Chapter 11
Raj curled his hands into his fists. That blue sweater made Helen’s skin glow with vitality. Gone were the dark circles under her magnificent eyes. She’d done some of that woman’s voodoo with makeup, which always mystified him. The blue sweater perfectly matched her eyes, making them glow even brighter and…that damn sweater hinted at what was underneath, without allowing him to really “know”. He also loved the tempting way that it swished against her cute butt, making his mind go blank with need.
Today was going to be…hell. Keeping his hands off of Helen was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done!
“Let’s go,” he replied, mentally grimacing at his harsh tone. He hadn’t meant to come across as grumpy, but how the hell was he supposed to moderate his tone, and keep his body under control, when she was walking around in skintight leggings and that soft, touchable sweater? This wasn’t fair! Was she trying to drive him mad?
Raj surveyed her clothing choice and sighed. No, she wasn’t purposely trying to make his head explode with her tempting outfit. He suspected that she’d chosen the clothes with the exact opposite intention in mind. The sweater and leggings, not to mention the worn out sneakers, were comfort clothes. Not her ‘drive-Raj-crazy’ clothes.
He would deal, he told himself firmly. He would keep his hands to himself. His thoughts? Nope. His thoughts flitted from one body part to another, thinking about how beautiful she looked without all of those clothes. Naked. Her blue eyes pleading with him to make love to her. Those soft, full lips smiling up at him with eagerness. Or crying out his name when he did that thing with his tongue that she liked. Right at the top of her…!
Raj cleared his throat as he, Helen, and the bodyguards stepped into the elevator. It was a silent, painfully awkward ride down to the parking garage where his driver and the rest of the guards were waiting.
As they walked through the parking garage, Raj took a deep breath, trying to get the sweet scent of Helen out of his head.
It didn’t work. He gritted his teeth as he opened the car door, waiting for her to step into the back seat of the SUV.
“Are you okay?” she asked, pausing with one hand on the black leather interior as she twisted slightly to look up at him.
“I’m fine,” he replied, but his tone was curt.
She hesitated again, her eyes shifting to an emotion he didn’t quite recognize.
“I can do this alone if you have other priorities.”
Raj’s head nearly exploded at the possibility of Helen walking around Chicago alone. Especially now that he knew that Paul and Nathan Grishom were pricks who thought it was perfectly fine to drug people to get what they wanted. He couldn’t imagine what they would do to Helen if they found her alone.
“Did you happen to call in to your office and tender your immediate resignation?” he asked.
Helen’s mouth opened in surprise, then snapped shut. “No, I…I guess I just assumed they’d fired me. So, I didn’t bother to call in.”
“Did you check your messages?”
Helen gasped, reaching into her tote bag and fishing out her phone. “No, I…well, I sort of forgot.” She flipped through the messages. “I don’t have anything from Grishom’s human resources department.” She looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. “What do you think that means?”
It meant they weren’t finished with her. “I think you should give them a call and let them know that…” he paused, trying to come up with a legitimate reason for her absence today. “Tell them that Angela is sick. There’s always a virus working its way around through the daycare, right?”
She nodded, then ducked into the back seat. Unfortunately, that meant that Raj was left watching Helen’s butt and he had to ball his fists tightly to keep himself from reaching out.
A snort came from behind him and Raj twisted around, glaring at Nazih, his lead bodyguard. The man’s expression was politely blank, but there was a knowing glint in his eyes. Raj had previously considered the man to be his friend. But at that snort, Raj made a mental note to challenge the guy to a workout later.
“ Aliantiqam hu aljahim, ” Raj muttered. Payback is hell.
The door slammed and Raj glared at the man as he dropped into the passenger seat in front.
“What did you just say?” Helen asked.
Raj couldn't help but steal a glance at her, captivated by the way she sat with such grace in the adjacent seat, her seatbelt snugly fastened across her chest. The safety strap accentuated every contour, delicately enhancing her curves, drawing the fabric closer to her body, which allowed him a mesmerizing view of her silhouette.
Raj cleared his throat and reluctantly turned his gaze so that he was looking straight ahead. “Nothing important,” he replied. “Nazih,” he gestured to the man in the front seat, omitting the part about how his friend and guard was going to be in a lot of pain later, “sent two of his men to the office this morning right after our conversation. He retrieved several versions of the proposal from Paul’s office, as well as a few other documents that might prove interesting.”
Helen gasped, sitting up a bit straighter in the leather seat. “How? How did he get in? We’d only just talked about this…maybe an hour ago?” she demanded. Then she paused, obviously considering his comment. “Does Paul know?”
Nazih chuckled as Raj answered her. “My team is able to get into just about any facility undetected.”
“ Any facility?” Helen repeated.
Raj shrugged. “There are a few high security facilities, like the White House or the Central Intelligence Agency, that he hasn’t managed to defeat…yet.”
A grunt came from the front seat.
Raj continued, ignoring his friend. “Nazih is part of a team of international guards. Nazih and his team repeatedly attempt to break into various government buildings to test each ally country’s security. They return the favor by trying to break into our buildings.”