Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KEEP YOUR ENEMIES CLOSE
Jett
If someone gave me a million guesses as to what the hell was behind the secrets of Lennon Shaw, I would never have guessed what she told me last night.
We have one thing in common. We both have millions and neither of us knows what the fuck to do with any of it. Though, hers is in the form of jewels and mine is a trust fund that I haven’t told her about yet.
Now we’re not just on the bed, we’re in it. Lennon wasn’t kidding when she said getting that shit off her chest was a relief. She fell asleep faster than I ever expected and didn’t blink an eye about sharing a bed.
The woman sleeps like the dead. I had to drag the covers out from under her before I crawled in next to her right after I took my meds.
I had no plans to touch her, but she didn’t give me a choice. She made her way to my side sometime in the early morning. I pushed her away once, but she kept coming back. When her elbow connected with my side, I had no choice.
I found myself on the defense with Lennon once again. I turned her back to my chest, weighed her down with my thigh, and held her to me. She stopped moving, and I fell back to sleep.
I’m hotter than hell even though I stripped down to my boxers. She fell asleep in her ratty sweats.
I should roll her away from me, but she had a bad day. I don’t want to wake her.
Yeah, waking her up is the last thing I want to do.
I’ll go with that and pretend it’s not because she feels really fucking good. The last thing I want to do is let go of her.
I’ve been awake for at least an hour trying to control my dick. That’s one organ I’ve never had an issue with. A morning hard on is the norm for me, but waking up with Lennon in my arms took my morning wood to the next level. I’ve been talking him off the ledge, but he’s not cooperating.
Lennon stirs and a little moan vibrates against my chest, which does not help my dick.
I need to do something about this situation so I can take a cold shower. I put my lips to her messy hair. “You awake?”
She stretches.
Fuck me, she arches her back, which presses her ass into my dick. On top of that, there’s another moan.
My arm around her middle contracts to keep her still, and I raise my voice. “Wake up. You invaded my side of the bed and tried to open my incision again. I had no choice but to pin you to the bed.”
I feel it everywhere when she pulls in a deep breath and turns her head to look at me. “Good morning.”
I gaze down at her. “Is it?”
She pulls her arms out from my hold and rubs her eyes. “Yes, it is. That’s the best I’ve slept in a long time. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wake up.”
I hike a brow and reach up to give the end of her hair a playful yank. “I’m glad someone slept through the night.”
She bites her lip. “Was I restless?”
“That’s an understatement. Did you miss my play-by-play of the night?”
She shifts enough to roll so we’re facing each other. Her gaze drops to my bare chest. I shed my clothes down to my boxers since there was no way I’d be able to sleep fully clothed like her.
Her eyes jump back to meet mine. “Did I really elbow you?”
“It was touch and go, but I made it through the night. I won’t tell Harlow, though. She’d never forgive you.”
Her expression pinches into a mortified wince. “Once again, I feel horrible.”
I tap the end of her nose. “Good. That makes me feel better.”
“Have you been awake long?”
I lift my chin and take this opportunity to convince my dick that he might as well take a long winter’s nap. With what she told me last night, and my new kidney, there’s no way we’re getting any action anytime soon.
“I’ve been awake long enough to think about everything you told me last night. I don’t know what to do about your money troubles, but I have a plan for Petrov, and it doesn’t include you running off or giving the treasure trove back.”
Her sleepy expression disappears. “Really?”
“Really. He knows where you are, and he’s proven he can get to you.
He might be a class-A asshole, but he didn’t look like the kind of person who did his own dirty work.
I bet he’s not subcontracting the good people of Winslet to break into the library and help kidnap you again.
That means he’s not here alone. We need to figure out who they are, and where they’re at. ”
“How are we going to do that?”
“We’re going to draw them out. It’s the old adage keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Her expression falls. “You want to meet with him?”
“When I have more information on him. Devon is looking into it for me—”
“Whoa!” She pushes up to her ass and holds out a hand. “You told Devon about this?”
“Everyone knows what Devon did for a living, but no one really knows the level of access he still has. When we got back to the room last night, I texted him for a favor. That was before you told me everything. I didn’t tell him it had anything to do with you.”
She drags her hands through her hair. “He’s my boss, Jett. When he finds out—and I have no doubt he will—he’s going to know this has everything to do with me. I need this job. Especially if we’re going with the I’m-not-running-away plan, which sounded like a good one until you outed me to my boss.”
I push to a seat. We’re almost nose to nose. “Devon’s not going to fire you. I already asked about you and he told me not to fuck anything up with you since you’re one of his best employees.”
“You asked my boss about me? You’re giving me whiplash.”
“No, I asked my brother-in-law-to-be about you. It sounds much better that way.”
“Why?”
I reach out to tuck her messy hair behind her ear as I memorize every feature of her face before I settle back on her dark eyes. “You managed to steal millions in jewels and escape from your captor. You’re intuitive enough to know why.”
She shakes her head like she doesn’t know which way is up. “This is too much.”
I put a hand to the bed next to her ass to lean in closer and put my lips next to her ear.
“It’s Saturday, so you’re off work. I’m sticking to you like glue.
Petrov won’t get close to you until we figure this out.
And it’s not going to be a hardship to pretend we’re a thing.
There won’t be any pretending on my part. ”
She grips my biceps like she needs them to hold on to reality. “Jett—”
I don’t let her finish. “And since this is new, I’m going to brush my teeth before I kiss you.
Tomorrow, it won’t be new anymore, so I can’t make any promises.
Especially since you were the one who busted through the middle-of-the-bed barrier.
I plan to kiss you the moment you open your eyes from now on. ”
“From now on,” she whispers. “You’re counting on waking up with me a lot?”
I’m about to tell her all the other plans I have for her, when my phone on the nightstand rings. “Hold that thought.”
I connect the call, but he doesn’t give me time to greet him.
When his English accent hits me, it’s tense.
“It’s Saturday, which means I was looking forward to spending the day with Harlow, but then I got a report back on the little favor you requested.
I was about to pick up the phone to call you when I got another phone call from my security company confirming the worst—the manor had a breach.
Someone broke through my firewall. That’s what set off the security systems this week. ”
I take in the list of problems that Devon just listed and frown. “No shit?”
“I do not have the energy to dish out shit about anything, Jett. Meet me in my office in thirty. I want to know why you’re nosing around someone like Petrov, because I don’t just have a report on him, I have a file thicker than the code of conduct package I was forced to memorize for British Intelligence. ”
I climb off the bed and push to my feet. “I’ll be there.”
“I know you’re off work, but I expect you to return the favor and tell me how in the hell someone hacked my systems since my security company seems to be idiots. Shopping around for a company who knows what they’re doing just went to the top of my list of shit to do.”
I step over Lennon’s bags that she dumped on the floor last night to dig through the dresser for clean clothes. “I can do that. I’ll see you in thirty.”
“One more thing.” He lowers his voice. “If you see Harlow, don’t say a word about this. I want to figure out what’s going on with the security before I tell her.”
I glance over at Lennon who’s also out of bed and wonder how long it’ll take her to get ready. “I’ll need forty-five minutes. Maybe an hour.”
Devon sighs. “For fuck’s sake, you were in the Army. You must not have had any hair back then.”
I don’t tell him I’m bringing a plus one to our meeting.
I also don’t know how I’m going to talk Lennon into trusting her boss with what she told me.
I’ve got forty-five minutes to figure that out. Maybe an hour.
“See you then.” I hang up, toss my cell to the messy bed, and turn to the woman who’s now sharing it with me. “We need to get ready. Looks like I’ve tracked down some information on Petrov. You’re coming with me.”
Lennon
Iargued with Jett for a good ten minutes straight.
First, about asking my boss to dig up information on Andrei. I’d bet my last dollar—which is precious to me at the moment—that I know more about Andrei than any intelligence organization.
And second, that I was not about to tell my boss about my past.
Jett claimed that Devon is one of the most solid men he’s met.
I said I didn’t care.
Jett argued that I trusted him enough to tell him everything, and that I should trust him in this too.
I said I didn’t need the good and wholesome people of Winslet to know my sordid background.
Jett looked at me like I was an alien again and asked if I thought Devon Donnelly was the small-town gossipy type.
He had me there. There is no scenario where I can see Devon gossiping to anyone.