The words were spoken quietly, but there was no mistaking the undercurrent of anger. “Since you apparently cut things off with my cousin like a total douche, without a word. What the hell is the matter with you? If you don’t want to be with her, fine, end things like a man. I never expected you to sleep with her and then just stop calling. It’s a dick move.”

Tension ratcheted up inside him, all his muscles going taut. “Raegan and I are none of your business.”

Grant’s jaw tightened. “You’re right. But you and I are friends. And my very emotional, pregnant wife is upset for Raegan. I overheard them talking. That’s the only fucking reason I’m here right now. I really don’t want to be having this conversation but…what the hell, dude? I’ve seen you practically panting after her for a year.”

Ford had mistakenly thought he’d done a good job of hiding his feelings for Raegan, but that was beside the point. He rubbed a hand over his face, feeling awkward talking about any of this. “Look, whatever you overheard is wrong. It was casual for Raegan but it wasn’t for me. I can’t…be with her if she’s with someone else.”

Some of the anger seemed to subside from Grant as he frowned. “I can’t believe I’m having this fucking conversation,” he muttered. “But what the hell are you talking about?”

Yeah, Ford couldn’t believe it either. “I was out with one of the guys Monday and saw her kissing some guy. I wasn’t following her,” he tacked on, as if that even needed to be explained. “It was dumb luck I saw and…I’m just not wired that way.” Not to mention she’d told him she wouldn’t be dating anyone else. He felt like such an idiot. He should have known she was too good to be true.

Grant blinked, as if Ford had truly surprised him. Then his expression hardened. “Monday night she had a business thing and the guy kissed her out of the blue. She was so pissed about it she passed the job off to Athena—but we decided not to do business with him anyway. And not just because it’s Raegan. The women who work for Red Stone need to feel safe at work. Need to
be
safe.”

At Grant’s words, a sinking sensation filled his gut. He’d jumped to the wrong conclusion. He knew why he’d done it. He’d let his past cloud his judgment. “Fuck.” Ford wanted to kick his own ass. Repeatedly.

“I’ve known you a long time, man, so I know your baggage. I get it, especially after what happened with your brother. But…” He shrugged and pulled out his car keys. “Raegan’s not like your ex. Not even close. You’re a dumbass if you think that.” He didn’t say anything else, just tapped his key fob and stalked across the parking lot.

Feeling like the biggest dick on the planet, he pulled out his cell phone and called her. It went to her voicemail after two rings, making him think she’d rejected his call. Not that he blamed her. It had been three days since he’d contacted her. He wondered if she’d even listen to him. He had to come clean about his issues, to make her understand why he’d jumped to the wrong conclusion—and apologize because he’d been so wrong to make an assumption like that.

Grant was right; he did have baggage. He
thought
he’d dealt with it, but seeing her kissing someone else had brought up all those feelings of betrayal and inadequacy. And instead of phoning her and confronting her about what he’d seen, he’d walked away without giving her a chance to explain herself.

Instead of calling again, he texted her.
I’m sorry I’ve been a ghost the past few days. I’d like to see you in person and apologize.
He also wanted to explain everything to her, but texting wasn’t the way to do it.

He doubted she’d text him right back or maybe even at all, so he got into his truck and headed home. He’d screwed up because of his own bullshit. Now he might have lost the best thing that had ever happened to him. He’d convinced himself that something would go wrong, then, when he’d thought it had, he hadn’t even fought for her.

Losing Raegan because of his own issues was something he knew he’d regret forever. Now he had to make it right.

* * *

“I’m surprised Dominique isn’t here tonight,” Raegan said to Ruby and Julieta. A group of her girlfriends had come out tonight but Dominique had said she couldn’t. In fact, she’d been surprisingly MIA since Saturday’s event. She’d been at work, but she’d been acting a little off and hadn’t wanted to hang out with anyone.

Before either of them could respond, Lizzy, Porter’s wife, snorted from across the big round table. “She’s busy with a certain Russian, from what I hear.”

Everyone at the table quieted and stared at her.

“Who? What?” Raegan asked. Dominique hadn’t dated a man in…well, since Raegan had known her. She was always so quiet about that part of her life. She wondered if it was that Russian from Saturday’s event, the one who’d dropped off the security feed of the club to Porter. But Dominique had seemed to hate the guy. That being an understatement.

Lizzy stared at all of them in clear surprise. “Seriously, I’m the only one who knows about this?”

“Apparently,” Athena said. “Come on, spill. She’s been cagey all week and I need some good gossip.”

“No way.” Lizzy shook her head. “Dominique is Porter’s assistant. If I make her mad she might screw up his schedule or…I can’t think of anything else right now, but she can be scary. So nope, no spilling of secrets will be happening.” She made a zipping motion across her lips and mimed throwing away the key.

“We’ll get it out of you,” Julieta said, picking up her own wine glass.

Julieta had known Lizzy since they were kids, but Raegan knew her cousin-in-law well enough that if Lizzy didn’t want to talk about something, she wouldn’t.

Everyone quieted for a moment as their server dropped off three appetizers and placed them around the big table. Raegan had been working like crazy and going straight home every day this week, thanks to the unknown threat looming over her head. Unfortunately she’d been going home alone because a certain jerk had decided to cut all contact with her. It hurt way more than she’d imagined. She’d thought they had something good, that they were moving in a positive direction. Then he’d just cut all contact.

She mentally shook herself, not even wanting to go there right now. She’d reviewed the video feed from the club and from the event but hadn’t seen anyone she recognized or that stood out to her as a threat. And she hadn’t received any creepy messages or anything. Still, she was being smart, and the only reason she was even out tonight was because Jules’ and Lizzy’s significant others were at the bar keeping watch over them while they had a girls’ night. She hated that she was the reason for the ‘security’ but she was glad to get out with her friends. Especially since Ford had pulled the rug out from under her. She hadn’t decided whether to text him back or not yet.

“If you want gossip,” she said to Athena as everyone started reaching for the appetizers, “guess who just called and texted me after days of radio silence?”

“Ooh, sexy cop is back on the scene?” Ruby asked. The beautiful blonde was happier than Raegan had ever seen her since she’d started dating Montez a few days ago.

“Uh, no.” And she didn’t know if she even wanted to contact him. She didn’t play games, and he’d really hurt her. She started to reach for the crab-stuffed mushrooms when she saw the almost guilty look on Lizzy’s face. “What’s that look?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re such a liar. Do you know something about Ford?”

Lizzy shrugged as she scooped a few of the coconut fried shrimp onto her plate. “I know a lot about him. He’s been friends with Grant for years.”

“Don’t be a smart-ass.”

“I’m not supposed to say.” She picked up a shrimp, nibbled on it as everyone watched her.

“If you don’t tell her, I’m going to make you wear the ugliest bridesmaid dress possible. With ruffles and bows and everything you hate. In pink. It’ll be a special dress, reserved just for you.” Julieta’s expression was deadpan as she lifted her glass of wine, her eyebrows raised challengingly.

“Fine…” Lizzy turned back to Raegan, her expression apologetic. “I might have overheard Grant telling Porter that he was going to see Ford today.”

Mortification swelled inside Raegan as Lizzy’s words settled in. “Oh, my God,” she breathed out. She did not need her cousins ‘defending her honor’ or whatever misguided idea they might have. A little overprotectiveness was fine, but this was nuts.

“I
know
. I told Porter it was a bad idea but apparently Belle is super emotional right now—and I understand. I was crazy emotional when I was pregnant too. But she was really upset for you, was talking about going to see Ford and punching him,” Lizzy sighed, “and I quote, ‘in his big dumb face.’ So…I think Grant might have gone to see him today to make her happy.”

Raegan felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. She’d been ranting to Belle yesterday about Ford’s disappearing act but that had just been to release her frustration to a friend. She was a grown woman. She didn’t need or want her family getting involved with her fizzled relationship. Hell, it had barely been a relationship. Just sex. At least to Ford. And yeah, that stung pretty deeply because she’d really been into him. “I think I need another glass of wine,” she muttered.