Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Devon woke to an unfamiliar room.
“You’re up.” Aurora was beside him on the bed. “Hi.”
He rolled carefully to his side to face her. His arm ached, but not as sharply as before. He had vague memories of Tanner pushing him in a wheelchair. Someone coming to change his bandages. Then he’d slept for a long time.
But he didn’t remember this room, and he didn’t remember Aurora being there.
She was lying on top of the blankets. A glance at the window told him it was early in the day. “Where are we?”
“Max’s apartment.”
Which took up the entire third floor of the Bennett Security building above the main office.
Aurora sat up, resting against the headboard. “You’ve been asleep at least twenty hours. It’s almost ten o’clock. I stayed in a different room overnight, but as soon as Max left, I came to check on you and found you still sleeping. I hope you don’t mind.”
Aurora seemed shy, which he hadn’t seen from her before. His eyes moved to the door. “It’s locked, right?”
“Yep. And nobody else is in the apartment. Just us.”
Devon wrapped his uninjured arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “I like waking up to you. I’d kiss you, but I probably don’t smell that great.”
She slid beneath the covers and rubbed that gorgeous little body against him. She wore leggings and a different crop top. “You smell good enough to me.” Aurora tilted her head, looking down at his lips. “So why don’t you go ahead?”
He didn’t need any more invitation than that.
Devon closed the distance between them. He kissed her deeply, enjoying the minty taste of her mouth.
Just a few thin layers of clothing separated them.
His dick swelled in response to her. She hummed in appreciation when she felt him pressing into her leg.
“Good morning to you, too.”
Reluctantly, Devon pulled back before she could take things any further. “I really do need to get cleaned up.” He hadn’t showered since before he’d gotten shot.
Aurora grumbled, but she scooted off the bed to help him stand.
“I’m okay. After a shower and some breakfast, I’ll be good as new.”
She pointed to a plate on the dresser. “There’s a bacon and egg sandwich. Max sent it for you.”
He devoured the food. Someone had left a stack of clean clothes at the foot of the bed.
He picked them up and headed for a door, but Aurora steered him the other way.
“This is the bathroom. The other door leads to the living room and the kitchen, and the million other rooms Max has in this place. Have you been up here before?”
“In Max’s apartment? No. Definitely not.” They all knew that their boss had a place on the upper floor of the building, but he didn’t usually invite employees here. This room had a nice view, and the furnishings looked expensive.
“How about you tell me what I missed while I get cleaned up?”
“I can do that. Especially if I can take a peek while you’re in the shower. Sexy.” She winked at him.
“Maybe later. After I wash the grime off me?” He appreciated that she’d said he was sexy, but Devon felt like crap.
Aurora stayed in the bedroom, and he left the bathroom door cracked open.
It was all marble tile, from the floors to the walls to the counters.
He laid his clothes down and stripped off his hospital-quality pants.
His bandages looked fresh enough, but the rest of him wasn’t anything to get excited about.
Hair matted on his head, a dark scruff on his chin.
The first thing he did was brush his teeth.
There was a shaving kit on the counter, and he poured shaving cream into his palm. “So, you met with Dominic Crane?”
“Yes, yesterday afternoon. It was really surprising, actually.” She told him how Crane disavowed any knowledge of the attacks. “He’s agreed to let me testify early. Lana said it’s happening first thing tomorrow morning. Crane insists that he’ll be found innocent.”
Devon ran the razor over his chin. “He says he didn’t order Wolfson’s death?”
“Yep. And he claims that, even if he did, it was somehow justified because Wolfson’s a terrible person. Involved in human trafficking and stuff like that.”
He cringed. “That’s disgusting. But so is Crane. Do you think he’ll get away with it?” He glanced at her and saw her shrug through the crack in the door.
“The guy is extremely confident. Maybe he thinks a jury will come out on his side? Or he has some other kind of contingency plan? Crane’s pretty convincing.”
Devon didn’t like how impressed she sounded. “But what about the Escalade driver? Is he one of Crane’s enemies? Or his friends?”
“We don’t know.”
Devon didn’t trust Crane for one minute. Maybe the guy didn’t order the hit on Aurora, but there was a lot more he wasn’t telling them.
“I want to be there tomorrow when you testify.” Their eyes met through the doorway.
“I’d like that. I’m sure Lana or Sylvie can arrange it. Now hurry up in there, before I decide to jump into the shower and join you.”
The offer was tempting. But the dirt of several days was still on his skin, and that idea weighed on him. His mind wasn’t in the right place to focus on Aurora just yet.
Devon got in the shower. The hot water washed away the last bits of tension he’d been carrying.
The bad memories and associations that gunfire triggered inside of him.
Thoughts of lost comrades, Kellen, his dad.
He imagined all that pain draining away beneath his feet.
He always carried those remnants of the past with him.
But they were usually tucked away out of reach. Where they couldn’t hurt him.
By the time he switched off the shower valve, he was refreshed and alert. Devon pulled on the new pair of sweatpants. Drops of water ran from his hair and along his bare chest.
“Feeling better?” She’d pushed the door open wider and leaned her shoulder into the doorframe. One hip was cocked playfully.
“A hell of a lot better. Help me with my bandage?”
Aurora stepped into the bathroom. As she replaced the bandage on his arm, her eyes swept over him. She bit her lip. “I hate that you’re hurt,” she said, voice husky.
“Not hurting right now.”
“I missed you.”
“Missed you, too.”
Devon spun her so that she was up against the countertop. The ache from the gunshot wound was far away, a faint reminder of the fact that he’d almost lost her.
He took her mouth in a bruising kiss. His hesitation from days before had vanished. He couldn’t get her close enough. His hands lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her fingers dug into his wet hair, careful to avoid his injured shoulder.
Mine, he thought.
Rationally, he knew that Aurora didn’t belong to anyone.
And he’d never been a possessive type of guy.
But some primal, animal part of him felt like he’d already claimed this woman as his own.
No one else’s. He wouldn’t let anyone else touch her.
He’d keep her safe and satisfied for as long as she’d let him.
How had he known her for just a few days? He felt like he’d known Aurora for so much longer than that. As if he’d been waiting for her all his life.
Soon, Aurora was gasping for air. “Wow, that must’ve been some shower.”
“I feel like myself again. Maybe better.”
A faraway voice reminded him of the risk. He was in his boss’s apartment right now. But the lock on the door promised a few minutes of freedom. He couldn’t tamp down the need inside of him.
All of her. He had to have all of her, now.
“Want you.” With the blood rushing away from his head, he couldn’t be more eloquent than that.
“But we don’t have a condom. And I probably shouldn’t dig around the apartment to find one.”
He bit down on a growl of frustration. “Then at least let me taste you.” He set her down on the countertop, meaning to slide her leggings off, but she shook her head.
“As much as I’d love a replay of the bathroom scene at Chase’s house, I have other plans for you. Sit down on the chair in the bedroom.”
“I’m not in the mood for you to boss me around.” Right now, Devon needed to be in charge. He had way too much adrenaline pumping through his veins for anything else.
But Aurora only smiled, refusing to cave to his demands.
“On the chair,” she whispered, and somehow that quiet, commanding voice was impossible to ignore.
This woman was undoing him. Taking him apart, piece by piece. But damn if it wasn’t a good way to go.