Lost in Me (Lost Duet #1)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Emory

Three Years Later

I slowly open my door and place my hand on my client’s lower back as we make my way out of the office and down the hallway toward Sherri at the front desk. We walk side by side as Sherri comes into view. She turns, looks at me, and gives me a soft smile.

I guide the client around the front desk, stopping in front of Sherri. “Sherri will schedule you for another appointment with me next week. You have my work cell number. If you need me before then, please text or call me, okay?”

I watch the client slowly nod.

I take a deep breath as I lower my hand and take a step back, slowly making my way around the client and behind the counter. I grab the clipboard and look down the list of new clients waiting to be seen.

Things have been picking up the last week since we opened the apartments across the parking lot. Shawn and I have been working on building and opening the new apartments for the last year, and last week, the deal finally became a reality.

Since then, the list of clients that want to move into them has been growing. Shawn has asked a lot of his men, including Ethan, to do security for the apartments, making sure the women staying there will be safe, and I think we finally put up enough cameras.

The feed comes to mine, Shawn’s, and Ethan’s phones. Also, they go to the cameras at our house so we can always keep watch and make sure nothing happens.

Shawn has thought of everything, trying to make sure what happened to me won’t ever happen again. I have faith in him, and I have faith in Ethan and the other men we call family so our clients will stay safe.

Soon, we will need to open another set of apartments. The word is spreading about them and the center, drawing more attention to the center and to Shawn and me, which I know makes him nervous even though he won’t say it. I know what he is thinking. No matter how many men we have watching or how many cameras we put up, it will never fully take away his anxiety and worry, and I can’t blame him.

The last three years have been insane. We call our son Harlow the miracle baby. They were surprised when he survived. They were surprised when I survived. We both should have died because of what Jesse did to me in that locked room.

But we both survived. Harlow, our sweet boy, is about to turn three. He is everywhere nowadays, which makes me laugh. Once he learned how to walk, he learned how to run, and after that, he was everywhere all the time.

I still laugh when I hear Shawn chasing him around the house, with the dogs chasing Shawn chasing Harlow. It is a sight to see. Ethan and I just sit back and watch sometimes, laughing and smiling.

Our daughter Rachel will soon be two years old, which is crazy to think about because I swear I feel like I just had her yesterday. When we found out we were having a girl, I thought Shawn was going to have a heart attack. Sometimes, I still think he is going to have one.

He is always watching her, protecting her like he does me. I can only imagine how he is going to be when she is old enough to date. Oh my goodness, those poor boys will be terrified. I hold tighter onto the clipboard as I look down the list of names. I rest my free hand gently on my growing stomach. Anytime now, we will be having our third.

Shawn was happy when it was a boy. He said Rachel would have so many men watching over her it would be insane, and I do not doubt that one bit. It took us a while to find a name we both liked, but we finally agreed on one about two weeks ago when we were leaving the doctor’s office after my checkup. The soon-to-be little one will be named Sawyer Cross. We both fell in love with it.

I take a deep breath as I put down the clipboard. I watch the client turn around and make her way down the hallway and out the front door.

“Shouldn’t you have left by now?” Sherri asks me in an amused voice. I am always the first one in and the last one out. A lot of times, Sherri has to turn off the lights in the building to get me to leave.

I enjoy giving hope to others, and since Shawn made me the CEO, I have made it my mission to ensure everything runs smoothly, including keeping my clients. I just can’t walk away from that part of the job.

“Yes, but when work calls…” I state, trying to make her laugh. I don’t need to see her face to know she is rolling her eyes at me.

“It is your wedding anniversary,” Sherri states in a stern tone, trying to let me know she means business, but honestly, it just makes me want to smile.

“I know, Sherri,” I say softly. Today is the day Shawn and I got married three years ago after I woke up in the hospital. We both couldn’t wait, so he had the nurses move my bed into the chapel, and we got married not even an hour later. It is something I will never forget.

“Well, then. Get out of here before I push you out those doors myself,” she states. She is trying to hide her amusement, but I can hear it, and it is funny because she has actually had to do that a few times. If it is not her, it is either Shawn or Ethan coming in to get me.

“Have I ever told you how pushy you are?” I ask. She really is pushy, like a mom I never asked for, but I am very grateful to her. I wouldn’t change the way she is. She cares, and that is something I didn’t have for a very long time. And now my life is filled with many people who care about me.

“Daily. But you love it,” she states, laughing.

“I do, Sherri. I really do. You good with locking up then?” I ask, but I already know the answer. If I am not the last one out, she is. It has been that way since I got out of the hospital, just like with Shawn. Sherri worries about me and is always trying to make sure I am safe.

“I got this, girl. You better go before Shawn sends a search team to find you.” She laughs at her own words.

I wouldn’t put it past my husband to do something like that.

“Sherri, you totally know he would do something like that,” I state in a concerned but amused voice. I could picture a whole SWAT team coming here.

“That is what makes it funny, Em,” she states, laughing again, making me shake my head.

I can’t help but laugh as I make my way around the counter and down the hallway toward the front doors. When I get to the doors, I push them open and take a few steps outside, and that is when I see him.

Shawn Cross. My husband, my savior, my anchor, my everything.

He is leaning against his black Mustang. His arms are crossed over his chest. He is wearing his normal black slacks and dress shoes, with a black button-up shirt, unbuttoned at the top, showing off part of his chest tattoo. He is as gorgeous as he was the first time I laid eyes on him, and after all these years, he can still make my heart beat faster and slower at the same time. Whenever he walks into the room, he can still take my breath away.

This man standing against his car is everything to me, and the life we have built over the last three years is something out of a fairy tale, but this fairy tale is real. He is real, and he is all mine. All the time.

I slowly make my way over to him, stopping when my stomach hits his. He looks down at me and smiles, taking my breath away.

“I thought I was going to have to go in there and take you out myself,” he states, searching my eyes. I smile back, getting all kinds of fun thoughts and ideas.

Shawn has helped me over the last three years to enjoy playing games again. I love the games he and I play. He has taught me how to enjoy life again and how not to let my past define me and control me today.

Sometimes, the nightmares come back, or I see myself in the mirror covered in knife scars, and for a moment I get lost, but just like an anchor, Shawn always brings me back and reminds me I survived and made it out, and that I never have to go back there again.

“That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. Should I go back inside then?” I state in a low, seductive voice. The voice I know that gets him turned on faster than anything else. I go to take a step back, but before I can, he wraps his arms around my waist, making sure I can’t.

I look into his eyes and see nothing but longing and desire, so much desire it makes my heart skip a beat and my stomach fill with butterflies.

“You want to play, Angel?” he whispers, continuing to look into my eyes.

I feel my body melt against him. I lean in, feeling his breath on my skin. “Yes,” I whisper.

His smile grows across his beautiful lips as he leans in, stopping when his lips are almost touching mine. “We can play,” he states softly.

I pull back a little and look behind him into the car, but I don’t see the kids. I quickly look up at him, not hiding my concern. “They are with Ethan,” he states softly, taking away the sick feeling just as fast as it came. He knows me so well, I don’t need to say a word, and he already knows what I am thinking.

“Oh, boy…” I smile.

“He offered. I warned him. He didn’t listen,” he states calmly.

“Well, then, what would you like to do?” I ask, looking at him.

“I have some ideas, Angel. You sure you wanna play?” he asks, tilting his head to the side. The same gesture he has done since I fell in love with him, and honestly, it never gets old.

“Yes,” I state without needing to think. I trust Shawn with my life.

He releases his hold on me and forces me to take a step back. He grabs my hand and leads me to the passenger side, opening the door for me. He waits patiently as I slide into the seat. It is getting harder and harder to move nowadays.

He closes the door, and I watch him waste no time walking to his side of the car and getting in. He turns on the car and puts it in “reverse.” He reaches over and rests his hand on my leg for a moment as he backs up, then he takes his hand and pushes on the gas to exit the parking lot.

I don’t know where we are going or what he has planned, but I also know I don’t need to know as long as I am with him. That is all that matters to me.

I used to refer to myself as The Ghost or “The Ghost of me” when talking about myself. Today, I don’t use those words. Today, I feel alive and loved, and I look forward to seeing what the future has in store for me, Shawn, and our family.

I don’t have to worry about being abused or hurt, for I know Shawn would never put his hands on me. I don’t have to worry about looking over my shoulders because Shawn has killed the darkness that was watching over me. I don’t jump anymore when he touches me or when someone else touches me because Shawn has shown me that not everyone is bad and wants to hurt me.

He has changed my life. He has saved me, and every second of every day, he continues to save me just like I know I saved him. We will continue to save each other for the rest of our lives.