The Scotch Royals (Scotch 3)

“And my men snatched you without a struggle,” I reminded her.

She crossed her arms over her chest, irritated by the comment. “That was totally different, and you know it.”

“Anything can happen. That’s what I know.”

She tried to get to the door, but I didn’t move. Like I was a mountain blocking her path, she had no way of getting around me. “Crewe, move.”

“Lovely, pick.”

London finally saw reason, knowing I wasn’t going to change my mind. When I wanted something, I got it. “I guess your driver can take me.”

“What time do you get off?”

“Seven.”

“I’ll ride with you on the way there.” I took her hand, and we walked to the lobby together. My driver was at the curb when we walked through the doors, and we got into the back seat and got comfortable for the short drive.

This whole night shift thing was annoying. I was supposed to sleep all night without her. That defeated the purpose of having her in my life. My arm circled her shoulders, and I pressed my face near hers. “Put your two weeks’ in?”

“I’ll do that tonight.”

She didn’t do that three days ago? “You couldn’t have done that earlier?”

Her green eyes were always a little darker when she was annoyed. “I didn’t think a few days would make much of a difference.”

“It makes all the difference in the world.”

“Well, I’m doing it now. That’s all that matters.”

The car stopped at the entrance to the hospital, and I got out and walked her to the door. It was cold outside, piles of snow still sprinkled in the gutters. The sky had been overcast all day, and I suspected another storm was coming. “I’ll see you in the morning.” I gripped her hips and gave her a kiss.

“I might wake you up with a surprise…”

I smiled against her mouth, forgetting about the small argument we’d just had. “I look forward to it.”

8

London

I put my two weeks’ in, but since they made the schedule by week, they didn’t hold me to the full two weeks. Crewe would be thrilled, but I hadn’t told him just yet. I arranged to have all my stuff taken from my apartment, and I put the rest of the stuff on Craig’s List. All of my valuables were slowly taken away by college students.

Crewe worked from his office in the hotel room while I was at work. When I came home in the morning, he was usually already awake and on the phone, talking about his thriving scotch business. It didn’t seem like he had much to do with his intelligence business anymore, but I’d never really asked him about it—because I didn’t want to know.

When I walked into the hotel room, he was sitting at his desk near the floor-to-ceiling windows where the natural light filtered through. Since he wasn’t going to be seen by anyone, he didn’t wear a suit, sticking to jeans and a t-shirt.

I preferred the casual look, where he could show off his nice arms and his sculpted shoulders. His ass always looked great in his dark jeans, and the dark colors he wore always complemented his brown eyes. He looked great in a suit, of course. But when he didn’t wear a suit, I could see more of the man underneath.

I walked inside and gave him a slight wave.

He was on the phone, but his eyes were trained on me. “Yeah, I agree.” He scooted the chair back from the desk and patted his thigh, beckoning me toward him even though he was in the middle of a conversation. “Let’s increase production. The more visibility we have around the world, the better the marketing.”

I sat on his thigh and wrapped my arm around his shoulders.

His arm circled my waist, and he held my gaze as he finished his phone call. “Let me know.” He hung up and tossed the phone on the desk.

“Who was that?”

“Pias.”

I was surprised it wasn’t Ariel.

“He’s my ears and eyes in the distillery. Distributor.”

“Oh, okay. I think I met him once.”

“You probably have. So, how was work?” He didn’t take much of an interest in my job, probably because he didn’t like the fact that I was gone for twelve hours at a time and in the middle of the night. If he had it his way, I’d stay home all day long and service him like a whore in a brothel.

“Hectic. There was a gang rivalry tonight, so we had a few patients with gunshot wounds.”

Crewe nodded, but his jaw tensed. I knew him well enough to understand what he was thinking, that he didn’t like me working in an environment he deemed unsafe. But there was nothing he could do about it, so he kept his thoughts bottled up inside. “I had a hard time sleeping without you last night.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have any more trouble. Today was my last day.”