Read Unmasked (Godmother Security Book 1) Online
Authors: June Stevens,DJ Westerfield
Unmasked (Godmother Security Book 1) (15 page)
“Cindy, are you okay?” Sebastian ran over to her.
“You shot her,” Cindy said, searching his face for any signs of shock.
“I did. And since I save you, you can save the lecture on not obeying your orders.” He flashed her his charming smile, though it was tinged with worry.
“Deal,” Cindy laughed, then groaned as pain rocked her. “Here, help me up. I don’t know if either of them are dead and we need to get you out of here.”
He raised an eyebrow, “I think you are the one we need to get to safety. I saved you, remember.”
Cindy rolled her eyes. “Never gonna let me forget that are you?”
Sebastian gently picked her up, one arm under her knees, the other behind her back. “Not ever. Ella.”
“You know?” Cindy asked weakly. She was so tired and every step he took hurt. But he knew.
“I knew. From the moment you stepped in my office, I knew. I don’t know how you thought I didn’t, though you did a pretty good job and trying to disguise yourself. Also, you made a slip earlier in the cave about Audra being at the ball. If I hadn’t known before then, that would have been a clue.”
Cindy’s head swam and her eyes fluttered shut.
“Don’t go to sleep, Cindy. It’s just a few more yards to the boat,” his voice sounded strained. “You know you were so funny in those baggy outfits.”
Cindy opened her eyes. “I was not. I was professional. And you,” she lifted a hand and poked his chest. “You said you were in love with Ella. You big fat liar.”
“I didn’t lie, I just foretold the future.”
Cindy’s head was filled with fluff and she wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I think I’ve lost a lot of blood, and I may be hallucinating.”
“Here, we are at the boat, just hang on a few more minutes. You’re going to be just fine. You’re going to be fine.” His voice sounded so strange and far away. He laid her down on something hard and cold, then everything went blurry and gray.
EIGHTEEN
What About Happy Ever After?
“What is taking them so long?” Cindy groused. “I want to go home.”
“I’m sure they’ll be done in a few minutes. Be patient,” Faye admonished.
“I’ve been patient enough. I’ve been here a week. I want to go home.”
Faye narrowed her eyes. “Well bitching isn’t going to make it go any faster. It’s going to be a long train ride home if you don’t get out of that mood.
“I know, I’m sorry. I just want to be back home and resting in my own apartment,” Cindy said apologetically.
“I know, sweetie. Why don’t I go see what’s taking so long.” Faye left, pulling the door shut behind her.
Cindy sat down, her hand going automatically to her throat as it had all week. Her mother’s necklace arrived with a huge flower arrangement the day after she was admitted to the hospital. That had been the last Cindy had heard from Sebastian.
She had been pretty out of it from blood loss, but she still remembered their conversation. She’d gone over it a hundred times in her mind. He’d known she was Ella from the very beginning, and had laughed at her.
Apparently making love in the cave had just been something to do to kill the time. She’d tried to tell herself that wasn’t true, that he had felt something for her just as she had for him. But his continued silence spoke volumes.
Faye told her that he’d been busy answering questions from the police and FBI and giving formal statements. Audra had died, but Kimber had been found alive in the woods. And when offered a lighter sentence on the attempted murder charge for Sebastian, she’d rolled over on her mother like a puppy wanting a tummy rub. Ingrid had been found hiding out in a resort cabin in the next county, waiting on her daughters to return.
Despite her deal, Kimber would not be getting off light. She and Ingrid would be spending the rest of their lives in prison. The FBI was cooperating with Interpol, and they both faced multiple murder charges in Europe. Not to mention the cyber terrorism charges for hacking the Federal Aviation Administration’s database.
They’d found Sebastian, through his flight plans. It’s the one thing no one thought to hide, not that they could have.
Cindy sighed. It was time to put it all behind her. Her shoulder was healing nicely and the doctor had given her permission to travel. She and Faye would be on the next train to New York and she’d be back to her life. She was getting another two weeks off work. She would use the time to catch up on her much neglected trashy novel reading, then get back to work. She would, eventually, put Sebastian Prince, and the sharp pain in her heart every time she thought his name, behind her.
The door swung open and Faye came in.
“I’m sorry, Cindy. It seems I’m not going to be able to take you home today,” she said.
“What? Why?” Cindy asked, confused.
“Because I’m taking you home with me,” a masculine voice said, and Sebastian stepped into the room behind Faye.
“I..Wha..No.” Cindy sputtered, her heart doing cartwheels in her chest.
“What do you mean, no?” he asked, annoyed.
“I mean, no. I mean, why would I go home with you? I sleep with you once then don’t hear from you for over a week, and you think I’m going to go home with you.”
“I’m just going to go get some coffee,” Faye backed out the door.
Sebastian pushed the door shut behind her and stalked over to Cindy. “I’m sorry I haven’t been in, but Roanoke is hours away from the house and I had to oversee the construction.”
“What construction?”
“You may not remember, but a live ammo reenactment of the Alamo took place at my home the other night. Left a bit of damage.”
Cindy’s anger deflated. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
“I’ve had construction crews out there around the clock. I didn’t want Mrs. White, or you, coming home to a house full of bullet holes. And I couldn’t fly down, my plane is in the shop for a routine bullet removal.”
Despite herself, Cindy found herself laughing at his joke, ignoring the part where he’d mentioned her
coming home
. The she sobered. “You could have called.”
He nodded, his expression contrite. “I could have. Maybe I should have. But it just didn’t feel right that our first conversation, after our last one, should be over the phone.”
“You mean the conversation where you told me you’d known my identity all along and had been laughing at me the whole time.” She made a sound that sounded oddly like a snarl.
Unperturbed, he turned on his charming. “You know, you’d lost a lot of blood. You may have had a different conversation than the one I had. I’m pretty sure that in mine I told you I loved you.”
She shook her head. “Um, no. You said that you’d predicted the future when you said you loved Ella. As you said, I’d lost a lot of blood, but that doesn’t sound like ‘I love you, Cindy’ to me.”
“So maybe I didn’t get the words just right. I was a little over-stressed at the time. I had just saved your life, after all.” He grinned.
Cindy’s whole body was flushing, and it was everything she could do not to rush into his arms. But damn it, she’d spent an entire week mourning the loss of the one man she’d ever fallen in love with. And now he comes in and says he was just busy. She had to make him work for it. Besides, he hadn’t really told her anything about his feelings.
“So, you think you can just waltz in here and remind me that you saved me and I’ll go home and shack up with you for a while.”
He pulled a box out of his pocket. “Actually, I thought I’d waltz in here, confess my undying love and ask you to marry me. But, from the look on your face right now, I’m guessing that is out of the question.” He put the box back in his pocket.
Cindy felt dizzy. Everything had gotten so real all of a sudden.
“Sebastian, I can’t put to words how much I care about you, but everything has happened so fast. I love you, I know I do. And I believe you love me. But we barely know each other. How can either of us be sure we’ll feel this way six months down the road? Neither of us has a very good track record when it comes to long-term relationships and we both have careers that come first in our lives. Once the rush from the dangerous situations we faced together fades and the sexual spark dies down, will we still want to be together?” She took a deep breath after saying all of that.
Sebastian just smiled and walked over to stand in front of her, lifting her hand to his lips.
“So many protests, but not one holds water. I’ve never even pretended to love anyone before you. I’ve never had a long term relationship because I never wanted one. I suspect the same goes for you, as well. I cared for you before I was shot at, so the danger excuse is out. I fully expect the sexual spark to die in fifty or sixty years, barring any miraculous medical innovations. I’m okay with that. And I’ve watched my parents hold down demanding careers and still make time for me and each other. Give me another excuse.”
Cindy took a deep breath, and told him the truth. “I’m scared. Faye is the only person in the world that has loved me since my parents died, and vice versa. I don’t remember my parents, so I don’t have any memories of what a happy couple is like. Faye is there for me whenever I need her, but I was fifteen when she found me, nearly an adult. She has always given me autonomy. I don’t know how to be, really be, with someone else. With you. Yet, I don’t want to be without you,” Cindy’s voice trembled.
Sebastian pulled her into his arms. “I’m pretty terrified myself. But I’m more scared of what life will be like without you. So I propose we spend every day together until we get sick of each other, or we die.”
Cindy leaned her head back and looked him in the eye. “Isn’t that the same thing as proposing marriage?”
He shrugged, his lip quirking up to one side. “It is, but I thought it sounded less scary that way.”
“A little.”
“So you’ll do it?” He shot her that devastating grin and the rest of her fears faded.
She lifted an eyebrow. “If I were to agree to your terms are you going to expect me to cook and clean and do laundry? I know wives do that sort of thing, but that’s just not my bag. I can cook if absolutely necessary, and pick up after myself, but I have better things to do than spend all my time in the kitchen or scrubbing toilets.”
He chuckled. “Honey, have you forgotten how rich I am? I will hire an army of maids if you want.”
“So the terms are that we will be together until we get sick of each other or until we die, and no laundry or toilet scrubbing,” she pretended to give it serious thought, a gleam of mischief in her eye. “Okay, I think I can deal with that.”
“Good. Now, can we go? I want to make love to you, but I don’t think the nurses would approve if they walked in on us in that bed.”
“Oh, that reminds me! I have one more condition if you want us to be together.”
Sebastian eyed her suspiciously. “What?”
“You have to buy an air mattress for that cave.”
Sebastian laughed. “Deal.”
Then he pulled her into a kiss so hot it left them both weak kneed and wishing they were back in the privacy of the cave right then, soft bed or not.
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ALSO BY JUNE STEVENS
The Oak Hollow Series
The Paranorm World Series (Crimson Tree Press)
Voodoo Moon (February 2015)
The Godmother Security Series
Unmasked
Short Stories
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June Stevens is the pen name for DJ Westerfield.
DJ is a geek girl, fat chick, and unrepentant romantic. When not working, DJ can be found making jewelry, reading, cooking, or watching geeky movies with her husband and snuggling with her 5…YES 5, furbabies. Notice cleaning wasn’t listed…
While she writes in various subgenres all of her stories will always have one thing in common: Romance. DJ writes full time and is both independently and traditionally published. She is also co-owner of The CurvyWriter Blog & Radio Show. In her role as an indie author she is also a PR person. web designer, cover designer, graphic designer, marketing executive, small business owner, and all around June of All Trades.
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