by S. E. Rose
“That feels so good,” she murmurs. Her scratchy morning voice makes me want her even more.
I rinse the shampoo out of her hair and put conditioner on it. She continues to sigh in contentment as I rinse it out.
“A girl could get used to this,” she says with a smile, her eyes still shut.
I can no longer control myself. I lean in and kiss her. Her eyes fly open and meet my gaze before closing again. This isn’t a gentle, slow, morning lovemaking kiss, this is an "I want to fuck you in the shower now" kiss. It only takes a few moments of us owning each other’s mouths before Anna is climbing up my body and wrapping her legs around me. I press her against the shower tiles as she grinds her wet core up and down over my cock, driving me insane.
I don’t waste any time as I slam into her. She grunts as she takes the force of my thrust. I pull back out and push back in, coating my dick with her wetness. I bite down on her shoulder, and she moans again, her arms gripping around my shoulders. I take her weight on one arm to support her as I reach between us and start circling her clit. I need her to come because I don’t want my girl to go without, and I’m not going to last long with her tight pussy squeezing my dick.
She’s so keyed up that it only takes several swirls of my thumb before she detonates around me causing a chain reaction in me. My body trembles as I thrust one last time into her, my balls drawing up tightly as I pour my release deep inside her body. I grab her with my other arm to keep her supported, and I lean us tightly against the tiles because my knees almost give out from the force of my orgasm.
I press my forehead against hers as our mingled breaths slow. I open my eyes to find her looking at me. She touches my cheek gently.
“Promise me, Logan,” she says.
“Anything,” I say to her.
“Promise me that we’re going to be OK,” she says. I see the fear in her eyes for the first time, and I don’t fucking like it. Anna is one of the strongest people I know. Seeing her afraid, makes me want to do caveman things to keep her safe.
“I promise you that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe,” I pledge to her.
She closes her eyes and kisses me, gently. I brush my lips against hers, and slowly let her down, making sure she’s on steady legs before I let her go.
I’m about to say more, but there’s knocking on the bedroom door.
“Stop shagging and hurry the fuck up,” Auggie’s voice rings out, making us both laugh.
“Maybe being an only child is a good thing,” I say to her with a wink.
She giggles as we quickly finish getting ready.
Chapter Twenty
I can’t say I’ve ever walked on so many cobblestoned streets in my life. Auggie makes us play tourist the entire day, and if I’m being honest with myself, I love every minute of it.
We go through the castle, the palace, the ghost tour of Mary King’s Close, and then grab food and picnic in the park. It’s Auggie that decides we need to walk up the hill overlooking the city.
“Come on, lazy arses,” he calls out as he leads our group up god knows how many steps.
“Does he always have this much energy?” I ask Anna. I groan at how oblivious Auggie seems to be to the danger we are in at this moment.
She giggles. “Yes,” she says, and I can tell by the way she says that she wouldn’t want Auggie any other way.
Jack, Pete, Hendrick, and Cain accompany us on our day trip. After Anna had a strict talking to them about acting normal, they have tried to mimic a group of guy friends. It’s been entertaining to watch them. Pete and Cain clearly have this act down. They stay vigilant all day, constantly scanning our surroundings. We all seem a bit on edge, although we’ve relaxed a bit more throughout the day. I’m glad we are taking a moment to relax before the impending chaos comes, whatever it may be. I watch them with Anna and Chris and realize that Anna and Chris really do have a close relationship with their bodyguards. It’s been interesting to see the bonds they have with so many of their staff.
I watch as Cain claps Chris on the back as they joke about something from earlier today, and Anna links arms with Pete as we walk up the hill.
“See, I told you it’d be worth it,” Auggie declares as we climb a tower that looks down over the city. A couple nearby asks us to take some photos of them, and I ask them to take one of us. Jack quickly whips out his phone for the photo. I almost want to groan, but decide Jack knows best. After posing for a photo, Jack tells us we should head back to the house.
“But dinner…I’m starving,” Chris grumbles.
“Fuck dinner, we need beer,” Auggie says.
Jack groans and shoots Pete, Hendrick, and Cain a look. Pete and Cain shrug, while Hendrick just shakes his head.
“Great, ’cause we passed a pub on the way here,” Auggie says as he turns and starts back down the hill.
“Augs, we passed about fifty pubs on the way here,” Chris mutters as he wraps his arm around Mia and starts down the stairs. Watching Chris with Mia, makes me wonder what Paolo and Shannon are doing without their bosses around.
“What does Shannon do when you are away?” I ask Anna, my curiosity getting the better of me.
“Well, it doesn’t happen often. I mean, normally, she comes with me. I suppose she’s taking a vacation,” Anna contemplates.
“Doesn’t she work for you?” I ask.
Anna grins. “Something like that,” she says with a wink. I look at her in confusion, but she just grabs my arm and pulls me into the nearby pub that Auggie has already entered. “You’ll understand, someday,” she adds.
Someday…I consider what she’s implying. Someday…I could be a prince. Someday…I could have a secretary just like she does. This seems all too overwhelming. So, I do the most reasonable thing ever and drink several pints of beer with Auggie.
I have to admit, where Chris screams royalty, Auggie screams frat brother. I like Chris. He’s got that wise-beyond-his-years sort of mentality. He’s also very smart, very kind, and very intuitive. I can see the similarities with Anna. Auggie, well, Auggie is a whole other type of royal. He’s definitely the one that ends up in those page six photos. He’s kind too, and he’s definitely smart, but there’s a certain carefreeness about him. I snap out of my thoughts as Auggie begins yet another story.
“So, there we are halfway up Kilimanjaro and my guide says, ‘hey, who brought the water.’” His voice slurs half the words, and he laughs at the memory.
“Auggie, I think we should call it a night,” Jack interrupts the story. Auggie is definitely the most relaxed of our group. I’ve watched Jack get more tense throughout the day. But I think everyone else senses it is time for us to leave. The last thing we need is to draw more attention to ourselves.
“Ahhh…come on, man,” Auggie says as he leans too far over and nearly falls off the bar stool.
“And, that’s a wrap, folks,” Chris announces as he stands up and helps Auggie off the stool.
“Oh, s’come on, Lion, the night s’is young and s’are we,” Auggie slurs.
“Yeah, and some of us are out past our bedtime,” Chris says, giving him a hard stare. Auggie rolls his eyes and laughs.
“You’re such a lump of coal,” he says.
I shake my head, trying to stifle my grin which I know will only egg him on. It takes us the better part of thirty minutes to get Auggie back to the car. Pete and Jack look like they want to murder him. Once inside, he promptly passes out.
Anna falls asleep next, her head on my shoulder.
Chris looks over at us. Mia has fallen asleep on him as well.
“You better take good care of her, or I’ll kill you myself,” he says.
“I was wondering how long it would take before we had this conversation,” I say with a smirk.
“I’m serious, Logan. That right there,” he says, motioning to Anna, “is precious cargo. Guard her with your life.”
“I will,” I say sincerely to him. We stare at each other for a long moment,
a silent understanding passing between us.
Then, I look out the window as Jack drives us back to the house. The realization about my mom and Sebastian Bach bounce around in my head. I replay conversations with my mom, conversations I overheard between my mom and her parents. I start to second-guess everything. What was real in my life? I can feel my anger growing as the car travels north into the dim light of the evening.
Jack’s phone rings as we make the turnoff toward Stonehaven.
“Yes?” he answers gruffly. “When. Shit. Yeah, I understand. I’m heading to the safe house now.”
He hangs up as I try to process the words that have just left his mouth, but Chris is a step ahead of me.
“What’s wrong?” he asks from the back of the van.
“A sensor was tripped on the perimeter of the property about five minutes ago,” Jack explains as he makes a U-turn in the road. “I’m taking us to a safe house until the situation is cleared.”
“Where’s the safe house?” I ask.
“Not far,” he says. He makes a call on this phone to alert Hendrick, Cain, and Pete to the situation as they are following us in another car.
About ten minutes later, Jack pulls off onto a small lane and then another and, finally, we are driving down a drive no bigger than a trail. We pull up to a giant field with a very old house sitting in the middle. There’s a nearby barn and some other outbuildings. I can see what appears to be a helipad in the backfield.
“What is this place?” I ask as Anna starts to stir next to me.
“Let’s just say, I called in a favor with an old friend,” Jack says as he parks the car.
“Where are we?” Anna asks sleepily as she sits up and rubs her eyes.
“We are at a safe house,” Jack says. Anna sits up straighter.
“Why?” she asks.
“We had a possible perimeter breach back the estate. I made the executive decision to move us here for the night,” Jack says.
I see the color drain from Anna’s face.
“Do you think…” She trails off.
Jack turns toward her as he walks around the car. “Listen, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, OK? It could be nothing. And besides, it’s exactly what we planned for, right?” he says as he places a hand on her shoulder.
She takes a steadying breath. “Right,” she agrees as she squares her shoulders. My brave princess is ready for battle.
Jack walks up to the front door which opens. A man in scrubs shakes Jack’s hand.
“How the hell are you?” he asks.
“Fan-fucking-tastic. And you?” Jack replies.
The man laughs. “These are your assets?” he asks, looking back at all of us.
“Those three are security,” he says pointing to Hendrick, Cain, and Pete. “And this is Anna, Chris, Auggie, Mia, and Logan.”
“Hello, I’m Eli Bachman,” he says as he holds out a hand to each of us. “Sounds like you’ve had a change of plans for tonight. I have some rooms set up for upstairs. There are scrubs set out if you want to change. There are showers if you need them.”
“Thanks,” Anna says to him in unison with her brothers. Although they are all polite, I can tell everyone is tense.
“Sure, no problem. Don’t mind that the rooms are surgical suites. We tend to house injured people here,” he says. We stop in our tracks and turn to Eli and Jack.
“What type of safe house is this?” Chris asks them.
Jack looks to Eli who nods.
“It’s a facility used to care for injured assets and personnel,” he says not giving away anything else.
Anna and Chris nod and Auggie shrugs as they turn and trudge up the steps. There’s a woman at a desk in the hallway.
“Oh, hi, I’m Nancy. Let me show you the rooms we have available,” she says. Nancy is also wearing scrubs. She shows us to four different rooms each with four beds and an en suite bathroom. Anna and I take one room and settle ourselves in for the evening. There’s a knock on the door after we’ve changed into the scrubs laid out for us.
“Yes?” Anna calls out.
“May I come in?” Jack asks.
Anna opens the door for him and motions for him to enter. He does but he doesn’t sit down on any of the beds or chairs, he simply lingers by the door.
“Is everything OK for tonight?” he asks us.
Anna nods. “Yes, it’s fine. Thank you,” she responds as she cocks her head to one side.
“This…isn’t an Interpol safe house, is it?” she asks him.
He shakes his head. “This is mostly used for British Intelligence,” he explains.
“I see,” she answers.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything, OK?” Jack assures us.
“Fine,” Anna mumbles as she turns and walks toward the window.
“Anna…we’re close. We’re going to get whoever is behind this. I promise,” Jack says before he walks to the door.
“Jack,” Anna says without turning from the window. I look from her to Jack. “There’s another matter I’d like to discuss with you when this is over.”
Jack’s eyebrows shoot up. “Sure,” he says, quickly covering the surprised look on his face.
“Goodnight,” she says as she pulls the curtains closed.
“Goodnight,” he replies and shuts the door behind him.
“What are you going to ask him about?” I question as I walk over to her.
She shakes her head. “Nothing important,” she replies and the fact that she’s willing to share something with Jack but not me makes me irrationally jealous.
I walk away from her and crawl into bed. The mature side of me knows this is silly, but I can’t help it. I want her to share things with me. I want her to feel about me the same way I feel about her.
She comes to bed a minute later, crawling in beside me and curling up on the far side of the bed, as though sensing my anger and frustration and giving me space. My nana’s words fill my head, mocking my jealousy. “Never go to bed angry.”
I roll over and pull her against me. She stiffens for a moment.
I kiss the back of her head. “I wish you would tell me, but I respect your privacy. I’m just…I wish you could trust me with all your secrets,” I whisper in her ear.
She turns in my arms and looks at me. Her eyes appear as dark puddles in the dim light of the room.
“I’m not trying to hurt you or keep things from you, Logan. I…have kept this part of me a secret for so long that it’s hard to let go of, to just be open about it; it’s like giving myself up,” she says.
“Maybe you aren’t giving yourself up. Maybe you’re freeing yourself,” I suggest.
She frowns. “I never thought about it like that,” she says to me.
“Well, maybe consider that,” I say to her.
“I will,” she says softly. She leans up and kisses my cheek. “Thank you for understanding.”
Her words break through the wall I had started building around my heart a moment earlier. I give her a small smile. “For you, my princess, anything,” I say as I kiss her forehead and pull her tightly against me.
I hadn’t contemplated that Anna was still fighting demons. I had been so fixated with myself, the revelations in my life the past few weeks, the enormity of the changes in her life had completely escaped me. As I lie there considering this, my jealousy starts to melt into guilt. Susanna’s whole world had changed too, and I needed to have more patience with her. My stubborn, fierce princess has a lot of things on her mind. And that thought was the last one as I closed my eyes, the adrenaline from earlier leaving my body and taking my consciousness with it.
Chapter Twenty-One
The knock on the door wakes us both.
“Yes,” I croak.
“Can I come in?” Jack’s voice rings out.
“Yes,” Anna says, her voice gravelly from sleep.
Jack peeks around the door.
“False alarm, we think it was just deer tripping a motion se
nsor,” Jack says. “I’m rounding up everyone else; we’ll head over to the house shortly.”
“Alright. Thanks for letting us know,” Anna says.
Jack nods and closes the door.
Anna sighs and pulls her legs up against her chest, wrapping her arms around them and placing her chin on top.
“I want this to end,” she murmurs.
“That makes two of us,” I agree.
She turns her head to look at me. “Can we go on the boat?” she asks.
I furrow my brows. “Now?” I ask.
She half smiles. “No, when this is over. Can we go on the boat?” she reiterates.
“Of course. You are always welcome on The Matilda,” I say to her.
We decide not to change into our dirty clothes. So, we pile them in some plastic bags we find in the room and head down to the car. Eli is down in the waiting room, which looks more like a living room.
“Hope you all slept well,” he says cheerily.
“We did. Thank you again for your…hospitality,” Anna says, searching for the right word. He grins.
“You’re welcome,” he replies as we make our way toward the car and back to Jack’s house.
We are all quiet on the way there. It still feels like a calm before the storm, before the inevitable happens. As we reach the house, the wind picks up and an actual storm begins moving in.
“Let’s get inside,” Jack yells, ushering us in as the rain begins. We aren’t in the house for five minutes when a lightning bolt hits nearby and the power goes out.
“Well, that’s fucking fantastic,” Auggie mutters.
“Wait here,” Jack says. He’s back with battery-operated lanterns for each of us.
“Seriously?” Anna asks.
Jack shrugs. “You can never be too prepared,” he says.
“Well, someone was a Boy Scout,” I mutter.
“Is the power out at the cottage?” Anna asks.
“The cottage has a backup generator. This house does too, but that lightning strike was pretty close, I’m going to have to check on things. Give me a few minutes to get the power back up here, and then the storm should be passing, and I can take you over there,” Jack says to her.