Page 16 of Escaped (Snowbound with a Stranger #3)

Spiraling Sentiments

Erin

Glancing up from Owen’s laptop, I watched as Eli flexed his injured arm and splayed his fingers.

It had been two days since we’d landed at my brother’s door; time that had allowed his body to start healing and his mood to improve.

I was pleased to see his ease of movement was increasing, but I also sensed his hesitation at remaining at Owen’s.

One day had bled into two, justified mainly by his pain and the multiple funeral arrangements I was helping Owen with.

I’d called work to tell them about Mum and ask for time away from the office, and I’d been busy supporting Owen with registering her death and choosing a funeral home, but I could tell my lover was itching to get away.

I understood his reticence.

We hadn’t really planned to go there.

It had been a last-minute decision of mine after he’d been shot and his symptoms exacerbated, and in pain, Eli hadn’t been in a position to argue.

Owen had helped him, and Eli had expressed his gratitude, but Eli would obviously have preferred to leave.

The news about Mum’s passing, though, had given me another problem.

She hadn’t been a young woman, but I hadn’t expected her to pass.

Apparently, it had been an aneurysm that had snatched her away, and according to Owen, no one could have anticipated the outcome, but his logic did little to console me.

She’d been on her own when she died, maybe confused and in pain.

That thought slashed at me, hurting more than even her loss.

I’d been angry that she’d been ‘ignoring’ my message when, in reality, the poor woman had died.

The simmering guilt gnawing at me was difficult to disregard.

Perhaps Eli sensed the weight of my stare, but he peered up, his tantalizing eyebrow arching.

“Something I can help you with, little girl?”

Hearing my pet name, my focus flew to the open doorway, panic surging that Owen might have been in earshot.

Given recent circumstances, there hadn’t been much inclination for carnality since we’d arrived, but I wasn’t ready to explain our less-than-conventional dynamic to my brother.

Relieved to see Owen wasn’t loitering in the doorway, I looked back to the man who’d ripped a huge and enticing hole in the world I’d known before the hike in Niantes.

Eli.

Looking at him then, it was difficult to remember a time he hadn’t been in my life.

Usually so strong, capable, and larger than life, he seemed to have become the center of everything.

Even then, when I should have been helping Owen with the funeral arrangements, it was Eli who’d stolen my attention.

He’d admitted that he used to kill for a living and also shared some of his ongoing mental health issues—two concessions I knew it wouldn’t have been easy for him to make—yet still, I yearned for him.

I wanted to discover more, to devour as much knowledge about him as I could to help me understand who he was.

It made me wonder if there was anything he could tell me that would quell my ardor.

“I didn’t think you were going to call me that here.”

My voice was an embarrassed whisper.

We’d had the conversation about how we’d refer to each other around Owen that first night after taking over one of my brother’s guest bedrooms.

“Did I agree to that?”

Eli’s tone was sardonic.

“I don’t think so.”

“Well…”

I shifted awkwardly on my seat.

It was technically true.

He’d been in so much pain at that point that he probably didn’t even recall the conversation, but I had made my case.

Owen and I had a great relationship, but he didn’t need to know about my newfound kinks.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to have that chat with my brother, but I needed time to accept who I was before I contemplated it.

“Well?”

His echo was knowing.

“Please, sir.”

I lowered my voice, throwing another anxious glance toward the empty doorway.

“I need to deal with the funeral before I can even think about how he’d respond to our dynamic.”

“I know.”

Eli’s expression softened.

“That’s why you’re getting a reprieve, little girl, but it only applies when he’s in hearing range. You’re still mine.”

He mouthed the final three words, the dangerous gleam in his gray eyes the surest sign yet that he was recovering well.

A thankful smile rose to my lips at the same moment I squeezed the muscles at the apex of my thighs. For all of the trauma of the last few days, the terrible things I’d seen and experienced, and my own awful culpability, Eli’s allure wasn’t lost on me. My savior and my dictator; he was still the most complicated, fascinating, and tempting man I’d ever met.

“So, which one do you like?”

Owen wandered in from the kitchen, placing his almost empty cup down on the table between me and Eli.

“Which what?”

Flustered to be thinking about the sizzling sexual chemistry between Eli and me in front of Owen, my attention flitted to my brother.

“The flowers.”

Owen gestured to the selection on the screen in front of me.

“We need to let the funeral home know by the end of today.”

“Right.”

Blowing out a breath, I scanned the choices again.

“I like these, but none of them are cheap.”

“Forget about the money.”

Owen walked behind me to check the ones I preferred.

“I’ll pay for now, and we’ll make it up from probate. Mum’s house will sell for at least half a million.”

“Wow.”

My brow rose.

“That much?”

“Easily, based on its location,”

Owen confirmed.

“Those? He pointed at the arrangement I’d chosen.

“Yes, if you agree.”

“Sure.”

He glanced my way, offering a sad smile.

“We’ll only have family flowers.”

It was strange spending so much time with Owen again. We’d been so close as youngsters, but time and geography had put distance between us. Gone were the days when he’d known what I was thinking just by looking at me. That mantle seemed to have been taken by another man.

“Has the crematorium confirmed the date you wanted?”

Eli’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Yes,”

Owen straightened as he replied.

“It’s in ten days.”

“That’s good.”

Eli smiled at him, but his clenched jaw revealed how he truly felt about the idea of us staying so long.

“Thanks again, Owen, for putting us up here.”

“She’s my little sister.”

Owen motioned to me.

“I’ll always put up with her.”

“Hey,”

I protested as Owen burst into laughter.

“That’s not what Eli meant.”

“But you don’t know me.”

Eli’s stare drilled into Owen.

“So, I appreciate it.”

“Eli’s right,”

I confirmed.

“Despite your insults, it’s good of you, Owen.”

“I don’t mind, really.”

Ignoring my feigned protest, Owen focused on Eli.

“I don’t know that much about what’s going on in Erin’s life anymore. It’s good to get to know you.”

Eli’s lips curled.

“She’s an amazing woman.”

I swore my heart skipped a beat at Eli’s praise. At my age, his compliments shouldn’t have affected me, but sitting there, I could sense the heat pooling on my cheeks.

“Yes, she is.”

Owen patted me fondly on the shoulder, and for one protracted moment, both of their attention was solely on me.

“Shall I call the florists, then?”

I loved them both in different ways, but their dual attention was difficult to bear.

“Sure, and before you ask, here’s my phone.”

Handing me his device, Owen swooped to collect his cup.

“I need another cup. How about you guys?”

“Thanks.”

Aside from the still undealt with trauma of everything that had happened with Hawkins and then the news of my mum’s passing, the most taxing part of staying there so far had been the lack of a phone of my own. Just like Eli, my device was still sitting in the small cabin where we’d first got to know each other. Being without it was proving difficult to get used to.

My gaze flitted to Eli as, dialing the number, I waited for the phone to connect. He wanted to go back to the cabin and collect our possessions, and increasingly, I realized he was right. It wasn’t only our things we’d left there, but news about Chelle as well. Recent events meant I’d been able to push thoughts about her away, but denial only worked for so long. One day soon, I’d need to discover the truth about her, James, and Miles.

“Sullivan’s Florists?”

The male voice on the other end of the line dragged me back to the present, and focusing on the screen, I was only vaguely aware of Eli following Owen out toward the kitchen as I answered him.

“Oh, hi. I’m calling to confirm the floral selection for my mother’s funeral.”

It was strange saying those words out loud.

“Certainly, we can help you, Madam,”

the florist continued.

“I’m sorry to hear of your mother’s passing.”

“Thanks,”

I replied, my gaze following in the direction the two men had disappeared to.

Logically, I knew there was nothing to worry about. No reason the two of them shouldn’t have time alone, but despite the reassurance, my pulse accelerated as the florist kept speaking.

What were they doing in there together?

Since when had either of them needed help making hot drinks?

Would either one of them divulge something embarrassing about me to the other?

Fuck.

Why had I offered to make the call, allowing them to vanish together anyway?

Toes curling in the slippers I’d borrowed from my brother, I inched to the edge of my seat and placed the laptop down on the coffee table.

“Madam?”

The florist’s confused tone reminded me he was waiting for me to talk.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Brows knitting, my attention darted back to the screen.

“You were going to confirm your selection for the service.”

His labored tone suggested it wasn’t the first time he’d asked me the question.

“Erm, yes.”

Flushing, I read him the company’s product code for my selection, but my thoughts were still with the two men in the kitchen.

Without my mum, Eli and Owen might have been the two most important people in the world to me, but the idea of them confiding behind my back was disconcerting.

“Lovely,”

the florist answered.

“And the date and location?”

“Actually, can I email this information to you?”

I was too distracted to trust myself to get the details right.

“Erm, absolutely.”

Apparently, he hadn’t expected my response.

“Just use the email address on our website, and please leave us your contact number. We’ll be in touch to confirm pricing and availability.”

“Thank you.”

I hung up before the poor florist even had time to reply, rising from my chair and tiptoeing out into the hall. Clutching Owen’s phone in one hand, I turned toward their voices and headed quietly for the kitchen. Staying close to Owen’s cream wall, I paused, tuning into their conversation. It was Owen’s voice I heard first.

“You said it was an old associate of yours who caused all the nasty business?”

Owen sounded as if he was trying to play it cool, but it was obvious to me that he was out of his depth. My brother was a great guy and an emergency consultant. The chances that he’d have anything to do with men like Hawkins were almost nil, unless they came in as his patients.

“Yeah.”

Eli’s forced casual tone was equally as feigned.

“I’m afraid so.”

“Wow.”

Owen’s voice was nearly lost beneath the noise of the kettle boiling.

“What was it you said you did for a living?”

“I’m a tour guide. That’s how I met Erin.”

“Oh, yes.”

The sound of cupboard doors closing and cups being placed on the counter punctured Owen’s reply.

“Is that where this associate was from?”

“He was from my old profession.”

Eli’s clipped tone conveyed how little he was enjoying the course of the conversation.

“But the Official Secrets Act prevents me from saying too much more about that, I’m afraid.”

“Oh.”

Evidently, Owen had not been anticipating that reply. “I see.”

I imagined the way his mind was boggling at Eli’s mysterious response. I knew the feeling all too well, having experienced it myself.

“I’m sure you understand,”

Eli went on.

“Of course.”

The conversation fell into a strained hush, persuading me that was the moment to intercede.

“What’s happening in here?”

Attempting to keep my voice upbeat, I swept into the kitchen, just as both men lifted their heads to look my way.

“That was fast.”

Eli’s arching eyebrow supported his skeptical tone.

“Is everything sorted?”

“After all that, I need to email them the details.”

I compelled laughter from my lips as I slid the phone across the counter to Owen.

“Can we do that from your email, Owen?”

“Sure.”

Owen’s brow creased.

“Don’t they take phone orders?”

“I think he wanted all of the information in one place.”

Sensing Eli’s stare on me, I couldn’t help but shift my weight from one foot to the other. I didn’t like lying to either of them, but I could hardly tell them I didn’t trust them to talk to one another when I wasn’t there to mediate.

“Right.”

Owen’s sigh twisted the blade of guilt inside me.

“If you two finish up here, I’ll go and take care of it.”

“No problem.”

Eli rose from the counter he was leaning against.

“We can do that, can’t we, Erin?”

Something about his tone assured me that Eli could see straight through my untruth, and a tingle of electricity raced along my body. If he was unhappy about how I’d handled the situation, he might demand there were consequences. Strange as it might have been, I realized I’d missed his boundaries.

“Of course.”

Smiling, I watched Owen collect his phone before he wandered out of the room. He’d barely been gone a minute before Eli’s taunting tone splintered the remaining silence.

“Everything okay, little girl?”

My gaze darted to meet Eli’s. He knew I’d lied. I wasn’t sure what had given me away, but standing there, I knew that he knew.

“Something you want to tell me?”

Eli folded his arms across his chest; an act that didn’t seem to provoke as much discomfort in his healing shoulder as I might have expected.

“I…”

Reaching into the ceramic pot containing tea bags, I bit my lip.

“I might have lied about the florist.”

Damn him.

I’d never met anyone who could read me as easily as Eli could.

“I see.”

His lips twisted at my admission.

“Can I ask why?”

“I was worried about leaving the two of you alone.”

Uncomfortable heat rose to my face as I forced one tea bag into each waiting cup.

“I know that sounds bad, but it’s the truth.”

“Worried I might find out something I wouldn’t like?”

Eli chuckled at my obvious mortification.

“Because it’s a bit late for that, little girl.”

“No, I…”

That was precisely what I’d been worrying about.

“What do you mean, it’s too late?”

Reaching across the counter, he stilled my hand, and the deed sent my attention flying back to his face.

“Isn’t it obvious, Erin?”

His fingers enmeshed with mine.

“There’s nothing Owen could say that would change my feelings for you. I’m in love with you.”