by Lisa Cardiff
“They don’t know that. If I hadn’t ripped the iPad out of your hand, you would know more.” He grabbed my upper arms and lowered his voice. “I discovered a listening device in my home a couple weeks after we broke up. I assume it’s been there for a long time. Plus, I’ve heard things I wasn’t meant to hear.”
“Like what?”
“That’s all I can tell you, but don’t fool yourself. They are watching you. Everything you say and everywhere you go is reported to Senator Wharton and whoever is working with him.”
“What should I do?” I whispered, suddenly shivering despite the unseasonably warm weather.
He dropped his hands from my arms. “You know how bad Senator Wharton wants to be president. Be very careful. Don’t trust anyone. Keep your eyes open, and your mouth shut.” He glanced over his shoulder for the hundredth time. “I have to go.”
“Why are you helping me?”
A faint smile lifted the corners of his lips. “Because you’re a good person. Because I shouldn’t have left my iPad where you could pick it up. I feel responsible.” He brushed my hair from my face. “I’m sorry.”
He pivoted on his heel and walked away. I dropped my head into my hands. I didn’t know if I could do this. I wanted to run away and start a new life far away from all this shit. I felt sorry for those women, but what could I do?
As I stood at the edge of the Reflection Pool, I didn’t recognize the reflection staring back at me. I ached with bone-deep betrayal, and my mind had divorced itself from my body. I would’ve never believed my stepdad could so effortlessly turn on me, but I misjudged him. I didn’t know him at all.
By the time I reached my car, my entire body shook from the sudden weather change and the conversation with Brandon. I dropped my key fob when I pulled it out of my pocket. Bending down, I noticed my front driver’s side tire was flat.
Shocked, I ran my finger along the outside of the tire looking for a nail when I noticed a one-inch slash in the sidewall. There was no way I could change a tire by myself. It was starting to drizzle, and I didn’t know how to do it anyway.
I called a tow truck and Winnie, and then I slid into the front seat of my car to wait. A white piece of paper tucked under the windshield wiper of my car caught my attention. I rolled down the window and snagged it. I unfolded it and saw a typewritten note in all caps.
STAY AWAY FROM ARCHER BLACK.
HE CAN’T BE TRUSTED.
Stunned, the note slipped from my fingertips into the passenger seat of my car. I didn’t know if the note was a threat or a warning. Brandon warned me not to trust anyone, but he told me in person. The note wasn’t from him. That left my stepdad or someone else who didn’t want me around Archer, like an ex-girlfriend.
I averted my gaze from the note, staring out the window. The sender’s identity wasn’t relevant. I had been so careful to maintain control over my life since I broke up with Brandon, but now everything was spiraling away faster than I could’ve imagined possible.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Archer
I settled into a small black chair in the waiting area of Langley’s work. It had been three days since we had talked and six days since I had seen her. Knox didn’t have any information about her meeting with Brandon other than a confirmation that it happened. Knox’s investigator couldn’t get close enough to the conversation to hear any details, but he commented that Brandon looked nervous the entire time, glancing over his shoulder often and rubbing his hands together. Since her meeting, Langley had done everything she could to avoid me, which put me on edge in more ways than one.
The quick search of her home didn’t reveal anything new either, but that wasn’t surprising. Knox didn’t dig for anything not in plain sight, and Langley wouldn’t have left any personal details in the open anyway. The only information Knox gleaned from the brief search was a confirmation that Senator Wharton’s surveillance extended to the inside of her home in addition to the loose tail he had on her day-to-day movements.
I studied her as she finally finished with her last client before her lunch break. Every other time I’d seen her see was dressed up, but today she wore black yoga pants and a light blue t-shirt. Her golden blonde hair was in a thick, loose braid that dangled between her shoulder blades with every movement.
Just like every other time I saw her, a heavy dose of lust and possessiveness slammed into me. Now that I had touched her, kissed her, and caressed every curve of her body, the feeling nearly overwhelmed me. She distracted me from my goal.
I clutched the arms of the chair when our gazes clashed. She retreated a few steps, and I stood up, refusing to let her push me away for one more minute. This dance she’d been playing since she walked out my door on Saturday afternoon had to end.
“Langley.”
She shot me a questioning look. “Archer, what are you doing here?”
I took a step forward and she took a step back. “You’re avoiding me.”
She shook her head, and a delicate flush stained her lustrous skin. “No, I’m not.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t know why you wouldn’t. I’ve been swamped with work.” Her eyes darted around the gym. One of her male coworkers watched us as his patient yanked on a red exercise band tied to a silver metal chin-up bar.
“So swamped that you can’t answer my calls?”
“Archer, I can’t talk here. Maybe we can meet after work.”
I snatched her hand and threaded my fingers through hers. “Isn’t it time for your lunch break?”
“Yes, but I have paperwork and a few calls to make.” She tried and failed to slip her hand from my grasp.
“Forget the paperwork. We need to talk.”
“Langley, is everything all right?” her coworker questioned as he strolled forward to join the conversation.
Langley smiled politely, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m fine, Todd.” She gestured to me. “This is Archer, a friend of mine.”
Todd looked back and forth between Langley and me. I didn’t miss the way his eyes lingered on her body. He wanted her. Well, too bad. It wouldn’t happen. For the time being, Langley belonged to me.
“Okay. Did you still want to go to lunch in ten minutes?” Todd asked.
My eyes snapped to Langley’s face, and I gritted my teeth. A foreign surge of jealousy knocked me off balance. I couldn’t recall being jealous over a woman before. Either they were faithful to me while we dated, or I severed ties and never looked back. I didn’t care enough to attach any emotion to a relationship. I enjoyed it while it lasted, and when the chemistry fizzled, I ended the connection without much thought. Relationships were secondary to my career goals. It had always been that way, and it pissed me off that Langley made me feel any different.
“Can we do it tomorrow instead?” she said, ignoring my heated glare.
“Sure. I’ll be here.” Todd squeezed her shoulder and returned to his patient.
“Looks like we’re going to lunch. Do you want to grab your purse or are you ready to go?”
“As long as you’re paying we can go. I only have thirty minutes, though.”
“That should be enough time.” I wrapped my arm around her waist and guided her out the door. The gesture wasn’t necessary, but I wanted Todd to know Langley and I were more than friends.
As I instructed, my car service waited right outside the door. I opened the door and gestured for her to get in the car. Silence greeted me when I slid in the backseat next to Langley. Like a barnacle on the bottom of a boat, she pressed her body against the opposite door and stared out the window.
After sixty seconds, I’d had enough. Langley owed me an explanation. She had been avoiding me since Saturday morning, and she still hadn’t mentioned her meeting with Brandon. With a press of a button, I raised the retractable privacy window.
“So now we’re friends? That’s it?” I said sharply, drumming my fingers impatiently on my thigh.
“
Yes, we’re friends.” She didn’t bother to glance at me as she responded.
“Can you clarify something for me?”
Her fingers nervously fretting with a thread dangling from the hem of her shirt, she finally met my gaze. “Yes?”
“Were we just friends on Friday night, or were we something more and you’ve since decided you’re not interested in me?”
Twisting the end of her thick braid, she blew out an exaggerated breath. “Archer, I like you. I really do. We had a good time on Friday, but I can’t be in a relationship right now. It won’t work.”
I slid across the seat so my leg pressed against hers. “That’s it? It’s over just like that,” I said quietly. Disappointment settled in my gut like a lead ball. I shouldn’t let her affect me like this. It was ridiculous, inconvenient, and a bad idea, but I couldn’t stop it.
She stared at the center of my chest, suddenly unwilling to meet my eyes. “Yes, it’s over. It’s nothing personal, okay? There are a lot of things going on in my life, and I don’t want to drag you into this mess.”
“Damn it, Langley.” I tipped up her chin, being careful not to hurt her. “Look at me.”
Her eyes flickered to mine and then dropped to my chest again. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at this.”
“What part? The talking or the dumping?”
“Either. Both. I don’t know.”
“Ah,” I responded, dropping my hand from her face. The muscle in my jaw flexed with anger, but I kept my voice calm…almost mild. “Does this have anything to do with your meeting with Brandon on Saturday? Are you back together with him now? Is that what this is about?”
She held up her hand. “Archer, I—”
“Don’t spout pretty platitudes. Tell me the truth. I think I deserve that. Don’t you?”
Wide-eyed, she stared at me, not saying a single word. Then, she shook her head. “Yes, but it isn’t that simple.”
“Give it a try.”
“This…” she waved her hand back and forth between us. “Doesn’t have anything to do with Brandon. I don’t want anything to do with him. I hate him. I regret that I was involved with him, and I don’t repeat my mistakes.”
I slammed my hand against the back of the seat. “Then why did you sneak away from my house on Saturday to meet him?”
“How did you know?”
The question surprised me, and my muscles tensed. Seconds ticked by as I tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. In the end, I decided to tell her the truth. “I overheard you talking on the phone.”
She sighed. “I didn’t sneak anywhere. You had a meeting, remember?”
“But you met him. Why?”
“It’s none of your business, but we had something to discuss. Stop interrogating me.”
“You’re my girlfriend. Of course it’s my business when you meet with your ex after you climb out of my bed.”
“Fuck you!” She shoved my chest, but I didn’t budge. “I’m not your girlfriend.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” In one seamless maneuver, I lifted her and placed her on my lap. Her pupils dilated, then her lashes fluttered as her pulse throbbed at the hollow of her neck, confirming our hunger for each other wasn’t one-sided.
Time suspended as lust simmered between us. I wanted her, and not because of Senator Wharton or anything else. I just wanted her. I captured her lips in a hard kiss. For one drawn out second, her mouth didn’t move, but she didn’t fight me either. Every muscle in her body tightened, her potential rejection hovered like a specter, taunting me.
Then, she nipped my lower lip, and brushed her lips against mine, almost like an apology. “This is bad,” she muttered against my lips, even as she pressed her body closer to mine. “This isn’t a good decision for either of us. We shouldn’t do this.”
“You’re wrong.” I licked the seam of her lips, demanding access, and she complied. Our tongues danced, and with every swirl, her denial of us and rejection of me faded as though it never happened. I adjusted her legs so that she straddled my waist, shifting our bodies closer together. Heat slammed into me, fast and hard. The timing sucked, but I had to be inside her again.
“But the driver. We can’t do this here. Now. Are you crazy?”
“He won’t bother us.” I pulled her closer, rubbing her against the ridge in my pants, telling her without words how much I wanted her. How much I missed her. How much I needed her even though I shouldn’t feel any of those things. It was wrong. Everything about wanting Langley like this was wrong, but damn, it felt right.
With every call and text she dodged over the last four days, I felt angry.
Angry that I noticed.
Angry that I cared.
Angry that this woman elicited such strong emotions from me.
I could blame it on bad timing or a sick twist of destiny. It didn’t matter either way because I couldn’t deny it.
“Archer,” she moaned, circling her arms around my neck, pulling me closer like I was her anchor. She moved her hips against me restlessly. Each artless arch and circle of her hips drove me wild until fiery lust burned through my veins demanding her complete surrender.
“I know.” I cupped her ass and squeezed, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to let her know this was my game. I was in control. “By the way, did I mention how good you look in your work attire?” I rolled my hips. Her eyes fluttered, and her back bowed in invitation.
She rolled her head from side to side. “This feels so good. Too good. You’re killing me. You know that, right?”
“How? Tell me,” I demanded as my lips trailed down the side of her neck. Kissing her. Tasting her. Licking her. Claiming her. She tasted and smelled like my personal addiction in the making. A little sweet. A little salty. More than a little perfect.
“Because I want you, but I can’t have you. Not now. Maybe never,” she said, her voice pained and her eyes glistening. “But I can’t stop myself.”
She tugged at the bottom of my shirt, releasing it from my pants, and her hands whispered over my chest and my stomach. My muscles jumped under the silky-smooth pads of her fingertips, begging for more. Every touch was like torture.
Torture because I wanted more.
Torture because Langley was the wrong woman to want like this.
Torture because we were enemies, even if she didn’t know it yet.
Torture because we couldn’t be together once I revealed the truth.
Torture because I was utterly fucked.
“You have me,” I confided, even though I realized those three were a lie. If I could alter reality and make my connection to Senator Wharton disappear, I would in a heartbeat.
“Prove it,” she whispered, releasing my belt buckle and freeing my cock.
Her words raced down my spine, making my dick harder than I thought possible. She didn’t have to repeat her request. I yanked her pants down her legs, freeing one leg and not bothering with the other.
My hands raked over her exposed golden-kissed skin. She really was a beautiful woman—maybe the most beautiful woman I’d ever touched.
She nipped my earlobe. “I want you inside of me.”
Shit. I nearly exploded from her simple but direct demand. She was too tempting when she looked at me with her lips damp from my kisses. “Take what you want,” I said, my voice husky even though I knew I should stop this right now, but I couldn’t. My muscles were strung tight like a rubber band ready to snap.
Her lustrous green eyes never left mine as she lowered her body, taking me inside of her one inch at a time. Once fully seated, her eyes drifted closed and I nearly growled at the perfection in front of me. She looked angelic with the muted sunlight from the tinted windows dancing through her golden hair, her long dark lashes fanning her elegantly sculpted cheekbones, and her sultry lips parted. I leaned forward and brushed a kiss against her swollen lips as I twisted the length of her braid around my hand.
As much as part of me wanted to revel in the moment, savor
our connection, and get drunk on her beauty, I couldn’t. I was too far gone. With every passing second, my control fractured a little more. Not that I would complain. Since she walked out of my door on Saturday, I had been obsessed with getting her back in my bed, and even though this wasn’t my bed, it’d work. For now.
Gripping her waist, I rocked my hips into her, and she started to move.
Up.
Down.
Up.
Down.
Wanting control, I flipped her onto her back, and I slammed into her over and over, grinding against her pelvis, taking what I wanted and giving her what she needed. With every thrust, I slipped into a place I shouldn’t go, especially not with her. But my brain was too fuzzy with lust to do anything about it. There were no more thoughts of revenge or destroying Senator Wharton. Only us. Only this moment. It was unequaled and untainted.
Her sharp inhalation followed by a shaky moan, echoed through the car like music to my ears. The prison bars around my heart rattled and warped and somehow Langley swept inside like she’d always belonged there. This wasn’t going to last long, but I didn’t care, and I didn’t think she did either.
Tilting her hips up, I deepened my thrusts. Pleasure zipped through my body making me greedy for her. “Do you still think we should end this?” I groaned next to her ear. “Is that what you really want?”
“No,” she whispered, the single word tangling with a throaty moan.
“Remember that the next time you try to throw us away.” My voice was thick with lust, need, and a little desperation. I was only distantly aware that we were still in my car, my driver not five feet away with only a sheet of glass separating him from us.
Her eyes opened, holding my gaze. A sensual smile toyed with the corner of her lips. “Yes,” she murmured, tracing the angle of my jaw with her fingertips.
That simple word combined with the sultry glow of her eyes ignited a soul-stealing tremor down my spine. My willpower splintered as I moved frantically in and out of her, chasing our mutual release like this could be our last.
“Fuck,” I half-groaned, half-growled as a warm fervor rushed through my blood like a shot of morphine.