Page 65 of Dangerous Love

I nodded, my eyes scanning the landscape in front of us. “I agree. We’re in the lucky country.”

Michael wrapped his arms around me, his body heat warming my chilled skin, and my mind finally quietened as my soul braced for its new beginning. “I’m glad you’re here with me,” Michael whispered as our eyes met. His thumb caressed my bottom lip. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

My heart fluttered, my mind going blank as my throat dried. He lowered his head, while never closing his eyes, and pressed his lips against me. I gasped when his mouth found mine, his tongue exploring the threshold of my lips. I gripped his shirt, wishing I could feel more than I did. Michael was hot, smart, and sexy. Everything that I’d ever dreamt of, and I was lucky someone like him wanted someone like me.

And yet, right as his tongue invaded my mouth, his hands cupping my face, I closed my eyes and pretended it was an angel’s voice that I could hear instead of the silence in my heart.

CHAPTER32

Riley

The mesh behind my back barely held my weight as I dozed off on the basketball court, instead of supervising the kids like I should have been. I blamed the sleepless nights of the last week. They said innocence was bliss, and now that I knew why the Cooper gang was merging with the Snakes, I also knew exactly what that meant.

Soon we’d have nothing against Hal.

“Someone’s sleeping on the job.”

I jerked up, the metal wire catching my jersey. “Shit,” I grumbled, before I extended a hand to Avery. He gripped it and lowered himself to the ground next to me. “How have you been?” I asked, slight tension running between us. Other than a couple of quick convos, about work mainly, Avery and I hadn’t cleared the air properly since the wedding.

“Same old.” He sighed. “Trying to focus on the launch for the new Nutrify lines, but my head’s not in the game.”

I knew the feeling. Between Hal’s fucked-up plan and Sienna having gone MIA, I couldn’t think either. I’d tried to call her every day since she’d stormed off but didn’t get as much as a text back. I shouldn’t have been surprised. That’s what Sienna did. She bailed when things got tough, but this time, it seemed different. There was something that didn’t add up. That, or my brain wasn’t coping with how much I missed her.

You should have told her when you had the chance.“Have you heard from her?”

Avery’s shoulders tensed. He looked much older than he did a few weeks back. “She rang Grace the day after the wedding, and I got one text.” He kicked a small rock with his foot. “One fucking text.”

“That’s more than I got.”

He turned towards me. “Nothing at all?”

I shook my head. “Not one peep. To be honest, if it didn’t make me come across like a stalker, I’d hunt her down at work.”

“I called her therapist at Telecare. Does that count?”

I chuckled. “Damn, that’s stalkerish. What’d you find out?”

“Evelyn is great. But too fucking professional for her own good. She told me Sienna was safe, and that she wasn’tat libertyto discuss any more than that. Then wished me a good day.”

“Should have sent Jarryd. I bet he would have had better luck.”

Avery smirked, a slight grin curling his lips. “Crossed my mind.”

I raised my fist and he bumped it. “Tried to call her manager. He hung up on me.”

“Fuck. You win.” Avery’s laughter was a good sound. It had been too goddamn long since we’d let our guards down for five minutes. “I always hated that bastard anyway.”

Like the abscess had burst, Avery and I chilled quietly for a while, letting the sun soak up the awkwardness as we grieved in our own ways. We both loved her, and it killed me not to know she was safe. I ran my hands through the small rocks lost on the floor of the court before picking one up and tossing it in the distance. “How long do we wait until we track her down?” I asked.

Avery sighed, his chest rising a couple of times. “Jarryd reckons that’s the last thing we should be doing. She’ll run even farther. She doesn’t want to be found.”

“I get that. But at the same time, she’s convinced herself that I used her for your benefit, and I can’t handle the thought of her going to bed every night thinking I don’t love her.” Emotions shook me as I admitted the words out loud. I was growing sick of hiding my feelings for her, and brother or no brother, I was ready to be honest with myself.

There was nobody else for me. She was all there would ever be.

“You do love her, don’t you?”

I leaned back, my head banging against the metal. “Yep. Like some pathetic, lost puppy.”

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