Elisabeth Naughton - Hold On To Me

Air clogged in her lungs, and the terminal spun faster until she couldn’t focus on a single thing.

Ten years. She’d gotten sloppy. She’d thought enough time had gone by and that no one would care where she was. That everything she’d gone through had buffered her from the past. But it hadn’t. And now, when she was finally ready to start over with Mitch, that past was finally catching up with her. Threatening her one chance to be truly happy.

Shannon.

Her ten-year-old daughter’s smiling face flashed behind her eyes and brought the spinning terminal to a standstill.

Her feet shuffled forward. One foot in front of the other, slowly at first, then faster until she was darting around passengers, heading for the exit. Only one thought revolved in her mind. Only one thing mattered.

She had to get to Shannon before they did.

“Thanks for taking Shannon tonight.” Mitch Mathews popped the top on the beer in his hand and took a long swallow.

“You owe me.” Ryan Harrison scowled over his own bottle. “An extra kid in the house cramps my style. Now I have to wait to give Katie those padded handcuffs I got for her on my last trip to New York.”

Mitch cringed. “God Almighty. Stop already. I don’t want to know about your kinky sex life with my sister.”

Ryan chuckled and moved from the kitchen counter toward the slider to look out where Shannon and Julia were swaying on the tire swing Mitch had hung from an old oak in his backyard. It was November in the Bay Area, but the weather had been unseasonably warm the past week, and thankfully, it wasn’t raining, so the girls could be outside.

A slow smile spread across Ryan’s face as he looked at the girls playing together, and without even asking, Mitch knew Ryan was thinking about his wife. He’d had that same sappy grin ever since Annie—now Kate, thanks to her amnesia and five years away—had come back into his life. Oh, he was still the same master-of-the universe, high-strung CEO and controlling son of a bitch he’d always been, but these days Ryan smiled more, he laughed more, and for the first time in years, he actually looked…happy.

Mitch eyed his cell phone on the counter, willing it to buzz, but it just sat there, cold and dark against the granite, mocking him with every look. He hadn’t talked to Simone this morning, and for reasons he couldn’t explain, he needed to know she was okay. She’d been in meetings all day, and her plane had landed in SFO—how pathetic was it that he tracked her flight?—but she had yet to text him. He knew she was probably just busy, but he couldn’t stop thinking about how distracted she’d sounded on the phone last night. He’d just feel a thousand times better when he saw her and talked to her in person.

He glanced back toward Ryan looking like a stupid, sappy schmuck, and reached for the bottle again. Nerves bunched and rolled through his stomach as he took a long pull. Was that what he looked like when he was thinking about Simone? Shit, could Simone see it? Was that why she’d sounded so off last night? What if she wasn’t ready?

He knew what it was like not to be ready. He was thirty-six years old and was just now at a point where he was willing to take a chance again. Simone knew how he felt about her and Shannon, but in the six months they’d been together, she hadn’t once told him she loved him. Maybe it was too soon after her husband’s death.

“Christ, Mathews.” Ryan turned away from the window. “I can hear you stressing all the way over here. Give it a rest.”

“I’m not stressing.”

One corner of Ryan’s lips curled. “Like an expectant father.”

“Whoa. Back that train up. That’s your department, numbnuts, not mine.”

“You will soon.”

Those nerves kicked up higher. Mitch downed the rest of his beer and glanced back at his phone. Come on, already…ring!

“She’ll say yes,” Ryan said in a quiet voice.

Mitch wasn’t so sure. “She never does anything I expect her to do.”

“Which is why you love her. Easy-going, brainless hotties don't interest you anymore.”

Mitch frowned again and tossed his empty bottle into the recycle bin under the sink, then reached for another from the fridge. Ryan was right. And when the hell had that happened? He'd be way better off if he could just fall for a submissive, timid woman. But no, he had to go and take a header for a woman who liked to argue until she was blue in the face and was so damn independent he wasn’t sure she’d ever truly need him the way he needed her.

He closed his eyes and drew in a steadying breath. Shit, he was in so far over his head he didn’t know which way was up.

“I sure do like watching someone else being put through the wringer,” Ryan said with a lift in his voice. “It’s a nice change of pace.”

Mitch raked a hand through his too-long hair. “I’m so glad I could entertain you. Now take these kids out of my house. I’ve got things to do before Simone gets here.”

Ryan chuckled and pulled the slider open. “Girls, time to go.”

The girls giggled and ran into the house. As they swept past Ryan and Mitch and grabbed Shannon’s bag in the foyer, Ryan pulled the keys from his pocket and muttered, “Assuming you don’t fuck things up tonight, Mathews, bring Simone over tomorrow morning, and we’ll do brunch to celebrate the end of your bachelorhood.”

If I don’t fuck things up… And yeah, what if he did?

“Okay,” Mitch managed, walking Ryan to the door, not wanting to think too much about that possibility.

The girls were already standing out front, waiting for Ryan to unlock the car. As soon as Mitch stepped outside, Shannon rushed over and wrapped her arms around Mitch’s waist. “Good luck tonight. Don’t let Mom get all lawyerly with you.”

Shannon’s words eased a place around Mitch’s heart. He knelt down so they were eye to eye. He’d never wanted kids of his own, had never really dated any woman who had kids, but he was crazy about this ten-year-old girl with her wavy red hair and big brown eyes. And every time he thought about being her stepdad, a big ol’ lump formed in his throat. “I’ll do my best to argue our case.”

Shannon grinned and slid her arms around his neck. “She’s gonna love it. She’s such a sucker for anything shiny.”

She smelled liked cotton candy, and her hair was silky soft against his cheek. Mitch closed his arms around her. “I’ll try to remember that. Be good for Ryan and Kate.”

She eased out of his arms, waved, and ran down the path after Julia, who was already waiting in the back of Ryan’s Mercedes.

Mitch pushed to his feet and waved back, feeling oddly nostalgic.

Just nerves.

Man, he needed to see Simone. To hold her and kiss her and lose himself in her sexy scent. Then everything would be good again.

Ryan clamped a hand on Mitch’s shoulder, then slipped on his sunglasses and moved down a step. “You should get a haircut. Women don’t like the scruffy look. And maybe shave for a change. You are trying to make a good impression, you know.”

Mitch tucked his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and shot Ryan a look. “I’m not taking advice about women from you.”

“Why not? I’m two for two on the whole proposal/marriage thing since your sister married me again. And zero divorces. You won’t find better stats than that.”

“Get the hell off my property. And don’t lock my sister up in handcuffs,” Mitch called as Ryan made his way down the front walk. “That’s just freakin’ wrong.”

Ryan chuckled. “Good luck, buddy.”

The girls waved wildly from the backseat while Ryan climbed into the car and started the ignition. And as they pulled away from the curb and headed down the street, Mitch had the strangest sensation that a small part of his heart was going right along with them.

Alone, all those nerves came slamming back. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.

She had to say yes. She just had to.

Because he wasn’t sure what he’d do if her answer was no.

Simone cut the engine of her Volvo outside Mitch’s house in Pacifica and gripped the steering wheel. Panic made it hard to think—hard to breathe, for that matter—but she needed to keep it together and stay calm. It was the only way she was going to get through this.

After freaking out in her car, she’d finally relaxed enough to think through the steps she needed to complete. First and foremost was getting to Shannon. Common sense told her it had been ten years. If the “they” Steve had run from were really interested in finding her, they'd have tracked her down six months ago when she'd foolishly let the cameras catch her face during Kate and Ryan's press conference.

That had been a stupid move on her part. Though she’d known Kate’s amnesia case was unique and that taking her on as a client would generate a little interest, she hadn’t expected the firestorm that had erupted in the press when reporters had discovered that pharmaceutical tycoon Ryan Harrison’s dead wife was really alive. Simone had known her face had been caught on camera—Ryan had been, after all, one of San Francisco’s most eligible bachelor’s— but no one had recognized her, and when weeks went by with zero threat or so much as an inquiry directed her way, she’d dropped her guard.

She wasn’t dropping it now, though. Yes, she had time—no one was coming after her right this minute, were they?—but that didn’t mean they weren’t on their way. She’d already put her and Shannon’s lives in jeopardy. She couldn’t jeopardize Mitch’s too.

Mitch…