Page 66 of Spark
“Yeah.I’ve never woken up next to anyone before.”
Given Tyler’s track record, along with what he’d told her last night, that wasn’t entirely surprising, yet it still brought an “oh” past her lips.“I haven’t, either,” Chloe admitted.“It’s kind of nice.”
“You are determined to reduce my ego to ashes and embers, aren’t you?”he asked, and she snorted into her pillow.
“If you still think I’m not a huge fan after all those orgasms we gave each other last night, then I can’t help you, buddy.”
“You may have a point.”
After another minute of enjoying the warmth of Tyler’s arms around her, holding her close, she begrudgingly got up to brush her teeth, then left the spare toothbrush on the bathroom counter as she moved down the hallway to make coffee and feed Gary.Chloe took a bag of bacon cheddar scones from the freezer, popping two into the microwave before pouring coffee into a pair of mugs she’d pulled from the cupboard.
“Breakfast,” she said, sliding half the spoils over the small kitchen table a minute later as Tyler made his way in, dressed in last night’s jeans but nothing else.Lord, she should probably at least try to build some kind of immunity to those abs, otherwise, she was going to be useless.
“Thanks,” he said, taking a long, grateful draw from his mug.Gary lifted his head from his food dish to give Tyler some spectacular side-eye before hissing his disdain and retreating to his lair beneath her living room chair, and Tyler arched a brow.
“Still charming, I see.”
“Don’t take it personally.”Chloe shrugged.“He only tolerates me because I feed him.”
A corner of Tyler’s mouth worked upward, no doubt to precede a smartass comment about how only she would rescue the grumpiest cat in the entire shelter, but the merry chime of her cell phone interrupted the conversation.
Chloe’s pulse sprinted in her veins at the ringtone.Addison.“Sorry.I should?—”
“Yeah, of course,” Tyler said, helping her search for her phone, unearthing it from the floor beside the couch and passing it over just before the call rolled over to voicemail.
“Hey!Addison, hi,” she said, cradling her phone to her ear and trying her best not to sound like she’d been up half the night having supremely hot sex.“I’m surprised you’re not still sleeping after?—”
“Chloe.”Addison’s tone, serious and low, had her on instant high alert.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry to call so early,” Addison said, probably to soften whatever was coming next.
But Chloe didn’t do soft when it came to anything that would likely stir up her emotions.She wanted to rip the Band-Aid off and feel what she needed to feel, even if that meant drawing blood in the process.“What’s wrong?”she repeated.
This time, Addison didn’t pull any punches.“I just got off the phone with Sinclair.The DNA analysis came back, and there have been some significant developments in the case.Can you meet me at Tara’s office in an hour?”
All the air disappeared from the room, and shit.Shit,Chloe couldn’t breathe.“Should I get Esme?”she managed.
“Tom’s already on his way to pick her up,” Addison said.As if on cue, Chloe’s phone vibrated with an incoming text, followed quickly by two more in rapid succession, and nothing about this could be good.
“Addison,” Chloe started, but she refused to bite.
“There are a lot of moving parts, and it’s too much to explain over the phone, otherwise you know I would.Right now, Esme is safe.I promise.And we’ll answer every single one of the questions I know you’re dying to ask when you get here.But right now, I’ve got to go do my job, okay?Please trust me.”
Chloe’s stomach whirled with dread, but she nodded and took a shaky breath.“Okay.I do.I’ll be there in an hour.”
She ended the call, steeling herself.She needed to be tough.To stay strong and deal with whatever Addison was going to tell her, no matter how scary.She wouldnotbreak.Nope.She’d get dressed, head downtown, and protect Esme.In that order.
But Tyler was right there beside her, steady and calm, and instead of giving him a quick “sorry, gotta go”, she reached for him instead.
“Hey, I’ve got you,” he said, his arms moving under hers.“You can talk to me when you’re ready, but if you need a minute, just breathe.”
Comfort spread through her, letting her find her center, and after a few seconds, Chloe pulled back, mostly reset.
“The DNA analysis came back.Addison didn’t want to get into it on the phone, but I don’t think it’s good news.”
“Esme’s okay, though?”Tyler asked, and shit, her texts.Chloe checked her phone, and sure enough, all three were from Esme, each a variation of “what’s going on, please talk to me.”
