Blurring the Line (The Line Series Book 2)

by Nikki Rose

  Chris smiled a genuine, caring smile that made my heart melt. “I’ll talk to him and make sure he doesn’t say anything. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

  I smiled, leaning against the wall, still not trusting my legs to be able to hold me up. As he walked out of the room, a wave of sadness washed over me. Why had I promised him only one time?

  “Shit.” I murmured to myself as I made my way back to the safety of the party. I can’t believe how I’d let myself lose control. I broke my own rule. Never get involved with a client or an asset. It was my job to protect her, not to sleep with her. I wanted to protect her but, I also needed to protect her from me. Because after having one taste of her , I only wanted more. So much more.

  It was everything I could do to pry myself off of her. If Mason hadn’t walked in, there would have been no way I could have found the strength to stop. We’d said only one time, but we didn’t say that one time couldn’t last forever. All I really wanted to do was to go back upstairs to find Caroline, rip off every piece of clothing between us and ravage her body again. I needed more but more would never be enough. I don’t think I could ever get tired of having my hands, lips, or tongue on her. I could only imagine the bliss I’d feel if I could really have her. I wanted to claim not only her body but her soul. But, I couldn’t. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t. Her dad was my boss. The chances of him ever being okay with me and Caroline being together was so far from reality it was almost comical.

  How the hell had I gotten myself into this mess?

  I felt like I’d just run a marathon. My heart raced and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t regulate my breathing. Everything in me fought against the urge to go back upstairs and finish what I’d started.

  I found Mason in the kitchen heading for the french doors that opened onto the back patio.

  “Mason. Hey, man. Hold up a sec.”

  Mason stopped and turned around before opening the door. He was younger than I was, newer to the unit too but we’d worked a couple jobs together and he seemed like a good guy from what I’d seen. That still didn’t tell me whether or not he’d keep what he saw to himself.

  “Hey, man. I’m sorry about interrupting whatever that was earlier. I was looking for a bathroom since all the ones downstairs were taken.”

  “It’s no big deal..”

  “So nothing’s going on there?”

  “ That was the first — and only time for that. The bossman would have my head for that.”

  “I don’t see why. I mean, you obviously care about her so it's not like just some random hookup kind of thing.”

  “I somehow doubt he’d see it that way. He’s pretty protective of Caroline.”

  “Well, don’t worry. It’s none of my business one way or another...you weren’t worried I was going to say something were you?”

  “Nah.”

  Mason raised his brow suspiciously.

  “Okay, maybe slightly. I just wanted to make sure you understood. We aren’t sneaking around behind her dad’s back or anything like that. It was a one time thing so there’s no need for him to know.”

  “No worries man. Now, let’s get some grub. I’m starving.”

  We walked back out into the backyard and found the end of the food line. Just a few minutes later, I spotted Caroline coming out of the house. She made a beeline for her friend Amanda, no doubt confiding in her what had transpired upstairs. I’d hoped it would relieve the mystery and get it out of my system but she was like a drug. One taste and all I could think of was how I could get my next fix that would never come — it couldn’t.

  It was a job. It was a mission. Emotions and base desires couldn’t play a role in it. If I was going to be able to do this job right, I couldn’t go blurring the line between the two.

  Chapter 11

  One week. It had been one week since the Memorial day party where Caroline and I had slept together and it had been the only thing on my mind since. I really thought the appeal was just in the mystery of not knowing — of the forbidden fruit. But, after that day, I only craved more. More was what I couldn’t allow myself to have. No matter how bad I wanted it. No matter how bad she wanted it, and she did want it. She made it clear in every little skimpy outfit she flaunted around me but I also made it clear that it wasn’t happening.

  I pumped the weights furiously. The one good thing about all the built up frustration was it made one hell of a work out motivation. I’d already clocked five miles on the treadmill before hitting the weights and it wasn’t even six-thirty in the morning yet.

  I’d woke up before my five o’clock alarm after having a dream about Caroline that would make her beautiful creamy skin turn bright red with blush. There was no way I was going to get through the day without burning off some of that built up frustration. I needed to be focused on keeping her safe — even from me.

  The timer on my phone chimed to let me know it was time to wrap up my workout. Caroline would be waking up before long and I wanted to grab a shower before breakfast. We’d worked out a pretty good routine even with the unspoken tension between us now. Luckily the Director hadn’t been around much to notice.

  I finished my cooldown and headed upstairs to shower when the bathroom door swung open and Caroline emerged dripping wet in nothing but a plush, white towel.

  Shit.

  Her silky skin glistened with tiny droplets of water that covered her. A stray strand of her dark hair fell against her cheek, partially covering one eye and I froze, watching as a water drop rolled down between her cleavage before disappearing beneath the towel I wanted to rip from her body.

  “It’s all yours.”

  I cleared my throat and managed to look up into her face. “What?”

  “The bathroom. It’s all yours.”

  The victorious smirk told me she’d done that on purpose. The little vixen was playing with fire and I didn’t know how long I could contain it before it broke free.

  “Thanks.” I fought to not show weakness but my gym shorts did little to hide the clear sign that she had my attention. I brushed past her and into the steamy bathroom.

  Just like every other weekday, I stood in the back of Caroline’s class, watching as she listened to the professor’s lecture and took notes. I’d studied every micro-expression and could tell when she was bored, intrigued, confused. She was a smart woman, always asking good questions and making a contribution to the class.

  This woman was nothing like who I thought she was when we first met. She was strong and struggling to be independent with an overprotective, overbearing father with only the best intentions.

  I was fascinated with everything about her. The way she pursed her lips and pulled them to the side when she was trying to make a decision. The way she held the end of her pen against those same sexy lips when she was extra focused or tapped it against her notebook when she was bored.

  Before that night, we’d been making good progress toward getting along but now there was a new distance between us that grew every day. I missed her, even though she was in the same room, I missed how we’d been and it was time to take steps toward getting that back.

  After class, Caroline walked to the car without even looking back at me. Her moods the past week had ranged from sexy teasing to pissed off at me for ignoring those advances.

  “Caroline, hold up.”

  “What?” She whirled around and glared at me. “I’m ready to get home.”

  “Let’s go for a walk in the park. Like we used to.”

  “No thanks. I need to get home. I’m going out tonight.”

  “Like hell you are. I didn’t approve that and I know for damn sure your dad didn’t either.”

  “I don’t care. I need to get out of the house for awhile. I’m going dancing.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere unless I say so.”

  “You may be my bodyguard, but you are not the boss of me. My dad is your boss so in a since, you work for me.”

  “In your dr
eams, princess.” I glanced around the parking lot where people were starting to stare. “We’re going for a walk. We need to talk and here is not the place.”

  Caroline looked around, noticing the strangers staring at us, listening to our private conversation. The expression on her face slowly shifted. She was giving in.

  “Fine.”

  I waited to start talking until we’d been walking around the park for a good ten minutes. I wanted to give us both some time to cool off before starting what I hoped would be a conversation to reset us.

  “Listen, about what happened at the party —.”

  “You don’t have to explain. We said one kiss to get it out of our system. I get it. You’re not interested in me.” It was like I could actually see those walls of hers going back up and I wasn’t going to let that happen after having a glimpse of the real Caroline.

  I froze in place, gently grabbing hold of her bicep to keep her from walking on, and turned her to face me.

  “Listen to me. That’s not it at all.”

  “It’s not?” People were having to walk around us on the walkway. The last thing I wanted was to draw more attention to us, so I pulled her off the path to stand under a large oak.

  “Of course not.” I hadn’t wanted to tell her how I felt about her. I was afraid it would only complicate things further but I couldn’t stand the idea of Caroline not knowing how I felt. At least part of it. I let out a loud sigh. I needed her to understand. “That kiss was...amazing. But, it’s not that simple. As great as that kiss was and as much as I’d love to do it again, we can’t. We can’t be together, Caroline. You’re dad is my boss as you pointed out earlier and you are his little girl.”

  “I’m not a little girl.”

  I sat on the large exposed roots of the tree and guided her to sit beside me. “To him you are. To him, you always will be. That’s just how it is with fathers and their daughters. My job is to protect you and I can’t do that if I’m distracted by those damn sexy lips all the time, so I have to put that out of my mind and focus on what’s important.”

  “You think my lips are sexy?” Of course that would be the part she focused in on.

  “Of course I do. I think every part of you is sexy. I haven’t been able to get you off my mind since that kiss. It’s all I can think about.”

  “So why does my father have to find out? We can keep it a secret.”

  “For how long? Until I’m done with this assignment? Then what? We just move on with our lives like nothing ever happened?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is I want to be close to you again. I miss you.”

  “I’ve miss you too.” I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her close. I knew it was probably a mistake but I couldn’t help myself. Caroline rested her head on my shoulder and we just sat there in comfortable silence. Neither of us had an answer for where this was going. We just needed that moment.

  We’d sat under the old oak tree for over an hour and I knew I needed to get her home but I didn’t want to let her go. Once we went back to the house, we had to go back to the way things were. I didn’t want to let her out of my arms.

  Our silence was interrupted by the shrill ring of my cell.

  “Chris.”

  “Chris, it’s Applegate. Listen, I’m going to be at the office all night handling this damn mission in Nampo.”

  “Everything alright, sir?” Hearing the Director’s voice was like throwing a wet blanket on me and I slipped my arm from around Caroline. It just felt disrespectful to be so blatantly going against what I knew the Director would approve of while talking to him on the phone.

  “Yeah, we just hit a snag. I want to make sure we get everyone out of there in one piece. You’ll let Caroline know for me?”

  “Of course, sir. I’ll let her know.”

  “You’re a good man, Chris. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “See you tomorrow, sir.”

  I hung up the phone and Caroline was looking up at me curiously.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. Your dad has to work through the night dealing with a complicated mission.”

  “So nothing unusual.” Caroline gave a slight smile and leaned her head against me but I moved to get up.

  “We should be getting you home.”

  “Can’t we just stay here all day?”

  “I wish we could, but we need to get back. Ms. James will be wondering where we are.”

  Caroline sighed and gave me that cute little pout as I stood and offered her a hand up. As we began down the walkway, she suddenly stopped and I turned to look at her. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears and I hurried to her side.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t want to go back to being distant with you when we get home. I just don’t know how to act around you when we can’t be like this. When we are at the house, I miss you even when we’re in the same room. The distance between us... It’s just —.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her to me as we started back down the sidewalk.

  We were just rounding a turn in the path that would bring us back out to the street where my car was parked when a familiar female voice stopped me in my tracks.

  “Chris? Chris. Hey, I thought that was you.”

  I turned around, half in shock to be face to face with the woman I hadn’t seen in nearly five years.

  “Aleaha.” I couldn’t believe it. I could barely recognize the girl she used to be with the woman she had become. Aleaha, with her long dark flowing hair no longer tucked away, hidden under her hijab. She stood proud and tall, in a dark gray pencil skirt and blouse. “I barely even recognized you.”

  “I’ve changed a lot.” She laughed. “But, you on the other hand, haven’t changed a bit.” She hugged me tight around the neck and I returned the familiar gesture all the while very aware of Caroline’s presence.

  I stepped back and Aleaha looked between myself and Caroline. “Are you going to introduce us?”

  “Oh sorry. Aleaha, this is Caroline. Caroline, this is Aleaha.”

  Caroline stepped up and Aleaha shook her outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise.”

  “Is this your girlfriend?” Aleaha studied me curiously, knowing I’d never been one to simply stroll in the park with a woman.

  “Uh—.” I glanced over at Caroline. We couldn’t put labels on what we were. Not when we didn’t even know what we were ourselves. “It’s complicated. I’m in the middle of an assignment right now.”

  “Oh, I see.” Aleaha smiled at us but I saw the knowing glimmer in her eye.

  “So, how do you two know each other?” Caroline looked to me for answers. I suppose it was as good a time as any to get to it.

  “It's a long story but, Aleaha is my wife.”

  Chapter 12

  Wife. The word struck me like a fist to the stomach, knocking the air from my lungs. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t want to be there, standing in the park with Chris and his wife. I wanted to shrivel up and disappear.

  I finally managed to force words passed my lips. “I — I have to go.”

  I walked passed them in a haze. My only thought was getting away.

  “Caroline.” Chris’s muffled voice came through from behind me. “Caroline, wait.”

  I couldn’t stop. I needed to get away. My walking turned to a jog. He finally caught up to me at his car when I realized there was nowhere else to go.

  “What the hell were you thinking? You know better than to take off when there could be someone out there trying to get you.”

  “Oh get over it Chris. There hasn’t been any threats in weeks. Don’t worry. Pretty soon this assignment will be over and you can go back to your wife.”

  “This is not the place to talk. Get in the car and we’ll talk back at the house.”

  I didn’t want to get in the car with him but what other choice did I really have? I plopped down in the seat and
stared out the window as he turned onto the street. We rode in silence as my anger boiled just under the surface. Chris wanted to talk when we got home but all I wanted to do was claw his eyes out. I couldn’t see what there would possibly be to talk about. Chris pulled into the driveway and put the car in park before turning to look at me.

  “You took off before I could even explain.”

  “What’s there to explain? You’re married, you have a wife. Unless I got that wrong?” I looked into his eyes, praying that I’d somehow imagined the whole thing. That he’d open his mouth and deny everything.

  “Technically, she is my wife but —.”

  That was all I needed to hear. I jumped out of the car and stormed inside, slamming the door before Chris could follow me in. I stormed up the steps, heading for my room. In there I could simply lock my door and keep him away. I didn’t want to see him much less hear his voice. And, I most definitely did not want him seeing the pain filled tears pouring down my cheeks.

  “Caroline.” Chris barked as I slammed my door in his face and turned the lock. “Caroline, damn it. Let me in.” He banged on my door so hard that it made me jump.

  “Just go away.” I leaned my back against the wall and slid down as my vision blurred from the tears barely getting the words out through my sobs.

  I pulled out my army knife and found the pick. Within seconds, I had her door unlocked. I swung it open before she’d have time to slam it back in my face and found her crumpled on the floor, knees up, sobbing with her face hidden.

  Her sobs were like a vice, squeezing my heart. “Caroline. We need to talk about this.”

  “There’s nothing more to say. Just go.”

  “Caroline —.”

  “I said get out.” She screamed, looking up at me with hate in her bloodshot eyes but I wasn’t going to give up that easily.

  “No.” I grabbed hold of her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. I’d finally had it. I wasn’t going to let her go back to the spoiled brat routine. Caroline needed to understand that Aleaha and I were not involved. I cared about her as one human being cares for another but there was nothing going on between us — there never had.