Chapter 5
EVE
The early morning light filtered through my window, dragging me from a very cozy sleep.
When my lashes fluttered, and my eyes finally adjusted, I reached out to find that I was alone in bed.
There was no heat beside me, and I might have wondered if I’d imagined the whole Haze creeping into my room and me dragging him into bed incident.
Only, I could still smell him all over my sheets, a rich, masculine scent that was all Haze.
It reminded me of this old shed that the Lewis’s had at the back of their house, where Mitchell would do all of his woodwork.
Cedar and pine and mahogany. Deep scents that must be sprinkled in whatever aftershave Haze wore, along with that natural scent of him.
It was nice. Okay, more than nice. It was fucking intoxicating, and I never realized a person could be so attracted to the scent of men until I’d met the five that lived in Bluebell House with me.
Weren’t men supposed to be kind of gross and smelly?
These five were assholes, that was for sure, but as hygiene went, they were hard to fault.
And why the fuck was I lying in bed thinking about their smell, when in reality I was fairly pissed that they’d all kept this massive secret from me.
A secret that could have gotten Lacey and me murdered yesterday.
It was pure fucking luck that we hadn’t been shot to pieces or killed in a car crash.
At least Haze was no longer being held by Homeland Security, and for that, I would be civil to Andrew today.
Maybe I’d even thank him. Keeping a polite atmosphere when we had to live together was important, and while I wasn’t quite ready to speak with Brodie yet, Andrew was manageable.
Mostly because we didn’t have a super complex, sexual and emotional relationship to deal with as well.
Which was…how I wanted it. Yeah. I didn’t want that with Andrew at all.
Right?
Dragging myself out of bed, I couldn’t get over how well rested I felt.
There’d been nightmares before Haze arrived, so many fucking nightmares that I’d woken many times in a puddle of sweat, expecting the mattress and sheets to be soaked in the blood from the amount of bullets that ripped through me in my dreams. But it had all stopped when he arrived.
The way I felt safe…yeah, fuck. That wasn’t good.
I couldn’t grow attached to these secretive men.
Not when they’d all proven I wasn’t their equal, and they were mostly on babysitting duty.
Fuck, I wondered if half the times they’d acted like they cared about me had all just been in the duty of keeping me safe.
The way that thought had me fighting the urge to break dishes and slash their tires, I really didn’t want to examine. If country music started playing, though, there was no way I could stop myself. Those ladies knew how to do revenge.
After getting ready in the bathroom, ignoring the dark circles under my eyes and the bruises and cuts littering my skin, I threw on sweatpants and a plain black shirt. The house was cool and silent as I made my way along the landing, and I wondered if I was the only one here.
The odds of that were slim under the circumstances, and sure enough, as I reached the top of the stairs to head down into the living room, Andrew exited his bedroom.
He was fully dressed in a perfectly pressed blue button-down, sleeves rolled up to expose his tanned and strong forearms, and a pair of navy slacks.
Black socks on his feet, because we do not wear shoes in his house, and one could assume he was ready to leave for the office.
But no, this was just his everyday casual wear.
It was the lack of a tie that really reiterated the casual part.
“Morning,” he said, somewhat gruffly. “How did you sleep?”
His hazel eyes were piercing as they locked on me, and despite my annoyance over yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to ignore him. “Not too bad,” I replied shortly, and then softened my voice to add, “Thank you for getting Haze out.”
Even if all he’d really done was run to mommy for help. But whatever. If my mom was the president of the United States, I’d run to her for help too. There had to be some perks to sharing your mom with an entire country.
Andrew’s face tightened, a small twitch in the corner of his eye. “Yeah, he shouldn’t have been picked up anyway. And he wouldn’t have been if you’d just stayed your ass in the house. Hopefully you’ve learned your lesson.”
Any fraction of peace I’d been trying to keep vanished in a puff of smoke. For all of this asshole’s media training, and there was no way he hadn’t been, he really had no idea how to talk to people. Especially those of the female variety.
Or maybe it was just those of the me variety he had an issue with.
“You made your point perfectly clear last night,” I said, ice coating my tone.
“And I have not backed down from my stance that this is your fucking fault. Had you not treated me like a child who didn’t deserve to know about my own life, then I would have had all the information to make an informed decision about my own fucking safety! ”
There, that was good. Mature. Only one curse word…or maybe two. Whatever, it was still very mature and made perfect sense.
Andrew smirked the most condescending of smiles, and now he was just trying to rile me up.
I couldn’t help but step in so we were toe to toe, even though I had to tilt my head all the way back to see him.
“You couldn’t even handle my tears and snot on your shirt last night, Mr. Knightsbridge.
You don’t want to make it blood, right?”
Because I was about to clock him in the damn nose.
His smirk faded, and he glanced down at his shirt in an involuntary sort of movement, before his gaze jerked back up. “I handled it just fine. I might like things tidy, but I’m not controlled by those urges.”
Who the hell was he kidding? “You’re absolutely controlled by them.
I’ve seen you clean an already clean kitchen at midnight and then iron your underwear.
Not to mention you carry disinfectant wipes in your pockets, and you are never without at least three bottles of hand sanitizer.
You have a problem, Andrew, and it’s time you acknowledged it. ”
And stay out of my business while you’re doing that.
“I don’t have a problem,” he reiterated, voice hard, as each word was spat from between gritted teeth.
It occurred to me at this point that I was possibly being fairly insensitive to what were clearly some real issues in Andrew’s life, but he made it so hard to sympathize with him when he was always such a dick.
“You do,” I countered, softening my voice. “You’re a germaphobe, and the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. I’m happy to help you, but you have to ask for it first.”
His eyes blazed as he sucked in another breath, like he was too furious to even respond, and I knew I was prodding at issues he wasn’t ready to deal with yet.
When he exhaled, I was hit with a waft of mint, indicating he’d just brushed his teeth too. And unlike me, he’d have flossed and mouthwashed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he finally managed to say, and I let out a bark of laughter.
“I mean, if you were that freaked out by tears, imagine if you got pussy juice on your face. You might actually keel over and die. Or you’d at least ask your poor unsatisfied girlfriend to sanitize her cunt first.”
God, I could just imagine him standing there holding out one of his anti-bacterial wipes to Laura.
It was only that we were so close and I refused to look away from his blazing gaze that I saw the way his pupils dilated.
“Well, you’re definitely wrong now, Evelyn.
” He leaned right down, until our noses grazed.
“I fucking love pussy, and I have no issues eating or wearing it. On my face. On my shirt. On my damn bare chest.”
Now it was my turn for my breath to catch. And the throb between my legs was completely unnecessary when I was dealing with this problematic, insulting asshole.
“Prove it.”
Holy fuck. The moment those two words left my mouth, I wanted to scream and run away. Or at least slink to the floor in an embarrassed heap. Because this wasn’t what I wanted…right?
Neither of us moved for ten long seconds, tension hovering in the air, and then he snapped into action.
It wasn’t until my back hit a hard surface that I realized he’d scooped me up and now had me wedged firmly between him and the wall.
My gasp was lost in his mouth as he kissed me, and all thought fled my brain at the taste and sensation of Andrew.
Germaphobe or not, he didn’t hesitate to wrap his tongue around mine and devour me as if he was desperate to taste me. “Holy fuck,” I groaned, and all conscious, rational thought was lost as I kissed him back.
Then an ice-cold sobering thought struck my mind and I tore my mouth away from his. “Wait. No, we can’t do this. You have a girlfriend.” I’d literally just made jokes about him demanding she sanitize her pussy, so it’s not like I’d conveniently forgotten.
“No, I don’t,” he breathed as he kissed my throat. “We broke up.”
“What? Seriously? When? Why?”
Andrew frowned slightly, shaking his head. “Does it matter? It’s over and I’m single.”
Fuck, okay. Good enough for me! Andrew wasn’t the type to lie about something like that, and since he didn’t generally share his personal life with me, it wasn’t a surprise that I hadn’t known before now.
He pressed even harder into me and I parted my thighs wider, Andrew sliding right between them. He sucked my pulse point, making me moan, and he pulled back far enough to meet my lusty gaze with satisfaction. “See? I’m not scared to share a little saliva.”