Page 62 of Trust

Emily popped out of her chair. It took a second for Lani to react. He was finally here. Her world was tilting back another way, and she didn’t know how to feel about it.

“Are you coming?” Emily called out.

“Yes,” she said, practically jumping out of her chair and hurrying to the door. No matter what, she wanted to see Jakob, even if it was to say goodbye if he didn’t want the baggage that came with her.

Thirteen

Jakob followed Ian Smith, Mix as he was known to everyone at TFH, up the massive steps. They had driven around for a few hours. Ian wanted to ensure that no one followed them to the estate. While they had state-of-the-art security, from the five cameras they’d passed on their way up the hill and the at least ten they’d passed after coming through the gate, Jakob knew this was one heavily protected home. With each security measure he spied on, he felt relieved and terrified. Relieved because she was so well-protected. Terrified that a man like Conner Dillon thought she needed this much protection.

The house was Asian in design, looking like something out of a movie, with two massive red doors.

“What’s taking her so long?” Ian muttered as he leaned on the doorbell again.

“Who is it?” A singsongy voice said.

“Emily, open up.”

“Say the password.”

He rolled his eyes. “Is Aaron around?”

“Fine. That’s not the password, by the way.” Then, three locks disengaged before the massive door opened. A tall, dark-haired woman stood on the other side. She had her hair up in a sloppybun on top of her head. She smirked at both of them, but her crystal blue eyes were shrewd as she studied Jakob.

“Mix, what up?”

“Stop calling me that.”

“It’s your nickname.”

“It isn’t. It’s a stupid name you came up with, and I don’t like it.”

The woman gasped dramatically. “My feelings are hurt.”

He was barely paying attention to the byplay because Lani had just stepped into view.

His head had been filled with a discordant hum since he’d learned about her situation. Anger and fear had left his belly in a tight coil from the moment Conner Dillon had calmly told him someone had been trying to kill Lani. Now, she was here, and the spinning seemed to slow, and everything brightened.

She was…stunning. He didn’t think he would ever think any differently. The white and blue Hawaiian print dress was loose, showing some cleavage and only hinting at her curves. Her hair was loose around her shoulders.

“Jake.”

Just that one word, said in a breathy voice…and he was shoving the other two aside to get to her. He pulled her into his arms and slammed his mouth down on hers. She was here, safe, and nothing had happened to her.

The clearing of a throat brought him back from the brink. When Jacob lifted his head, they were both breathing heavily.

“Well, that was hot,” the other woman said.

“Em,” another male voice said. When he glanced over, he saw a man who looked vaguely familiar to Jakob. He had about two inches on Jakob and looked like he could pound Jakob into the ground. The other man reminded Jakob of his brother-in-law.

“Itwas.We can all admit it. Mix is just a spoilsport.”

“Get bent, Emily,” Ian said.

She laughed. “Come on, boys. We need to leave these two alone.” She glanced at Jakob and winked. “All kinds of soundproofing in this house.”

As she led the two men away, Jakob said, “That big guy looks familiar.”

“Mad Dog Daniels.”

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