Control (Harper Security Ops #18)

Eighteen

EIGHTEEN

Ty

“Alright, so we’ve got a plan now, right?”

Sitting with my back resting against the arm of the couch, Alana’s body between my legs, my arms were wrapped around her, and I nipped at her ear. “I’ll do anything you want, baby.”

Her body shivered. “Ty, you have to focus.”

My mouth moved along the skin just beneath her ear, a smile playing at my lips. I found it amusing when her words said one thing and her body told me something else.

The thing was, even if she had been entirely serious, Alana had to have lost her mind if she thought I could have her cuddled so close—smelling her and feeling her soft body—and not want to have my hands and mouth on her. With the exception of her seemingly wanting to have this conversation now, Alana had made it clear she enjoyed the things I did to her.

One of my hands drifted up to her breast, where my thumb stroked lightly over the material covering her nipple. “Who says I’m not focused?”

Alana pressed the back of her head into my shoulder. “What you’re doing now is not helping anyone stay focused. It’s distracting both of us.”

I chuckled, offering another swipe and a squeeze. “You’re distracted?”

Twisting her neck, she glanced up at me and begged, “Please?”

When she looked at me like that, I couldn’t deny her. No matter how much I knew she was enjoying what I’d been doing and would love what would happen when it led to where I had intended for it to go, I decided to stop trying to distract the both of us and give her what she wanted. “Okay, okay. But you need to accept my apology. I’m sorry. It’s just that…well, I don’t think it’s fair I get blamed for being unable to resist you.”

“Are you suggesting it’s my fault?”

Shrugging, I countered, “Have you seen how sexy you are? One look in your eyes, or a smile from you, and I’m gone.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “That was nice of you to say, but I wasn’t even looking at you when you attempted to seduce me.”

“No, but your body is pressed close, and your ass is nestled against my dick. Am I supposed to ignore that?”

Alana sat up, pulling her back away from my chest, and twisted her torso to look at me. Her eyes dropped down to my lap, where she placed her hand lightly over me. One touch could do it, too. My cock stiffened under her touch.

She seemed surprised by what she found, and her eyes narrowed.

“What’s that look about?”

“I’m just wondering if you’re even going to be able to focus in two days when we’re back out there, investigating and possibly interviewing? Should I head back to Harper Security Ops first?”

Confusion washed over me. “Why would you do that?”

“Do I need to request a new bodyguard, since mine might be broken?”

There was a lightness in her tone, a teasing and playful edge to it. I wanted to burst out laughing, but it was that moment when it hit me.

Alana had done that.

She’d made me feel this happy again. Happier than I’d ever been, actually. I couldn’t remember ever feeling the way I felt now.

Even though there was something so dangerous and intense swirling around us at the moment, just being around her made it better. I could have easily been weighed down by the heaviness of the situation.

And while there were moments that made it impossible not to feel like I was on edge when it came to her safety, the reality was that I could take one look at her smiling at me and everything else would fade away.

I dropped my gaze to where her hand was resting, felt my cock twitch, and returned my attention to her face. “Does it feel like your bodyguard is broken?”

“I didn’t say this part of him was broken. I’m well aware it’s fully functional. Exceeds expectations.”

There was nothing I could do to stop the laughter that spilled out of me. She made me feel so good inside; all I wanted to do was hold her and kiss her for hours upon hours. Unable to resist, my body still vibrating with laughter, I pressed a kiss to her temple. “It’s that great, and yet, you’re still complaining.”

“Because it’s the other part of my bodyguard I’m not so sure about, the part that’s supposed to be focused on protecting me and making sure I’m safe from anyone who might want to harm me.”

Leave it to Alana to have me laughing one minute and wincing the next. “You aren’t getting another bodyguard, baby. You don’t need one. I’ve got my head in the game, Alana, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you. That is one promise I can make you.”

Her features softened, a small smile playing at her lips. “I can make a promise of my own.”

Curiosity got the best of me. “What promise?”

She rubbed her hand over me, doing little to help me rein in the excitement. “I promise I’ll make it up to you after we go through this one more time.” She paused, her stomach growling loudly. Reconsidering everything, she said, “Correction. I promise I’ll make it up to you after we go through this one more time and we have dinner.”

“You’re going to make it up to me?”

“Yep. I’m going to do all the work, too.”

“All of it?”

She nodded and promised, “All of it.”

Although it was unlikely that I’d ever sit back and allow her to do all the work—I just wasn’t wired that way—I couldn’t say I wasn’t curious about how she intended to do it. Giving her a few minutes to play and take charge was something I’d be happy to accommodate. In fact, it was something I was now looking forward to experiencing as quickly as I could make it happen. “Alright, what do you want to go over?”

After sending a look of gratitude my way, she offered a firm squeeze before removing her hand. Then she was back down to business. “I just want to be sure we’re making a good decision about what we’re planning to do in two days.”

“That might depend on your definition of a good decision,” I noted. “Are you concerned about some aspect of it and thinking you might want to nix the idea altogether?”

“Fair enough. Maybe that’s not the right phrase. I’m still determined to do this, and I feel a bit more confident that we’ve added another Harper Security Ops team member to the mix to help. There’s something about this thing in two days that’s leaving me unsettled.”

I hated that.

After Alana had spent a couple of days attempting to work out where she stood with continuing her coverage of the Annie Sanders story, she’d finally decided it was something she couldn’t walk away from. There were too many unanswered questions, and she had this determination in her to finish what she started.

Given how things had changed between us, there was certainly a part of me that wanted to lock her up away from anything that stood to harm her while I worked to take down that threat. But there was the other part of me, the much bigger part, that couldn’t stand to do something like that. Alana would hate it, and it’d take away everything that made her the woman she was, the woman I adored.

The desire to get to the truth and figure out what happened to Annie was even more imperative now that there had been this added threat. So, in an effort to speed up the process, I enlisted the help of Blaze Matthews, one of the private investigators I worked with. Alana and I both believed there was a justifiable reason to look a bit deeper into Annie’s ex, Mark Watson. Blaze had spent a couple of days doing what he does best, getting precisely the information we needed to carry out the next part of the plan.

“What’s making you feel unsettled?”

“Aren’t you just a little bit worried?” she questioned me, her body tensing. “My concern is that this guy has too many things that make him seem like he could be the guy. He turns up less than two months before Annie is murdered, and he’s pushing for them to get back together. And now Blaze has learned that every morning since Annie was murdered, Mark visits the same coffee shop and buys two coffees. Then he goes to the cemetery where she was buried and sits there while he finishes his coffee, the other being left untouched on the ground in front of her headstone until he leaves and tosses it in the trash. It’s just strange, don’t you think?”

“Of course, all if it makes him a potential suspect.”

“Well, if he is the guy, and we make our move, aren’t you worried about how he’ll react?”

“If I didn’t trust in my ability to keep you safe, I would tell you this is a bad idea. I’d get some of the other guys involved. But the fact that this guy has been doing this uninterrupted for weeks tells me he’s not going to be expecting to see anyone when he shows up at the cemetery. He’ll be unprepared. And if he’s guilty, that might mean getting the information you need to break this story wide open. If he’s innocent, he might have some additional insight to provide.”

She inhaled deeply, her body relaxing slightly. “As long as you’re sure.”

“I can’t promise what’ll happen with him, but I do know that I have no intention of letting anything happen to you. Regardless of how he responds, I will protect you.”

The corners of her mouth tipped up in a gorgeous smile. Sometimes, I found it difficult to catch my breath when she looked at me like that.

Her stomach growled again, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

I let out a laugh and reasoned, “If you’re feeling better about all of this, I should probably get up, so I can feed you.”

“I need to call my parents,” she said. “It’s been a few days since I last talked to my mom, and this will be about the time she’ll panic if she doesn’t hear from me.”

“Why don’t you go and take care of that while I get dinner started?”

She tapped her finger on her chin, pretending to think. “I’m trying to figure out the downside to this? He keeps me safe, and he cooks.”

I kissed the corner of her mouth before burying my face in her neck. “That’s not all I can do.”

“Mmm,” she hummed. “I have no doubt you’ll want to demonstrate those talents later.”

After peppering kisses along the side of her throat and to the skin where her neck met her shoulder, I smiled and squeezed an arm around her. Then I pressed a final kiss to her cheek and urged, “Go call your parents. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re done.”

Ten minutes later, Alana was upstairs on the phone with her parents while I worked on putting dinner together for us.

I could have spent that time thinking about what our morning out in two days would bring, but I preferred to spend it thinking about Alana, about how unexpected she’d been. I was lost in thoughts of things I wanted us to do after her foot was fully healed and this threat was no longer hanging over her when someone rang my doorbell.

Not expecting anyone, I immediately considered the possibility of there being someone who was looking to cause Alana harm. I approached the door and cautiously looked outside.

It was strange to feel such a mix of relief and fury at who I saw.

Because on the bright side, at least it wasn’t someone unknown who might have come here looking for Alana.

But the downside was that there was somebody I wasn’t exactly interested in seeing.

Evangeline.

I considered ignoring her completely, but when she rang the bell again, I lost it. I pulled the door open harshly and spat, “What are you doing here?”

“You haven’t called.”

My body jerked back, my brows pulling together. “When did I ever say anything that would give you the indication that I’d be calling you?”

She sighed, her shoulders falling. “Look, I saw you. I know you saw me weeks ago. And I understand that after I did what I did, you needed to do something to get back at me. I get it. But I’m willing to forgive you for that.”

“I’m not asking you for forgiveness. I didn’t do anything wrong. You’re the one who cheated.”

Nodding, Evangeline returned, “I know, Ty. But I love you, and I know you love me. What we have is good. We shouldn’t throw that away for one mistake.”

I wondered if I was imagining this, if I was making it all up. Alana aside, it wasn’t possible this woman could actually believe I’d ever consider getting back together with her.

“First of all, you and I don’t have anything. Whatever we had was gone months before it officially ended between us. It was gone when you chose to spend your free time with another man. You threw it away, and honestly, it was the best thing you could have done. I’ve moved on, and I’m much happier.”

A look of uncertainty and fear washed over her. She laughed nervously. “Ty, you don’t mean that. I can make it up to you; I want to fix this. Joel is gone. He left.”

“And you thought you could come crawling back to me?” I fired back. “You need to leave.”

I moved to close the door, but Evangeline slapped her palm against it to stop it. “Please,” she begged. “We can get it back. I know we can. You and I belong together.”

“No, we don’t.”

“But—” She stopped speaking, her attention shifting behind me. I didn’t have to turn around to know that Alana had appeared. Evangeline diverted her gaze to me again and rasped, “You… you moved on.”

“I tried to tell you that.”

She shook her head, disbelief and hurt marring her expression. “Ty,” she whispered. “You can’t do this. We have to work it out.”

“There’s nothing to work out, Evangeline. I’ve moved on, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”

Her lips parted in shock. “You don’t mean that. You’re just hurt by what I did. I know I was wrong. I made a mistake. You have to forgive me. We have to move past it.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “I have moved on. I’m happy. Now, you need to leave and do the same.”

“Ty, please,” she begged.

“Stop it,” I ordered. “You’re embarrassing yourself. We’re done. What we had is over. I’m with someone else now, and she means everything to me. You and I will never be anything ever again.”

Evangeline didn’t respond, but she also didn’t leave.

“Goodbye, Evangeline.”

“Ty, this is a mistake,” she rasped.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. Have a good night.”

I closed the door, locked it, and turned around. Alana was staring at me, a mix of concern and something else in her features. Recognizing how uncomfortable that must have been for her, I asked, “Are you okay?”

She didn’t respond, forcing something to twist in my gut.

“Alana, baby, please say something,” I pleaded with her.

“Are you really the happiest you’ve ever been in your life?”

Relief settled inside me, the tension easing out of my frame. I took slow, deliberate steps toward her. When I stopped inches away, I lifted a hand to the side of her face and cupped her cheek. Stroking my thumb over the skin there, I spoke softly. “Yes, Alana. You have made me the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. You were so unexpected, but you are undeniably perfect for me.”

Her eyes were shining, unshed tears filling them. “Are you serious?”

“I would never joke about this.”

Alana lifted her hand to my face. She dragged her thumb along my bottom lip. “You should know that you mean everything to me, too.”

A smile broke out on my face, the last bits of tension dissipating. Then I leaned forward and touched my mouth to hers, capturing it in a bruising kiss. We stood there like that for a long time, Alana eventually tearing her mouth from mine. “Are you sure we have to have dinner first?”

I nodded. “For the things we have planned, dinner is a must.”

She huffed her displeasure. “Okay, fine.”

Laughing, I said, “I promise it’s going to be worth the wait.”

“Of course, it will. I’m the one who’s taking charge,” she reminded me.

I hadn’t stopped laughing as I draped my arm over her shoulder and around her back. Then I urged her toward the kitchen with me. “Sure, baby. Whatever you say.”

Alana might have wanted to argue, but fortunately, she didn’t. And when we finally finished our food, I gave Alana the chance to make things up to me. But it wasn’t long when I decided I needed to take over and give her everything she deserved for changing my whole life.