Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 444

I finally nodded. "Yes. We have a deal."

"Good." He straightened, smoothed his shirt, and headed for the door. "We leave in one hour."

He walked out without a backward glance, and I stood there in the kitchen with my dress bunched around my hips and my panties somewhere near my ankle, and I let out a long, slow breath. Then I bent down, retrieved the panties from under the island, and pulled them up with as much dignity as a woman in an apron can manage. Somewhere against the cabinet, the tomato was dying alone. A casualty of war.

Wow, Sparrow. I thought I had you all figured out. Turns out I was wrong.

I made the food as fast as my hands would allow. I skipped my own breakfast, because there was no time, piled a plate high for Tasha the way she liked it, and set it on the dining table with a glass of juice.

Then I hurried to my room, texted Tasha that her breakfast was waiting, showered again, and dressed for terrain I had never seen. Black jeans, a tight blue t-shirt, my hair packed up and out of the way, and a pair of boots. If the place he was dragging me to was as remote as he made it sound, I wanted to be able to run.

When I came out of my room, Sparrow was descending the stairs. Tasha was in the dining area, seated at the table where I had left her breakfast, and the moment she saw him she stood up, quick as a startled bird.

Sparrow walked over to her and smiled. A real one, or at least a very good imitation. "Tasha. I see you are about to have breakfast."

The door closed behind him, and Tasha stood in the middle of the dining room, her whole face lighting up like a lantern.

She beamed and sat back down, and I watched her take the first bite with her eyes closed, the way she always did when she was truly happy, and something loosened in my chest that had been tight since the moment her voice had cracked across the kitchen.

So I had been right after all. Treat Tasha well, make her comfortable, and she would be happy. That was all she had ever needed.

And if making that happen meant I had to spend one long, boring day in the middle of nowhere with the most insufferable man in the city, it was a small price to pay.