Blackbourne Investigations 02 - Consequences

Chapter 11 - Lipstick Application?

This is dedicated to Prepgirls. Thank you for all your support and encouragement :D

I looked at Gabe with doubt written all over my face.

"What kind of training does Luke want to do which requires my hair to be out?"

He raised a brow and stepped behind me, quickly ripping the pins out of my bun and unfurling my hair, running his hands up through it, lightly scratching his finger nails over my scalp and fluffing out my hair. My head half dropped forward and I swallowed a groan. It felt amazing.

I sluggishly pushed myself forward and swung my chair around to face Gabe, pushing one side of my hair behind my ear,

"You can't distract me, what kind of training?"

He flicked my nose and walked away, "You'll see."

I huffed in frustration and spun around to my desk again. A quick glance confirmed he had walked off with my hair pins again. I'd have to start invoicing him for them if he kept this up.

It had been a busy morning.

Luke had stayed the night and it felt like we were establishing a routine. Picking up take-out on the way home and who showered first. I had gotten up the courage to ask him when the locks could be installed and he had confirmed they were going in today. Tonight would be my first night by myself again.

I was looking forward to it with mixed feelings. I felt it was the right thing to do. Having them come home with me at night brought all kinds of conflicting feelings into me. It was the right thing to do, but I already knew I would miss them.

Luke had waited until I had gotten into bed then opened the door and slipped in too. Remembering Mr. Blackbourne's bodyguards words and not wanting to send him conflicting messages I had told him it wasn't appropriate to sleep in with me. His answer was a grunt and he pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me and muttering "This way we'll both sleep better Sang."

I lay awake with my head pressed to his chest listening to him breath. It was deliberate. We were, in the rational time of night, deciding to sleep in the same bed together.

The warmth and security of him quelled my doubts. The knowledge that this was the last time I could have this settled me.

He'd mentioned this morning that he would be doing some training today but had remained annoyingly vague about it ever since.

Gabe also hadn't cracked under my questions. I shot the direction he had disappeared into a glare, the phones shrill ring startling me.

I answered the phone quickly, mentally going through the location of all the men if I needed to direct the call.

The response was abrupt, "Tell Victor to call me."

The crash of the phone back into the receiver and muted beeps confirmed that the caller had hung up.

I pressed the phone back into the base quickly before dialling Victor's extension.

"Sang?" His baritone voice was smooth and unhurried.

"Sorry to disturb you. I just had a caller ring up and say 'Tell Victor to call me', I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to grab their details, they immediately hung up."

"Huh. It's Peter again. That's no problem Sang, he usually does that or leaves an obscure message on the answering machine. I'll give him a call shortly."