19. Slider
19
SLIDER
IRIS smirked at me as I carried Audrey’s limp form from the vehicle into the house.
“What?”
“Nothing. Domestication looks good on you.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m doing my job. Something you should be doing, by the way.”
“Oh, I am,” he chuckled. “Look, I got the door for you,” he said, hurrying up the steps to open the door to the safe house. “And I’ll even get the door to the bedroom where you’ll be staying with her.”
“I’m not staying with her,” I glowered.
“Ah, but you told me the good doc said to keep an eye on her.”
“Yeah, but?—”
“And since Rae is busy tracking down leads, that leaves me on perimeter duty.”
“Craig is here,” I pointed out.
He scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, but Craig is barely conscious and she’s not his responsibility. In fact, he’s not even the one who called her wifey,” he grinned.
“That was a joke.”
“But it fits, don’t you think?”
I knew the moment it slipped from my lips that he was going to harass me about this for the rest of the night. Possibly for the rest of the job. I never should have said it, but there was nothing I could do about that now.
I carried Audrey down the hall to the bedroom and gently laid her down on the bed.
“Look at you, taking care of the wife,” IRIS chuckled. “You should really get some sleep. I’ll take first shift.”
“That’s not?—”
He shut the door without giving me a chance to say another word. That fucker was pushing me at her for no reason other than to get his rocks off. Which he had already done earlier when he tossed not one but two bombs at that house. The second of which landed Audrey in the hospital with a concussion.
Although, technically, I would have taken her to the hospital anyway after the accident she was in. Craig and Alec were in rough enough shape, but I couldn’t force them to seek medical treatment.
Sighing, I tugged off Audrey’s shoes and considered removing her pants for all of two seconds before I decided that would be crossing a line. Even if she did look uncomfortable as hell, I wasn’t about to go there with her. Not when I already had her face in my crotch earlier tonight.
After kicking off my own boots, I walked around to the other side of the bed and laid down, making sure to leave plenty of space between us. Now that I finally allowed myself the luxury of relaxing, my body sank into the mattress and I groaned as my muscles protested as they cramped. I really needed a fucking massage.
Or a soak in a hot tub.
Hell, at this point, I’d take a bathtub and twenty minutes alone with some Epsom salts. It took a few minutes for my body to finally wind down enough to allow my brain to shut down. My eyes grew heavier by the moment until I was finally drifting off to sleep, but just as the land of nod was calling my name, something brushed against me, jolting me from my peaceful slumber.
I swallowed hard as my eyes flew open. My body was on high alert as legs wrapped around mine, but it was the hand that grazed my cock that had me painfully hard. I didn’t dare move or even blink, terrified that she would wake up and…
Hell, I didn’t know if I wanted her to wake up and kiss me or leap across the room and promise never to do that again. I very slowly swiveled my head to see if she was awake, relieved when her eyes were firmly shut tight. At least she had no fucking clue what she was doing. This was all involuntary. I could remove her and not have to worry about having any awkward conversations with her about why this was highly inappropriate.
It happened all the time, unfortunately. Women got a little emotional when they were in high-pressure situations and tended to latch onto whoever was there for them, saving them from the dangerous situation they were in. I’d seen it happen too many times before.
Thankfully, it didn’t appear this was one of those times. It was more likely that she just rolled into me and happened to latch onto a warm body. I gently pried her hand from where it now rested at the base of my stomach and rolled her back to her side of the bed, then shoved a pillow between us. At least now if she was seeking comfort, she could get it in the form of a fluffy pillow.
Now that she was back on her side, I could finally get some fucking sleep. I tucked my hand behind my head and closed my eyes, willing my cock to settle down. It was just a hand, after all. And she was just a woman.
A woman who looked very good in leather.
But still…just a woman.
My eyes flew open, and I gnashed my teeth. “Son of a bitch.”
There was no way in hell I was going to fall asleep when she was on my mind and laying fucking three inches from me. This shit wasn’t going to work for me. I sprang up from the bed, storming over to the door. But just as I was about to fling it open, IRIS popped into my head and his eyes mocked me for being unable to lay beside the woman and take a fucking nap.
That’s exactly what would happen. I’d go out there and tell him I couldn’t sleep, and he would tease me that my wife was keeping me up all night. Hell, I wasn’t about to let him get to me like this. I could fall asleep. I just had to be stronger than the testosterone running through my body.
“Lay down and go the fuck to sleep,” I muttered. “It’s not that fucking hard.”
Decision made, I stomped back over to my side of the bed and sat down. Taking a deep breath, I laid back and tried some Fox-style breathing. Hell, he did this for months—maybe even a year. He had that shit locked down.
Well, as much as a show tune-singing psychopath could.
I rolled to my left and tucked my hand under my head. This was fine. It was all going to be fine. I just had to think of something really soothing. Like the ocean. I took a deep breath and smelled the salt in the air. It was like I was there. I could hear the waves lapping at the shore, and slowly, I drifted off to sleep.
I rolled slightly, groaning when the pillow beside me moved away. I tugged it back toward me, tucking it into my side. There was nothing like a nice, warm bed when you were exhausted. And after the night I had with IRIS, I was fucking out of my mind.
The pillow moved again and I frowned, trying to tug it back into position. Whoever was fucking with my bed was about to get a beatdown. I didn’t have the patience for this when I wasn’t even awake. “Stop moving,” I mumbled, sighing heavily. “My pillow.”
I heard a snort and cracked one eye open. All I saw was a mess of brown hair. Frowning, I peeled open the other eye and took in the rest of the room. Light was peeking through the window, slowly filling the dank space, and that’s when I remembered that I was sharing a bed with Audrey.
Which meant that the hair right the fuck in front of my face was most likely hers. That was just fucking perfect. I was holding her. I knew it. There was no other explanation for what was going on right now. I took a moment to catalog where my hands were—along with the rest of my body.
The first thing that sprang to my attention—no pun intended—was that my cock was firmly wedged against her tight body. That was unfortunate, but not the worst part of this whole thing. No, that would probably be the way my arm was wrapped around her from behind, holding her to me. Or the way my other hand was under her shirt…groping her breast. I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling and sighed. Yep, that was her breast. Her very nice, very firm…very fucking amazing breast. And I was holding it. Fuck, my fingers were dancing along her skin, caressing her nipple.
And she wasn’t stopping me.
Then there was my leg…tucked between hers, practically grinding against her cunt. The question was…was I trying to get her off, or was she riding my leg in the hopes of having a happy ending? It was hard to tell with so much blood rushing to my cock.
Fucking hell, I was still stroking her nipple. I should really stop that.
I could feel her heart hammering in her chest. Was she turned on? Did she like my hands on her? Maybe she was terrified or pissed as hell that I had taken such liberties. It wasn’t intentional. I had done it in my sleep. It wasn’t like I went around groping women in bed.
Although, my current predicament suggested otherwise.
Jesus, take your fucking hand off her breast!
I swallowed hard, clearing my throat. “You asked me to hold you last night,” I said, taking the chicken shit way out.
“Is that why you have your hand on my breast?”
I cursed myself for falling right into that trap. I may have prevented myself from looking like an idiot, but there was no fucking explanation for why I was mauling her.
“Yeah, I should probably stop that,” I muttered, but my fingers didn’t agree. They brushed over the peak of her tight bud, then around the small bumps on her areola. Fuck, she was turned on, her heart was pounding out of control. She wanted me, but that couldn’t happen. None of this shit could happen because I was her close protection and she was my client.
My very sexy, very wanton client who looked fucking erotic as hell in black leather.
“So…”
“Yeah,” I sighed, forcing myself to pull away from her. Fuck, it was hard. Smooth skin that pebbled from my touch…fuck, I really wanted to take her right now. My cock was achingly hard, begging me to tear off her pants and fuck her the way a man was meant to fuck a woman.
Inch by agonizing inch, I pulled my fingers and then the rest of my body from her warmth. She didn’t move a single inch the entire time. In fact, it was almost as if she was hoping I would change my mind. I rolled to my back and closed my eyes, grinding my hand against my cock, willing it to calm the fuck down.
I felt her roll toward me and that’s when I knew I was sunk. I opened my eyes and looked at her. Just one glance was all it took to know that this was going to be the hardest fucking job of my life. Those gorgeous eyes stared at me with desire, trailing over my body, down to my cock that only flared to life with her perusal.
“If you keep looking at me like that, you’re going to end up underneath me while I fuck you hard,” I growled.
Her lips twitched. “Would that be so bad, hubby?”
I groaned, grabbing my dick through my pants. Fuck, how the hell was I going to walk away? “Yes, it would be bad.”
“Because…”
“Because you’re my client.”
“And you don’t shit where you eat,” she surmised.
“That, and it would be highly unethical,” I muttered.
She was silent for a moment. “Technically, it was less than twenty-four hours ago that I thought I was your wife. That has to be some kind of loophole.”
“I’ll fucking take it,” I growled, shifting over her so fast that I nearly rolled us off the bed. My lips latched onto hers and my cock ground against her pussy. God, I needed to be inside her. I could fuck her and get her out of my system, and then?—
I tore myself from her, scrambling off the bed. Breathing hard, I ran my hands over my bald head and spun around, wincing as my cock strained against my zipper. “You fucking know better,” I hissed, pointing at my cock.
“That was not exactly how I saw that going,” she muttered.
I spun around and tried not to stare at the way her nipples poked through the fabric of her shirt. “We can’t do this.”
“I sort of got that from the way you leapt away from me.”
“You’re gorgeous. I want you to know that.”
She sighed, glancing away. “Good to know you’re not walking away because I’m ugly.”
“It’s just…you’re a client and I can’t fuck you and walk away. I still have a job to do. And I can’t do that if I’m thinking about sticking my dick in you.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” she agreed, though she looked disappointed. “So…not even a little foreplay?”
I winced as my cock jumped at the suggestion. “No.”
“That’s a shame. I’m already soaked.” She pushed off the bed and tore off her shirt. “That’s okay. I can get myself off in the shower.”
I stared as she stripped in front of me, not even caring that I had to stand here and watch every painful moment of this. Every article of clothing came off, flying across the room without a care in the world. How the hell was she getting to the bathroom if she was naked?
She strode toward the door, but I was faster, jumping in front of her with a shout. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Going to take a shower,” she answered, cocking her head at me.
“You’re naked,” I snapped.
“Right, but that’s usually how I shower. Why? Do you do it differently?”
I narrowed my eyes at her, not in the mood for her bullshit. “Don’t fuck with me. I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work.”
She stepped toward me, running a finger down my chest. “The only thing I’m doing is going to get clean.” She spun around and pulled on the door handle. “If you want, you can join me in the shower.”
My throat bobbed as I watched her sashay out of the room. Then I heard a crash and a shout from down the hall. Man, we were all fucked.