G-Men: The Series (127 page)

“Darcy, guess what?”

“What?” I responded hesitantly.

“Taz just told me Darin got transferred. You wanna guess where?”

I felt my heart start beating again knowing her ‘big’ news had nothing to do with Easton.

“I give—where?”

“A freaking satellite office in Fairbanks, Alaska!”

Well that’s a bit anti-climactic…

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. And he’s
freaking
pissed about it, too.”

“Hmm,” I replied, twisting my hair. “Well, maybe he put in for a transfer on account of me breaking his heart. I mean, you don’t work for the FBI and get much farther away from DC than that.”

We both giggled in unison. I knew the truth, though. I wasn’t sure how he’d managed it, but this had all the earmarks of something accomplished by my incredibly controlling and possessive Easton.

“So, anything new with you?” she pried.

“Nope. It’s all good for now. I’ll call you when that changes, Lindsey.”

I heard her give me a one-syllable laugh. “I get the hint. That’s all I wanted to tell you anyway. Talk to you soon.”

I shared the latest news with Eli as I helped him clean up the dishes. He was snickering in delight. “You know, dude deserves going there and freezing his cheating balls off,” he said with a laugh. “Hey, you’ve gotta know your man had something to do with that.”

“I think I’m going to take a leisurely bath and then get to bed,” I said, yawning, and thinking at the same time how I kind of loved when someone referred to Easton as being mine.

“It’s only eight o’clock, Darce.”

“I know,” I said, smacking Eli’s behind. “But the way I figure it, the sooner to bed, the earlier tomorrow gets here and I get to see ‘my man’.”

Eli made the finger down his throat gagging gesture as I left to go upstairs.

An hour later and freshly showered, I crawled beneath my sheets and drifted into a restful sleep. I thought it was the next morning when I awoke until I realized it was still pitch dark out and it wasn’t the irritating buzzing from my alarm clock that had awakened me, but the sound of loud voices from downstairs.

Shit!

I hoped it wasn’t Eli and Cain arguing. They’d never done that before, but these were clearly male voices.

“Dude, it’s fucking two in the morning and you’ve already woke my ass up. You’re not waking her ass up too,” Eli said in an extremely loud voice.

“I’ll see her right now, or your fucking arse is fired, Mr. Chambers.”

Easton.

I scrambled out of my bed and rushed through the hallway and down the stairs.

“What the hell’s going on?” I said, my voice quivering. Why was Easton here? Why did he look drunk? What the fuck’s going on?

“Evening, babe,” Easton, said, a clumsy smile adorning his face.

“He’s trashed,” Eli said, waving his hand. “I can’t believe you didn’t hear him leaning on the doorbell.”

“I’ve got it, Eli,” I said. “Go on back to bed.”

“You sure?”

I nodded, walking over to where Easton was now leaning against the closed front door. Eli gave me a second look, debating as to whether to leave me down there with Easton. I nodded to him again and he reluctantly went back upstairs.

“Easton, it’s the middle of the night,” I explained to him, wrapping my bare arms around myself against the downstairs chill.

“I’m still on Paris time, love. Its morning,” he said and then laughed. “Time to get your arse up and outta bed.”

“No,” I replied, carefully. “I’m taking this
arse
back to bed because, you see, I’m on U.S. time and it’s still the middle of the night. Now, what can I do for you?”

“Not a thing. Just wanted to come by and let you know I was back is all.” Even in his stupor, he gave my body a slow perusal, looking like he wanted to devour me right then and there.

“Easton,” I said, interrupting those thoughts. Upon hearing his name, his eyes traveled back to my face and that’s when I noticed it. I’d seen him drunk before, but that’s when he was angry. This time his guard was completely shot. The emotionless façade he usually wore was absent, and he appeared vulnerable at the moment. Something had unhinged him.

“Do you want to sleep with me tonight?” I asked softly, forgetting what I initially was going to tell him.

“Do you mind, love? I’m in need of company, it seems,” he halfway slurred.

“I am, too,” I said, moving closer to him. He threw his arm around my shoulders and we trudged upstairs to my room. Easton quickly shed his clothes and crawled beneath the covers, drawing me up against him.

“You know, I’ve not been with anyone else since you,” he murmured against my neck. “God knows I’ve wanted to, but whatever the fuck it is about you has kept me from it. It’s bloody rubbish, too.”

“Really,” I whispered back. “I kind of think it’s nice. I love you too, Easton.”

I felt his soft, warm lips kissing my neck and my special spot he savored beneath my ear. He pulled me closer against him, his arms wrapped around me possessively. Several minutes later, I heard his deep, even breathing. He was at rest…for the moment.

^{chapter 43}

My morning sickness was back with a vengeance Tuesday morning. I barely made it to the bathroom before hurling. I was still kneeling in front of the toilet when Easton came sauntering in the bathroom looking gorgeously disheveled—and gorgeously naked.

“Are you alright?” he asked, raking a hand through his tousled hair.

I looked up from the toilet as I pushed the handle to flush it. “I must have that stomach bug that’s being going around at work,” I lied. “Better keep your distance.”

He grabbed a clean wash cloth from the shelf and ran cold water over it, squeezing out the excess. He knelt down, lifting my hair and pressed the coolness against the back of my neck.

“Easton,” I said in a low voice. “You’re standing there naked. Eli and I share this bathroom, you know?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing he hasn’t seen before,” he replied, giving me a wicked smile.

“Still,” I said, gesturing at his lower and impressive…regions, “I’d prefer he not get the full, panoramic view, if you don’t mind.”

Easton helped me up from the floor.

“I don’t want you coming in to work today,” he said briskly. “You’re to stay in bed and rest until you kick whatever it is that’s ailing you, is that understood?”

That could be a while…

“Yes, sir,” I said, trying my best to present him with a smile. He went back to my bedroom, giving me some privacy while I finished up in the bathroom.

When I got back to my room, he was sitting on the bed, fully dressed, putting his shoes and socks on.

“So,” I said, “I got the summarization finished yesterday. It’s on our shared drive.”

“Excellent,” he said, looking around for his other sock on the floor.

“How was your trip?” I asked, cautiously.

“You saw the minutes of the meetings and the figures. It went well.”

“I meant your trip to Paris,” I replied, studying his reaction.

He immediately looked up at me from where he’d been putting his other sock on. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” I faltered. “I just wasn’t sure if you had anything for me to summarize on that meeting. Did you send more files?”

“No,” he replied abruptly. “My trip there was personal business, meaning it’s none of yours.”

“Sorry,” I said, climbing back into bed. “I wasn’t trying to be nosy.”

Easton stood up, rubbing his sexily unshaven face. “I’ve got to go back to my suite to shower and change. I’ll phone you later to see how you’re feeling.”

“You know, if I feel better later, I’ll go ahead and come in to work.”

“No. You’re to do as I instructed. No need in passing whatever bug you’ve picked up on to the rest of the staff. It hinders productivity.”

You’ve no idea…

“Okay, whatever,” I said, mentally flipping him off. “You’re pretty grouchy this morning for being the one that interrupted my sleep—not to mention Eli’s.”

His expression softened momentarily. “I blame it on jet lag and too much bourbon on the trip back. Am I forgiven?”

“I’ll think about it,” I said, hugging my pillow to me.

He leaned over the bed, brushing a soft kiss on my forehead. “Don’t pout, baby,” he gently admonished. “I’ll make it up to you when you’re feeling better, I promise.”

With that, he was gone. Leaving me laying there wondering where that vulnerability I’d glimpsed the night before had gone. Probably tucked away with the rest of the emotions he kept securely locked up in the back of his mind.

Ten minutes later, Eli was in my room asking for the skinny on what had happened during the night.

“I didn’t hear the sounds of any squeaking bed, so I guess that means our shit-faced boss couldn’t get it up, huh?” He let out an overly enthused sigh. “Happens to the best of us, really.”

“Eli,” I said, rolling my eyes, “all we did was sleep. Then, of course, this morning he witnessed my stomach bug.”

“You’re gonna have to tell him sometime, Darce. Is that the only thing you haven’t told him?”

I wasn’t about to tell
anyone
what I’d seen on that e-mail string. I was halfway ashamed I’d seen it. Easton clearly wasn’t going to fill me in on it. Trust issues I guess.

“As far as I know,” I shrugged, lying. I shimmied down deeper into my bed. “Anyway,” I continued, yawning, “I think I’m going to get a little more sleep while I can.”

He gave me a sympathetic smile. “Okay, sweets. I’ll see you when I get home. Feel better.”

If only I could…

^{chapter 44}

~ Easton ~

Bloody hell. I’d acted like a twat going over to Darcy’s place at two a.m. and causing a ruckus with her roommate. What the hell had I been thinking? I’d needed to be close to her and, somehow, she’d understood. This feeling of needing someone for comfort was foreign to me. It was a sign of weakness. I’d been told that over and over again as a child.

As I reflected back, I realised that Trace Matthews, Sr. was a good man. His second wife, Constance, was very good to me as well, never showing favouritism amongst her children over me while I visited, always making me feel welcome and secure. God knew I’d taxed their patience on numerous occasions, simply for the sport of it.

My mother had always complained upon my return that it would take months to get things with me back to normal again. She hated that I’d been given chores to do, the same as Trace and Paige during what she termed was supposed to be my “summer holiday.” I hadn’t minded doing the chores. I respected how hard my father worked at his bottling plant and, for once, I felt as if I fit in somewhere. Ultimately, that feeling would wear off once I returned to England and had grandparents and a host of servants fussing over me.

The first person I’d ever intentionally hurt was my younger half-brother, Trace. It was the summer before my freshman year of college. I’d wanted to spend it in Napa with my father to avoid all the matchmaking my mother was conducting with various British socialites. Trace had just turned sixteen at the time and was driving. He was also courting his first love, Brittany something-or-other. He was head-over-heels in love, though I tried to counsel him it was simply a case of lust. He’d assured me it wasn’t. She was still a virgin at nearly seventeen. She’d been putting him off, telling him she wanted to wait to make sure they were really in love and committed to one another. I’d scoffed at the ludicrous notion, telling him to wise-up, it was simply a matter of him not taking charge of the relationship and being unfamiliar with the art of seduction.

I took it upon myself to show my younger brother the errors of underestimating the female mind and libido. I’d learned this lesson myself at the age of fifteen when my mother had encouraged one of her friends at the club to properly teach me how to please a woman. I’d accompanied Margaret Middleton on a long weekend to the French Riviera. It had been a very educationally charged weekend for me. So, having that in mind, I decided to pay a visit of my own to Brittany Something-Or-Other’s house. Suffice it to say, her cherry didn’t remain intact after my third secret visit and she was literally begging me to fuck her daily until I left. By this time, I had grown bored with the whole game and admitted as much.