Page 101 of His Coveted Obsession

“I’m not doing another job,” I said as soon as I answered.

Sid chuckled. “No job this time.”

I sit up, my heart speeding up again, and I squeeze the phone tightly. “Is he ready to talk to me?”

“He is.”

“Why didn’t he just call me?”

“Because I told him I wanted to talk to you first.”

I stiffened, feeling a lecture coming on, and I was already on my last leg of patience.

“If you’re going to tell me to be nice to him, save your breath, Sid. Of course I will. He belongs to me.”

“I also know you’ve been very agitated. But I’m not calling about that. I want you to try to understand why Thomas needed time. He’ll tell you, too, but you’ll be too hyper-focused on him to listen.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and took deeper breaths.The quicker you get this over with, the sooner you can get to Thomas. “Fine, out with it.”

“Tell him your story, East. He needs to hear it right now. Thomas loves you, but there’s fear there, and regret for what he’s done. Dalton already told you to find a way to relate to him. If you want to keep him as yours, you need to give him more than gifts and sex.” Sid chuckled on the other end as I tapped my fingers on my free hand. “He says that it’s your love language, but Thomas is sensitive like Luca. He’ll need more from you, eventually. You’re going to have to open up to him. That trust you show him with your story will mean everything.”

“But it’s old news. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It’s not like you to lie to me, East. It will matter to him, and it stillmattersto you. If it didn’t, you would’ve told him everything already.”

“Will he come back to me then?”

“He’s ready to come back to you now, but as I said, he’s going to need more. Give him a piece of yourself. Tell himwhyyou need him so much. And don’t lie to me again and tell me it’s transactional. If it were, you would’ve been bored with him already. It’s not like you to stick it out for him as he’s been processing the past few days. Clearly, you get more out of it than just the sex.”

“Okay,” I breathed. “I’ll tell him.”

“You’re still really young, East. Eventually, you’ll get the hang of things. But you must be doing something right because Thomas truly cares about you. You two shouldn’t work, but you do, so I want to see you both thrive in this relationship. You both deserve it.”

I wasn’t sure how to do more than I already was, but I trusted Sid. If he felt I needed to open up, then I would. He was right about one thing. It was more than just sex with Thomas. When they took him from me…Deep breaths. I still had a life to take for that.

“Have we found Gregory Ivanov yet?”

“No, he and his family vanished shortly after we infiltrated the warehouse. We’ll get him. Layla is searching high and low. When we do, we’ll find him and make him pay.”

“Good. Now I’m off to talk to Thomas.”

“Not tonight.”

“Dammit! Why not?”

“Because it’s after midnight. Let him get his rest and go see him in the morning.”

“I really don’t like you sometimes.”

Sid burst out laughing. “You do. You just don’t like everything I have to tell you. Get some sleep.”

With that, he hung up.

Of course, now I was too impatient to sleep.

Exercise, it is then.

Ipacedbythefront door of the small home in Falls Church, waiting for Thomas to answer. When he finally did, I scanned him up and down before grabbing his face and pulling him into a kiss, full of tongue. His hands gripped my forearms as he kissed me back.

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