“Nana?” I looked to the screen again, and just like that, it hit me.
“Rule 39: Have at least one man on the inside. Who is the one person who loves this family, has lost for this family…Evelyn Callahan.” I cracked my jaw to the side, feeling as if I were a dog at the end of its leash…not realizing I ever even had one on. “I’m now certain, without a doubt, that Ethan’s her favorite.”
“He was the first grandchild,” she reminded me while I pouted.
“I am very hurt by this. Those two are as thick as thieves,” I grumbled, and she just laughed, kissing the side of my face.
“If it makes you feel better, you’re still my favorite.”
I thought for a moment and leaned back onto her. “Yes, it does. Let’s have sex before I have to face these two.”
“You just ask for it now? You aren’t even going to set the mood? We’ve only spent one night together, Wyatt, you are a little too sure—ah…”
She moaned when I kissed her the spot right at the curve of her neck, my hand reaching up to cup her breasts, loving how they felt in my hand. With each kiss that same feeling rushed through my veins.
“Wyatt.” She moaned my name as if it was the only word she knew. I pushed her gently, and she fell back on top of the bed. The food we had been eating found its way on to the floor as I climbed on top of her.
“Say it,” I demanded, staring down into her brown eyes while pinning her hands on either side of her.
“Say what?”
“The same three words you used to bring me to my knees in front of you.”
“I was drunk remember—”
She inhaled deeply when I squeezed her wrist, her chest rising from the bed toward me. If only she knew how beautiful she looked right now, wild, how sensual…it was better she didn’t know, or I knew I’d never be able to say no to her again.
“Say it,” I demanded again, leaning in to kiss her. Her head rose to meet me, and I smirked, my lips hovering over hers. “Say it so I can say it back and kiss you.”
Her eyes went wide like she wasn’t expecting that. But I didn’t know how she couldn’t have known. “Helen, I’ve been so in love for so long I couldn’t even see it…not until you told me how you felt. So say it…not like it’s a bad thing…something you regret…something you never wanted to happen…say it…say it like we’re the best love story ever told.”
A tear threatened to fall from her eye, and all I could do was kiss them.
“I…I love you, Wyatt.”
And this time when that feeling came…like everything else was falling away, I leaned in and not away. “I love you, too.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck and her legs around my waist as my lips met hers, and despite my efforts—to be sweet, to go slow, to be a gentleman—I couldn’t. The more passionately she kissed me back, the more I wanted to dominate her…to have part of her, to make her ache and beg for me.
“Stop holding back,” she said between our kisses. “Never hold back.”
Yeah…I was a motherfucking goner.
HELEN
He held onto my hand when the elevator doors opened on the bottom floor. I tried to let go, but he just held on tighter, placing his fingers between mine. As serious as he had ever been, he looked at me and said, “I’m not hiding you. We aren’t going to sneak around. We aren’t doing anything wrong.”
“Try explaining that to my father.”
“I will,” he said, pressing hold on the elevator doors to keep them open and lead me out. And I never knew walking across the white and gold marble flooring would mean so much to me.
It all felt like a dream.
I wanted to pinch myself I was so happy.
“Have a good day, Mr. Callahan. Ms. Callahan,” the lobby man said to us, and even though he didn’t mean it that way, it still felt like we were together. Husband and wife.
“You too—”
BANG!
Suddenly everything was a blur. My eyes only just barely caught the sight of the chandelier as it shattered into a million pieces of crystal, which rained down on top of us. One moment Wyatt’s hand was in mine and he was holding onto me, and the next he was pushing me back with all his might…and I was on the floor. I was up against the marble desk.
There was throbbing, and I reached up to touch the back of my head…and then everything went silent.
“Wyatt.” I called out, but I couldn’t even hear myself.
Looking up, I saw him, the guns he’d put on under his coat now in his hands as he fired out the broken glass doors and window. Not just one, or two, or three had come—but a dozen. At least a dozen…too many for him alone.
Help.
He needed.
Help.
I turned to see both the guard and the lobby men on the ground. Their blood crawling over the marble toward me. The guard was the closet. His gun the closest. I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t move.
I looked down, and immediately wished I hadn’t because it was then I saw the blood all over my thigh. I was shot.
I looked to Wyatt, who was still firing. Still standing. I wondered how the hell he wasn’t hit, and it was only then that I saw…he was taking bullets! He was taking bullets! Oh god! He was fighting and taking bullets.
Crawling on to my stomach on top of the glass, I dragged myself over to the guard, and just when I was about to reach, it felt like my hand was on fire.
“HELEN!” I heard his scream through the silence.
I looked to him, and he looked to me, wide-eyed and screaming
