by Alexa Riley
She bats his hand away, and the smirk just comes back to his face again.
“I’ll do as I please,” she replies tartly in the tone she uses when she’s in her business, no-nonsense mode. The tears have disappeared, and her voice is clear as a bell.
“That so?” He takes a small step towards her, closing in any space between them. I can’t seem to look away. It’s like when you’re playing a video game and only one man is still standing and the kill is at one percent. Only I’m not sure who is who in this situation.
“What’s with you always being in my space? Just because you’re guarding me doesn’t mean you need to be up my ass.”
“Can’t blame me for wanting to get in there, Prinzessin.”
Elle pulls back her arm, and I close my eyes, not wanting to see the smack land. When the sound doesn’t come, I crack one eye open to see Pink is kissing her. Not a soft kiss, but a full-on one I’m not sure I should be watching. The hand she had raised to him is now caught in his.
As if she realizes what she’s doing, she pushes at his chest, and he easily steps back.
“I can’t believe you!” She turns to look at me, her mouth all red. My hand goes to my mouth, and I wonder if I look like that, too. The thought makes that tingling feeling come back. Then her eyes go to Drake.
“These are the kind of people you hire at your security firm?” She half-yells at Drake, and I can tell she’s flustered and unsure about what to do. It’s a look I’ve never seen on her face before. Pink just stands behind her and shrugs like he’s not worried about the hell Elle is about to release.
He clearly doesn’t know about the time she and I went to Ben and Jerry’s and they ran out of coffee ice cream. She got free ice cream twice a day for a month after that scene.
“Don’t talk to my fiancé like that,” I snap back at her, not liking that she thinks he’s not doing his job right. I’m not sure what his job entails entirely, but he’s been guarding me just fine. More than fine.
Elle’s jaw drops open. Drake snags one arm around my waist, pulling me so my back is to his chest. I relax into his comfort, feeling his heat warm me up.
“Got you to stop crying,” Pink says, the smirk now a full smile.
She whips her head back around, probably to give him a glare.
“Fuck, you look good riled up. I can’t seem to help myself.”
She turns back to me and releases a huff, and for a brief second I swear a small smile hits her mouth before she goes back to giving me the third degree.
“Fiancé? Don’t you think that’s a little quick, Zoey?” Her tone makes me want retreat because I know it all too well. It’s the one I get when I’m not quite doing things right. Or what other people feel is right. Normal. I know she means well, but it still stings. Drake doesn’t make me feel that way. He seems to get me. Even likes the things that just pop out of my mouth. Likes how fast I seem to rush into some things. As if reading my thoughts, he confirms that he doesn’t think we’re moving too fast either.
“No,” Drake says, still holding me close. I turn a little to look up at him, and I know I’ve got to have a giant smile on my face.
“You can’t stay here, Prinzessin. The new couple needs their alone time,” Pink says to Elle.
I don’t even turn to look at them. I just keep looking up a Drake who’s got that soft look again.
“I told you to stay put,” Drake whispers down to me.
“Sorry. I seem to like to follow you around,” I admit to him, not caring if everyone can hear us.
“I like that, cupcake, but until I know you’re safe, you gotta do what I tell you, or I’ll worry nonstop. You’ll do that for me?”
“Yes,” I say instantly, wanting to give him what he wants.
“She never complies that easy with me,” I hear Elle huff.
“Come home with me and I’ll comply with anything you want.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“You still wet from that kiss?”
“Zoey.” Elle says my name, ignoring Pink’s question.
I turn my head to look at her, and I notice she hasn’t made a move to put space between herself and Pink.
“What?”
“I want to stay with you.”
I shake my head. “I want to be alone with Drake. We have plans. Plans that involve me having lots of orgasms.”
“His plans should be finding out who’s stalking you.” Elle stomps her foot in frustration, and I can’t help but smile. Strangely, I like how this Pink guy has got her all worked up. Her calm and collected self is starting to slip away, being replaced by a looser, more natural Elle.
“He is. We’ll just do that in between.”
“She’s right, cupcake. I do need to check in with the security at your building and see if they got those tapes.” He leans down, placing a kiss on my neck. I lean up, giving him all of me, but he doesn’t do the licking like I want and just pulls away. “You want to be close to Zoey? Stay with Pink. He lives one floor down, and the building is secure. You’ll both be safe here.”
“Fine.”
I narrow my eyes at Elle. She gave in a little too easily.
“Call two guards. I want them on the door while we go check shit out,” Drake tells Pink before turning to me.
“You and your sister keep your little asses planted while we’re gone. When I get back, I’ll give you what you want.”
10
Drake
I hear Pink make the call as I take Zoey’s face in my hands and gently kiss her lips. She opens for me, and I slip my tongue inside. As I taste her sweet warmth, I want to deepen the kiss and take her to the ground, but I hear a throat clearing and I remember we aren’t alone.
“They’ll be here in three minutes,” Pink says as I pull back from Zoey’s lips.
She’s smiling so big that I can’t help but match it. Leaning down, I give her one more quick kiss before I turn, going to the bedroom and pulling on some boots. Once I’m dressed, I head back out to the kitchen to see Zoey and Elle sitting at the counter and Pink standing on the other side, staring directly at Elle, nearly burning a hole into her.
“Everything okay?” He looks up at me, shaking off the trance, and pushes away from the counter.
I hear a knock and check the security camera next to the door, seeing two of our men outside.
Nodding to Pink, I lean over and kiss Zoey on the forehead one last time. I can’t seem to keep my hands off her, and even now, knowing she won’t be in my sight makes me itchy to hurry this up and get back to her. It’s a feeling I’m not used to, having always liked being alone.
Pink passes by me with a wicked look on his face. He walks over to where Elle is sitting, and before she can protest, he scoops her up out of her stool, dips her back dramatically like something from an old movie, and plants a kiss right on her lips.
I bite my lip to hold in the laugh, and I look at Zoey who is doing the same.
After a moment, he breaks the kiss, sets her back down on the stool, and walks away.
“Asshole,” Elle mumbles as she touches her lips, and her cheeks turn bright red.
“As much as you keep mentioning your ass, Prinzessin, I can see that’s going to need attention first,” Pink says, not looking back as he walks out the door.
I look over to see Elle’s mouth drop open and her cheeks burn even brighter, so I leave her and a laughing Zoey alone in the apartment. When we get outside, I talk to my guys posted outside as a precaution, then Pink and I head to my truck.
“You sure you want to keep digging that grave?” I ask, looking over as Pink gets in the truck.
“As long as I end up buried inside her, I’m good.”
He doesn’t smile as he says it. The look on his face is serious. I just shake my head and start the truck, pulling out of the parking garage. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Pink go at a woman like that before. He tends to be the one pushing them away. When I go over to his family’s house for the holidays, his siste
rs’ friends swarm him, and he’s always, always trying to dodge them. It’s new to watch him chasing one. Well, maybe chasing isn't the right word. It’s more like he’s planted himself.
“So you’re engaged?” His question doesn’t contain a trace of mockery. It comes out as an honest question, and I give him an honest answer.
“Yes.”
There’s not a second of hesitation in my answer. And not a single trace of doubt.
“Just like that?” he asks, and I hear the other questions that come along with that one.
“Yes,” I answer, not ready to go into it with him. There’s only one person I want to discuss this with and that’s Zoey. It’s nobody’s business but hers and mine. She took me off guard so easily. She just threw getting married out there, and I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I’m taking what she’s giving me. Was it quick? Fuck yeah, but I don't care. We’ll have the rest of our lives to sink into each other, and I just fucking know, gut instinct, that she’s meant to be mine. And that instinct has kept me alive and has yet to steer me wrong. There’s just something about her that fits me.
“Alright.” Pink takes the hint, and I can hear a little understanding in his voice as he pulls out his phone. “So what’s the next move?”
“We head back to her apartment and talk to the security desk there. I didn’t want to mention this in front of them, but my request for digital copies of their security feed was denied.”
“Why? Didn’t you explain the situation?”
I growl a little bit and think about the email I sent earlier requesting it. The email I got in response was a firm no. I thought a personal visit might help convince them.
When we pull up outside of Zoey’s building, Pink and I jump out of the truck and go inside. The guard I spoke to earlier today is gone, and someone new is in his place.
The guy sitting behind the counter stands up as we approach. He’s about our age—late twenties, early thirties—tall with dark hair and dark eyes. No tattoos or piercings. His name tag reads “Ben.” I clock all of this before I get to him. At the same time, I check for exit doors and access points around me, points of entry were someone to sneak up on me. I’ll always do this when I walk in a room. Always check my surroundings and make sure I know exactly what’s coming from what direction. When I reach the desk, I see Pink lean on it and survey the room the same way I did. A product of years of training.
“Hi. I’m Drake Hart, and this is my partner, Daniel Pinkoski.” I nod towards Pink. The security guard takes a step back, his eyes darting between us. “We’re here with Hart Security about a disturbance in one of the homes in your building. I spoke with Orlando here at the front desk earlier this morning about obtaining some footage.”
“Orlando isn’t here,” he says, confirming what I already know. Orlando doesn’t get in for a few more hours.
“That’s fine. I’m sure you can help, Ben. I can tell you take your job seriously, and I’m also sure you wouldn’t want Miss Zoey Barber to come to any harm.”
He puffs out his chest a little, reversing his retreat. Bingo. I’d had a feeling this approach might work after I read the file I pulled on him. Ben here has tried to get into the police force twice. Denied twice, both times for a bad knee.
On paper he looks like a stand-up guy and might have made an okay cop.
“Orlando didn’t say anything about you stopping by.” He leans down, clicking on his computer a few times like he’s looking for a note. I’m sure Orlando didn’t tell him we’d be stopping by because he’d told us he wouldn’t be handing over any tapes. Some bullshit about protecting his other tenants. That I’d need a warrant if I wanted them.
From the looks of how Orlando’s running shit around here, he doesn’t give a fuck about protecting his tenants. More likely he’s covering his own ass because if those tapes got out, they’d show he let someone in he shouldn’t have, and it’d be his ass on the line.
“I don’t see anything, but I can easily get you some tapes if you’d like. Anything to help keep our Zoey safe. She’s such a sweet girl. Strange but sweet.”
I feel Pink’s hand come down on my shoulder just before I can open my mouth.
“That’d be real helpful if you don’t mind,” he says, rattling off the date and times we need. He knew I was about to lay into Ben. Which would have fucked everything up. I take a deep breath and look over at Pink, who levels me with a look that I know means get it the fuck together.
Maybe Zoey is strange, but she’s no stranger than me. Hell, what he thinks is strange about her is what I can’t seem to get enough of. Everything that comes out her mouth just seems to do it for me. How someone hasn’t snatched her up before now, I have no fucking idea. I have to believe what she is saying about only ever having feelings for me, because she came on so strong. If she’d done that with someone else, I can’t imagine them resisting planting a ring on her finger.
“I need a ring.” The words pop right out of my mouth in Zoey fashion, making Pink shake his head. The security guard continues to click away on his keyboard.
A ring on her finger sounds real nice. I can already picture her running her hands all over my body as she wears it. The thought has my cock coming to life.
“That’s strange,” Ben says, pulling me from the thoughts I shouldn’t be having right now. I’m once again losing myself in a Zoey fog and not making sure I’m getting shit done, keeping her safe.
“What?” The word comes out a little harder then I mean it to. I’m still agitated with him, even though he’s getting me what I want.
“They’re gone. There’s nothing on here. In fact, I can’t seem to find any tapes prior to my shift today.” He keeps clicking away like he might find it, but I know he won’t.
“I smell shit,” I tell Pink, who just nods his head.
I turn, heading out the door, not bothering to try and get more from Ben. He’s got nothing. I pull out my phone and dial my office.
“Hart Security,” Sherrie, Pink’s youngest sister, answers the phone.
“I need a crew over at Zoey’s apartment. I want prints done.”
“On the door?” she questions, and I hear her typing away on her computer.
“Everywhere.”
11
Zoey
“I want to tell you you’re crazy, but…” Elle shrugs as she slides off the bar stool and heads for the coffee pot. “But I like how you two look together. It’s different.”
Different. A word I’ve been hearing my whole life.
“I really like him.” I fiddle with the edges of the paper sitting on the counter, needing to do something with my hands. My sister's opinion means a lot to me. It’s always been her and me, and while she might me bossy with me, I know I need it. She pulls me back and keeps me on track. If I didn’t have her, I’d probably just live in a mess of chaos.
“I’ve never felt like this. I can’t even seem to understand it.” Not that I’ve really tried. My mind seems to be solely focused on Drake.
“Is that driving you crazy?” After she looks in a few cabinets, she finds a mug and makes herself a cup. She doesn't offer me one, knowing I can’t stand the stuff unless it’s one of those fancy ones loaded with whipped cream and chocolate. Elle just drinks hers straight black.
“No.”
“Well, there you go.” She smiles over her coffee cup before taking a sip.
It hasn't been driving me crazy, oddly enough. I like for things to have reason to them. With this, I just seem to be trying to snatch it up and keep it without caring about why. I was so freaking happy when he seemed to be on board with the idea of getting married. I was scared when he didn't answer me quickly at first when we were lying in bed before Elle and Pink showed up.
Or maybe he just said that so as not to embarrass me. A little bit of that sinking feeling comes back.
“He’s handsome. Like those rough, buff guys women always go crazy for on TV.”
“And?” She s
ets her coffee down, resting her elbows on the counter, and studies me like she doesn’t understand what I’m getting at.
I just shrug. I’ve never once really thought about what I looked like, despite having a sister who was once a model. Now I care. I want us to fit.
“You two fit, Zoey,” she says, like she’s reading my mind, something I often think she can do. “That’s why I’m not all up in your business about it. I like how he is with you. How you are with him. I’ve never see you like this. You seem happy.”
“I thought all guys were pig-headed assholes?” I remind her of the words I’m pretty sure I heard her mutter less than a week ago.
“Most are. They just want in your pants.”
“I hope so because I really want Drake in my pants,” I say dreamily, and Elle spits out a mouthful of coffee, making me jump.
She wipes up her mess and shakes her head. “I meant that’s all some men want, and I can’t believe that just came out of your mouth. I’m liking Drake more and more by the second.”
I narrow my eyes at her, making her laugh more.
“Simmer down, Zoey. I didn’t mean it like that. The man clearly only has eyes for you. Trust me. I know by the way his eyes follow you that he can’t seem to let you out of his reach. It’s sweet. Plus, I’m not even sure he knows I have a vagina.”
“Pink knows you have a vagina.”
My words make her narrow her eyes on me now. I still can’t believe all the things she’s let him get away with. No one gives the brush off better than Elle.
“Well, he’s not getting anywhere near my vagina.”
“I don't know how you do it. I haven't even had sex and I think I’m already addicted to it. I’m not sure what will happen once I get it. I don’t know how you go so long without it having done it before. You actually know how good it is. I was just in the dark, but now I know it’s going to be awesome.”
Elle silently finishes cleaning up. I can feel the tension in the air grow a little.
