Chapter 26
26
ETHAN
Lying awake, I listened to the water running. I’d no sooner gotten out of the shower before Mila passed me, heading in that direction. She’d been in there for a long time, and I thought she needed it. Tonight was a shit show. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said those words to Brody, and I wasn’t excited to do it all over again.
Lifting my arms, I put my hands under the back of my head and stared into the darkness, trying to find a way to will myself to sleep. I was fucking exhausted, but I couldn’t shut off my brain long enough to sleep. Her words from earlier kept echoing through my mind. It was a slip-up, a reaction to working so closely together and being attracted to each other. She’d had fun, but that was all it had been for her.
That wasn’t what it was for me, yet that was all it could be.
Yeah, this whole assignment was a fucking shit show.
The shower shut off, and it wasn’t long after that I heard Mila crack the bathroom door. It seemed to me like she was excited when Brody confirmed he was sending Nick as our backup. She trusted him, and even though she told me she didn’t want a new partner, I think she would take Nick in a heartbeat. They played the part of a couple for a hell of a long time, so I imagine there’s a comfort in knowing your partner that well.
I heard her footsteps, and the light shut off, casting the bedroom into complete darkness. That was something we had in common. We both liked to sleep without any light on. That commonality made being roommates a lot easier.
I closed my eyes when I didn’t hear her footsteps anymore, but they flew open when the bed dipped. “Mila.”
She swung her leg over my body and rested her weight on her knees before leaning toward me. “I thought we could fix what was ruined earlier tonight.”
Lifting my hands, I rested them on her hips, ready to tell her it wasn’t a good idea, but when all I felt was silky skin beneath my hands, my mind went blank.
“Fuck.” I squeezed her hips. “Mila.”
She dropped her lips to mine but didn’t kiss me. She only hovered there. “I didn’t want it there either, but I couldn’t stop once I felt your hands on me.”
“I know what you mean.” I ran my hands up her sides and back down.
“I think we should make it right. Just you and me. No audience, no disgusting club, no work.” She ran her lips across mine. “The way it should’ve been. What do you think?”
I ran my hand over her back until I could tangle it in her hair. “I can’t think with you naked on top of me.”
If I could come up with a coherent thought, I’d tell her this was a bad idea. I’d explain that while it was fun for her, it was so much more for me. I’d leave the bed, hell, I’d leave the room and put some much-needed space between us.
But I couldn’t seem to do any of those things.
She smiled against my lips. “Good.”
I pressed my lips against hers and kissed her slowly, wanting to take my time. She dropped her hands to my T-shirt and pulled it up until I was forced to separate so I could take it off.
“Only seems fair that you’re as naked as I am, right?”
I laid my head back when she grabbed the waistband of my pants and pulled them down. I didn’t usually sleep in underwear, but I had at the last hotel since we were sharing a bed. I needed as many barriers between us as I could get when it was way too easy to roll over and pull her against me. She had me naked in seconds and ran her hands along my legs as she slid her body up so our lips could once again touch.
When my phone rang, we both stopped and looked toward the nightstand. “Who the hell is calling you?”
Reaching around her, I grabbed my phone and sighed. “Brody.”
Mila sat up beside me while I answered. “Hello?”
“Got a minute?”
“It’s three in the morning,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, I wanted to tell you about some small equipment I’m sending with Nick. Nothing will raise any red flags with the airline, but some things you can use if it’s safe.”
“Okay.”
“It would be great to get some mics in the bar.” I felt Mila shift and wondered if our plans were ruined. Brody was definitely killing the mood with this phone call. It was almost ironic, considering he’d told me to leave her alone, and he was, without knowing it, forcing me to do just that. “I’m not sure of the best place, but anywhere you can find that might catch something. You’ll need to give one to Mila too and show her what to do in case she has an opportunity.”
“I can do that.”
I listened as he began to describe what he was sending, but then I felt Mila’s long, silky hair slide along my thighs, and I swallowed hard. There was no way in hell she would do what it felt like she was preparing to do. But when I felt her mouth surround my cock and suck deeply, I knew I was wrong.
Dropping my hand, I shoved my fingers in her hair and held my fucking breath, so afraid I’d make a noise while Brody talked. She skimmed her short fingernails along the inside of my thigh, and my head dropped back.
“We’ve set one of these before. Do you remember how?”
What the fuck was he even talking about? She stopped sucking and held perfectly still, and I realized she was giving me a chance to at least answer.
Clearing my throat, I finally did just that. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Good. The only other thing I’m sending…”
I didn’t hear anything else when she ran her fingertips over my balls and started again. Fire raced along my back and legs, telling me I would come if she didn’t stop, but when I tugged on her hair, it only seemed to encourage her.
“Alright, I’m gonna let you get some sleep. Call me when Nick gets there.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, held the phone out so I could see the end call button, hit it, and threw the fucking phone across the room.
I heard it hit the wall just as I reached down, grabbed her under her armpits, and dragged her up my body to smash my lips against hers.
Any thoughts I’d had a few minutes ago of going slow and taking my time vanished. I rolled her to her belly and leaned in close to her ear. “Hold on.”
Her breath caught, but she grabbed the headboard just as I slid into her. She was wet and tight, all the things I couldn’t enjoy earlier but could feel now. Sliding my hand over her hip, I pressed my finger against her clit and rolled while I thrust. She arched her back and moaned before calling out my name while she orgasmed.
But I wasn’t done.
Flipping her over, I slid back inside her and began thrusting harder and faster than before.
“Ethan,” she panted.
“More.” I squeezed her hips and let my head fall back. Fuck, she felt amazing, but I wanted to be closer. Leaning over her, I ran my hands down the silky skin of her back and wrapped my arms around her. She pushed up to basically sit in my lap, and I slowed down my thrusts, driving us both to the point of desperation. She pushed her body closer to mine so every part of us was touching, encouraging me to speed up, but I needed to memorize this moment. I kept my pace and reached down to slowly roll her clit. She whimpered, and when I shifted my angle just a little bit, she moaned loudly. It didn’t take long for her to fall apart, and I wasn’t far behind.
We both collapsed onto the bed before rolling to our backs, lying perfectly still in an attempt to catch our breath. That was just as intense as it had been earlier, and I wondered if it would ever be ordinary with her.
“Wow.”
I exhaled heavily. “Yeah.”
“I’ve never…I mean…”
She trailed off, but I remained silent. When that silence continued, she rolled toward me. Lifting my arm, I slid it under her head when she leaned against my side. “You good?” When I chuckled, she pushed up to lean on her elbow. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m still just trying to catch my breath, and you’re…”
She laughed. “Chatty.” She laid her arms on my chest and propped herself so she could see my face. “We should’ve been doing that this whole time. It would’ve made this job a hell of a lot better.” I knew my expression changed when she tilted her head. “Did I say something wrong?”
I exhaled heavily. “No.”
“You sure?”
I hesitated before confessing one of the things bothering me. “I just think it’s going to be hard when we go home to act like this never happened.”
She grinned. “Ethan, we just had fantastic sex. Try to enjoy the moment.”
“I am.” I moved my arm under my head to prop it up. “But I’m not like you. I don’t do this shit.”
Her eyebrow lifted, and it was obvious I’d insulted her. “Like me?”
“I didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” I explained, repeating my words in my head and realizing how badly I’d phrased that.
“I really hope not because if you did, it made me sound like a?—”
“I didn’t.” I interrupted her. “What I meant to say was that I’m not used to playing a part. You had to do that undercover. I don’t know how to pretend something didn’t happen when it did.”
Her body relaxed, and she smiled. “It’s not that hard. Besides, it might be fun to keep it from everyone else.” She pushed up and kissed me before pulling back slightly. “Kind of like our own little secret. We can do our jobs during the day and spend our nights together. No one has to know anything has changed between us. Will you at least consider it?”
When she silently watched me, I could see in her expression that she needed me to play along, but I already knew I wouldn’t be able to do that. That was a game I wasn’t willing to play, but she was. Or maybe it was a game she thought she had to play. She lied to all of us about her sexuality so no one would question her value to the team. She never wanted any of us to see her as more than a team member, and she still didn’t. We could be a couple here while we were on this case because that was the game we had to play, but going home, we’d have to go back to who we were and pretend it was never anything more than an assignment.
I ran my hand through her hair and forced a grin to my lips. “I'll think about it.”
“If anyone finds out, I’ll take the blame. I’ll tell them I couldn’t control myself and seduced you,” she teased, already assuming I’d be on board with her plan.
I wrapped my arms around her and slid her to lay fully on top of me. “You’d do that for me?”
“It’s not entirely untrue,” she confessed. “I wanted to see what you were like if you let go of that control you have such a tight leash on.”
I was a challenge to her. Mila got off on pushing people past their boundaries to get what she wanted. That was an asset to her in our business, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about that when it came to us. “And?”
She grinned. “It was exactly what I hoped it would be.”
I slid my hand over her butt and pulled her leg, forcing it to one side of my body so she was straddling me, groaning when her pussy slid over my hardening cock.
We were at an impasse. She wanted to keep shit a secret when we went home, but I knew I wasn’t capable of that. “I was shit at pretending before I was inside you. Can’t imagine how I’ll pretend now that I know what you feel like.”
She shifted her body until her lips hovered just above mine. “Maybe if we wear each other out tonight, we can control ourselves.”
I had right now to be with her. All I could do was hope that having her tonight would last me a lifetime. “It’s worth a shot,” I said right before her lips landed on mine.