20. Audrey
20
AUDREY
Slider wouldn’t look at me. No matter what I did to distract him, he stared intently at the vegetables he was chopping and refused to give me an ounce of his attention. I didn’t like it one bit. After my little show earlier in the bedroom, I expected him to join me in the shower. Unfortunately, he was good to his word and stayed away from me.
His loss. Well, that’s what I told myself.
Meanwhile, I was busy watching the way his muscles flexed as he slid the knife through the carrots. Who knew chopping could be such a sexy thing? Hell, who knew cooking would be a turn-on?
“Do you always cook?” I asked.
“The guys like me to do it,” he answered, not bothering to look at me.
“And why’s that?”
“Because I’m good at it.”
I snatched a cherry tomato out of the container, ignoring the way he glowered at me. “Did your mom teach you?”
“No,” he replied, barely muttering the answer.
Geez, for a man who just had his cock pressed against me, he sure wasn’t interested in saying more than two words at a time to me.
“Your dad?”
“Nope.”
“Your grandma?”
He sighed and set down the knife, finally looking at me. “What are you doing?”
I quirked an eyebrow at him as I snatched another cherry tomato. “Talking.”
“I can see that, but why are you talking to me?”
“Well, everyone else is busy doing something?—”
“ I’m busy doing something.”
I smirked at the frustration in his voice. “Yes, but you’re cooking. Craig and Alec are outside, and IRIS and Rae are sleeping. That leaves you to entertain me.”
“Go talk to Spencer,” he mumbled.
“Spencer’s doing yoga.”
“And?”
“And I don’t like yoga,” I retorted. “It’s weird. No one should twist their body that way.”
His eyes heated at the mention of twisting bodies and I knew exactly what he was thinking about. Yes, we could be in the bedroom right now twisting our bodies together, but that ship had sailed, according to him.
“Did you talk to him yet?”
“About?”
He rolled his eyes and resumed his chopping. “About the fact that you’re back.”
“I will.”
He sighed heavily. I got the feeling he did that a lot around me.
“You’re a very tense person, you know that?”
“And you aren’t?”
“Not at the moment. Of course, I just got off in the shower.”
The knife slipped, slicing right through his finger. “Shit,” he cursed, spinning around to run his finger under the water. I rushed around, grabbing a paper towel to hold to his finger to help staunch the bleeding. I had meant to make him blush, not chop off body parts.
“You shouldn’t use one of those things if you don’t know how to do it without losing a finger.”
He glared at me as I pulled his finger from the water and wrapped the paper towel around it. “It wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t say inappropriate things.”
Now, how could I not smile when he was being all growly? And all because I knew he wanted to get in that shower with me and make me come. “If you had just joined me, I’m sure your finger would be intact.”
“I already told you that’s not going to happen.” He glanced over his shoulder and then back at me. “And I’d appreciate it if you’d keep what happened under your hat.”
“I’m not wearing one,” I grinned.
“You know what I mean.”
Of course I did, but this was just too much fun. “You know, Baldy, one of these days, you might actually loosen up and have some fun.”
“We’re back to that again, huh?”
“It’s beginning to grow on me.” I smiled when I caught the slight gleam in his eyes. Yeah, he liked it.
“So, is that what you do on set? Just have fun?”
I walked over to the counter and grabbed the knife, then washed it so I could take over for him. “It’s not always fun, but I enjoy it. The action is the best part.”
“But Spencer doesn’t like it.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“And you’re willing to give that up for him.”
“Well, you do things for people you care about,” I said, spinning around with the knife facing out. He stared at me warily, his eyes flicking to the knife. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to run you through.”
“Not intentionally.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’ve seen your aim,” he muttered, stepping aside as I started chopping the rest of the vegetables.
“So, what are we making here?” I didn’t take quite as much care as he did. The pieces weren’t all the same size and some of them fell on the floor as I was hastily chopping away. But what did it matter? The whole point was to get it done, right? I scooped the carrots up and tossed them in the waiting bowl.
“Is this some kind of stew?” I asked, grabbing the potatoes.
He was frowning as he watched me. “Aren’t you going to clean those first?”
“Do I need to?”
“They still have dirt on them,” he answered.
I pretended to inspect them, then shrugged. “Not really.” I got to work chopping, ignoring the widening of his eyes as he watched me. “So, stew?”
“Haven’t you ever chopped a vegetable before?”
“Of course I have.”
“Then what the hell do you call that?” he asked, pointing to the cutting board.
I looked down at my uneven pieces and shrugged. “Sorry, is this not good enough for you?”
“It’s…”
“Like they all need to be the same size or something?”
He picked up one piece and held it in front of my face. It was a rather large piece. “This is three times the size of the others. Not even a grown man could shove this in his mouth.”
“So, you cut it when you eat it.”
“But that’s what you’re doing right now,” he stressed. “Cutting. Do you see the knife in your hand? That’s the whole purpose of this exercise. You cut so others don’t have to. It’s part of the whole cooking process.”
I rolled my eyes. He was being just a tad ridiculous about the whole thing. “You’re really making too big of a deal about this.”
“Am I? Really?”
“It’s just a potato.”
“It’s a potato that’s the size of my foot!”
“Now, that’s just ridiculous. Have you seen the size of your foot?”
I was laughing, but he was getting more frustrated by the minute. I found it rather enjoyable, and for the first time in a long time, I realized that this was the first morning in over six months that I sat down and had nowhere I had to rush off to.
“What are you doing?” Spencer snapped from the doorway. His eyes were glued to the knife in my hand and the anger on his face had the smile dropping from my face immediately. Even Baldy was questioning the fury in his voice.
“I’m chopping vegetables.”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Spencer said, storming over to me, snatching the knife out of my hand. “I bet you haven’t had your smoothie yet this morning either.”
I rolled my eyes, knowing he was going to make me drink one whether or not I wanted to. It was his ritual that he made me partake in every morning. “Those are disgusting.”
“They’re healthy.”
“What kind of smoothies are we talking about?” Baldy asked, taking over the chopping for me as I sat down at the other side of the counter.
“Disgusting, no fun smoothies.”
Spencer started pulling things out of the fridge and loading them up on the counter, invading Baldy’s space. “Everything loaded with the important nutrients to keep you fit and healthy. Kale, spinach, collard greens…though it looks like you’re seriously lacking,” he said as he searched the fridge.
“Sorry, we didn’t go shopping for disgusting smoothies,” Baldy grinned, winking at me.
I smiled gratefully. I hated those things.
“I can’t function without my morning smoothie, and it’s important she has one as well.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want one. Maybe she wants a banana smoothie.”
“A—” Spencer’s jaw dropped at the suggestion before he turned to me with a shocked expression. “Is that what you really want?” he asked, hurt shining through in his voice.
“I—”
“I could make you a fruit smoothie if you really want,” he said defeatedly. “Citruses. There would have to be certain limitations. We’re not doing all that sugary crap. Then again, I’ll have to check and see what we can get from the store,” he muttered.
“Spencer, I think I can go one morning without a smoothie.”
His glare sliced through me like a knife. God, that man cared about me so much, and I loved him for that, but geez, he didn’t know when to unclench.
“One morning without? You were just in an accident. You had a concussion!”
“I’m well aware. And by the way, shouting is not helping,” I reminded him. Though the headache was dull at the moment, it was still marching in the back of my head.
He instantly lowered his voice as Baldy watched on, pretending not to be interested. “Look, you scared me, okay?”
“I know, and it’s not like I wanted it to happen. It just did.”
“But it can’t,” he argued. “You’re all I have, Audrey.” His jaw clenched hard as he stood there for a moment, just breathing hard. I slid off the stool and walked over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist.
“I’m not all you have. You still have your mom.”
“You know what I mean,” he grumbled. “Don’t make me do this alone.”
He could be so dramatic when he wanted to. I knew he was only looking out for me, but still…I needed him to let go just a little and let me live.
I stepped back and looked up into his beautiful eyes. “So, how about that smoothie?”
“You really want one?” he asked.
“Of course.”
His lips twitched as he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Liar.”
As he got to work, I went back to my seat and popped another cherry tomato in my mouth, watching Slider cut up the last of the vegetables with the paper towel wrapped around his finger. It looked awkward at best, but he did it with such ease, as if he was made to do this.
“So, about this cooking thing…”
“I thought we were done talking about this,” he retorted, his eyes flicking to Spencer. Yeah, I knew we weren’t done talking about that yet.
“You might have thought that, but you haven’t told me where you learned to cook.”
His jaw hardened as he chopped harder and faster. Man, he was like a beast. You would think he was working out. “I wanted to be a chef,” he mumbled.
“You what?” I asked, sure I had heard him wrong.
He slammed the knife down and glared at me. “I wanted to be a chef, alright?”
I stared at him in awe. That was…”How did you end up in…this?”
He shrugged, getting back to work. “I was in culinary school. Until I wasn’t.”
That was vague, to say the least. “And what led you to not be in culinary school?”
“Is this twenty questions?”
“It will be if you don’t just answer.”
“She’ll never stop asking,” Spencer muttered, earning a scathing look from me.
“Jesus, why the fuck do you need to know all this stuff?”
“Well, call me crazy, but when I woke up this morning, there was a very hard cock pressed against my ass and a strong hand stroking my nipples. I’d like to know more about the man who brought me to orgasm while I was taking a shower.”
His jaw dropped, along with the knife, but it was Spencer’s voice that broke the moment.
“Really, Audrey? I thought you were dead yesterday, and this morning, you’re already hitting on the man protecting you?”
“Hey, he made me his wife. That should give me sexual benefits.”
Spencer’s eyes shot to Slider, narrowing dangerously on him. “What does that mean?”
Laughing, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tight. “Oh, relax. It was only in the hospital. You know I would never marry anyone but you.”
I could have sworn I heard a low growl from behind me, but when I glanced over my shoulder at Baldy, he was staring intently at the cutting board, chopping the potato into the smallest pieces I’d ever seen. At this point, they’d basically be mashed before they cooked.
“You could have woken me up when you got home. I would have taken care of you and made sure you got some rest. Unlike some people.”
“Alright,” Slider snapped, slamming the knife down. “I did not fuck her, nor did I do anything to make her…not restful,” he spluttered. “If anything, she was egging me on. I—she’s the fucking devil!”
I couldn’t help but smirk at his description of me. It was like he knew me already.
Spencer’s eyes lit with amusement. “Look at that. Maybe he is the right man for you. It seems he understands you more than most men.”
“I’m an innocent bystander in all of this,” I said, batting my eyes at Spencer. “Besides, I was confused. I thought I had amnesia when I woke up. He told the doctor we were married. It must have been the hit to the head because when I woke up this morning, all the details were muddled.”
Spencer tossed back his head and laughed outright. “Yeah, I’ll believe that when we make a movie set in the 1800s.”
“Fine, don’t believe me. But I’ll have you know that he’s to blame. He climbed into bed with me. He was wrapped around me. He kissed me!”
“Alright!” Baldy snapped. “Fine, I kissed her, but she did that crazy voodoo shit with her eyes.”
Spencer nodded at him. “Yep, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve seen it a hundred times. You’re one of the lucky ones that escaped.”
“Escaped?” I said, somewhat affronted by that. Although, he was probably right.
“Audrey, don’t deny it. The poor man is probably all tangled up inside. Let’s face it, you’re not exactly innocent, and when you want something, you go for it.”
“Yeah, what he said.”
But then Spencer swung his gaze on Baldy. “And you, she was injured. You should know better. I’m disappointed in you.”
Spencer wrapped his arm around my shoulder and tugged on me. I glanced over my shoulder and stuck my tongue out at Baldy. Looks like I won that round.
I wasn’t about to admit to anyone that my head was still killing me or that my body ached. I’d been putting on a good front all day, and for the most part, I hadn’t been lying. After the shower, I felt mostly human. But as the day wore on, I could no longer hide the fact that I hadn’t walked away from yesterday unscathed.
Still, I was in action movies and was injured on set more than was acceptable. I could push through. That’s what I told myself as I shoveled the food around my plate, trying to convince myself to eat when all I wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep. Baldy’s meal really did look good, but the smell of food made my stomach churn. I couldn’t imagine putting a single thing down my throat right now.
“Are you sure we can make it to OPS without exposing ourselves?” Baldy asked.
“Since when are you worried about that?” Rae asked.
“I say we take them back to Reed Security,” Craig spoke up. “After all, she’s my friend. She’s supposed to be with me, anyway.”
“Actually, she’s supposed to be with us,” Baldy snapped.
“Whoa, getting a little territorial,” IRIS chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. “Just calm down.”
“Why don’t we just go back to California?” Spencer asked. “Doesn’t that make the most sense at this point?”
“And let whoever is trying to kidnap you have full access?” Thumper said.
I sighed heavily, tired of hearing them argue over us. Go here. Go there. Did it really matter at this point? I only wanted to go to bed. This was not my idea of a vacation. I was promised a beach and a week off, and hiding out in this cabin was definitely not that. But at least I wasn’t shooting another movie.
“If we took them back to OPS, we could hide them in the bunker,” IRIS pointed out. “They’d be safe.”
“Yeah,” Baldy snorted. “And then Zoe would get her hands on Audrey and force her to do another film with her.”
My ears perked up at the name. Zoe. There was an awesome director named Zoe that I was desperate to meet, but what were the chances? Highly unlikely. But it was a nice dream.
“The last thing we need is for the two of them to meet,” Baldy pointed out.
I found that highly offensive, but more because of the implication in his voice than anything else. “Stay. Go. Does it really matter?” I muttered.
“Only if you want to stay alive,” Baldy snapped.
“I could have my boss on the phone in two minutes and he’d tell me to bring them both back to Reed Security,” Craig argued.
“If he was going to do that, you would have called him already,” Rae retorted. “Besides, we need to be sure we can safely transport them.”
“It’s safest here,” Baldy repeated.
“Moving is staying alive. You know that,” Thumper added.
I shoved back from my seat, already sick of this conversation. “And while this is all terribly exciting, I think I’ll turn in for the night.”
Spencer’s worried gaze caught mine and he stood, grabbing my hand as I walked out of the room. I purposely ignored Baldy’s watchful eyes, knowing he was probably trying to read my mind.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Spencer asked as I reached the bedroom I was staying in.
“Nothing. I’m just tired.”
His eyes roamed over my face and his fingers came up to brush the hair skimming my cheek. “You don’t look so good.”
“Well, I did have a concussion,” I smirked, trying to lighten the mood and failing. That wasn’t really an argument that would help my situation.
“What do you need?”
“Sleep. I just need some sleep,” I sighed, falling forward to rest my head against his chest. “This was not the vacation I had planned.”
“You mean you didn’t intend for us to be kidnapped multiple times and nearly killed? That’s a shame.”
I chuckled against his chest, wrapping my arms around his body as he held me tighter. “I’m sure if you had planned a vacation, we’d be having a spa day right now.”
“You know how I love a good body wrap.”
“You do,” I grinned. Stepping back, I hid how much my head was pounding and smiled up at him.
“Get some sleep.”
“Yes, sir.” As I turned to enter the bedroom, he grabbed me by the arm, staring at me worriedly. “You’d let me know if something was wrong, right?”
“Of course,” I smiled.
But he could see the lie on my face because he’d known me for so long. I never admitted when I was sick, hurt, or couldn’t handle something. That just wasn’t me. I hated to be wrong and I never backed down from a challenge. Maybe that made me the most stubborn person on the planet, but it was who I was and how I’d gotten this far in my career.
But Spencer knew me better than anyone.
I shut the door behind me and leaned back against it, closing my eyes with a sigh. The darkness instantly cut the pain in two, making my head hurt a lot less than before. I tore off my shirt and pants, getting as comfortable as possible before I snuggled under the covers. The bed was so warm and cozy, and laying down eased the ache in my body.
But before I could fall asleep, light filtered in and the bed dipped, disturbing my peace.
“What?” I whined, refusing to look at whoever was in here.
“Let me guess, you’re in pain,” Baldy rumbled.
“I am not,” I huffed, refusing to admit anything.
“I’m guessing your head is pounding and your body is sore.”
I groaned and snuggled further into the bed.
“And I’m guessing you don’t want to tell me that for some unknown reason.”
“Is there a point to you being in here?” I asked, still refusing to look at him.
Something rattled above me and I peeked one eye open to see what it was. There was a pill bottle dangling from his fingers and the label had some weird name that I couldn’t pronounce.
“What’s that?”
“Your pain meds. I gave them to you early this morning, which was why you felt so good for most of the day. And since you’re stubborn and didn’t say anything, I didn’t realize you were in pain until you sat down and wouldn’t eat a thing. And then you got all grumpy and left the room.”
“You really didn’t know anything?” I accused.
He chuckled. “Nope. Spencer told me.”
I sighed, rolling over to sit up. “I don’t remember you giving me any pain meds.”
“Well, it was at zero dark thirty. I rolled over, gave you meds after you kicked me, and then fell back asleep.”
“Is that when you wrapped yourself around me?” I asked, holding back a grin.
He cleared his throat, opening the water bottle for me. “Don’t remember that. Here.”
He shoved the water at me, then shook out two pills for me. I took them, swallowing them down greedily. If they made this headache go away, I’d gladly take anything. The water sloshed in my stomach, making me wish I had been able to keep something down.
“Thank you,” I mumbled.
He grinned, then plucked a banana out of his pocket and thrust it at me. “All of it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Eat it. Otherwise, you’ll get sick.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “And who’s going to make me?”
His eyes darkened as he watched me, but his fingers got to work stripping the banana one peel at a time. Then he thrust it at me and quirked his eyebrow. I stood my ground for all of thirty seconds before I relented. I needed to eat something, or I would get sick.
Except, the moment I put the banana in my mouth, Baldy’s eyes dropped to my mouth and his tongue flicked out to lick his lips. I couldn’t help myself as I took my time and made a show out of putting the banana in my mouth and sucking on it, devouring it, and driving him insane.
Finally, I bit off a chunk and batted my eyelashes at him. “Everything okay?”
He glowered at me and stood, storming out of the room. I chuckled, finishing off the banana and tossing the peel on the nightstand. I was still in pain, but at least now I knew I wasn’t alone.