“I don’t know if it’s secret, just know I won’t be the one opening my mouth.”
Because he didn’t want the force of her wrath?That meant it was a stupid plan.And who better to tell him that?
“No, you’re right,” she said.“I’ll go to B House and browbeat him myself.Quit?Breckenridge?He is Breckenridge!”
“And while I’m over here doing my best not to be offended by that declaration…” Uh huh, not so much.Caber didn’t know how to be offended.Right then it seemed all he could do to hold in his amusement.“I’ll tell you, he’s not at home.”
Another curveball.Although…
“He found another job already?Where?”Because she wouldn’t hesitate to walk in there either, security clearance or not.In this state, she’d storm right through the damn walls.“You don’t have to tell me, but I’ll be sitting on your mother’s front steps until he gets back from—”
“Might be waiting a while, he’s not living at the house either.”
New job, new home, what next?She dreaded to think.Could involve a woman without a weight of baggage dragging him down.Did she want him to be happy?Yes.Did she want to imagine him bonding with anyone but her?Definitely not.
Hell mend any new woman in his life who tried to take him from his work or his family.Both were so intrinsic to his identity, the true him would cease to be if this new love interest tried to separate him from either.
“Are you going to tell me where he is or do I have to turn the thumbscrews on one of your little brothers?Ward’s in his office, within easy reach…” She’d be wherever Breck was in a snap.Providing it was in the city, the state—he wouldn’t go to another country for a job… would he?He was good, amazingly good in many areas of life, another nation might offer him a better outlook.“Stonewall me and I’ll file a missing person report.”
His head tilted.“Your instinct’s to go to the cops?Where’d you learn that?”
Not from her family anyway.“Ha-ha, stop trying to change the subject.I’ll find him.One way or another—”
“He’s at Darroch’s,” Caber said, dragging a cellphone across his desk.“I’ll text you the address.”
So Breck wasn’t hiding from her?Good.He should be smarter than that.
“Darroch’s?Isn’t Savvy’s place a studio?”
She’d never been there, but had heard tell.
“A loft,” Caber said, pushing his phone away to show more amusement.“But, yeah, no walls on their bedroom.Roch’s been a little stretched this week.”
It was almost funny that Darroch Breckenridge lived in such a small place.He could afford the best, palatial, yet he was happy where his woman was, happy to be with her.Just like Breck would—no, she wouldn’t cut him any slack.Not until this secret plan was out in the open.
TEN
KNOCKING AT SAVANNA’S place only heated her blood.It was anger.Maybe it was anger.Frustration?Annoyance?Impatience?He better not feed her some line about secret passions or artistic ambition.He didn’t conceal some hankering for a life on stage or blasting into space.They’d done talking through the night too many times to count and he’d never once mentioned being held back from fulfilling a childhood dream by any obligation to the family firm.
But it had to be something that drastic.Why else would he quit not only his career, but his family legacy?
This was so out of left field.It had to be medical.Had to be.Man better be in some kind of fugue state if he believed she’d let him throw away everything he’d worked to build for the Breckenridge future.
The loft door opened and there he was: the man she’d missed all week.That in itself was enough to shake her head.What was he doing answering the door?
“You should be too busy to answer the door,” she said, fighting against gritting her teeth.“Have you contracted a brain eating parasite?”
“Coy—”
“Ah!”she exclaimed, prodding him hard.“No.We don’t know each other.We’re complete strangers.I don’t know any man who would be so reckless and ridiculous.I must’ve misheard your brother because there’s no way it’s true, you quit the firm?”
“Coy—”
“You don’t quit your job without talking to me—” She looked down.“Why am I still on this side of the threshold?”
He stepped aside and in she went, ascending into an open plan space with stairs to the far right up to, what she guessed, was the wall-less bedroom.What a set up.
“Would you like a drink?”
