Unforgettable Love (Journey of Love 3)

“Daddy, I’m exhausted. Can we chat about this tomorrow?”

Grabbing his beer, he lifted his hand and headed to the living room where he sat on the sofa and put the TV on CNN.

Letting out a groan, I headed to the front door where I made sure it was locked. Slowly made my way to my bedroom, I stripped out of my clothes and face planted onto my bed. Rolling over, I let out a frustrated cry as I pictured blue eyes staring into mine. The feel of his hot breath on my neck had my lower abdomen pulsing with need.

Shaking my head, my hand slipped between my legs. “I hate you, Dodge. God, I really I hate you.”

STANDING IN THE COLD SHOWER, I tilted my head back as the water rolled down my face and I cursed Sierra Jackson. My dick had been rock hard since she started talking about sex and vibrators, and the bastard was still hard. It took another five minutes and standing under an ice-cold shower before it finally realized it would not be getting any action tonight.

Making my way into bed, I dropped down and then fell back. “Damn, I’m exhausted.”

Crawling up to my pillow, I lifted my hips and pulled my towel off, letting it fall the floor. My mother would flip if she had ever seen a wet towel on the floor. Fuck it. Janice would get it tomorrow when she came to clean.

Letting out a deep sigh, my body began to relax. All thoughts of a certain blonde, blue-eyed vixen quickly disappeared as sleep won over.

Sitting in the conference room, my leg bounced as I went over Sierra’s file. The more I read, the more pissed I got. Her last lawyer was a complete jackass. I needed to let my father know it was time to cut strings with him.

The door opened as I glanced up. Smiling, my father walked in and sat down at the very end of the table. “So. What are your thoughts?”

“First off, he’s an asshole.”

My father tilted his head and raised his eyebrow. “That he is.”

“He thinks he has a play with the old college friend; but little does he know, he is married to his partner and they have been living in the UK for the last three years.”

“Nice. String him along with that one,” my father said. “If his lawyer is not smart enough to follow through with that, we will use it to our advantage.”

Nodding my head, I said, “Oh I intend to. Jeremy’s Facebook page says he is still in Texas. I’m thinking if he hasn’t changed it by now, he’s not going to anytime soon. Then we have someone breaking into Sierra’s house yesterday . . . while she was home. Left a single rose on her pillow. Sierra said Robert would sometimes leave a single rose when he left to work out of town.”

Rubbing his chin, my father slowly nodded his head. “I think there is more to this. Keep digging. My bet would be it wasn’t the husband who came into the house. He has too much to risk. Mrs. Jackson should be arriving shortly, correct?”

You mean the she-devil herself?

“Yes.”

Right then, the conference door flew open and Sierra came tumbling in. Dressed in scrubs that had rubber duckies on them. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she had a light shade of pink on her lips. Seeing my father first, she smiled that brilliant smile of hers. Standing, my father reached his hand out and said, “Mrs. Jackson, you do know how to make an entrance.”

Laughing, she said, “Well, I do demand all the attention. Only-child syndrome and all.”

Turning, she caught my stare. Holy hell, she looked beautiful. I don’t think I had ever seen her look so beautiful. Smiling, she said, “You like rubber duckies, Mr. Walker?”

“Aaron,” I whispered as I imagined a rubber ducky thong under her scrub pants. I could easily push it to the side and sink my fingers deep inside her.

Stop! What in the hell is wrong with me? Focus, man! Focus!

“Aaron? Are you okay? You look white as a ghost,” my father said as he looked at me. Sierra sat down and smiled at me as she ran her tongue along her lips.

She devil.

“You don’t think he’s going to . . . pass out . . . do you?” Sierra asked as she looked at my father.

Bitch.

Clearing my throat and plotting my revenge on Sierra, I said, “I’m fine. Let’s get to business.”

Sitting back in the chair, Sierra stared at me, which made me nervous, which made my heart rate pick up. Which made me feel like I was going to pass out.

“Jeremy Hines is currently residing in the United Kingdom with his husband of three years.”

Chuckling, Sierra shook her head. “Well damn, that was an expensive affair for me to be having.”

“Clearly Dr. Jackson is unaware of where Mr. Hines is living, or the fact that he is happily married to his partner and the father of a one-year-old little girl.”

“Awe. I’m going to have to send him a card,” Sierra said as my father and I both looked at her. Shrugging, she looked away and out the window. Typical Sierra fashion. She was nervous so she cracked jokes.

Taking in a deep breath and blowing it out, I kept talking. “For now, let’s let your husband think Mr. Hines is a key player until he figures out otherwise, or we break the news to him in court.”

“Okay,” Sierra said. Something in her voice changed.

“Moving on to the next thing on the table. The rose on your pillow last night. You’re positive it wasn’t placed there by your maid?”

Snapping her eyes to me, she narrowed her left eye and said, “Why would the lady who cleans my house leave me a rose? She’s never left one before, and I’m positive it wasn’t there before I got into the tub.”

“Did the maid come to your house yesterday?”

“What are you trying to say, Dodge? The maid put it there for me?”

“Dodge?” my father asked as he glanced back and forth between Sierra and me. Sierra’s mouth dropped open as she said, “Aaron, I meant to say Aaron.”

Hoping like hell my father would forget what Sierra just said, I quickly started talking. “When I mentioned to him about breaking into your house, he had no idea what I was talking about.”

My father leaned up and looked at me. “When did you talk to Dr. Jackson?”

Fuck.

“This morning.”

Nodding his head, I was shocked he accepted such a vague answer.

Sierra’s eyes widened in horror. “If it isn’t Robert?” Shaking her head, she stared at me as fear filled her eyes. “Who could it be?”

“That’s what Aaron will find out for you, Mrs. Jackson. Dr. Jackson very well could have paid off your maid to leave the rose there to scare you.” Turning to me, my father stood. “I have a meeting I need to get to. You good here?”

“Yes, thank you, sir, for your help,” I said with a smile.

Giving me a quick smile, my father opened the conference room door. He turned and glanced between Sierra and me. “Check with my secretary for an opening this afternoon; I’d like to speak with you, Aaron.”

Giving him a smile, I said, “Of course, sir.”

Turning, he walked out of the office. The moment the door shut, Sierra stood up. “I didn’t mean to call you Dodge. It just slipped.”

“It’s okay. Let’s get back to the rose.”

“No. No I don’t want to get back to the rose. If we talk about the rose and Robert not being the one who planted it, then that means a total stranger planted it there.”

Sighing, I asked, “Did you call to get the locks changed? What about an alarm?”

Sierra’s hands began to tremble and I wanted more than anything to pull her into my arms and hold her. “Y-yes. I fired the housecleaner and called an alarm company first thing this morning.”

“Good, I’m glad you took care of that first thing.”

Looking down at the table, Sierra barely spoke. “Dodge, the cleaning lady hasn’t been to my house in four days.”

Reaching across the table, I took Sierra’s hand in mine. “They might have waited to come back in so you wouldn’t suspect her.”

Nodding her head, Sierra whispered, “Yeah. Proba

bly.”

Giving me a weak smile, Sierra stood. “I emailed you all the paperwork from the trust fund. I really haven’t taken a look at it to be honest. I always knew when I turned thirty it would be there. It’s not millions of dollars.” Shrugging her shoulders, Sierra took in a deep breath. “My father invested in a lot of real estate. I’m thinking Robert wants some of the real estate along the coast.”

Pulling out my phone, I pulled up my email. Seeing Sierra’s email, I nodded my head. “I’ll go over all of this before the trial.”

Standing up, Sierra said, “Okay, sounds good. I have to get back to work but after today, I’m off for two weeks. I wanted my head clear before the court date. Since I’m not going to the coast now or South Texas, I’ll be around.”

My mind began swirling as I thought of reasons to call her down to the office. “Okay, sounds good. Sierra, I have one more question though. Actually, it’s not really a question.”

Throwing her purse over her shoulder, Sierra said, “Shoot.”

Looking down at the file, I got ready for her reaction. “I need you to reconsider the whole incident with Robert when he—”

Holding up her hand, she shook her head. “He was drunk, Dodge. I’m not making excuses, but if I pull this card out, then he pulls a card out and no telling what cards he can make up. I just want this over. I need this to be over. I’m not pressing charges. Period.”

Nodding my head, I whispered, “Right. Okay. Any other text messages from him?”

“No.”