Page 43 of Control's Undoing

“I appreciate you covering our tracks.I owe you one.”

“It was no problem, but just the same…you can buy dinner next time we go out,” Vincent joked.

“Deal.”

“How are you holding up?”Vincent and his spouses knew about her past with the agency because she’d still been working there when they met.In addition to Rafe, they’d been instrumental in encouraging Annie to follow her heart, serving as a huge support system for her when she finally walked away from the agency.

She grimaced.“I’m doing okay, but my partners in this investigation are struggling.The knife-in-the-eye thing freaked them out a little.”

“I can imagine it would.Do you need anything?”he asked.

“Actually, yeah.I need to drug them.Edibles?I don’t want to leave them alone to go get some.”

Vincent chuckled.“Christian will be there in a little while.”

“Can he pretend to be room service?”

She could practically hear Vincent’s eyes rolling when he said, “Can my Broadway star husband play the role of a waiter?I don’t think you have to worry.Knowing him, he’ll come in costume with a full face of stage makeup.”

He and Annie said their goodbyes, and she took a moment to compose herself.Walking to the bathroom, she splashed some water on her face to cool off.Initiating sex tonight when the guys were still slightly rattled, not to mention the fact they were knee-deep in their investigation, was a bad idea.

Drying her face, she took a few deep breaths, until she felt steady enough to return to the sitting area.

Neither man noticed when she opened the door and stepped out of the bedroom.They’d shifted closer to each other on the couch, their faces mere inches apart as they talked to each other in soft voices.

For a split second, she felt the tiniest pang of jealousy—and maybe anger—as she wondered if they’d shared a kiss while she was gone.She wasn’t sure why the idea that they would do that without her made her feel so ragey, but there was no other way to explain her rising temper.

“Comfortable?”

Xavier and Colum glanced up as she approached.Xavier smirked, and she wondered what she was giving away with her expression and tone.Rather than stretch her already too-thin self-control, she claimed the chair opposite them, pleased when neither man seemed happy with her putting distance between them.

“You’re too far away,” Xavier purred.

Dammit.Like her, Xavier’s thoughts had moved past the night’s adventure and were focused on how they could keep the party going.

Mercifully, Colum was managing to keep a steadier head.“Who was on the phone?”

“Someone from the Trinity Masters.”She told them about Vincent’s call, taking time to share snippets about their friendship and their food explorations around the city, the conversation meant to help her kill time until Christian arrived.The information about how the investigation was being handled—and by that, she meant steered in the wrong direction—calmed them, especially Xavier.

No more than half an hour later, Xavier glanced at the time on his phone and stroked his beard.“I know I should be tired, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep.My thoughts are chaos right now.”

Colum nodded in silent agreement.

Annie had assumed as much, which was why she was relieved when there was a knock on the door.Christian’s deep voice called out “room service” with enough dramatic inflection that she nearly laughed.She rose quickly before the guys could.“I ordered some dessert while I was in the bedroom.Sugar cures all,” she lied, aware that in this case, it would be the pot doing the heavy lifting.

Opening the door, she grinned when she saw Christian standing there in a white server’s jacket, with an actual room service cart from the hotel.God only knew where he’d hijacked that from.On the cart were three small plates with brownies wrapped in plastic wrap.

She opened the door wider, and Christian pushed the cart inside.

“You can just put them on the coffee table,” she said as he made a big production of serving their dessert.

The nosy bastard took a moment to check out Colum and Xavier, mouthing the word “wow” over their heads as they eagerly reached for the special delivery brownies.

Annie followed him as he left, offering her thanks when he stepped back into the hall.Christian gave her a friendly wink, then leaned closer to whisper, “I hope you plan to take advantage of that windfall.”

She covered her mouth to muffle her giggle.Christian had been working overtime to help end her dry spell, setting her up on a ridiculous number of blind dates.“I’ll call you later,” she mouthed.Christian nodded then pushed the cart back in the direction of the elevator.

By the time she’d returned to the room, Xavier and Colum had both devoured their brownies and were eyeballing hers.

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