Jardin's Gamble (Haven, Texas 9)

Well, good morning.

Thea walked into the office the next morning in a daze. She hadn’t slept all night and, truth be told, it was starting to catch up with her. She was feeling woozy and out of sorts.

She hadn’t wanted to come in today. She hadn’t wanted to see Jardin. To talk about yesterday. She didn’t want to do anything except hide from her problems. As she reached her desk, her heart started to go into overdrive.

Fear flooded her system, with an overload of adrenaline that made her feel ill.

There, sitting on the desk in a vase was a single red rose. Her hand shook as she reached out to grab hold of the card. She didn’t need to read what it said. Yet, at the same time there was no way she couldn’t not read it.

Two days until you’re mine.

Bile rose in her mouth, and she barely made it to the garbage can. Shaking, tears flooded her eyes, and she sat for a moment trying to pull herself together.

It was messed up.

It wasn’t real.

Get up, Thea. Sitting on the ground isn’t going to do anything. Jardin will be here soon.

Big girl panties on.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” Carrick said. They were both lying on the bed, facing each other. Both sated from their morning lovemaking.

He really needed to get up and open the garage. And Jardin would need to go home and get changed before heading into work.

But there was still something niggling away at him and he couldn’t let it go.

Jardin opened his eyes, watching him with sharp intelligence. “Yeah? What’s that?”

“Thea.”

Did the other man flinch or did he imagine it?

“What about Thea?” Jardin asked. “You never did say how you met.”

“That’s part of what I have to tell you. In the interest of honesty and communication. Thea and I . . . well, we . . .”

Jardin’s eyes widened. “You slept with her?”

“No. No, I didn’t sleep with her. But we did go on a date. And we kissed.” He explained how he’d met her, bribing her into a date with him. How that date had ended up here at his house.

“When she left that night, I told her to text me when she got home but she never did. My messages went unanswered. When she finally did text, it was to say she couldn’t come help me the next day in the office like she’d promised.”

Jardin frowned and sat up, resting against the headboard. Carrick stared at his cut chest. Damn, the man was hot.

“That doesn’t sound like Thea. She’s only worked for me for two months, but she’s a hard worker and she does what she says she will.”

“I didn’t think it seemed like her either. But she ghosted me. She didn’t reply to any of my messages or texts. And when I saw you with her yesterday—”

“You came to the conclusion I sent her to mess with you?” Jardin asked incredulously.

Carrick winced. “Far-fetched, I know. But I was angry. There was the woman I thought liked me, whom I liked, sitting with the man I loved, who’d hurt me.”

“I get it,” Jardin said quietly. “But I didn’t know the two of you had met.” He reached over and ran his finger over Carrick’s nipple. “You like her?”

He stiffened. “Well, yeah, I did. But like I said, haven’t heard a thing from her so, obviously, she doesn’t feel the same.”

Jardin shook his head. “No. I don’t think that’s the case. She was hurt when you were mad at her yesterday. And she’s been off her game these past few days. Staring off into space, jumpy. I took her out for lunch yesterday to pry answers from her. I touched her yesterday and she acted like she thought I was going to hit her.”