Page 33

PATRICK

I would have spent the next five weeks lounging around my house as I waited for my leg to heal, but my mom was here, and that meant she would drive me insane if I stuck around the house. My only escape was work, and I had a job waiting in the wings for me.

Edu still needed answers about his father, which meant I could get out of here and forget all about the women my mother was trying to set me up with.

Carting my ass out of bed, I hobbled over to the bathroom and took a sponge bath, excited for the day I could actually take a fucking shower.

Technically, all I had to do was wrap it, but there was no fucking time for all that shit this morning.

My mom would already be up, waiting to sic the next single woman on me. I had to move fast.

I slid down the stairs on my ass, refusing to do things the hard way, and then worked my way over to the kitchen, snagging a banana for when I got to work. Thankfully, there was always coffee made in the OPS building, even if it was shit.

“Where are you going?” my mother asked, sneaking up behind me and scaring the shit out of me.

“Work.”

“Work? But you’re injured.”

I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’m just running a background check. Nothing in the field.”

“But I had brunch scheduled for you!”

I internally cringed at the word brunch, hoping she meant for just the two of us, but deep down, I knew better. “Sorry, Mom. I can’t.”

“Patrick Christopher Cook!”

I winced at the middle name. It was always bad when your mother said your full name, but even worse when I knew if I turned around, my mother would be standing with her hands on her hips and a disappointed look on her face.

But I turned around anyway because she was my mom. “Yes?”

Her chin quivered, which was nearly always my kryptonite. “Patti, I just want you to find someone.”

“I understand that, but I have a job.”

Wiping the tear from her eye, she took a step forward. “Why won’t you settle down? Is it something I did?”

“Mom, this has nothing to do with you. In fact, I’m just not like you and Dad. I don’t want to get married. I’m not looking for the perfect woman, and I don’t care if dinner is waiting for me.”

“But—”

“Mom, I swear, I’m happy. Why can’t you believe that?”

“I just want you to be as happy as I was with your father.”

I hated when she brought Dad into this. I knew they had this epic love story, but that just wasn’t for me. I was happy with my life the way it was. I didn’t need a woman at home with me or any of the other things she thought were so important in life.

“Just promise me you’ll meet this woman. Even if you don’t marry her,” she added quickly. “She’s very nice. I think you’d really like her.”

There was no getting out of it. Not if I didn’t want to break my mother’s heart. “Alright. What time is she going to be here?”

“Ten-thirty.”

“I’ll be back in time to meet her.”

With that, I kissed my mom on the cheek and headed out, wishing I could break the other leg just to get out of this meeting.

Because that’s what this really was. An interview for a potential bride.

That’s all my mom saw, and all I felt was nausea swirling in my gut at the thought of walking down the aisle.

I got in the golf cart one of the guys had brought over, and used my left foot to press the pedals.

It was a little rough going at first, but I made it work, only hitting the fence twice before getting the hang of it.

FNG was outside with an umbrella, doing some kind of Chinese fighting as he tested out his newest product.

IRIS was sitting at a table, wiring a bomb, and IKE…

I didn’t want to know what he was thinking as he polished his gun in his three-piece suit.

I nodded to Lock as I walked in, ignoring the confused look on his face since we were supposed to have a few days off.

It didn’t matter. I’d only be here for a few minutes running a database search.

As long as no one suspected what I was doing, there would be no need to look into my search history.

And I didn’t plan on giving anyone an excuse to look any deeper than necessary.

I slid into the chair in front of the desk I normally used, quickly pulling up the database I needed. Getting the information was simple since Edu gave me his father’s information. I was in and out in no time, already shutting down the computer when I looked up and nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Jesus Christ, Lock. What the fuck are you doing?”

He cocked an eyebrow at me as he leaned against the doorframe, studying me intently. “You just couldn’t let it go.”

“Let what go?”

He sighed, pulling up a chair to sit down. “Look, I get it. It’s hard to let go.”

I nodded slowly, then narrowed my eyes at him. “Let go of what?”

“Look, man. I get it. We all do. We’ve been there. You don’t have to keep it locked inside.”

I still wasn’t following. Whatever he thought was going on, it didn’t make any sense to me. “Trust me, there is absolutely nothing locked inside.”

“Because you’re not a vault.”

“What are we talking about?”

“I’ve seen it a million times before. Listen, you want to look into that shit, it’s fine. I get it. You need a release. Go for it, but focus on work.”

I glanced at the screen and then back to him. You need a release… He thought I was looking at porn? On the work computer? That was slightly ironic, considering what my mom walked in on. I was just about to correct him when I realized he’d given me the perfect excuse to cover my tracks.

“Yeah, sometimes I can’t help myself.”

“You’re gonna have to try. It’s not healthy.”

“That’s taking it a little far. Everyone needs it from time to time.”

“True,” he nodded. “I remember what it was like for me. Try as I might, it was impossible to let go. Even now, I wonder what might have happened.”

That far-off look in his eyes had me questioning why he was looking at so much porn when he had a knockout like Juliette. What kind of man chose naked strangers over his wife? Why the fuck even get married?

“Uh…you know, I think you might want to see someone about that.”

He snorted in agreement. “You might be right. That feeling still gets to me. It’s like getting electrocuted. You know what I mean?”

“Not really,” I answered, eyeing him closely. “Are you okay, man? Everything good with you and Juliette?”

“Us? Yeah, we’re great.”

Then why the fuck did he miss porn so much? That was just unhealthy. I was all for porn, but if you were married, it hardly seemed like the ideal way to live. “And Juliette is okay with this?”

“Okay? She says it’s good to remember what it was like.”

“She…agrees with you?”

“All the time. Can’t get enough of it.” He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “Sometimes, we reenact it.”

That did it. Bile surged in my throat and into my mouth just a little. “Man, I really don’t need to know what you and Juliette do. Especially…” I pointed to the computer and back to him. “That.”

“There’s no shame in it,” he said defensively. “Remember that shit is what keeps a marriage strong.”

“Wow. Dude, I’m not saying you’re sick, but…you’re fucking sick if you think porn keeps a marriage together.”

He reared back and stared at me in horror. “Porn? Where the fuck are you getting that from?”

“From what you were just implying. Seriously, is Juliette really not enough for you? She’s fucking beautiful, and any man would be damn lucky to have a woman like her, but you’re too busy watching porn and reenacting it to notice the woman right in front of you!”

He shoved to his feet and glared at me. “I wasn’t talking about porn, asshole.”

“Really? Then what the fuck were you saying? Because it sure as shit wasn’t anything about flowers and candy. Jesus, I don’t know what Eva was thinking when she put you in charge!”

“Listen, asshole, I was referring to the fact that you’re looking into the woman you rescued.”

I opened my mouth to yell at him when everything fell into place. He’d walked in on me doing a search, and he assumed I was looking for Piper. Logical, considering everything that had happened.

“Oh.” And again, it also covered my real search, so I went with it. “Yeah, well…she had a real effect on me.”

“That’s all I’m saying, man. When you know, you know.”

I winced at that. “Yeah, I don’t know.”

“But you do. I can see it in your head and in your heart. Don’t be afraid to pull the trigger.”

Pull the trigger was right. I would have to be insane to ever let that woman near me again.

She was so fucking beautiful, and the way her pussy wrapped around me—She was dangerous as hell, and if she ever came near me again, I’d have to take her out just to keep from burying my cock in her and deciding to keep it there forever.

“Yeah, I don’t think she’s the one for me.”

“Then why were you looking into her?” He shook his head, making small pieces of his long hair fall from his man bun. “It’s okay to admit it and become vulnerable. Like I said, we’ve all been there. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I never said I was. And if I really thought she was for me, I wouldn’t hide from it.”

He nodded, sighing as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “Like you were hiding your search? If you didn’t care if anyone knew, you’d have asked Rae to look into it. Maybe that’s some food for thought.”

I glanced back at the screen just as he walked out the door. Now that he mentioned the mouthy vixen from my latest adventure, I found myself stuck on that beautiful face instead of the task at hand. And what a damn beautiful face it was.

But I could think of her after I got the information Edu needed.

My darling Patrick,

You know, it’s interesting. I’ve never written letters before, but now that I have, I like to think of it as writing to my long-lost love.

No, you’re not my long-lost love, but you’ll have to do since there’s no one else to write to.

I finally got my documents back. You wouldn’t believe what happened.