Gambled - A Titan Novella (6 page)

The passing landscape caught her attention again, her discomfort evident. “I feel stupid. Everyone knows that I walked out. Just took the kids and left.”

“Everyone being Titan?”

“And their wives.”

“Trust me when I tell you, no one’s calling you names. I walked away from Titan. I was disloyal. If they have something nasty to say, it’ll be about me.”

“I’ve stayed in touch with Nicola and Sugar. I think they like me.”

“You’re easy to like.” His lips pressed a kiss to her shoulder while his heart squeezed. Of course they’d like her, and she never should’ve been so isolated to begin with.

She rocked a laid-back personality, always made him smile, and Sarah could run with the likes of Sugar and the Titan ladies. Not easy to do, but his wife could. No problem.

“We were so sheltered. Why didn’t you ever introduce me?”

Sheltered. The word stung. Before, it’d seemed like a practical defense strategy. Now, it seemed overbearing. “Everything got complicated. Recently and quickly. All of us were single. Married to the job.” He frowned, analyzing his poor rationale. “God, it’s been years since Jared started Titan. When we first hit the road, mission after mission, we accomplished a lot of good, taking out a lot of bad.”

She nodded as he summarized the last decade on the job.

“I met you, angel. Fell fast. Hard. You’re my world, my best friend, the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever set eyes on. I didn’t want to put a bull’s-eye on your pretty little forehead. I saw bad things happen to decent people; I’d made a lot of enemies. I never wanted that for you. Sure as fuck not for our girls. It seemed safer to bubble-wrap our life. I’d be home, things would be normal. I’d be gone, you did your thing. A protected existence.”

“But Nicola and Sugar? And Mia? They’ve got kids. I think.”

“They’re all new additions. It’s all happened so fast. And I never thought about it. Besides, how would that go? Well, look, here’s my wife. I’ve got one too.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “That sounds ridiculous. It just never came up, and I liked you safely away from that side of me.”

“That seems…” Her hand waved in the air, reaching for a lost word.

“Selfish. I see it now. What I did to protect you girls only made things worse. You’re my family. And Titan’s my family too.”
At least they were
. “You should’ve been part of that. Now I’ve lost them and am hoping to God that I haven’t lost you.”

She bit her lip.

“Angel, I’m not dumb enough to think hot sex in the back of a Hummer and a revelation about PTSD will bring you home. But it’d be a lie if I said I didn’t hope it did.”

She scanned the back seat, finally settling back on him. Her fingers twisted in her lap. “I’m going to see a counselor about that. The PTSD.” Her cheeks pinked, and he wished a serious screw could banish the negativity that came with mental blocks.

“Nothing wrong with talking to a pro. You lived through an awful experience.”

“I held it together for the girls. Too many young kids in the room to let me fall apart.” Her soft voice cracked. “I tried to pretend we were on vacation.”

“And for that, I’m grateful. Strongest woman I know.”

She scoffed. “Not really. There’s a big difference between pretending to be on vacation for the kids’ sake and hiding parts of myself from my husband because I didn’t push myself. That’s weak. I hid behind the excuse of ease.”

“You thought I’d judge?” Would he have? No. Not a chance. Especially when it came down to anything in the bedroom.

“No. Not judge.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know…” She shrugged. “Do you have any secrets?”

“From you? No.”

Her brows bounced once, drifting down, sadly. Disappointed. “Oh.”

Was the disappointment in him or herself? He didn’t know. He wouldn’t call what he kept private secrets. Just thoughts he hadn’t shared. Which was… a secret.
Hello, genius.
“Well, that’s not true. I had my own secrets, I guess.”

Her eyes lit up, hopeful. “Tell me.”

“I mean, I don’t have some amazing talent that I’ve kept hidden.”

She batted his chest, and it was the first time that a warm smile had crossed her lips since they’d started the drive. Secrets weren’t secrets because he had something to hide. They’d just found a groove throughout years of marriage and kids. Asking for something bigger, stronger, more intense seemed unnecessary.

He wasn’t any damn good at sharing. But Sarah wanted it. He exhaled heavy thoughts. This rebuilding-reconnecting stuff made for some uncomfortable moments. He rolled his shoulders and readied to flounder his way through. Only another hour and a half to kill recouping and rehashing until they reached the resort. And their private room. It had a hot tub and a private pool…

He cleared his throat and channeled his inner emotive dude. “Jokes aside. I know you wrote it all in your notebook—you’ve never been one to keep your mouth shut when you want something—but reading those words, knowing… this assertive thing…” Nothing he said sounded like how he felt.

But she blinked, eyes acknowledging. “I wanted something new and told you.”

“Yes.”
Exactly.
“Things have always been hot. I’m not complaining. Never complained. Swear.” He crossed his heart.

She laughed. “I should’ve given you my honey-do-me-this-way list years ago.” Her fingers smoothed the collar of his shirt where she’d pulled earlier. “Tell me something you want. Or like. Something that’d surprise me.”

Like what?
Think.
“I like you direct. Explicit.” There. That wasn’t hard. Not specific, but it was fun, and he liked it. A lot.

“I want you to pick me up in a bar. One-night stand.”

Remembering the notebook, he nodded. “Bucket list, action item number seven. Got that one penciled in.” He squeezed around her waist, loving the change in her demeanor. “See, I’m good with specific, strategic plans.”

“Seduce me. Screw me. Gimme a different name.” Her voice transitioned into something sexier. A low vibration. A caressing sound. “Pretend you’re meeting me all over again.”

“Keep talking, angel. I’m listening.”

She shook her head, tapped a finger against his pec. “Nuh-uh. Your turn.”

Right. His turn. She’d had way more time to think about this, and her ideas were way more creative than anything he could come up with. “Thinking.”

“Spit it out. First word that pops in mind. Now.”

“Rope.”
Rope
? Where had that come from? But visions of tactical rope, rappelling line, strong and sturdy, colored his sudden naked fantasy of her in bed.

“You’re going to tie me up? Done. Better find a hardware store on the lovely island of Saint Lucia. Next?”

All right. This was fun. “Not my turn. You.”

“You’ve seen my list.”

“But I haven’t heard it. That seductive thing going on with your voice is going to get you a round two in this back seat. Whether the driver’s here or not.”

She bit her lip, traced it with her tongue. “Sex tape. So next time you’re on the road, I won’t be by myself.”

He’d read
sex tape
. But to hear her say it. Holy hell. Reality struck, and his cock jumped to attention.

Too bad he wasn’t going out on a job anytime soon. Titan was done with him. Deservedly so. And he didn’t want to join another team, though he craved the adrenaline fix and didn’t know how to do much except for fly jets and handle C-4.

But a sex tape. He’d volunteer for sex tape duty, no questions asked. He’d volunteer this second. Her weight shifted, and he could’ve crawled out of his skin for wanting her so bad.

“Did I lose you?” Sarah’s freckled nose wrinkled.

“No. Just thinking.”

“Give me another one, Brock.”

Ropes. Sex tapes. And… “Hot fudge and vanilla ice cream.”

She bit his earlobe then licked down his neck. “Someone’s going to have a lot of shopping to do while on vacation.”

Before-Sarah was fun. More-Sarah rocked his world. “Rope and ice cream. Maybe the best things you’ve sent me to the store for.”

The Hummer pulled up to a resort, winding to the front reception area. The concierge could hook him up. Might look twice at his shopping list, but he wasn’t about to leave Sarah for long. This place was nice enough that they’d get what they asked for, no questions. And it was adults only. Surely the concierge had seen a rope, ice cream, and video camera request before?

A bellboy unloaded their bags. Brock meandered to the front desk, knowing exactly how the next few hours of their island getaway would go.

“Checking in. Reservation under Gamble.”

From behind him, Sarah wrapped her arms around his torso, leaning into his back. Felt good to have her with him, relaxed and unencumbered by their recent history. He snaked his palms over her forearms, covering the clasp of her hands below his stomach.

The woman behind the counter shoved slips of paper at him. “Mr. Gamble. You’ve had several emergency messages left from a man named Jared Westin.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Brock’s stomach bottomed out. Emergency phone calls?
Plural?
He knew Jared like a brother. An
estranged
brother—and that killed Brock—but nothing he could do to change that. Bet Jared was pissed Brock never answered his cell phone. But it sat at home, after not charging it for weeks.

Still standing at the reception desk, Sarah’s bear-hugging arms had tensed around his torso. Last thing Brock needed was for her to freeze up and have a flashback. No telling what might be a trigger, but
Jared
and
emergency messages
sounded like it might.

She stepped to the side, eyes wide. “It can’t be the kids. They’re with my mom. But I’ll call and double-check.”

No. It wouldn’t be the kids. If something had happened to his kids, Jared would’ve jumped on a Lear jet and beat their commercial flight to Saint Lucia. He would’ve told Brock face-to-face. Jared was a dick, but of the honorable type.

“I don’t need to call him back.” Though what circumstances would make Jared track him down and pick up the phone? Whatever. Didn’t matter. Brock was here to rehash and rebuild, to make sure his wife came home again.

Her head tilted. “You can’t ignore an emergency call.”

“Sure I can. Dude probably’s just giving me a heads up—” he cut himself off. He was going to say something about retribution, but that wouldn’t help Sarah and her PTSD. “A head’s up on… I don’t know.”

“So call him.”

“Nah.” Brock shook his head, pulling her close. “Nothing good will come of it, and I’m here with you. For us.”

Sarah stepped to the resort counter. “I’ll take the messages. He’ll finish checking us in.”

The girl behind the counter gave an unsure smile. Jared had probably put the fear of God in her with each phone call, and if Brock wasn’t half-interested in returning the calls, she might be blamed.
Can’t subject the poor girl to Boss Man’s attitude
. “Fine.”

A few minutes later, they were in a swank suite, and nothing about his ice cream and rope shopping list would happen anytime soon. Sarah paced. She’d checked out the room, remarked on the awesomeness of it all, but her demeanor had shifted, and screw Jared for that.

“So, you wanna…” He shrugged. Pool. Hot tub. Ice cream. Where did he want to turn the conversation when the mood had clearly been assassinated by the Titan Group’s head honcho from a thousand miles away?

“Call him.” She slapped her hands to her hips and jutted an adamant chin. “I’m concerned. Curious. For heaven’s sake, Brock. Multiple emergency messages. Call him.”

“We didn’t part on the best of terms.” He scrubbed his face with a hand and stared at the hotel room phone, willing it to combust. No such luck, and Sarah was right. “Fine.”

He dropped onto the bed, and she joined him. Inches away, but miles in thought. Not how he thought they’d spend their first moments in bed in Saint Lucia.

“Call him,” she urged again. There was that bite of her lip. Nothing aroused or excited on her face; it was pure nerves.

He pinched his eyes closed and picked up the handset. A few punches of the dial later, and Brock’s international call to Titan’s headquarters rang in his ear. He used a backdoor number that would connect to Jared’s office. If there was an emergency, maybe the bastard wouldn’t be there. Maybe, like he thought before, this was just Jared giving him a proper heads up that the time had come, and even if Brock was on vacation, Jared was gunning for him.

An unfamiliar unease made his stomach twist as Sarah stared, barely blinking. Brock wasn’t one to overthink, but right now, he was. Weeks ago, everything had been so normal. Jared was his buddy. His mentor. Sarah was sweet and innocent. No reasons to check out the self-help section in the bookstore. An abduction had changed it all, and he’d never seen it coming. What was he missing now?

“Brock,” Jared barked when he picked up the line. There was nothing unordinary about that, except that the tension between the two men was palpable.