Page 48

SINCLAIR

“What do you think it’ll be like not having the huge hunk following you around every day?”

My face falls and Zoey pulls herself into a sitting position from where she’s been lounging on my bed with Monty as I unpack from the trip.

“Sin, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that to sound so?—”

“Honestly, it’s fine.” I wave away her concern.

It’s only been a day.

Of course I’m fine without him.

Although, it’s a relief that I’ve been able to talk to Zoey about Denver.

I told her everything as soon as I saw her after we got back from the forest. She’d laughed when I stared at her in shock over the fact she wasn’t even a little bit surprised that I’d spent my trip to the wilderness getting fucked to within an inch of my life by Denver.

But she’s my best friend, and I saw the potential she and Ashton had before she did, so perhaps we were the same for her.

“I mean… I had loads of space in bed last night without him… so there’s positives, right?”

Zoey arches a brow.

“Yeah,” I mutter, not fooling anyone. “… I totally miss the giant Brute.”

We landed yesterday, and I haven’t seen Denver since. He managed one phone call to me last night and a text this morning. But my father has him busy working on something, and he’s not been alone at all from what I can tell.

Monty rolls onto his back, looking up at Zoey pathetically until she rubs his belly.

“Aww, Monty, what’s wrong?” she asks in a baby voice.

“He didn’t finish his breakfast this morning,” I say, looking at Monty’s big brown sad eyes.

He’s not been himself since I got back to the city. He ran to greet me the second Sullivan and Molly dropped him off yesterday, then he ran through my place from room to room.

Searching for Denver.

But of course, he wasn’t here. He will hardly ever be here now.

Not if things go back to the way they were before when he was my father’s right-hand man.

I saw him once a week then, at most. He was always busy doing something.

Sometimes he’d work with Sullivan, and he’d even go to Botswana with Uncle Mal from time to time to check on the mines and business there.

Those trips sometimes span across weeks.

I exhale, my shoulders slumping as I take my lingerie bag out of my suitcase.

Most of it doesn’t even need laundering.

I was naked whenever we went back to the hotel, the girls to their rooms…

me to Denver’s. I’d grown so used to spending every night together, almost like being back in the forest again.

Sleeping inside his big, strong arms, waking up to him.

Looking into his deep green eyes as he pushed inside me slowly each morning, increasing his pace as his hands tangled in my hair and he kissed me awake with a passion that made my throat burn.

I was falling.

Deeper and deeper every day.

And now it’s all stopped.

Just like that.

“You guys will get more time together once you tell your father though, right? He’ll understand Denver needs more time off so you can spend it together now he isn’t your bodyguard anymore.”

I shrug, not wanting to get my hopes up. “I don’t know. We’ve got to tell him first. He and Denver have always gotten on so well, I don’t know how he’s going to take knowing that we’ve been keeping this from him.”

“You’ll talk him around. He never stays mad at you,” Zoey chirps, trying her best to cheer me up.

I pull some clothes from my suitcase and lay them on the bed, ready to hang back up.

She’s right. My father doesn’t stay mad at me.

I wrote off his Bentley when I first got my license, and after he made sure I was okay he was only mad at me for a day, tops.

Then there was the time I threw a secret party at his and Mom’s old place when they were out of town, and someone spilled bleach all the new marble floor.

He was mad for two days then, but I’m sure he only stretched it out because Mom was so disappointed.

Since we lost her and my brother, I don’t think he’s spent one minute being mad at me for anything. He’s just been a little overprotective. Assigning me my own personal bodyguard who I’m now missing so much that it’s like my chest has a hole in it.

“I thought Denver would have insisted we told him the second we got back from his cabin,” I say, abandoning my unpacking and flopping down onto my bed.

Zoey frowns. “You say that like it’s a bad thing?”

I reach out and fuss Monty, rubbing his ear as Zoey continues stroking his belly.

“It’s not… I just…” I let out a frustrated groan.

“You wanted him to take the initiative to tell your dad? And now because he hasn’t insisted at the first opportunity, you’re questioning whether he’s as all in as you think?”

I look into Zoey’s understanding gaze.

“How do you do that?” I huff.

“It’s what I would be asking myself in the same situation. But that’s because you can’t see it when you’re the one whose emotions are involved. Because from the outside, there’s no question that man is smitten with you. He scared those guys in London so bad they practically ran out of the place.”

I purse my lips. “He did that to people before anything happened between us.”

“Before anything happened from your side, you mean?” Zoey gives me a pointed look.

I know what she’s hinting at, that Denver has always gone that extra mile for me.

He’s always been more protective over me than Sullivan, or my father, or any other person that’s connected to our family whose security is entrusted to him and his team.

He’s never treated me like just a client.

“You’re Sinclair.” The memory of his words makes a shiver run up my spine.

“Go and tell your father.”

“What?”

“Go and tell him,” Zoey repeats, looking at me like she’s about to shoo me off the bed and push me out of the door to do it.

“I can’t. Not without Denver. He wants to be the one to tell him.”

“So ask him to meet you there. Or get in Lenny and go pick him up and go together. Just do it. It’ll be like ripping off a Band-Aid. The sooner and quicker the better. Unless you want to keep wondering when the next chance you’ll get to be together will be.”

I stare at Zoey as my mind starts whirring at lightning speed.

I totally should. We need to tell my father.

And if Denver’s not going to initiate it, then I will.

Okay, so my father and Sullivan might take a while to get used to the idea.

And if they try and take it out on Denver, then I’ll claim it was me who started it.

I mean, it was technically. I’m the one who coerced him into training me the way he did.

I’m the one who didn’t use my safe word.

I’m the one who asked him to fuck me on that gym mat.

And I’m the one who has been getting drunk on every look, touch, and kiss he’s given me since.

This is on me. And it’s on me to make us come clean.

I grab my phone and dial him as Zoey looks at me encouragingly.

I frown, staring at the screen as it’s diverted to voicemail. “No way! He screened me.”

“He’s probably in the middle of something important, or driving,” Zoey suggests.

I chew on my lower lip, a flare of indignation sparking in my gut. He’s never not answered my calls straight away. My phone chimes with an incoming message before I have a chance to overthink it any further.

Denver: Sorry, Princess. Something’s come up I need to deal with. I’ll call you as soon as I can.

“See?” Zoey says, reading the message. “He’s working, that’s all.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I agree, rolling my eyes at myself for almost getting pissed over nothing.

“He’ll probably call you before you even finish unpacking, I bet,” Zoey says.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I jump back to my feet and resume emptying my suitcase. I want to have it done by the time he calls. Then we can go and see my father the way we should have done already.

Together.