Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sagan

I’ve been awake for hours, listening and watching for signs of panic.

Nothing.

Just her breathing, even and undisturbed. That’s how it’s going to be every night if I have anything to say about it.

But for the first time, Esme has slept through the night.

“Merry Christmas,” I say, running my fingers over her bare back.

She rolls toward me.

“Merry Christmas,” she says back to me, her eyes still sleepy slits.

We share a morning-breath kiss, and she’s as sweet as can be.

“How did you sleep?” I ask.

“Perfectly,” she says, kissing my throat.

I stroke her bare back, reveling in the warmth of her bare skin. My cock twitches against her hip, and she arcs an eyebrow.

“What are you thinking in that head of yours?” I ask.

Suddenly, she goes still. “Oh my god. Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

We both pause and listen, and then it becomes clear. The pitter-patter of feet on the grand staircase and in the guest quarters upstairs. Everyone is awake.

“Shit! I have guests!” Esme cries.

We use the hidden service stairs and sprint up to Esme’s room. My friends are not there, so we hurriedly get dressed in fresh clothes while the coast is clear.

Children are already ripping open presents downstairs when there’s a knock on the bedroom door.

I open it, and Buck Wood saunters in.

“Thanks for the room, and by the way, I inspected your fireplace and found this mounted inside,” he says.

Esme comes over, and we look at what is in Buck’s hand.

It’s a small device I don’t recognize, except for the part resembling a small speaker.

“What is it?” Esme asks.

“A Wi-Fi-controlled sound system.”

Esme looks at me and looks at Buck. “I don’t understand.”

“Whatever you were hearing in here was being controlled by someone’s phone.”

I scrub a hand over my face. “Could it be the person who declared your fireplace unfit to use?”

A chill runs down my spine as I watch the realization hit Esme.

“I’d like nothing more than to pound that Zane Cowen into the dirt.”

“He’s posted bail,” Esme says. “But I would really love it if you would stay out of jail, no matter how pissed off you might be.”

Esme is absolutely right.

I take the device and thank my friend Buck.

We head downstairs and enjoy Esme’s first Christmas with friends. Real ones.