Deviant (Boys of Winter #3) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,45
I agree, stepping out of his arms and looking back down at the ledger. “How can I help? I want to find these children, but I don’t even know where to start looking.”
Cruz shakes his head. “I wish I knew.”
“What about that massive tech room that Dynasty has below ground? Could anything in there help?”
Cruz looks back at his laptop screen, staring at the image of Maddison Atwell. “Possibly,” he says, his eyes going wider as the slightest bit of hope pulses through his veins again. “My dad was telling me that Dynasty was getting an updated facial recognition program, far beyond anything else on the market. If that’s already been done, I can use the images from the missing person’s site and do a scan, but if the victim hasn’t been let out in public, then it’s hopeless. Not to mention, running a scan for each child could take weeks.”
“Fuck,” I grunt. “Is that our only option?”
“At the moment, yeah. It’s all we’ve got.”
“But it’s something,” I remind him, looking up and meeting his broken stare. “Do it. I don’t care who tells you that you can’t be down there using that software. You have my direct approval and no one is going to stop you.”
“It’s not just going to happen overnight,” he reminds me, making sure that I fully understand.
“I know, and quite frankly, I don't care if it takes us fifty years. We’re finding every single one of them. Hell, create a team if you have to, but whatever you do, don’t give up.”
Cruz’s eyes brighten by the second, and before I know it, he’s diving into me and crushing his lips against mine in a bruising kiss. I don’t even get a second to breathe before he’s pulling away and grabbing his notebook and Sam’s ledger. “I’ll be back … fuck. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Don’t wait up.”
And just like that, Cruz storms back through the house, grabs Grayson, and all but launches himself out the front door.
CHAPTER 11
My feet feel heavy as I drag myself up the grand staircase, my consciousness threatening to give out mid-step. It’s been a long day, and as the boys took off one by one, I found myself alone with the broodiest asshole I’ve ever met. The minutes ticked by deathly slow. Though, I can’t really complain. Carver’s silence and my need to ignore his assholery gave me a chance to catch up on a little schoolwork, and I mean very little. There’s still a tall stack of work I need to get through piled on the kitchen counter.
My brain is fried. All I want to do is find my bed and crash, though it’s only seven in the evening. If I were to go to bed now, I’d probably be up at four in the morning, demanding attention. The boys would force themselves to wake up to give it to me, but I don’t want to do that. They’re under enough stress as it is and I don’t need to add to that.
I miraculously make it to the top of the stairs and feel as though I get shorter with every step I take down the hallway. Until I walk past Carver’s bedroom door and hear a soft, needy groan coming from inside.
My back straightens as something comes alive within me.
My, oh my. Carver with his dick in his hand would certainly be a sight that no woman would ever be able to forget.
I find myself backing up and coming to a stop outside his door, desperately trying to control myself. His door is open just a crack, but it’s absolutely none of my business to be peeking through it.
I need to walk away.
I need to come to terms with the fact that Carver doesn’t want to get on board the sharing train and leave him the fuck alone. Yet no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop myself from wanting him. There’s just something about Dante Carver that draws me in. He’s intense in all the right ways and disturbingly gorgeous, but underneath all that broody assholery, he’s got the kindest heart that I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I’m going to be absolutely wrecked when he finds another girl to share all that with.
When no other noises come from within, I somehow find the strength to step back from his door, but the second I do, a low, tormented groan sounds throughout the long hallway.