The elevator dinged and the doors opened to the floor she lived on. I unbuttoned the blazer of my suit and peered down the hall to see if anyone was around. Nothing around me told me I needed to be vigilant. No threat was here. My black loafers stepped further into the hall until they pointed toward a metal door. I raised my fist and knocked.
One, two, three.
“No, it isn’t him.”
I smiled when I heard a voice I didn’t know. That must be Maria. She sounded annoyed too.
“Is Brian tall, dark, and handsome? Do you owe the mob?”
The mob? I looked like a mobster?
“What? No, Brian isn’t that good−looking,” Lucy said, and her admission made my chest puff. I was glad she found me better looking than her ex. “Oh, shit.” She must have looked through the peephole and saw me. “Godrick.”
“That’s Godrick? No wonder your so messed up in the head. The dude is hot.”
“Shut up, Maria. He can hear you!”
“Who cares!”
The banter on the other side of the door was humorous, and I found it enjoyable. I could stand out here and listen to it all night, but I really wanted to be inside with Lucy. I needed to make sure she was okay with my own two eyes. The doors of the elevator slid open, and Logan stepped out, brows pinching and eyes squinting, wondering why I was standing outside.
I pointed to the door. “They are talking.”
“Oh, there is my Red−Hot, looking all fine and delicious.”
I lifted a brow in question, and Logan pinched the bridge of his nose before running his hand through hair. “That would be Maria. A complete spitfire.”
“I heard that,” Maria said on the other side of the door.
“It means we can hear you too. Let us in,” I replied, watching the doorknob in hopes it would turn.
“Don’t you dare!” Lucy warned Maria as the lock slid away and when the door finally opened, Maria stood there in front of me while Lucy was a step behind her, her face flushed.
“Well, well, well, if this isn’t a wet dream, I don’t know what is,” Maria purred, but her attention was on Logan.
Hide and seek was over. Finders fucking keepers.
I win.
Chapter Eleven
Lucy
“What the fuck is he doing here?” I spat the words out at Logan, but never took my eyes off Godrick. I despised how good he looked right now. His suit was pristine, the lapels black while the actual blazer was navy blue. He wore no tie, keeping the white button−up shirt unclasped at the neck to show an area of milky skin I wanted to lavish.
Godrick pressed a hand to his chest, jaw-dropping as if he was offended. “Ouch, Ms. Green. That hurts.”
Right. Like he’d ever be offended by anything. The man was a solid wall nothing could penetrate.
“And language, Ms. Green. I wouldn’t expect such a filthy word to fall from such a pretty mouth.”
“If you don’t want him, I’ll take him,” Maria slumped against the wall, drool shining off her chin as she stared at the Adonis God standing in the middle of the doorway. Sure he was hot, in a villain kind of way, if you liked that kind of thing.
The problem was, apparently, I loved that kind of thing.
The man was trouble, with a capital fucking T.
“Maybe my feelings should be hurt,” Logan made his way into the apartment and set his toolbelt on the kitchen table. I hated it when he did that. He always got dirt all over it. That was where we ate, but no matter how many times I told him, he put it there. I was done. I wasn’t his mother.
“I didn’t think you’d care since you keep passing me up, Red−Hot,” Maria shrugged her shoulders as if his lack of attention didn’t bother her, but I knew better. My new friend really liked my brother, and my brother was being a dick to her.
“He is in love with someone else,” Godrick said.
The hurt across Maria’s face almost made me run to her and comfort her, but the smirk on Godrick’s face had me relax.
“Oh yeah, me and Barbara go way back,” Logan said, throwing his work jacket over the back of the dining room chair.
“Barbara from work?” I asked Logan, doing my best to ignore Godrick’s presence. It was impossible. He had this energy about him that flooded the room. It would suffocate me if it didn’t make me feel like I could finally breathe for the first time in a year.
“Little old lady didn’t see what was coming to her. He laid a kiss on her that knocked her knitted socks off.”
Maria threw her hands on her hips and cocked them to the side. “Is that the problem? I just don’t have enough wrinkles for you? I never thought I’d be jealous of an old lady, but here I am—” She plopped down on the barstool at the kitchen counter and plopped her chin in her hand. “I’m going to move on.”
I couldn’t tell if she was kidding, but the words bothered Logan because he slammed the fridge door after grabbing a beer. “Anyone want one?”
“I’ll take one,” Godrick said, gently removing each arm from his jacket. He folded it in half and then draped it over another chair, careful not to wrinkle it. The gold cuff links shined under the small chandelier in the walkway between the kitchen and dining room. He unlinked each one, parting the cuffs around his wrist. Godrick carefully put them in his pants pocket. And then the handsome devil started to roll each sleeve up to his elbow, showing those muscular forearms. Each side had a vein dancing across it. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from them, especially his hands. His thick fingers rolled the shirt expertly like he had done it a hundred times before. “Where are the flowers? I’d like to see the note, as well.”
Ah, so that was why he was here. He always had to interfere, didn’t he?
“Flowers are in the trash; note is on the table. I need to go to work. I’m already an hour late,” Maria kissed Lucy on the cheek and completely bypassed Logan. That was unlike her. She loved playing with my brother with words, but all her steam had run out because of something Godrick said. It pissed me off that he couldn’t mind his own damn business.
But with that said, if Maria wanted to move on, she could. I didn’t see any harm in that, and while Logan seemed to care, he didn’t show it much. It served him right to lose a girl like Maria, even if I did tell her they couldn’t date, I would never want my friend or my brother to be unhappy because of what I said. Love knew no bounds. It always found a way.
“Take care of my girl tonight,” she told Godrick.
“I promise you I will,” he answered, taking the spot next to me where Maria had been. The space between us crackled with that familiar electricity. My lower back was engulfed in heat from his palm, and I held my breath, waiting for him to remove his hand.
He didn’t.
“No goodnight for me?” Logan turned around and took Maria’s wrist in his hand. It was the first time I saw him reach for her. Logan had no idea how to handle his emotions, ever since we were a kid, all they ever seemed to do was confuse him. Now that he was older, he pushed the emotions to the side. Maria seemed to have stirred them up tonight by ignoring him. She stared at his hand, finally touching her, and instead of happiness, I saw her eyes shine. She gently pulled her hand from his and shut the door behind her. Logan stared at it longingly, reaching for the handle.
He dropped his hand.
Deciding not to go after her would come around and bite him in the ass.
“Lucy.” Godrick pressed his hand against my lower back to turn me around to face him. “Did you see Brian? Can you be sure it was him?” He pulled me to his chest, and my hands flew out to brace myself on his chest. There was barely an inch between us, my legs were shaking, and my mind fogged. I had missed being close to him. The way he took over my body with one look, with a simple touch, with an everyday stare, it made me needy.
Looking down at the slate grey tile floor, I shook my head. My hair fell around me in a red veil. It gave me a sense of security to not see his piercing gaze, a moment of relief.
Relieved beca
use he couldn’t see the want in my eyes. People said the eyes were the windows to the soul, and well, there was no doubt he peered right into mine, seeing everything my body housed from everything from the world. “I didn’t see him, but I have no doubt in my mind that it was him. It was his handwriting, Godrick.”
His hands rubbed up and down my arms, every stroke making my nervous system come alive and buzz. “I believe you. I’m going to call Officer Cortez. You go take a nice hot bath. I’ll be in there in a second.”
“In…where?” A cough worked its way up my throat from my chest, hoping I misunderstood where he wanted to go with that.
“The tub,” he said it so nonchalantly as he typed the touchscreen on his phone.
I coughed again, trying to clear the awkward from my throat and pushed my hair from my face. “I can take a bath by myself.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
I glanced to my brother, who was reading the note on the counter. He had to be really uncomfortable overhearing this conversation. I stepped in front of Godrick, giving Logan my back. I kept my voice low. “Then you do not need to be in the bathroom with me. You can wait in the living room.”
“You are out of your mind if you think I’ll be in the living room while you are naked in a bathtub.”
“You aren’t allowed to see my naked body,” I whispered harshly and peeked over my shoulder to make sure Logan wasn’t listening in. He wasn’t. He was rummaging through the cabinets and took a bag of popcorn out of the lazy Susan. The wrapper crinkled, and the cellophane rubbing together was like nails on a chalkboard to me.
Godrick finally dragged his eyes away from his phone. “Not only am I allowed to, I will.” He brought his lips to my ear, and the soft tease his mouth tickled, but I had a feeling anything he did with my body wouldn’t make me giggle. Heat swirled in my lower belly and my clit awakened from the smallest touch, and it wasn’t even a real touch, it was more like an accidental caress with his lips.
Godrick Stoneridge didn’t do anything on accident though.
“Hmm, seems you like the idea too.”
“You are an infuriating man.”
“No, I’m not. You’re just infuriated with yourself for knowing that you want me to see your body. Maybe I’ll come all over it again. Would you want that?”
“Godrick!”
He let out a dark chuckle, brushing his knuckles over my cheek. “I love it when you fight me on things. I’m a patient man when it comes to certain things, and you test that patience.”
“Can you guys get a room?” Logan said as the popcorn popped in the microwave. “I hear your little heated whispers, and it’s kind of making me sick because I hear every other word, and you don’t want to hear the words I’ve heard. You just don’t. I’m ruined for the rest of my life.”
Beep, beep, beep. The signal of the microwave telling Logan the popcorn was done went off, and he pressed the button to open it, pulling the bag out by the tab. He hissed and cursed, dropping it because it was so hot. “Shit! Damn it, my fingers!”
“You heard the man. Go to take a nice hot bath. I’ll be in there soon.”
I laid my hand against my cheek, fighting to tell him off and not to give into him. It was a losing battle. The man didn’t fight fair; he fought to win. “Fine, but knock first before you come in.”
“We’ll see.”
“You’re impossible.” I stomped by him, steam coming from my ears with how much he irritated me. Maybe I didn’t like him at all; maybe he was just a really hot body that I couldn’t control myself around.
A loud smack sounded in the room, and I froze, my right butt−cheek tingling from his hand. I blinked, dumbfounded that he would just spank me. I waited for the anger, for my palm to whirl around and slap him across the face. Instead, I wanted him to do it again. My panties suddenly wet, I hurried away from him, embarrassed and needing relief.
I ran into my bedroom and shut the door but left it open a crack. My back hit the wall, and I gulped down some air and rubbed my butt. The skin burned. I had never been spanked before, not even while I was growing up, which was completely different. Getting spanked as a child meant children needed discipline, being spanked as an adult? That meant pleasure and punishment of a sexual nature unless the person was a sadist.
Shit. Was Godrick a sadist? A sliver of fear slithered inside me, and I remembered his hand wrapping around my neck. Was he just going easy on me? I lifted my shirt over my head, slid my pants off, and checked out my body in the full-size mirror. His handprint was on my ass. With a shaking hand, I rubbed the stinging flesh; the welting red ridges made my clit pulse. I slid my hand to my hip, down the crevice of my hip, and went to touch myself when I heard the sound of my brother’s voice ruining my lust.
“What did your cop friend say?” Logan’s deep voice boomed through the apartment from the kitchen.
The floor creaked as Godrick’s footsteps echoed. He was pacing. “Someone paid his bail.”
“What the fuck do you mean someone paid it! Who?”
“That’s something I need to look into. Does he come from a wealthy family?” Godrick asked, and his voice calmed me even when my mind raced with havoc. Brian was from a wealthy family. It was all old money. His parents didn’t work. They just lived off the millions of dollars handed down to them. Apparently, their great−great−great grandfather worked with oil or had an oil company back in the day.
And now that money paid to get him out of jail and get him out of his mistakes. They were feeding his sickness by bailing him out of every problem, and it was a problem I’d have to deal with.
“He does. Lucy knows more details. She really hates talking about him though. These gifts will fuck with her mind. It seems like it will never stop. I don’t know what else I can do.” The heartache in Logan’s voice made me want to run and hug him. He had no idea how much he had helped me over the last year; without him, I would have completely fallen apart. He was strong and held me together while I cried every night or woke up from night terrors. Logan would squeeze me tight, not caring that I was sweating through my clothes. I’d wake up sobbing, my body shaking. He’d stroke my hair, kiss my damp forehead and tell me I was never alone, that he was here.
Logan always fought for me. He stood in front of me like a knight, fighting every threat. No matter how bloody and bruised he got, he never left me vulnerable to an attack, but I had no idea how much this Brian situation affected him.
Maybe he felt vulnerable too. There was only so much someone could do against a mentally sick individual. My body felt heavy, and my knees gave out, causing me to slide down the wall until my stinging ass hit the floor.
It was all my fault that Logan was miserable. It was my fault Brian wouldn’t leave me alone. It was my fault Maria was brought into the situation. Everyone around me was at risk.
And there was nothing I could do.
Maybe I should give into Brian, and then the world would right itself.
Chapter Twelve
Godrick
I was a fucking mess on the inside. This was why I never crossed that line between love and lust. It fucked people up mentally, and I didn’t like my mind to be clouded and unfocused on anything other than my goals in life. Since meeting Lucy, she’s made me reevaluate those goals, and while it was getting me off my game, I welcomed it.
Lucy was different. She was unlike any other woman I had ever met. She tested me. I loved that. I loved being pushed, and she pushed all of my buttons and ruffled my usually neat feathers.
Officer Cortez had just left, taking the note for evidence with him and told us if anything else happened to let him know. No shit? Wasn’t that what I just did? I rubbed my eyes, and Logan set a beer down in front of me, placing his hand on my shoulder before giving it a thankful pat and walking away to vanish into his bedroom. I unscrewed the cap of the beer, and the carbonation gave the refreshing hiss. I didn’t worry about tossing the cap away; I left it on the counter and made my way toward Lucy’s room.<
br />
A beautiful woman waited for me. Before I got too far away from my briefcase, I backtracked and took out my sketch pad and pencils. I was tired, but I wanted to draw while I sat with Lucy, even if it was in silence, her being there was enough. I wanted to fuck her more than I wanted to inhale my next breath, but I didn’t think she was ready for that, especially with this Brian situation going on.
I wouldn’t push, someone like Lucy was worth the wait, even if that meant the wait slowly killed me because of my blood flow being redirected to my cock all day every day. I was afraid I was halfway in love with the woman, and considering I had never loved before, I didn’t know if what I felt was real.
I still debated if it was lust, but there was an underlying feeling that was stronger than lust, stronger than the need of being inside her. I just wanted to be with her, next to her, feel her heat, hear her voice. For the first time in my life, over the course of those five days not speaking to her and only stealing quick touches, I missed someone.
I missed her.
Another reason why I was here and that I couldn’t have her unprotected with her ex out there, lingering. I noticed the door cracked to her bedroom, so I pushed it open, the hinges slightly creaking to reveal her personal space.
To my left, I heard the tub running behind a shut door. I smirked. Did she really think a door would be enough to keep me away? Her bedroom was nice, simple, yet reflected her as a person. She had a queen size bed in the middle of the room with a canopy above it, creating a veil on either side of the bed. The comforter was purple, a deep eggplant color, and she had pictures hanging all over her walls in simple black frames. All the photos were in black and white, and they varied from flowers and trees to meadows and the stars in the sky.
I wondered if she took them. If so, she was talented. Why was she working for me if she could take pictures like that? I planned to find out. I unbuttoned my shirt and slung it on her mattress. I stripped down to my briefs and rolled my shoulders. It had been a hell of a day.
Kiss my Boss (Plot Twist, I'm Pregnant Book 1) Page 9