Page 100 of Until Bax

“Yeah.” I lean up on my tiptoes and press my lips against his. “Go, I’ll see you tonight.”

“Call me when you have lunch.”

“I will,” I agree, and he slides his fingers back into my hair, using his hold to kiss me once more, this time deeper and longer than before.

He pulls back with one last brush of his mouth across mine, then slides his fingers along my jaw as he loosens his hold. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later.” I let him go, then since I know he won’t leave until I’m inside, I walk toward the spa. As I’m opening the door, I turn to wave at him, and he lifts his chin before he heads to his truck that is taking up two parking spots.

I step through the door into the office and find both Holly and Eva with wide-eyed looks on their faces as they stare at me.

“Umm.”

“What in the world was that?” Holly shoots to her feet, and Eva groans.

“Nothing, Bax was just dropping me off.”

“That was not just him dropping you off. I’ve seen him drop you off before, and even though that is always an experience, whatever that was, it was for sure something else.”

“Were you spying on me?”

“Ugh, absolutely,” she says like duh. “I even got some of it on video.”

“Holly.” I close my eyes, shaking my head.

“What? It was just like one of those moments from a Hallmark movie. All that was missing was the snow falling from the sky.” She looks over at Eva. “Am I wrong?”

“You’re not wrong,” Eva mumbles, shrugging.

“Please don’t encourage her.” I sigh, falling into one of the client chairs.

“Sorry, but I’m on her side.” She grins as she tips her head to the side, then her face softens as she studies me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I set my bag on the floor. “Bax is just worried.” It’s an understatement, but they know the situation, so I don’t need to exacerbate things.

“I hope that guy is caught soon,” Holly says, and I give her a sad smile.

“Me too.”

“We should go have a drink tonight after work,” Eva says, and I shake my head, already knowing that isn’t going to happen. “Come on, we can go to one of the local bars. You can invite your mom or whoever, and we’ll all be there. We won’t let you out of our sight.”

“I don’t know.” I fiddle with my fingers in my lap. Honestly, I feel like a bird who has been caged up for weeks, and the idea of stretching my wings, even for an hour, sounds almost too appealing to turn down. I never considered myself someone who loved going out, but I also never had that option taken away from me until recently. “I’ll call Bax at lunch and see what he thinks,” I say, and both Eva and Holly share matching grins. Holding up my hand, I look between the two of them. “I’m not promising anything. If he’s not comfortable, I’m not going.” Especially after he told me that I’m a piece of him that he would not be able to exist without.

CHAPTER28

Bax

Hearing my cell phone ring, I reach across the console and pull my vest out from under Gemma. Once I get it out of the pocket and see it’s my mom calling, I slide my finger across the screen and put it on speaker since there is no way I can hook it up to my truck while I’m driving.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Hey honey, I just got off the phone with Willow, and she and Clay want to confirm that you and Olivia won’t be there for dinner on Thanksgiving since they’re trying to figure out what size turkey to buy.”

“We’re having dinner with Oli’s parents, then stopping by later in the evening for dessert.”

“That’s what I thought. I’ll let them know. How are you guys? Is everything okay?”

“Everything is good. We're just waiting until this guy is caught so we can move on.”