Free Wilde For You (The Wilde Sisters Book 3) by Marianne Rice

the past few weeks that she found herself with fifteen minutes to spare and no calls or number crunching needing to be done.
    Not accustomed to chasing after men, she avoided calling Luke, but now contemplated sending him a quick text. It wouldn’t take him long to return a simple message and she’d know for sure if he was planning on seeing her again. Picking up her phone, she typed in his number and stared at the blank screen. What to say? Thinking it over, she finally typed her message:
     
    Let me know if you’d like to schedule an appointment. My calendar is filling up.
     
    There. He could interpret it any way he wanted. Let him think her social calendar was just as busy as her business calendar. Whatever.
    Needing to let off some steam, she drove to Rayne’s gym, In Motion, and popped into a Zumba class. Rayne didn’t ask about her grim expression and gave her a look that said she knew something was up.
    This was why Sage didn’t date. This was why she didn’t do relationships. This was why she didn’t fall in love. Sage may have tripped a little. Still, it wasn’t love. Gah! She barely knew the guy and would never fall in love with him. With anyone. It all lead to heartbreak. Not that her heart was breaking, only her mind. No, her mind was distracted by a jumble of lust, muscles, and pregnancy hormones. Sage knew she’d miss many male opportunities while wasting her time thinking about Luke and willed her brain to focus on her career, her social life, the babies growing in her belly.
    The jerk didn’t deserve her time.
     
    ***
     
    Luke
     
    “Rach. Thank God. Are you all right?” Luke slumped in the seat of his rental car, holding his cell phone close to his ear, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Over the past few days he’d stopped by her work—learning she’d resigned a few months ago—then interviewed her colleagues, her neighbors, her few friends. No one had seen her since last week.
    Thankfully the slimy boyfriend was easy to find. He hadn’t missed a day of work at his car dealership. He didn’t act surprised to hear Rachael was missing—the cops had already been by a few times to interview him—and he didn’t seem too upset about it either. He had a solid alibi for almost every minute of his day, but still, Luke didn’t trust him. The man was shit.
    Luke finally got a bite this morning when Tally, Rachael’s nosey neighbor, mentioned that she may be holed up at a woman’s shelter. Luke thanked her and she’d hinted that she’d like him to repay her by taking off his clothes, but that sure as hell wasn’t going to happen. No wonder Rachael didn’t have many friends if this was how all the women were in L.A.
    “I’m okay,” she whimpered.
    “Are you safe? Are you in the shelter on Montrose Boulevard?”
    “Yeah.” She sighed.
    “I’m across the street. They won’t let me in. Will you come out?” He knew being large and male made him an unwelcome visitor at the shelter.
    Rachael hesitated. “Okay.” She sounded broken. Defeated. But thankfully she was coming.
    Luke unfolded himself from the small car and waited. When the front doors opened, a tall woman appeared. Gruff, stern, and looking both ways down the sidewalk. Probably on the lookout for the monsters that made the women flee to her. Then Rachael appeared. Her shoulders slouched, her small frame shrunken and defeated. With her chin tucked to her chest, Luke couldn’t see her face, but he didn’t need to.
    He jogged across the street, ignoring the watchdog’s glare. “Rach.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. She didn’t hug him back but she leaned against him and sobbed. “I’ve got you now, honey. He’ll never hurt you again. I swear.”
    Her head nodded slightly. Luke pulled away and tipped her chin up. Her cheek was swollen and her left eye rimmed with purple and yellow. “Damn. I’m going to kill that bastard.”
    “No,” Rachael cried. “Leave it alone. I just want to…” She