Smokescreen

Watching Stella sleep gives me a sense of peace, but the anger inside of me still rages. There’s nothing I want more than to crawl into bed next to her and hold her tight, but our time is limited before this crisis gets out of hand. How the hell her pristine name and reputation is wrapped up in this shit bothers the fuck out of me.

I walk back into the living room and see Chris is already here. Even though it’s four am, he came as soon as I called. I had almost six hours on the plane to think about how we can stop this from going public and discredit the girls’ stories since they are obviously lying. Dealing with another country, the laws and regulations are very different.

Chris pours two glasses of scotch and hands one to me. I down it in one gulp and enjoy the burn in my throat. “Tell me what we know so far.”

Jake recaps everything for Chris and I listen for any clues I may have missed. When he’s through, both men look at me waiting for me to say something.

“If Edward is behind this, he’s thinking he’s fucked me. If I stand by Stella when the accusations come out, it’ll look like I’m not protecting Hurst & McCoy. He can go to the board and oust me.”

“There’s a way around that, man. Here’s what I think you should do. Be ready for when this gets out. Have a press release prepared saying you’re aware of the accusations being made but stand by your commitment to uncover any injustices. Just like when JOS was investigated, you will find the truth. Tell the press you have hired your own investigative team to look into all allegations surrounding JOS. Don’t say anything about Sullivan PR or Stella. Let your words speak for themselves. Let Edward feel the pressure and know you’re onto him. If he makes one wrong move, we’ll catch it.

“Jake can get access to his bank accounts, credits cards, phones, computers, everything. Plan to have him watched twenty-four seven. Anything he does, we’ll monitor it. He’s had his hands dirty in South America for a while. Someone’s going to want to get paid or follow through on anything promised to them. Edward will mess up and we’ll take him down.”

“Yeah, but at what cost? We all know what this is going to do to Stella’s business. Her company means the world to her. I can only hope she doesn’t hate me when this is all over.”

“I could never hate you.” Her sleepy voice comes from behind and I turn to see her standing in the doorway. She’s wearing one of my shirts that falls to her knees and her hair drapes in waves over her shoulders. What guts me to the core is the hollowness in her eyes. The shine is missing and replaced with fear.

I make it to her in three strides and pull her into my chest. She falls against me and starts crying. Tears soak through the fabric as she clutches my shirt and shakes in my arms. Each sob that racks her body breaks off a piece of my heart. I bend slightly and pick her up, carrying her back to the bedroom. When I get to the bed, I lie us down, careful not to crush her.

After what seems like hours, she starts to hiccup and loosens her hold. “I’m sorry, you have enough happening without me breaking down.”

“Babe, don’t apologize. You’re my priority here. I’m going to make this better.”

She nods against my chest and I savor the feel of her. This is not how I envisioned our reunion after two weeks apart. Edward’s going to pay for this too. A bark at the foot of the bed causes me to look over to a very excited Scout wagging her tail. I reach down and pet her head as she wiggles against the mattress.

“She missed you too. We both missed you so much that I may have done something very dumb.” Stella lets out a small giggle and I look back to see her grinning.

“What did you two do?”

“I may have let her sleep in the bed with me because I was so lonely.”

Her dad’s words rush back to me about not sleeping alone with Jenny for two years because of their dog. I start to say something but the look of sadness on her face returns and decide to bite my tongue.

“We’ll break the habit. I’m not sharing you in the bed. But when I’m gone, it nice to know you’re not lonely.”

She smiles at me and for a second her eyes light up. I take the opportunity to capture her mouth with my own. The taste of vanilla fills my taste buds as our tongues dance. She lifts up slightly giving me total access and I groan. At first I go slow, trying to hold back, but when she wraps a leg around my thigh, I devour her. Two weeks without her is agony. A dying man would give his last breath to kiss a mouth as sweet as hers. All too quickly she breaks away and leans up into me.

“I told you every day, but you need to know how much I missed you.”

“It was hell without you, babe, but I’m here now and we’ll get this figured out.”

“Is this a boy’s club or am I included?”

“Of course you are. But I’d rather you go back to sleep. We can handle this.”

“I want to be there, Max. Maybe I can help?” The pleading look she gives me breaks my resolve and I nod to her.

“You need to put on some pants though. My mind needs to be focused and your bare legs distract me. Hell, everything about you distracts me.”

“Let me wash my face and I’ll be right there. Scout needs to go outside.”

I kiss her quickly and stand, whistling to the dog to follow me. Jake and Chris barely look up from whatever they’re doing when I walk out. My mom walks into the kitchen and comes directly to me. Without saying anything, her face tells me she knows about Jake’s involvement and he’s not really a bodyguard.

“We’ll take care of it.”

She nods and starts a pot of coffee.

When I get back from taking Scout out, Stella is in the middle of the floor surrounded by