by Dru Parkes
That I didn’t need to know.
Damn man.
“Are you into that?” he asked as he drove steadily. “Being blindfolded?”
I ignored his grin, and instead looked out the passenger window. “That’s something you don’t need to know,” I countered, pleased with my own retort.
He laughed softly. “It’s about time we called a truce, don’t you think? Since we’re going to be shacked up together for the foreseeable future, we might as well be civil.”
“Being civil might cause problems,” I said. “It’s better we forget the truce. Besides, I don’t like being controlled. I’ve had enough of that.”
“Your father just wants to protect you.”
“I get that, but even you must see that this situation doesn’t call for me to be protected. I’m not under any threat. Not because of a land deal.”
Liam shrugged. “Maybe that’s true, but he wants to cover the bases. You should give him a break.”
I leaned my elbow on the window and toyed with my hair as I looked at him. “What are you? My father’s newest fan?”
He shrugged again. “I admire him. He protects what’s his.”
“Meaning me?”
“If you like.”
I shifted so I could face him. “So, you’re one of these men who think women are unable to think for themselves, make their own decisions. That’s funny, because last night you didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with my decision-making skills.”
I received another sideways glance. “It’s one thing to let a woman stroke your cock, another to let her put herself in harm’s way.”
I wasn’t going to rise to his taunt. “Seems to me that’s double standards. If she can make rational decisions in one area of her life, she can make them in another. But then, thinking about it, maybe my decision to have sex with you wasn’t rational.”
He grinned. “You couldn’t keep your hands off me.”
“I think it was the other way around. You had me up against the elevator wall before the door had even closed, and then you did the same in your room. You didn’t give me chance to breathe.”
“I didn’t hear any complaints.”
“Not saying you did, but if you’re going to accuse me of coming on to you, and pretend that you were just reciprocating because you had nothing better to do, then I’m not going to let you get away with that.”
“Maybe we should just accept that it was a mutual thing.” He shifted in his seat. “And maybe we should change the subject because remembering what we did, talking about it, is not doing my cock much good right now.”
I smiled, liking that he would admit that. “You started it.”
“I think you started it,” he retaliated. “You made me remember the sex we had.”
“And you’d so easily forgotten?”
“Hardly.” He glanced across to me, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Seeing as I can still taste you every time I lick my lips.”
Oh hell. My thighs clenched hard and I had to resist wriggling in the seat. “Well, it’s a good job we enjoyed it, because we have to agree it’s not going to happen again.”
“Yeah. Agreed. It’s not my style to fuck an assignment.”
“Ouch. That’s brutal.”
He glanced over again, then turned his attention back to the road. “Yeah. Sorry. That came out wrong. What I mean is that now it’s my job to keep you safe, so that makes you way off limits in the personal pleasure stakes. There’s no way we can pick up where we left off.”
“What makes you think I’d want to pick up where we left off? Now I know who you are it’s taken the shine off anyway.”
“The shine off?”
“Uh huh. I was attracted to the whole sex-with-a-stranger-in-a hotel-bar scenario. There’s something about anonymous sex that makes it really hot. That’s gone now I know your name and who you are.”
“Ouch. Right back at you.”
It felt good to have a little power. To make him think that I was no longer interested. At least it would keep him on his back foot and not see me as a pushover. “I just thought since we were being truthful. Didn’t you think the whole stranger thing was kind of hot?”
He shifted in his seat again. “Have pity on my cock for fuck’s sake. Talk about something else.”
“Tell me where we’re going.”
“Nice try. Pick another subject.”
“Tell me about your business. Last night when I asked you said it was boring, which I now realize is code for mind your own damn business because what I do is top secret.”
His wry look made me laugh.
“So, Faulkner Security. My father said it’s your company, so why didn’t you call it Robard Security?”
“I’m in partnership with two buddies. We served together. We named the business after our commanding officer who was killed in action on an assignment that went bad.”
“Oh, I’m really sorry to hear that.”
“Thanks.”
“You have two other partners?”
“Yeah. Blade and Noah. Best men I know.”
“It’s good to have people in your life that you admire, even more so people you can trust.”
“I’d trust them with my life, and the lives of those I love. Just as well, seeing Blade just hooked up with my kid sister.”
“They’re married?”
“Not yet.” He was reflective for a moment. “Can’t think of anyone I’d like more as a brother-in-law.”
“Have you told him that?”
He shrugged, tilted his head. “He knows. These things don’t need words.”
“Typical male response.”
“And you’d know how?”
It was my turn to shrug. “My mother once said my father never told her he loved her, at least not after they were married. Whenever she asked him, he always said she ought to know that he did, and why keep telling someone. He never tells me, either.”
“But you know that he does.”
“Of course. But it’s sometimes good to hear the words, especially for people who need to hear them.”
Liam turned off down a small dirt road and within moments a cabin came into view. It was large and bordered a small lake. “Is this where we’re staying?”
“Yeah. Home sweet home. At least for the next week.”
He brought the car to a halt beside the cabin. “It’s remote,” I said glancing around and looking for other signs of human life. “Where’s the nearest neighbor?”
He grinned and reached out to unhook my seat belt. “City girl.”
“I’m not apologizing for that,” I said as I got out of the car. “I like my creature comforts.”
“Who knows. You might enjoy roughing it for a week.”
I doubted that, but once he opened the entrance door and stood back to let me go first, I saw that I need not have concerned myself about comfort of any kind. “Wow,” I said, taking a turn around to take everything in. “It’s amazing.”
“Yep, all mod cons.” He dumped our bags on the couch. “Except a TV. Don’t have one of those. No signal.”
“Wi-Fi?”
“Sorry.”
“So how do we get in touch with anyone?”
“We don’t. I’ll get the fire started and then give you the tour.”
I felt the twin feelings of discomfort that we were essentially cut off and excitement that we were totally alone together out here miles from anywhere.
“There’s something you should know,” I said as I peeked through the doorway to the state-of-the-art kitchen. “I’m not much of a cook.”
“Then you’ll have to learn fast.”
I turned back to see him throwing large chunks of wood into the fireplace. “I’m not sure I want to stay here.”
“You’ll get used to it. Throw me those matches.”
I went to where he pointed and handed him the matches, watching with some trepidation as the fire sprang to life. It made me feel a little better, although
I still didn’t relish a week in the wilderness. Especially not with him. Alone. In close proximity to each other. With the prospect of sex very much off the table.
I wandered out to the hallway and stared along the narrow corridor. “Which room’s mine?”
He didn’t say anything until I looked back to find him watching me. Then he shrugged. “Take your pick.”
Liam
I’d been tempted to tease her, tell her that there was only one room, but she looked pretty forlorn right then and I didn’t have the heart.
I stayed hunkered down making sure the fire caught, listening to her as she checked out the rooms. The cabin had three beds. It had been a prerequisite when I’d bought it along with Noah and Blade six months back. We thought it would make a good getaway when any or all of us needed a break, and that its remoteness would also make it suitable for the kind of assignment I had now.
It was the first time I’d used it for work. The first time I’d been alone here with anyone other than Noah or Blade. Blade had bought Callie here for the weekend after he’d proposed to her. From what he’d told me afterward, Callie was as taken with it as Serena appeared to be. Meaning, she hated it.
It was hard to ignore her grimace when I’d asked her what she thought of the place. But it couldn’t be helped. This was the best place to keep her out of harm’s way.
I grabbed the bags from the couch, headed into the hallway, and found Serena checking out the smallest of the three bedrooms.
“This will do me fine,” she announced coming forward to take her bag.
“You don’t want the bigger room opposite? It’ll be more comfortable.”
She shook her head, not giving me eye contact. I let her take her bag and place it on the bed, while I leaned against the doorframe and watched as she unzipped the bag.
“Are you pissed at me?”
She pulled out two sweaters and walked to the closet in the corner. “Why would I be pissed? I love being shoved in a car at the crack of dawn, then being brought to the middle of nowhere where I’m told there’s no Wi-Fi, no signal, no bloody TV, for God’s sake. I mean, who the hell wouldn’t be pissed?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “The weather is supposed to be fine. Some good spring warmth coming our way.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better? It might be news to you, but I’m not a great one for relaxing and I especially hate lying in the sun and doing nothing.”
I could sympathize. At least I had some admin to catch up on, and spreadsheets waiting to be completed on the laptop. Like her, I wasn’t great at relaxing and doing nothing.
“There are good long walks to take in the woods, and a boat we can take out on the lake.”
She finished hanging the few things she’d bought, then closed the closet door with a sigh. “Ignore me. I’m just antsy. I don’t like the quiet too much.”
I smiled as I walked over to where she looked out of the small window toward the lake.
“City girl,” I said again, and drew strands of hair off her forehead. “Give it a chance out here. You might find that you enjoy the break.”
She turned, looked over her shoulder at me. “Maybe you’re right.”
I smiled, battling the punch from those eyes. “Hungry?”
She nodded then frowned. “I hope you’re not expecting me to rustle up something. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m no cook.”
I wanted to tease her, tell her that if she didn’t learn fast then we’d both go hungry. But the words died on my lips. I was already starving, and it had nothing to do with food.
How the fuck was I supposed to hold back? How was I supposed to be professional and treat her like an assignment when she fired me up just by existing.
Maybe it would have been easier if I hadn’t already sampled her incredible body, if I hadn’t tasted her succulent flesh, inhaled her tempting scent deep inside me.
Maybe.
I cleared my throat. “Why don’t you freshen up while I go and unpack our provisions? I can manage eggs, that’ll at least stop us from starving.”
I left her still staring out the window and tried to see things from her perspective. From the conversation she’d had with her father last night, when he’d explained what was going to happen, I had a good idea of how controlling he was. Yeah, okay, that came from wanting to keep her safe, but it also came from pushing his own wishes on to her and ignoring what she wanted.
He kept her on a tight leash, or at least tried to. He’d persuaded her to pursue a business degree when it clearly wasn’t what she wanted.
Now here she was, coerced into spending time with me – another control freak – in the middle of nowhere when she was used to the bustle of city life.
Hardly the basis for a happy week.
As I put away the provisions I’d bought earlier, I thought of how I could make things easier for her. She was obviously at a crossroads career-wise and didn’t seem to have a clear idea of what she wanted to do going forward, so maybe she could use this time thinking around that.
And I could help her.
Of course, my doing that wasn’t entirely altruistic. It would help me, too. Help me focus on something other than wanting to get my hands on her again.
I busied myself preparing eggs, bacon, and toast, put up coffee, and generally tried to keep my thoughts away from Serena and how damned much I wanted to finish what we’d started last night.
Every moment I spent with her was like a constant battle to stop myself thinking about getting her naked at the first possible opportunity. I wondered if it was a kind of unfinished business, borne of my natural instinct to see things through to the end.
Which was crap. It was purely because I really wanted to feel her against me again. I wanted to know what it was like to be inside her.
My thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when she came into the kitchen. She’d pinned her long hair up into a kind of top-knot and the first thing I wanted to do was pull out the pins and let it fall around her shoulders again.
“That smells really good.”
Fuck, so did she. As she came up next to me to peer over my shoulder at what I was preparing her scent hit me full on. My blood heated. My pulse hiked. “Hope you’re hungry. I probably made too much.”
“I’m pretty ravenous right now. It must be the country air, or something.”
Or something, I thought, when she didn’t step back.
“After we’ve eaten, I thought maybe we could take a walk.”
I’d already figured that it was probably best to stay outside as much as possible, considering that I couldn’t look at any flat surface in the cabin and not imagine laying her down on it and fucking the hell out of her.
“Is it safe around here? Wildlife, I mean. Are there any dangerous species?”
Only me.
Shit. I had to get a goddamn grip. “It’s safe. Any wildlife tends to keep to itself.”
She didn’t seem convinced as she eyed me, but then she turned away and started rifling in the refrigerator. “Do you like running a security business?”
The question came out of nowhere and I turned to see her pull out milk and butter and place them on the counter next to where I’d laid out the plates. “Yeah. Wouldn’t do it if I didn’t.”
“I bet most of your assignments are a bit more exciting than this one, though. Babysitting duties are a bit tame for you, I’d have thought.”
She turned and leaned back against the counter, watching me, a challenge in her eyes. Fuck, but I never could resist a challenge. “Who says this assignment isn’t exciting?”
She screwed up her mouth. “Please. Since we’ve taken sex out of the equation, what’s to be excited about?”
I couldn’t quite ignore the disappointment that swept through me at her confirmation that sex really wasn’t on the cards. Maybe, in some deep dark part of myself I’d hoped that we’d find our way back to resurrecting what we’d started.
I slid eggs onto her p
late. “We’ll have to think of subjects to discuss that will keep us entertained.”
As she nodded, I found myself hoping to hell there were enough subjects in the world to keep my mind off sex for the next seven days.
Chapter Five
Liam
I made it to the end of day one without grabbing her and managed to keep my mind off sex for a whole thirty minutes combined. As I congratulated myself on my stoic achievement, she wandered into the cabin having been outside by the lake for the last hour sketching in the pad she’d bought when we’d picked up provisions on the way here.
“The light here is absolutely beautiful,” she said placing her sketch pad and colored pencils down on the small table by the fire. “And the early spring color is amazing. Do you know, I counted five different flower species just going down to the edge of the lake?”
I glanced through the window toward the lake. “Yeah? Guess that’s one bonus being here.”
“I thought it was going to be really quiet, but what with the birds singing and the sounds coming from across the lake, it’s actually quite noisy.”
“Go figure that.”
“Maybe you were right. I should just make the best of it.”
I smiled as I tossed potatoes into a roast tin, pleased she was slowly coming to accept her imposed incarceration. “How did the sketching go?”
She came over and leaned on the breakfast bar at the end of the counter. “Good. I’m not sure I’ve got the color of the lake absolutely right yet, but I can play around with that. I usually work mostly in black and gray, with little touches of color to highlight, but it’s impossible to resist extending my palette here.”
I closed the cooker door and reached for a glass to pour her wine I’d had chilling. As I handed it to her, I grinned. “Your sketch pad’s not the only place you’ve been extending your palette.”
She put down the glass, then rubbed at the spot on her face that I pointed to. “Really?”
“Down a little,” I said, as she missed the mark. “Here.”
Before I could stop myself, I used the end of the towel I’d tucked through my belt and wiped gently across her cheek. She averted her gaze as I worked, looking over my shoulder. I felt her soft breath against my face, saw her eyes darken, her throat contract as she swallowed.