I’d told Naveen, Keep looking.
But I was losing faith, with every passing hour, that we were gonna find him at all.
I went through the motions of getting ready for bed, running a hot shower and getting in, even though I doubted I was gonna be able to sleep tonight.
Where the fuck was this guy?
Did he figure out he was being watched? Did he slip the tail on purpose? Did he go underground?
Or did he simply take off, leave the city? The province?
Did the Sinners help him disappear?
Or did the Kings get to him?
I was too fucking consumed by all of it to bother with getting myself off in the shower. I was already out and toweling off, and falling into bed, before I realized it.
I lay there, just replaying tonight’s fuck-ups in my head.
Walking away from Summer at the club. Leaving her with Yancy, with Andre. Leaving her without me.
Touching her.
Why the fuck did I have to go touching her?
I tried to relax, at least get some rest so I could be sharp tomorrow, and do my fucking job. But I kept thinking about her. I wondered how she was doing, alone in her hotel room, right now.
She’d told me she didn’t like being alone.
Was she sleeping?
I thought about Naveen’s call, the one that told me what I did not want to hear. That my team had failed. That we’d lost our eyes on Blair Sanchuk, the man who’d fucked with Summer’s peace of mind.
I kept checking my phone for an update from my guys.
Nothing.
Eventually, I realized I wouldn’t be able to let this go tonight until I called Jude. I didn’t have much of a choice but to tell him what happened. I’d been putting it off, hoping we’d find Sanchuk before I ever had to tell him or Brody that we’d lost him.
But it was now approaching midnight in Vancouver, and he hadn’t come home for the second night in a row.
Things were not looking good.
“Sanchuk’s in the wind,” I told Jude when he picked up. “Our tail lost him in a crowd outside a concert letting out in downtown Vancouver, around ten-thirty last night. He was on foot. He hasn’t been home since.”
I let that hang, in case he wanted to speak up and tell me the Kings had anything to do with this.
“And you’re just telling me this now?”
“We’ve been trying to pick up the trail. But I’m wondering if he might’ve taken a runner.”
“I’ll talk to Piper,” Jude said. “The Kings will find him.”
They’d fucking better.
I got off that call even more pissed off. Definitely wanted to blame the Kings for fucking with this, sending Sanchuk into hiding, if that’s what they’d done.
If so, maybe the Sinners were hiding him.
Maybe we’d all just triggered some biker war and Summer was somehow caught up in it.
I’d told her Sanchuk signed the peace bond out of fear of going to prison, but there was more to it than that.
He’ll be instructed on what’s expected of him.
Yeah. I could imagine what that would look like.
Sanchuk was probably far more scared of the Kings, and maybe the Sinners, too, than he was of facing criminal charges. And after receiving “instruction” from Piper or whoever dealt it out, he knew if he disobeyed the restraining order it would be the bikers showing up at his door, not the police.
I knew how these guys operated. Sanchuk would, too. Piper might come across as a reasonable man, but it was dirty as fuck in the streets.
We should’ve let the law handle it.
But then again, if we did… maybe it wouldn’t have been sufficiently handled.
Either way, I was just fucking glad Summer wasn’t in Vancouver when Sanchuk disappeared.
Though he could be anywhere by now. Maybe he followed us here.
Fuck.
I lay in bed, still unable to sleep. I was too disturbed. Pissed that such a fucking lowlife could just walk into Summer’s life and put fear into her.
A knock on my door startled me.
I was on my feet in a second, flicking on a lamp. I yanked the pajama pants from my bag and stepped into them; like I’d told Summer, I didn’t sleep in jammies, but I always brought them when I was on duty overnight, just in case.
I crossed the room, and I heard the soft knock again. Then a voice: “Ronan?”
Summer.
I opened the door after a quick look through the peephole. Summer stood in the hall, alone, hugging herself and looking up at me. She was wearing one of those silk robes of hers and hotel slippers.
“Summer.” I reached for her, catching her arm and tugging her into my room. “You shouldn’t be out of your room without me.” I leaned past her, checking both ways into the silent, empty hall. Then I nudged her deeper into my room and shut the door. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She was still hugging herself, and I could feel her unease. It prickled through me, setting off that twitch at the back of my neck. “I just… didn’t want to be alone.”
I stared at her. Her dark hair was loose, in thick waves around her face. She’d washed off all her makeup, and her naked lips looked soft. Her eyebrows pinched together, and she looked so tense, so… shaken… It unhinged me.
I fucking hated it.
I wanted to take her in my arms, but I just stood there.
“Actually…” she breathed, “I can’t fucking stand being alone right now.”
I found my voice. “Well, next time text me or call me, and I’ll come to you.”
“Okay.”
My heart twitched, like it was struggling to remember how to function, as we stood looking at each other. The spike of adrenaline, and yes, fear, when I heard her voice in the hall, was subsiding, replaced with a different discomfort.
I ran my hand through my hair and wondered how disheveled I looked.
“Shit, it’s been a bad night,” she said softly.
“Yeah.”
She gazed into my eyes, looking strong, like she always did, but also… scared. Unsure. “Can I stay here? With you?”
“Uh… yeah. Okay.”
Wrong answer.
But what was I supposed to say? No?
No, you can’t stay here with me. It’s inappropriate.
Go back to your room, scared and alone.
I put my hand out, directing her over to the little sitting area across from the bed. She took a few steps in that direction, then stopped in the middle of the room. She looked around.
She looked at the bed.
Then she turned to me, gazing up at me with her pale-blue eyes.
“I’m really tired. I haven’t been able to sleep at all. I just want to sleep, but I can’t.”
I just listened, staring at her.
“Can I sleep with you?”
I swallowed the sudden, jagged lump in my throat.
Summer laughed a little, under her breath, and groaned. “That sounded pathetic. I’m not hitting on you, I promise. I just… need to not be alone tonight.” Her eyes held mine. Hopeful.
Trusting.
Afraid.
I couldn’t find words. Heat rushed to my cock when she gave me that look, even as I told myself this wasn’t about that.
My cock didn’t seem to believe me.
“I’ll be good, I promise,” she said softly.
“Uh… yeah.” But I didn’t move. I just stood there, unable to move.
Fuck. I’d never been so lost for the right words in my life.
“I’m just… ruffled,” she said. “I’m sorry. This is weird.”
“No,” I said. “It’s fine. Come here.”
I touched her elbow, lightly, my fingers just brushing her robe. I nudged her over to the bed, averting my eyes from her body. I tried not to look at her at all as I peeled back the covers to let her in. “Uh, ladies first.”
“Okay.” She slipped off her robe and I definitely didn’t lo
ok. But I saw what she was wearing out of the corner of my eye. A little stretchy black nightgown thing, short, hugging her curves.
She climbed into the bed, and I definitely looked as she crawled across to the other side.
That ass.
Christ, she was sexy. I had this blinding vision of sliding my hands up her hips, under that short black thing, and tugging her toward my dick.
And ramming it into her while she cried out for more.
Nope. Reel it in.
I turned off the lamp. My cock was straining against my thin pajama pants, and I didn’t need her to see that. I got in next to her and drew the covers up over both us.
She cuddled in close to me, but not touching.
She let out a breath, and I could feel her relax, softening into the bed next to me. And the fact that she felt safe with me… safe enough to sleep next to me? Shit, it made me feel good.
It was almost like I had a heart after all.
I settled back onto my pillow, stiffly. My whole system was going fucking haywire, overly aware of her presence beside me. I could smell her, hear her breathing softly, and all my instincts were confused. My body was slamming with adrenaline again. Arousal.
But my mind was calm. Finally calm, for the first time all night.
I couldn’t think of anything but Summer lying next to me.
“Do you mind if I put my arm around you?” she asked softly.
“No.” I cleared my throat a little. “I don’t mind.”
Why I said that, I’d never fucking know.
Yes. Yes, I minded.
She reached over, drifting a soft hand over my stomach beneath the covers, and I tensed. It barely grazed me, that touch, and my skin broke out in goosebumps. My cock, which was already throbbing with blind hope that it was about to get action, hardened.
She draped her arm over me, pressing her cheek to my bare shoulder.
I held still. I could feel her soft hair all down my arm.
Jesus, she smelled good. Her soft skin, a hint of her soft perfume.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I lay my hand gently on her arm against my stomach, basically to hold it still, so she didn’t stir in her sleep and accidentally brush the stiff, thudding erection I was mentally trying to will away. I drew a deep, slow breath and tried to relax.
Incredibly hard to do with a hard-on.
“Try to sleep,” I said.
“Mm,” she mumbled. I felt her warm breath dance across my shoulder, my nipple.
Fuck, this was gonna be a long night.
Just go the fuck to sleep. You have a job to do in the morning.
I shut my eyes and tried to clear my head.
And it was amazing how quickly I started to drift off, with Summer right next to me, safe in my bed.
I woke up in the morning with Summer still snuggled against me, her hand on my chest. She was deep asleep, breathing softly against my neck. Her head was tucked under my chin, her nose touching my throat.
I felt kinda stiff. I probably hadn’t moved much in the night, an unconscious attempt not to disturb her.
My cock was half-stiff, too.
I gently lifted her hand from my chest and slipped away, laying her hand on my pillow. She stirred a little, but kept right on sleeping.
I just stood by the bed for a long moment, watching her. Her dark hair had tumbled over her face. The covers came up to her waist, and my gaze dragged over the curves of her body.
I disappeared into the bathroom to get dressed. I splashed cold water on my face, just trying to cool the fuck off and make the morning wood melt away.
When I came back out, I barely looked at her. The curtains were now open and she was awake, sitting cross-legged on the bed in her robe, staring out the window.
I felt her turn to look at me as I headed for the door.
“I’ll get breakfast for all of us.” I was already putting on my boots. “Text Andre if you need to go anywhere.” I met her eyes, briefly.
She was watching me, and she’d definitely noticed my conspicuous hurry to get out of here.
“Do not go out alone, even in the hall,” I told her. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
I pulled on my jacket and I left.
Like a fucking coward.
But the whole morning-after thing was making me feel awkward as shit.
I really shouldn’t have slept with her last night. She was my client, I already knew I was attracted to her, and it was a very, very bad idea to let her into my room in the middle of the night, and even worse, into my bed.
And now my dick had clearly decided that I either needed to fuck her—preferably hard and often—or it was gonna keep standing at attention every time I got near her.
By the time I got back to the hotel with takeout, she was no longer in my room. I headed over to her room and knocked on the door, really fucking hoping that she’d put on some more clothes by now. “It’s Ronan,” I called.
Summer answered the door wearing a fuzzy cream-colored sweater with a relaxed turtle neck and black leggings that hugged her shapely legs. Really didn’t matter what she wore; the woman would’ve been sexy in a garbage bag.
My eyes dragged down her body and back up again without my permission.
“Did you get Andre to walk you here?” I asked her. It was abrupt. Rude, even. No Good morning or small talk to lead into it.
No Hope my hard-on didn’t jab you in the night.
She bristled a little, though she tried to hide it with attitude. “Yeah. He actually had to fireman-carry me at one point. Good thing I had him to help me make it those fifteen steps.” She crossed her arms at her waist, dropping the sarcasm. “I texted him like you told me to. Safety first, right?”
“Right,” I said, unsure if she was serious or what.
At some point, this whole situation had become so confused for me, I wasn’t even sure when she was giving me sass anymore. If she still resented my presence or was glad to have me around. If she liked me or was growing to hate me, one fuck-up at a time.
I held up her takeout bag and coffee. “Do you want to come eat with us?”
“I have some work,” she said, unsmiling. “I’ll eat and then we can head to the airport.”
“Okay.” I passed her the bag with the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel that I knew by now was her favorite indulgence breakfast. And the latte, exactly how she liked it, half-fat with cinnamon on top.
She took them with a small, “Thanks,” and disappeared into her room.
Andre was right.
I really was an asshole when it came to women.
I actually liked this one, and I couldn’t just be nice to her and not make her despise me.
I couldn’t afford for her to like me… that much.
I had a job to do. And if I failed at my job, she got hurt. Which made my job the only thing that mattered right now.
Or at least, the only thing that was supposed to matter.
Which meant I had to stop thinking with my dick. And getting pissed off every time she flirted with other men in front of me.
She was my client, she was single, she was sexy as hell, and I just had to get over the fact that other men were gonna want her.
And I wasn’t gonna touch her.
Ever again.
I kept telling myself this shit, repeatedly, as I stalked back to my room to grab the rest of the takeout and headed over to Andre’s room. I could’ve just told him to come over, but I needed to flee the scene of the crime. My hotel room still smelled of her, the bed was still unmade, and I figured if Andre walked in the door, he’d read it all over me.
Guilt.
When he answered his door, I shoved his takeout at him.
“I didn’t fuck her,” I growled as I walked into the room. “So don’t ask.”
He shut the door behind me.
I put the tray with our coffees on the table and dropped my takeout bag, shedding my jacket. “She was scared last night,” I informed
him. “She couldn’t sleep. She came to my room to talk to me. She ended up sleeping in my bed, and I slept on the couch.”
I met his eyes. And yeah, I felt like a supreme dick, lying to him like that. Andre and I had worked together for years. We had trust. We were friends.
And maybe that was why I didn’t think he’d buy that I slept right next to her in my bed and didn’t touch her, even though it was the truth.
Because who’d believe that, the way I was acting?
For sure by now he’d seen the way I looked at her when she wasn’t looking.
I told myself it didn’t matter what he believed, though. I was his employer, she was my client, and he could fuck right off.
“Wasn’t gonna ask,” Andre said carefully. He joined me at the table as I unpacked my breakfast, ignoring him as he sat down. “That’s bullshit, actually,” he muttered. “I was totally gonna ask.”
“Nothing happened,” I said firmly.
“Okay.”
“Not another word.”
“Zero words,” he promised, eyeing me with curiosity.
I had no idea if he actually believed me or not, but either way, he knew one part was true—that Summer was scared last night—and clearly wasn’t gonna be a dick about it.
We ate breakfast, talking a bit about the bullshit at the club last night. I let him know I hadn’t heard any update from Naveen today; we still didn’t know where Sanchuk was, which meant we were on high alert.
Then we packed up and collected Summer.
As we headed to the airport in silence, I was in on-duty mode. Scanning the area around Summer at all times, opening doors for her, loading and unloading her bags.
What I didn’t do was look her in the eye.
I tried to act the same as always. Professional. Like nothing had happened between us last night—which was bullshit.
The truth was I was wavering way off-course for this woman. In my head, at least.
I felt strangely rigid and hardly spoke to her on the plane, even when she was seated right next to me again. Yet I couldn’t stop checking her out. My eyes were gonna pop a vessel with all the side-eye action I was giving her.
She just sucked me in…
She was sexy as fuck, obviously. But she was also smart. Strong. Sure of herself. She knew who she was and what she wanted. And last night, she’d wanted me close to her.
Sweet Temptation: A Players Rockstar Romance (Players, Book 3) Page 24