Page 125 of The Price of Forever

“As unpleasant as it was going there, I think it was worth it,” I squeezed my arms around his waist as the air slowly grew more humid from the shower. “You were able to hear what he said, right?”

He let out a slow exhale. “Yeah. That’s fucking crazy, though. Do you think he’s serious?”

“I do. I don’t know all the details, but he’s bragging about it enough to connect the dots, don’t you think?”

Seven loosened my ponytail holder, allowing my hair to spill over my shoulders. He pushed his fingertips through the hair at my temples, searching my gaze. “I didn’t hear as much as you did, but even that seems like enough details to throw this whole case into question.”

Excitement nipped at me through the fog of my orgasmic haze. “Exactly! I mean, he’s pretty much admitted that he used his connections to bring somebody down. How can this not be taken somewhere and used somehow?”

He arched a brow. “We signed an NDA. And it’s not like we can bring your brother’s lawyer or the SEC into Eli’s house the next time he invites you to a house party.”

I sighed testily. “You’re right. But this just seems unfair. We have confirmation that the case against my brothers is a load of crap. We have to do something.”

Seven nodded, his gaze drifting as he sank into thought.

“And it’s not like we can tell them what we found out at Eli’s house,” Seven murmured. “Axel would flip.”

“He’d be that mad?”

“Jordan, he would murder me.” His serious gaze cut through to my core. “After he fired me, of course, and dismembered me limb by limb. If there’s one thing your brothers can’t know, aside from the fact that I fucked you on my windowsill, it’s that I allowed you to go anywhere near Eli Rossberg.”

I nodded, swallowing hard. “Okay. So this stays our little secret. I get it. But can’t we at least…probe further?”

Seven sighed heavily, pinching his eyes shut like he just remembered something he’d rather have forgotten. “I might have an idea.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s probably a long shot. But Trojan has some connections with the FBI.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“The man is well connected, what can I say? If there’s anybody who can figure out a viable next step, it’s him and his contacts.” He swallowed hard, seeming almost hesitant to go on. “Like I said, this might lead absolutely nowhere. Don’t get your hopes up. But I’ll see who I can get ahold of tomorrow, and we can go from there.”

I squealed, tackling Seven until he fell flat on his back. “God, sometimes I feel like I love you, Seven.” My words hung throbbing and strange in the air. I shouldn’t have said that. But there it was. It was the closest I could get to admitting my true feelings out loud.

“Only sometimes?”

“Maybe all the time.” I tried not to make it seem like I was confessing the biggest thing lurking in my heart. Which I absolutely was.

He watched me with so much tenderness I thought I’d explode. I wanted him to say the same back to me. God, I wanted it so badly.

He ran his fingers through my hair and said, “I think it’s time for shower and bed. A brat needs her beauty sleep.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

SEVEN

However sweet things were between us when we went to bed, I woke up with a storm brewing in my mind in the morning. It didn’t matter that I’d claimed Jordan for my own again, or that she’d fallen asleep in my arms. It didn’t matter that I’d almost told her I love you.

Everything was still a mess, no matter how sweet it felt.

I was keeping a secret from the brothers about what was happening between us. I was keeping multiple secrets from Jordan: my business details, Olivia, how long I’d continue being her guard. Assigning Liam or Chico to her protection officer wasn’t enough to clean up the mess. I needed to come clean to her brothers, as well.

It could very well ruin my career—or at least my employment within the Fairchild family. I just prayed that once they found out, my indiscretion with Jordan wouldn’t become a stain that followed me for the rest of my professional life.

That didn’t even touch what I viewed to be the biggest risk in front of me: bringing Jordan into the folds of my heart forever. Can you live through it if something happens to her? I didn’t have an answer. I just knew I was in too deep.

And then we had the storm cloud of Eli to contend with. I moved through my morning workout with a cancerous knot in my gut. Jordan was scheduled for a shift at the coffee shop, so we headed that way by seven a.m., bleary eyed and on edge. I could feel it in her, too, though I wasn’t sure she had half the hang-ups that I did about what was growing between us.

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