Nobody_Does_It_Better_Kobo

by Lexi Blake

  Actually, when she thought about it, she kind of owed the Commander and his friends. Maybe she would give the man a gift on her way out. The gift of peace and rest. The eternal kind. But not until she’d given him the gift of lots and lots of pain.

  She could see how that conversation would go. Hey, Joshua. I need to put you in actual serious danger with a drug dealer who’s holding a CIA agent hostage, and then when we get that dude out—and he will likely be twelve kinds of fucked up—but on the way out, I’m going to do some assassinating. Then we can totally go for an ice cream and maybe have some sex.

  Yeah, she probably should play this Levi’s way.

  “If they have one of our operatives, then we’re working on a clock,” Shane mused. “Another reason to get this thing done fast.”

  “Which I suppose is why Levi is likely trying to push Josh to the breaking point.” When she thought about it, it made sense. Put Josh in many situations that would lead him to make poor choices. Shove the mark in a pressure cooker and turn up the heat until he would do anything to get out of the kitchen. She would have appreciated a heads-up though.

  Shane sat back. “Well, I think we should expect something to happen and fairly quickly.”

  She sat back, too, a comfortable silence coming over them.

  It wasn’t fair. She was the sexual plaything of an actual Hollywood megastar and her squad wasn’t here to talk about it. Of course, sometimes her squad could be all adult and rational. Pen would worry that she was being used and that she might feel dirty afterward. She totally felt dirty, but in a hot way that made her want to get dirty again. Ariel would likely think she needed a therapy session. She would go all intellectual on the subject. She needed Teresa or Nick’s new wife, Hayley. They wouldn’t mind talking about her suddenly hot sex life. Hell, even Tucker would listen to her. He would grab some popcorn and ask all kinds of super-invasive questions, but he would listen to her. Damn it. She needed to talk and Shane was the only one here.

  “He won’t kiss me. I’m kind of offended by that. I have nice lips, right?”

  Shane went still, no movement at all. One moment went by and then another.

  She rolled her eyes. Asshole. “I’m not a dinosaur. I can still see you.” She smiled brightly. He was a dude, but he would get used to listening to her. After all, he was her backup for this op. That meant he totally had to have her back on everything from watching her six when they were in danger to talking her through her very serious love issues. “You would mack down on this if you were so inclined, right?”

  His eyes went wide. Like super wide. The way a mans did when he was facing down something that scared the shit out of him. “No. Absolutely not.”

  “Way to shut a girl down. That was harsh.”

  He leaned in. “I wasn’t talking about your mouth. It’s a nice mouth and if I was the guy sleeping with you, I would kiss you. It’s weird to not kiss your partner, but it fits into the fact that dude is a walking-talking cash machine for some lucky shrink. No. I was talking about the fact that you are not going to turn me into your girlfriend. There will be no talking about your physical relationship with the client. Or emotional relationship with the client. Which I should point out is not something that you should have.”

  “But Shane, I don’t have anyone else. A girl needs to talk. I have a lot of feelings. Mostly they’re in my vagina, but I’ll admit he touches me some other places, too.” Okay, now she was kind of teasing him, but she did want to talk.

  Shane’s handsome face twisted into a horrified mask. He pointed at her. “That. That is what I am trying to avoid. Find a chick to talk to about your vagina. Call Kai. He likes listening, but it won’t be me. You want to talk about the op? I’m here for you. You want to shoot the shit about anything from politics to history to the Dodgers, I’m your boy. But I will not turn into Big Tag. Big Tag is a gossipy old lady. He can pretend all he likes that he vomits when someone says the word ‘love’ around him, but he’s practically a fairy godmother to half the couples he knows.”

  “And that’s bad, how?”

  “Because it’s not very masculine,” he replied with a shake of his head. “No vagina talk. Shut it down.”

  “He’s really good with my nipples, too.”

  Shane got up and backed away. “No private parts of any kind, Kay. None.”

  “Okay. Come back. I want to talk about the op.”

  “Do you?”

  “Not really. I want to talk about how good the sex was.”

  He practically ran into the house, slamming the door behind him.

  Sucked to be the only female bodyguard. She was going to make some serious complaints about the lack of sexual diversity at the office. All boys and Erin. Erin was practically a guy. She would have run away, too. The next hires better be super-deadly girly girls. No one wanted to talk about relationships or guys or sex. Work. Work. Work. Baseball. Beer. Boring stuff.

  Oooo, a dolphin. There was a dolphin. And another. A pretty pair.

  She bet they did the dolphin equivalent of making out.

  Kay sighed and thought about her dads. Not that she would talk about sex with them. Ewww. But she could talk about some of the other stuff. Except then they would want to know more.

  She could call Pen or Ariel, but it was dinner time there.

  “Hi, dolphins,” she said as they continued their slow swim by. “I had really great sex today.”

  They didn’t say anything but she knew they heard her.

  She sat out on the balcony for the longest time, the sounds of the ocean soothing her soul.

  Chapter Seven

  Two weeks later, the sun shone down through the sunroof of the limo, a brilliant Southern California day, but nothing seemed as bright as her smile.

  God, had he just thought that? What the fuck was wrong with him? He sounded like Jared did when he talked about that chick in Dallas. The last thing he wanted to do was turn into Jared, who couldn’t even sleep with a sub because he was staying true to a woman who wouldn’t return his calls.

  Kayla returned his calls. She answered immediately, and there was always warmth in her voice, like she’d been wanting to talk to him. Like she’d waited all day to tell him that she’d bought some cheese and wine at Ralph’s or walked the beach and found some seashell. Stupid shit. He’d spent his days making high-powered deals that would be worth millions and millions and all he wanted to do was hear about what her adopted dolphin pod had gotten up to. She made up the craziest gossip and it always had him laughing.

  He was getting way too comfortable, but he didn’t want to stop.

  “Josh?” Kayla looked at him and he got the feeling it wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get his attention. “Are you there? Or did you take a nap on me?”

  He was wearing mirrored aviators. All the better to hide the fact that he’d spent the entire drive from Malibu to Beverly Hills staring at her. She wouldn’t know if he was looking out the window or napping. It gave him the chance to simply watch her, watch how her eyes widened when they passed some restaurant that apparently was the focus of a reality show, watch her as she couldn’t take her eyes off the beach as Declan drove them down PCH, watch her as she frowned at her cell phone when she got into some kind of weird emoji war with her not-brother, Tucker.

  She was the single most fascinating woman he’d ever met. And it wasn’t simply about her quirks, though there were many of them.

  “Nope, just thinking,” he said and sat up. “Lots to do in the next week.”

  Because they were going to Mexico in a few days and he would go back to work. For the first time in his adult life he wasn’t looking forward to work. He usually hated his downtime and longed for the rigors of filming. For weeks and weeks he wouldn’t be able to think about anything but the character he was playing, from early morning call until he fell into bed exhausted and had to do it all again the next day. He would be able to live and breathe a whole other life.

  Where would Kay fit in? He su
ddenly realized he liked those other lives because his was quite empty. How would he concentrate when he knew Kayla was waiting on the sidelines or back in the trailer? Typically he didn’t have sex when he was working.

  No fucking way that happened this time.

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” she replied. “How many days are we spending at your friend’s place? It’s not on the ocean, right?”

  “No, it’s in the interior but it’s lovely. Hector’s place is in the jungle, but not like a scary jungle. And you’ll still need a bathing suit. This is no shack. It’s a mansion in the middle of a lot of green and nature. I’m excited to show you.”

  “What’s your friend like? And how did you meet some guy who lives in the jungle?”

  He chuckled because she still sounded a little uncertain about the accommodations. She’d asked a ton of questions about the compound. He thought it was funny that a woman who’d been in as many crazy situations as his spy chick was nervous about the jungle. “He’s a huge donor to the children’s charity. When you write a million-dollar check, you end up getting invited to a lot of galas. A couple of years back, Hector came to our annual ball in Palm Springs and we kind of hit it off. He’s a bit older than me, but he’s self-made. He came up on the streets of Mexico City and built his business. I respect the hell out of him. I think you’ll like him, too. And don’t worry about the jungle. I’ve spent some time training. If we get lost, I promise I can find our way out.”

  “What role was that for? Don’t tell me.” She snapped her fingers. “The Explorer.”

  He’d played an English explorer who charted the Amazon. It had been one of the harder shoots of his life. “Yeah, I spent a couple of weeks getting used to the terrain. I had a guide teach me what I needed to know. I don’t like to pretend. I like to know and then show. Well, about the things I can. Never shot anyone, but I’ve done it a lot on screen.”

  “Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s just messy and sad. It really depends on the victim. It’s like having a co-star. They affect the scene so much. You want someone you have some chemistry with.”

  And then there were times she scared him. Oddly those times did something for him, too. Even when she casually talked about assassinating people, his cock perked up. How much time did they have before they got to the store?”

  “But I totally think you should stick with research that doesn’t get you thrown in jail.” Her eyes narrowed. “Did you spend time in jail for Proven Innocent?”

  There was only so far he would go in the name of research. Besides, he already knew what it meant to be in a cage. “I talked to some convicts, toured a couple of max-security places. But I did learn how to get out of a pair of handcuffs. All the stuff about the prison break, I did the stunts. It was cool. They don’t let me do the dangerous stuff anymore. Insurance.”

  Stupid insurance. He liked the car stunts especially. He was basically an expert after all the time he’d clocked on The Quick and the Enraged. He could drive just about anything, knew how to break into any car, get through any security system, and he was a master at hot wiring.

  “So what all do you have to learn for this film?” She sat back, those petite but athletic legs of hers crossing as she got comfortable.

  God, she was pretty. “It’s a film about a DEA agent who gets in too deep with a Mexican drug cartel. We’ve got a couple of weeks shooting in the jungle and Mexico City and then we head back home to shoot on the lots. I know most of this stuff, but I’ve got a former DEA guy who’s going to answer my questions and make sure I’ve got all the training right. The lingo is always hard. Every damn branch has its own, but I like to be spot on. I know it’s an action flick, but I give it a shot. Especially because if we get something wrong, I will hear about it. I get hate mail all the time about historical inaccuracies, continuity errors—anything that’s not perfect gets picked apart on the Internet. I want to at least be able to say I tried.”

  “Yikes,” she said with a grimace. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. Now I feel bad for being wicked hard on a couple of romance writers out there.”

  “Come here.” He didn’t like her sitting over there. He couldn’t touch her. Now that they were in the city proper, the traffic was slowing them down and he didn’t worry as much about an accident. Declan was driving carefully.

  She slid across the long seat without hesitation and didn’t struggle when he lifted her onto his lap.

  “That’s better.” He wasn’t going to fuck her. They didn’t have the time and the last thing he wanted was Declan to park, open the door, and have some paparazzi catch them mid-bang. But he found he didn’t like not touching her. The minute she wiggled a bit, his dick responded, but he was okay with the discomfort. “I need to do a spy film so I can use all your stories. You can be my consultant. I bet you’re way prettier than Tyler Williams.”

  He slid the strap of her sundress down and let his nose brush along her neck. He loved the way she smelled. Citrus and sunshine and ocean. He definitely loved that she didn’t seem to mind that he took great pleasure in smelling her skin and hair. Some women would view it as kinky, but Kayla just giggled when it got too tickly, as she would say.

  She was the single most tolerant lover he’d ever had.

  “So are you spending time with this guy? The DEA guy? Is he coming out to the house?”

  Because she would cook for him. She would want to plan a dinner party and play the gracious hostess. She seemed forever obsessed with feeding the people around her. He let his hand cup her breast through the thin material of her dress. No bra. She wasn’t allowed one, but then she didn’t really need one. Her nipple peaked against his hand.

  “I know he’ll be in Mexico. I’m hoping to catch him before we all head down,” he murmured. “He’s sent me a bunch of reading material and I talked to him on the phone. The man I was supposed to consult with decided he couldn’t take the time to come down to the set. This guy is a last-minute replacement, but he seems smart enough. I wish I had more time with him, but I’ve played FBI agents and at least four different cops. I know the basics. This guy will make sure I don’t miss the complexities.”

  She was complex. It was what he obsessed over with her. Smart and funny and deadly all wrapped up in an erotic package that made him crazy.

  Maybe they could skip the store and drive around LA fucking in the back of a limo.

  The barrier between the front and back dropped down and Declan looked at them through the rearview mirror. “I’ll drop you two here and then find a place to park. Unless you want me to check it out first.”

  Damn it. It was a reminder that things would change and soon. He had a job to do and part of that job was making sure she was ready to do hers. He couldn’t take her down there without a proper wardrobe. No one would believe she was his girlfriend if she wasn’t dripping in designer crap.

  Regretfully Josh shook his head and eased her off his lap. “I think we’re fairly safe. I can’t remember the last time a person got shot at Chanel. Park and take a break. We’ll call you when we’re ready. I think it’ll take more than one store to get what we need. After all, variety is the spice of life, or so someone said. If she shows up wearing exclusively Chanel they’ll think I signed a deal.”

  “Is it wrong that I’m super excited about this?” Kay asked, her hand on the door. Her dress had been righted and she didn’t look like a woman who’d been manhandled.

  He reached out and stopped her. “Don’t be so excited you forget my manners.”

  She was the kind of woman who bounded out of a car when it stopped, but he liked being the gentleman. So much of his life had been about brutality that he enjoyed the ease of social niceties, even when a lot of people considered them outdated. That’s why he called them his manners. Of course, what they really amounted to was protocol. They were finding their way with that. She was to allow him to give her every courtesy. He wasn’t allowed to call her property or be insanely jealous when she talked to another man.r />
  Well, he wasn’t allowed to act on it.

  He opened his side of the car and found Declan had already gotten out. The big man towered over him.

  “You have to stay with her,” he said.

  His bodyguards were pushy and all too often forgot who the boss was. “We’ll be fine. It should be a few hours. Take a nap or something.”

  The big bodyguard’s eyes were also hidden behind sunglasses, and Josh was happy for that. Something about the man unnerved him at times. Shane was the all-American type, but there was something almost otherworldly about this dude. “I’ll be around if you need me. If you text, I’ll be there.”

  Josh nodded and moved around the limo. He’d wanted to take the Porsche out, but apparently that went against bodyguard rules. Those rules that were meant to keep him safe were beginning to chafe. He needed his alone time, but that wasn’t happening anytime soon. He’d had some more threatening letters, these sent to his agent and publicist.

  It was all crap. I love you. I want to kill you. I know your secrets.

  Yeah, he didn’t buy that one because the person who knew his secrets didn’t send him letters through representatives. No. That bitch knew exactly how to get hold of him.

  He was getting antsy. It was almost time. Almost time again.

  He opened the door and held out a hand. Already someone walking down the street was turning, sunglasses coming off as though she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Josh ignored the gawker, preferring greatly to concentrate on the one good thing to have come from all the bodyguard crap.

  Kayla slid her hand in his, allowing him to help her up, though they both knew she didn’t need any help from him physically. She was strong and steady. She could run in those mile-high heels and not break an ankle or a sweat.