Page 69 of Force At Third

“Fred just went upstairs. He was awake and armed. It’s all good.” He nods to the bedroom. “Go.”

I shake my head. “I fucked up.”

“You knocked off for thirty minutes. He covered you. And honestly, there’s no reason we’re not sleeping tonight. He’s not coming in here without us knowing it. Alarms would trip before he even got inside.”

“Still pissed at myself. I was supposed to have everyone’s back.”

“Yeah, well, Locke had yours and ours, so go to bed.” He extends a hand and pulls me up. “Tonight, we sleep. It’s all good.”

* * *

Sitting on the back porch, reading over Wren and Echo’s notes, I hear Marks step out.

“We can’t let her loose when the plane lands. Gonna have to bring O’Donnell in on this. He has friends on the force. They can get her on unlawfully dealing with a minor, at the very least. Echo found another account connected to her ISP through address tracking. She was in California two years ago, a month after Cora’s mom, Bethany, passed, and friend requested her. Sick bitch. I’d like to cunt-kick her.”

“Jesus, Gwend—Gwen.” My spine straightens at the sound of Leland’s, not Marks’, voice. “That’s a lot for a man to take in before he’s even had a cup of coffee. But I’m adaptable. Let’s roll with it. Proceed.”

I look over my shoulder and up at him as he holds out one of the two cups in his hand. “I’m mad at you.”

He steps to my side and squats down beside me. “Gwendolyn can be mad at Leland, but that always leads to making nice. And Daphne can’t be mad at Fred, so?—”

“I thought Roman was Daphne.” I take the cup he’s holding out.

“I thought that for a minute, too, but last night, it hit me—Roman doesn’t have flowing hair, impeccable fashion sense, or an always-ready-for-adventure attitude. He doesn’t have that elegant charm about him. He doesn’t look like he could step straight out of a fashion magazine and jump into a mystery-solving spree.”

“You’d be surprised.” I take a sip of coffee, enjoying that he doesn’t know of Roman’s involvement.

He sits down, plants his hands behind him, and looks up at the sky. “I’m good with being Locke and Gwen for a spell.”

The door opens behind us, and Bennett clears his throat before alerting us, “Nour’s cooking breakfast.”

Leland drops his head back, thick neck on display, sexy Adam’s apple bobbing slightly up and down as he says, “Thanks, Bennett.”

I close my eyes and inhale the scent of the outdoors, Locke, and coffee. Everything inside me flutters.

Now that’s a ménage à trois I could get down with.

Ménage à trois, yuck.

I open my eyes, and he’s standing with a smirk playing on his lips.

“Locke wants to know what Gwen was just thinking.”

“Gwen was just enjoying the smell of coffee, the outdoors, and …” And what, Gwen? “The flowers. Three things that smell good together. Then I thought, ménage à trois. And finally, I thought of all the online talk of you and Vander.”

“Gwen might better get that thought out of her head. I’d never share you with anyone.”

I fake-pout, and he narrows his eyes.

Walking past him, I let him know, “Never been a fantasy of mine, and never thought it was one of yours.”

“You wanna know why?”

“Honestly, no.”

His hand stretches in front of me, holding the door shut. “They all wanted the pro player and the lifestyle. They wanted the big dick and the social media posts. A couple may have wanted my heart, but no matter how much I wished I could move the fuck on, it never happened because mine was already owned by the girl who knew me before all that.”

The hairs on the back of my neck are standing straight up, as are my nipples.

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