“Do you want me on the couch?”
“You’re staying?”
“For as long as you’ll let me,” he confirms.
I sigh. “We clearly have a lot to talk about.”
“Agreed. And it’s not going to happen tonight. We’re both exhausted, E. Let’s get some sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”
“I really should go to work in the morning.”
Archer checks his watch. “It’s already the morning. Just past midnight. You only took one day off, and you told them you’d be gone for a few days. Take one more day to rest up, Elena.”
“I hate it when you’re right.”
He grins.
“So, am I on the couch?”
“It’s too small for you,” I reply, eyeing his broad shoulders and long, lean body. He grew a couple of additional inches after we broke up. “I don’t mind sharing the bed.”
He nods, and I lead the way upstairs. Despite a six-hour nap, I feel like I could sleep for another twelve.
“Why am I so tired?”
“You had a pretty wild twenty-four hours,” he reminds me. “The adrenaline of not wanting to be recognized, the grief of the funeral. All of it. It’s intense, and your body is ready to rest.”
“You’re not kidding.”
“Can I use your shower?”
“You can use whatever you like,” I reply as I shuck out of my shoes and stand in the middle of the room. “I usually sleep naked, but that probably won’t work tonight.”
“Not if you want me to keep my hands to myself.”
I glance at him. “Not keeping your hands to yourself will only complicate things. So, I’ll find something to sleep in.”
“We’re as complicated as it gets, honey.” He kisses my forehead. “Go to sleep. I’m gonna wash up. I’ll be back in a few.”
I nod and watch him walk back down the stairs before I turn to my small dresser and forage for an old tank top and a fresh pair of panties.
I love having Archer here. And that’s a problem. I can’t get used to it. I can’t just fall into his arms because that’s where I feel safe. Because it feels good. I have to be smarter than that. He’ll be gone soon, and I’ll be left alone all over again.
I can’t get used to him.
I hear the water running in the shower as I decide to quickly change the sheets on the bed. Sleeping in fresh bedding is the best. Not that I won’t sleep like the dead anyway.
I’ve just slipped the cases on the pillows and slid between the sheets when Archer walks up the stairs.
“You must be tired,” I say, watching in rapt fascination as a mostly naked Archer walks around my little loft-slash-bedroom. He’s a big man, making the room feel even smaller than it is. And holy hell in a handbasket, his body has only improved with age.
He was something to write home about when he was twenty. At thirty-two? He’s ridiculous.
It’s definitely good that I’m wearing clothes. And that I’m so tired.
Okay, maybe I’m not that weary.
I shake my head and push my hand through my hair. Pull it together, Elena.
I mean, Ally.
I’m Ally.
Archer slips into bed next to me and reaches over to extinguish the light. In the darkness, we lie down, and my eyes instantly close. I’ve always felt safe here in my little cottage.
And now, with Archer here, as well, I feel protected. It’s amazing.
And fleeting.
Chapter 4
~Carmine~
“I’m telling you, she was there,” I repeat and lean over my father’s desk, staring him in the eyes. “Elena attended Grandmother’s funeral.”
The thought still cuts me to the core.
“And why didn’t you say something then?” Pop asks.
“Because I had Grams’ casket on my shoulder. It wasn’t exactly the time or place.”
Rocco paces behind me. My brother shares my frustration. We were close to Elena, raised together like siblings rather than first cousins. In fact, there’s nothing that my brothers and I wouldn’t do for her.
She knew that.
So why did she run? And where the fuck has she been?
“She was disguised as a man,” I mumble, turning to pace the office, as well. “But when she looked up, her eyes gave her away.”
“I can’t believe she could pull that off,” Rocco mutters.
“Where has she been?” I demand, turning back to my father. “Do you know?”
He puffs on his cigar, sits back in his big, black chair, and seems to think it over.
“I thought she was dead,” Rocco adds. “She just vanished.”
“When Vinnie and Claudia died, the family was in chaos,” Pop reminds us.
“Not so much that Elena would miss her own parents’ funeral,” I reply and walk to the window of my father’s office that looks out over the city of Seattle. “We all assumed that she was killed too, and that we’d never find her.”
“Jesus,” Rocco mutters. “Who would have helped her leave?”
“Her grandmother,” Pop says. “She must have helped her hide so she didn’t meet the same fate as Elena’s parents. My mother-in-law was a shrewd woman with a wide array of contacts.”
“We can keep Elena safe here,” I growl and turn back to the room.
“Of course, we can,” Pop says with a nod. “So, we’d better find her.”
“We need Shane,” Rocco says. “He’s the tracker in the family.”
“I’ll call him,” I reply. “In the meantime, we need to step up the search through Grandmother’s things.”
“She lived in that house for sixty years,” Rocco reminds me. “It’s ten thousand square feet containing sixty-years-worth of shit. It’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack—if there’s anything there at all. Grandma knew how to cover her tracks and keep secrets. She wasn’t the wife and mother of bosses for nothing.”
“If there’s anything there, we’ll find it,” I reply.
“What if Elena doesn’t want to be found?” Rocco asks.
“That’s not how this works,” Pop says, his voice like steel. “And she knows it. There’s no leaving the family, and she’s had a long enough reprieve. It’s time we bring her home.”
I nod once. “I’ll go through Grandma’s house myself.”
“One more thing,” Pop says before we can walk out of the office. “Aside from Shane, this doesn’t leave this room.”
“Understood.”
Rocco and I leave Pop’s office, and I immediately reach for my phone. It’s time for Shane to come home, too.
My brother answers on the second ring.
“We need you here, brother. As soon as possible.”
“What’s going on?” he asks.
“Elena’s alive, and we need to track her down.”
There’s a long silence as Rocco and I ride the elevator to the parking garage. “I’ll be there in seventy-two hours.”
“Good.” I hang up and slip my phone back into my pocket.