Page 55 of Up in Smoke
He sighed and closed his arms around her. “I’ll do better next time. A comedy or something. Popcorn, too. All right?”
Erin fell asleep smiling.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Connor swiped a hand over his jaw and checked the urge to call Erin’s cell phone. She’d left the surveillance van ten minutes ago to get coffee for the team. How long did it take? It had only been one day since he bought her the phone, but she still assumed it was someoneelse’sphone every time it rang. They were working on it. He’d offered to go in her stead, but suspected she needed the breathing room. With six of them crammed into the back of the van, he could tell she’d felt claustrophobic. Not to mention, he’d needed the opportunity to catch Derek’s ear. This shit with Erin’s stepfather would be straightened out immediately. Tonight. But if the unexpected happened and something went wrong, he needed to make sure Erin would be okay.
His plan had been to pay a visit to Luther last night, but she’d distracted him. If he’d suspected she was doing it on purpose, he would have called her on it. But no, she’d been…glowing. Walking around the apartment in one of his old Yankees T-shirts, feeling her way through mundane tasks like they were new experiences. Cooking dinner, taking a shower. All things she had done before, but there was a noticeable difference. Her edginess had fled, to be replaced with wonder and optimism. Jesus Christ, he couldn’t have pried himself away if he wanted to. He’d appeased himself with the reasoning that nothing could happen to her as long as he was there to protect her.
After they’d showered off the day and changed, he’d lain down on the couch. He’d pretended not to see her watching him thoughtfully from her perch on the kitchen counter. After a minute, she’d hopped down and prowled toward him quietly, so light on her feet he wouldn’t have heard her approaching if every cell in his body wasn’t acutely attuned to her. She’d looked so young and fresh with her damp hair and bare legs, his throat had hurt. Very slowly, she’d climbed over him on the couch and settled in against him, tucking her feet between his calves. He swore he’d held his breath as she relaxed little by little, sighing into his chest.
Yeah, they might have slept in the same bed before, but there had been a note of tension. Worry over how she would cope. Anxiety that he’d wake up and find her having a panic attack. This had been different. Simple human contact that would have been anything but simple weeks ago. She not only trusted him, she trusted herself, and it was extraordinary to watch. Of course, he’d only managed about twenty minutes of her mouthwatering curves nestled against his before reversing their positions and tonguing her pussy through three sobbing climaxes. Hearing her cry out that she loved him had made it a thousand times sweeter, because he knew she meant it.
He took that love seriously. It was precious and hard-won and no one would fuck with it. This morning he’d walked into the kitchen and found her drinking a cup of orange juice at the table. She’d had her game face back on and he knew. She was going to try to talk him out of meeting with her stepfather. Even though he’d known they would butt heads over it eventually, he’d hated the idea of shattering the atmosphere between them. So when Derek had called to tell them they were needed, he’d found himself relieved to put off the inevitable a little longer.
Sera had been working at campaign headquarters for a week now, but Stark had never made an appearance. The previous day, she’d managed a peek at his assistant’s appointment book that heralded Stark’s arrival today at lunchtime. Which is why Bowen sat beside him white-faced, leg bouncing a thousand miles per hour. Connor suspected he was mostly there to make sure Bowen didn’t try to make a break for it, intent on retrieving his new wife and heading off into the sunset. They still had about twenty minutes until Stark was set to arrive. Erin would be back any minute, and he needed to talk with the team first. He didn’t trust easily, didn’t like discussing their private business with other people, but he’d learned something from Erin when she’d gone missing. Learned how to close his eyes and take a leap of faith once in a while. Not to mention, each of them had gone out of their way to help him find Erin. He wouldn’t forget that. But they didn’t know the full story. As usual, he’d gone solo the final day she’d been gone, starting his own mission.
“Erin’s stepfather bought a house in Chicago.” He scrubbed a hand over his beard. “He left a forwarding address at the Motel 6. It’s how I found Erin.”
Polly paused in the act of filing her nails.
Beside her, Austin only spared him a glance before going back to studying Polly with a slight frown on his face. “What of it, mate?”
“Erin burned the poor fucker’s house down,” Polly explained, taking everyone but Derek and Connor by surprise. “He’s been renting in Florida since then. My guess is he thought a permanent residence in the city where Erin is dwelling would give him a better chance at the conservatorship.” Her smile was tight. “Probably even painted her room pink.”
Connor’s stomach pitched at the idea of Erin sharing four walls with that monster. “That won’t be happening. Derek, did you manage to block the request?”
The captain lowered the headset he was using to listen in on Sera’s wire. “For now, yes. But I’m her employer, not family. It won’t hold forever.”
“Right. I want a restraining order filed. Today.” Connor checked his cell phone to see if Erin had called. She hadn’t. “I’ll convince her to sign the paperwork, but it needs to go through immediately. It might tangle up his request to control her assets.”
Austin fell back against the van wall. “We all know you control herassetsnow, hey?”
“Watch it,” Connor said. “I was just beginning to tolerate you.”
“That makes one of us,” Bowen muttered beside him, before jerking his chin at Derek. “Has this motherfucker Stark shown up yet?”
“Nope.”
Connor shook his head when both of Bowen’s legs started to bounce. “So far, all the court has is Luther’s account of Erin’s mental state. But they have nothing from her. It needs to be on record.”
“He’s right,” Polly chimed in. “We need to stop playing defense.”
Connor nodded to let her know he appreciated her use of the wordwe.
Derek eyed him closely. “I’ve got a car outside his house, like you phoned me about last night. I’m not going to get a call informing me that you’ve shown up and gone inside, am I?”
He didn’t respond. One thing he’d never been accused of was being a liar, and he wouldn’t start today. Before he could discuss it further, Erin tapped on the van window. Calmness flooded his system like ice water as he opened the door for her, took the coffee in one hand and helped her in with the other. True to form for a van full of cons, not a single one of them had a guilty expression on their face, as if they hadn’t been discussing her a moment earlier. Well, everyone but Austin, who never wore anything but a smirk.
Connor set the tray of coffees in the center of the van floor and watched everyone converge while he pulled Erin down onto his lap. “Okay?”
She buried her nose against his neck and inhaled. The girl loved to smell him. He’d never given much thought to his aftershave before, but it had become top priority. “Yeah.”
Derek held up a hand for everyone to be quiet. Silence descended over the group as he listened to what was being said through the headphones. Bowen had gone still as death beside him. The captain hit a few buttons and removed his headset as Sera’s voice filled the van for all of them to hear.
A muffled shift against the speaker. “—to meet you, Mr. Stark.”
“My father is Mr. Stark. I’m just Max. Especially for the people working so hard to make my campaign a success.” A long pause before the politician said smoothly, “You’re so acquainted with my career, I feel like we know each other already.”
