She hid her smile behind her tea cup as he quickly scrambled to get his shirt on. He blinked down at it in confusion as he realized he’d put it on backwards. She watched, charmed, as he switched it back to front. “What’s up?” he asked her, his voice muffled by the collar of his shirt.
“Nothing,” she said, hopefully casually. “I was just wondering if I could watch the end of Gatsby in here.”
“The end?” he asked, automatically grabbing his laptop from the desk and handing it over to her. “You barely made it through the opening credits.”
She padded over, took his laptop and set her tea on the nightstand. He settled himself in the desk chair while she situated the computer on the bed. “I’m not even embarrassed about that. Last night was the best night’s sleep I’ve had since…” she trailed off and concentrated on pulling up the movie on Netflix.
He wondered if she realized that she couldn’t say the words out loud.
Since the explosion.
Since David died.
She cleared her throat. “What were you listening to when I came in?”
“Oh.” His tongue was notoriously clumsy at moments like this. So, instead of attempting to say the name of the book out loud and potentially butchering it, he just handed his phone over to her.
“Anna Karenina,” she said, her eyebrows rising up. “And here we are watching The Great Gatbsy. I’d say you have very sophisticated taste, Cedric.”
He shrugged. “I never really read the classics when I was in school because, you know, I can’t read very well.” He cleared his throat, determined to not pause awkwardly on that proclamation. “So, a few years ago I started listening to them as audiobooks. And then I watch the movie as a reward for when I’m finished.”
“That’s so cool!” Elena enthused, her eyes lighting up. And she really did look like she thought it was cool. “What other books have you done?”
“Uh,” he wracked his memory. “Moby Dick, A Farewell to Arms, War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, East of Eden, The Color Purple, Their Eyes Were Watching God, ah, that’s all I can think of now. But you can scroll through my phone if you want and see what else is there.”
“This is a lot of books,” Elena murmured. “Especially considering how long some of these audiobooks are. Jeez! This one is almost 60 hours long!”
“War and Peace? Yeah, it was long, but I loved it. I was so bummed when it was over.”
“Which was your favorite?” Elena asked, handing his phone back to him and propping her head up on one hand.
Cedric flushed with pleasure and tried not to feel like an imposter. But there was a beautiful woman spread out on a bed in front of him and they were discussing… literature. Whose life was this? It was definitely a first for Cedric.
Not the beautiful woman part, that was kind of a regular thing for him. But the talking part was new. And the sharing intellectual opinions thing was new. He concentrated hard on each word, not wanting to break the spell.
“My favorite as a book or as a movie?”
“Both. Either.”
“My favorite as books were definitely Their Eyes were Watching God and Jane Eyre. As a movie? War and Peace probably.”
“Their Eyes were Watching God and Jane Eyre are pretty feminist pieces of writing,” Elena mused, her brows pulling low over her eyes.
“You look surprised that I would be into that.”
“No, I just figured…” she wasn’t sure what she’d figured and now she felt like an ass. She hadn’t meant to underestimate him, but she had. Suddenly, it made sense to her why he might have wanted to keep his learning disorder a secret in high school, even accidentally she’d ended up making judgments about him. “Did you watch the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice movie or the Kiera Knightley one?”
“Ah,” he shifted on his chair and tried to shove his phone in his pocket. He missed twice. “Both?”
She laughed, delighted with his answer. “You watched both of them?”
He was blushing and she loved it. There was just really something about watching 250 pounds of solid muscle blush over getting caught watching romantic movies. “I have a lot of time on my hands. Plus, I relate to Darcy.”
“Really? How so?”
“He puts his foot in his mouth about as often as I do.”
Elena really laughed then, and suddenly she could see what he was really saying. That Cedric struggled to represent his real thoughts and feelings just like Darcy had. That little ticks in his personality left him a step removed from the people he wanted to be close to. That his quiet presence wasn’t because he didn’t have anything to say.
Elena felt dozy and safe in that room with him. And young. It was almost like being back in high school. Like at any minute his grandfather was going to call up the stairs and ask if Elena was staying for dinner. She hadn’t understood Cedric back then, but she was starting to understand him now.
“Still waters run deep,” she said after a beat.
Cedric nodded. “That’s what my grandfather always used to say to me. When I’d get made fun of at school. He also used to, literally, pay me a penny for my thoughts. Just so I’d get used to verbalizing how I was feeling about something.”
Elena smiled, her eyes growing heavy. “I love that. He was a good parent.”
“Sure was.”
Cedric leaned forward and started the movie where they’d left off last night. He was extremely pleased to see that she barely made it five minutes in this time.
***
It was barely even 1:30 when she knocked on his door this time. And she didn’t have any tea in hand either.
Cedric automatically moved to the desk chair, rescinding the bed to her and handing over his laptop.
“You’re early.”
“Yeah. Tonight I’m hoping to actually watch some of this movie before I zonk out.” She fluffed the pillows behind her and wiggled herself into the bed in a way that had Cedric clearing his throat. “Not that I’m complaining about the zonking.”
“I’m glad you’re sleeping better. We’re all glad.”
“All of you? The other team members know?”
Cedric’s eyes flashed to hers, those midnight blues intense and inscrutable. He nodded. “I have to disclose what happens on night duty. And everyone has seemed pretty relieved that you’re relaxing enough to catch some shut-eye.”
“Because rested clients are happy clients?”
“Sure,” he shrugged. “And because we all want what’s best for you.”
She was quiet for a second before she pulled up the blanket and tucked it around her hips. “I feel bad that I was shortsighted enough to picture you all as a bunch of bodyguard robots.”
“I think that’s natural. Bodyguards are represented on T.V. as nothing more than club bouncers, usually.”
“I was picturing more like a bunch of Terminators.”
He laughed. “Complete with aviators?”
“And the Arnold accent, of course.”
They both laughed. Elena turned the movie on and they watched in silence for a good half an hour.
His movement caught her eye and she turned to see him pressing a hand to his back and stretching his legs out in front of him. Even with the sweats and t-shirt on she could see that his body was a work of art. She’d stumbled upon the in-house gym the other day and it had all made sense then, how all the members of Rook Securities were able to look the way they did. But in her mind, Cedric was really something special. He was taller than the other members, and his musculature was more graceful. He had rounder lines than the other men, who were more aggressive looking in their builds. She knew it was almost oxymoronical to think of a man with the body of a Marine to look cuddly, but Elena couldn’t help but think of Cedric that way.
There was something about the way he was built that just looked so huggable. So safe. Even the full sleeve of black tattoos he had down his right arm made her want to touch him. She wanted to trace the intricate, arching designs tha
t were half hidden beneath his shirt.
He stretched out those long legs in front of him, his eyes on the screen and rolled his shoulders back.
“Is the chair uncomfortable?” Elena asked.
“Hmm?” He pulled his attention away from the movie and focused on her.
“I feel bad that in order for me to sleep, you have to spend your entire night on a crappy desk chair.”
“Oh. After you fall asleep I usually stretch out on the floor,” he admitted, the tips of his ears going red.
Elena laughed. “Really?”
He nodded.
“Well, that’s silly. There’s no reason for you to be uncomfortable over there.” She scooted all the way over in the bed, until she was up against the wall. She patted the spot where she’d just been. “It’s okay. You can sit up here.”
His eyes landed on the bed and then on her face. His gaze was heavy on her, like it weighed fifty pounds. She was oddly embarrassed by her request, even though there was no reason to be. “I’m not propositioning you, Ced. I’m just telling you I don’t mind if you want to get comfortable.”
He didn’t say anything but he did climb onto the bed, the whole thing dipping with his weight. In fact, Elena had to steady herself with one hand to keep gravity from rolling her toward him. He stretched out over the covers with his back against the headboard and his legs stretched in front. Even half-bent like that, his feet almost reached the edge of the bed.
Elena blinked at him. When he’d been sitting in the desk chair, with not much to compare him to, he’d almost looked like a normal-sized man. But spread out on the bed next to her, he looked absolutely gigantic. Elena’s eyes fell to Ced’s hands folded over his stomach. She figured just one of his hands could probably span her entire stomach.
Hastily, she put the laptop between them and pressed play again. When she woke up in the morning, she was alone, the laptop was neatly placed on the desk, and she was sprawled in the middle of the bed.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Swift—” crackle crackle “Emergency—third floor common room—” crackle crackle “Come quick.”
Cedric, only halfway out of the shower, sprang into action the second, the very second, he heard Atlas’s voice come through the walkie talkie. The very fact that Atlas was using the walkies instead of their watches or phones to communicate must mean that their system had been hacked. That might mean that there were hostiles in the building. God, there could even be a hostage situation.
Water droplets flung from Cedric’s skin as he yanked on pants over wet skin and zipped them but didn’t waste time buttoning them. Next, he grabbed his gun in one hand, the walkie in the other and full on sprinted to the third corridor.
Cedric, mindful of any sounds or disturbances, went as quickly and quietly as he could as he skidded up to the doorway of the common room.
He peeked in one side, his gun at the ready.
There was a loud burst of… laughter from inside.
Casing the situation, Cedric stepped into the common room, his gun limp at his side and murder in his eyes for Atlas. “You son of a bitch.”
“What?” Atlas asked as he leaned back from his seat at the poker table. He threw some popcorn in the air and caught it in his mouth. “I knew there was no other way to get you down here on your night off. You made good time, by the way. I think that was less than 45 seconds in response time.”
The group, who’d apparently decided to have themselves a little party, were sitting around the poker table. Atlas and Geo on either side of Elena, a surly-looking Sequence looking over his shoulder at Cedric and even Rook sat, leaning back in his chair, trying to control his smile.
“You almost gave me a heart attack, you asshat. I was in the shower.”
“I can tell,” Atlas responded, his trademark grin taking up half his face. “You’re making a puddle on the floor.”
Cedric looked down at his bare feet. He was not creating a puddle. But his slacks were sticking to the water on his legs, and he saw that his pants had fallen indecently low down his hips, considering they weren’t buttoned. “Jesus Christ,” he grumbled to himself, yanking up his pants.
“You said he’d know it was a joke!” Elena said to Atlas, poking him in the side. “And you didn’t tell me it was his night off! God, I’m so sorry, Cedric. The last thing you need on your night off is a coworker-induced stroke and then more babysitting duty.”
Cedric’s adrenaline-fueled rage at Atlas dissolved immediately in the face of Elena’s contrition. Besides, her messy hair was piled all on top of her head and she wore an olive-colored t-shirt that he’d never seen before. And, if he wasn’t mistaken, he was almost positive that she was having a little bit of a hard time keeping her eyes above six-pack latitude. All of it went a long way toward calming him down.
“No, no,” he heard himself say. “It’s fine. You’re a dick,” he pointed at Atlas. “But I’m not mad. Just… gimme a sec.”
He left the common room and returned a few minutes later in sweatpants, a black hoodie and sneakers. He pulled up a chair next to Rook, across the table from Elena.
“Technically,” Geo said. “Only Atlas and Rook are on duty tonight, so…” she slid a beer down the table toward Cedric and he squinted at the label, trying to parse out which kind it was.
It had a picture of a Bengal Tiger on it, which meant that it was one of his favorite IPAs.
“So, are we just shooting the shit or what?” he asked the group.
“Nah, son,” Atlas said and pulled a deck of cards from where he’d been shuffling it under the table. “Poker night.”
“Fuck,” Cedric groaned, rolling his eyes to the sky. “Shoulda stayed in bed.”
“And that’s why we had to use the old walkie talkie trick to get him down here,” Atlas explained to Elena. “Our boy here is so bad at poker it’s comical. We had to stop playing for money because I felt bad he was paying my mortgage.”
Elena eyed Cedric across the table. She figured that Cedric wasn’t actually bad at cards, but he was probably pretty bad at identifying which card was which, considering his struggles with reading. Great, now she felt even worse for dragging Ced down here on his night off. The rest of Atlas’s words filtered down to her. “Wait, if you don’t play for money then what are we playing for?”
“Clothes, honey,” Geo grinned, a toothpick between her teeth.
They wanted to play strip poker? Elena, quite a world traveler, and no stranger to fun, had played a few games of strip poker in her life. She’d, for the most part, found it a very respectable way to party down. If Elena were a different woman, she might have cowered at the thought of getting naked in direct comparison to Geo, most beautiful woman of all time. But Elena didn’t suffer from a lack of confidence. She knew she was nice to look at. She was healthy and cute and had never suffered from a lack of admirers. Besides. She’d slept seven hours the night before, she was cooped up in a security bunker, her life was a shadow of what it once was, why shouldn’t she have some fun tonight?
“We’re not making Elena play strip poker!” Cedric leaned forward onto the table, twisting his beer one direction and then the other.
“Why not?” Elena asked. “Because I’m a client? I thought the point was to keep me safe and happy. I’m safe. So let’s make me happy and play some strip poker.”
“Here, here!” Atlas raised his beer in the air.
“You’re okay with this?” Cedric asked the normally straight-laced Rook.
Rook just shrugged. “Customer knows best.”
“Besides,” Sequence spoke up for the first time since Cedric had gotten there, “we all know you’re gonna be the only one gettin’ naked, son.” He slapped Cedric on the back while the rest of them laughed.
It was true. He was remarkably bad at cards. He was fine with the colors and with the face cards of course. But everything else got jumbled up in his head. He pretty much always ended up folding or losing. And yes, inevitably stripping.
But
Elena was grinning and joking with Atlas, color in her cheeks and a sparkle in her eye. Duh, he was gonna play. Even if he ended up being the naked one.
He was just grateful that he wasn’t commando under his shower-wet slacks anymore. At least he’d put on underwear, shoes, socks, and an undershirt under his sweatpants and hoodie. Otherwise he would likely have to get naked on the first hand.
***
“So tell me more about Swift in high school,” Atlas said as he revealed his cards.
“A royal flush!” Elena said and Cedric groaned, hanging his head. He was beginning to suspect that Elena was announcing what kind of hand each person had in order to save Cedric the embarrassment of squinting across the table and trying to figure out whether he’d won or lost. He wasn’t complaining. She was making the game a lot easier on him.
He was still losing.
Cedric sighed and pulled his sweatshirt off. He was down to his undershirt, pants and boxer briefs now.
“Why are you so curious about me in high school?” Cedric grumbled across the table. Elena’s eyes bounced away from him and he wondered if she’d just been checking out his arms.
“My mother says I’m a naturally curious person,” Atlas deadpanned.
“She also says you’re nosy as hell,” Sequence mumbled, shuffling the cards.
“In high school,” Elena said, squinching up her face and looking into the past. “Cedric was… quiet. And very big.”
“So pretty much exactly the same as he is now,” Geo said, crunching on some popcorn. “There, Atlas. The mystery is solved.”
“I wouldn’t say exactly the same,” Elena replied, shaking her head.
“How’s he different?” Atlas’s nosy-ass self couldn’t help but ask.
“Now, even his muscles have muscles. So, there’s that,” Elena said, finishing off her beer.
Cedric felt heat wash up his neck and he couldn’t resist the urge to cover his eyes with one hand. If there was such a thing as being humiliated in a good way, he was experiencing it at that particular second.
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