Page 26 of The Heiress

And then Jace surprised me. “I’m coming with you.” I didn’t think an angry bull would detract him.

“You don’t need to do that. This is my problem, not yours.” The last thing I wanted was for Jace to get dragged into my issues when he had so many of his own to deal with.

He pulled me deeper into the room, my body almost flush with his, and dropped his voice to a whisper. “You shouldn’t do this alone. If you don’t want me then at least let Hazel. This is too big for one person.” Then he glanced over my shoulder at the closed door. “It would be safer too.”

“Safer?”

He snagged my fingers with his, sending a wave of tingles up my arm. “Do you know who the Roarks are? Really?”

“I know.”

“Then you know they’ve got issues. I genuinely hope your birth mother is thrilled to see you and that the family welcomes you home with the warmth and love you deserve, but there’s also the possibility that they won’t.”

I curled my fingers more tightly around his, a sliver of fear growing inside me. “I have no intention of getting tangled up in their drama—if there’s even anything to tangle with. We don’t know.”

He smiled as his eyes passed over the features of my face. “We both know, Sam. You’re Victoria. AndVictoriais tangled up with government defense contracts, spy satellites, and a whole shit storm of conspiracy theories. If you don’t take me with you I’ll go out of my fucking mind worrying about you every second that you’re gone.”

My heart pounded but it wasn’t with fear. It had absolutely nothing to do with the man in the next room or the possibilities he brought with him. It had everything to do with Jace. His presence made me dizzy and his intensity took my breath away.

These were not the feelings of a friend helping another friend out. This wasmore.I didn’t know what was happening between us but I didn’t need a tidy definition to understand that Jace was in my blood—maybe more than anyone else on the planet.

“I’d feel a lot better if you came with me.”

He let out an enormous sigh of relief, closing his eyes again, and cutting me off from reading his emotions as he crushed me against his chest. “Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to have to throw you over my shoulder caveman style.”

I laughed into his hard wall of chiseled muscle, curling my fingers into the soft cotton of his shirt. “You can keep your alpha biker hidden until necessary.” I became keenly aware of how masculine Jace’s body felt wrapped around mine, especially as I looked up at his stubbled jaw and intense brown eyes. The floor fell away. “I would very much like your support and company.”

He stared down at me for several long, breathtaking moments. My heart twisted and took on a new, unfamiliar shape, and a powerful desire throbbed to life. Jace’s eyes grew darker. His hands skimmed over my skin. When he spoke, his voice was rough and low. “Then you’ve got me, Sam. For however long you’ll let me stay.”

9

“Ineed to take a couple of days off. I’m sorry.” I felt so bad to ask for more last-minute vacation days, but what else could I do?

David frowned at me. “Close the door.”

This was it. He was going to tell me to take a leave of absence and get my shit together. And I wouldn’t blame him. He was basically without an employee and I was leaving him in a tough space.

“Sit. Let’s talk.” He shuffled some folders into a pile and closed his laptop. David wore his typical David uniform of brown trousers, a button-up, loose tie, and disheveled hair. He constantly looked like an academic who accidentally got lost in a corporation and couldn’t find his way out. Some days he wore his glasses instead of contacts and that really maximized the effect.

I pushed one of his office chairs a little closer to the desk and sat. “I’m sorry, David, but it can’t be helped.”

“Calm down, Sam. I’m not upset. I’m worried.” He shook his head and sighed. “I’m trying so hard to give you space but you know how I feel about all of you. You’re my family and I care and I want to help, but I know this is private.” He had this pained look on his face that totally disarmed me.

All the tension dissolved and my shoulders relaxed for the first time all day. I sat forward, my hands on the desk so he’d know I was opening up to him. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you and the entire Excel Research Group. All I want is to be back here. I feel like someone plucked me out of my life and dropped me into a movie. None of it feels real anymore.”

“Grief can be like that.” He patted my hand. “How are you? Really?”

And that was the million-dollar question. I avoided it at all costs because thinking about how I really feel hurt too much, but also because most people didn’t really want to know. But David wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t mean it.

“I’m lost. I’m a mess. David,” I shook my head, “there’s some serious shit happening. That’s why I need the extra days off.”

His sympathetic frown morphed into a big-brotherly glare. “What’s wrong?” He may be adorably nerdy, but he was also kind of a badass in kung fu and had a tendency to leap into action when he felt his friends or family were in trouble.

“Some family issues have popped up.” I left it vague, not because I didn’t trust David—trust and privacy were part of our jobs—but because it was too soon to confess what I didn’t know with absolute certainty.

His gaze narrowed on me and I knew he was trying to pick out information from my expression, analyzing my word choices, in an attempt to understand. Finally he sat back in his chair and scowled. “Is there anything I can do? Or the company?”

My stomach twisted and a wave of nausea hit. This next part was critical but felt so very wrong. “Actually yes. I need help investigating my parents.”

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