by Tia Siren
“Whatever you want.” I started down the hall.
She took my face in her hands and gazed deep into my eyes as we stopped in front of the master suite. “I want this, Reid. This is what I’ve always wanted.”
My chest contorted with the pain I had caused her. The pain I had put us through.
“It’s yours.”
10
Abi
I knew he didn’t like my idea. It was clear from the scowl on his face, but Reid swore this time we’d listen to each other. It wasn’t a one-way street anymore.
I felt as if we were in an armored vehicle as we rolled out from the Big Bear cabin. And we probably were. Reid had access to the most elite security devices and systems. During dinner last night, he explained how his first private security contract landed him a million dollars. After that, he branched out, moving into body armor, weapons, and cyber tech.
His hand was on my thigh. He dug into his suit jacket and held up my phone.
“I get it back?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, yes.” There was a line between his eyebrows. “But I encrypted it. So if any of those emails come in, they automatically alert my phone. Nothing goes through Ralph anymore.”
“Did you tell him this?”
“Ralph is going to learn there is a new set of rules.”
I eyed Reid. “He isn’t trying to get in your way, you know. He has a job to do.”
“Good. Then we should be on the same page.”
“That means you’re going to my dress fittings?” I teased.
He laughed. “I’ve been to a few of those.”
I saw the glimmer in his eyes. My cheeks heated. The first time we had sex was in a dressing room. The seamstress had left me with a broken zipper and no way out of the beaded fabric. I had called for help and Reid had run in, thinking I was in actual distress. The way he looked at me, I didn’t have to ask for help with the zipper. He was going to devour me. We had been dancing around it for months.
Sexual tension like that was tangible. I knew it was going to get us in trouble when I hired him.
He locked the dressing room door. Within minutes, the designer gown was on the floor and Reid was buried inside me. I’d never experienced anything like him. A man so primal. So raw with his emotion. He was strong and powerful. My heart never had a chance.
“Madame Karina isn’t going to like it if you defile her Oscar dress.”
“What about the dressing room?” His voice was flat.
I swallowed hard. Oh, God. What was he doing? His fingers rounded to the inside of my thigh.
“You don’t want to be responsible for an old woman’s heart attack.”
His fingers ran under my skirt, sliding under my panties.
I closed my eyes, leaning into the leather seat for support.
“No. I don’t.”
He pushed a finger inside me and I squirmed. “Or our driver’s,” I argued.
“The shield is up. He won’t know a thing.”
He sank another finger inside me, curling it upward.
“Oh shit,” I hissed.
He groaned. “Fuck. You make me hard.”
I smiled. “I do?” I reached out, feeling the erection stretching under his charcoal pants. “I can do something about that.”
I moved faster than he expected and landed on the floor between his knees.
“Abi.” He eyed me.
“What?” I teased.
I reached for the button and zipper on his pants. My hand moved inside until I clasped his cock and freed it. He sighed.
I leaned forward, tasting the tip with my tongue. His hands combed through my hair and settled at the back of my head.
I teased his cock with my tongue, swirling up and down his long shaft as if it were a lollipop. He jerked his hips when my mouth covered the head.
“Mmm,” I moaned, tasting the salty sweetness of his cock.
He thrust forward and I took him inside my mouth, adjusting to how big he was. He wanted to go deep. He wanted to hit the back of my throat, but I was out of practice. I needed to ease into it. I sucked hungrily, hearing him grunt with satisfaction each time I took him farther in my mouth. My muscles started to relax.
“I love it when you do that,” he growled.
My eyes locked on his as I mastered the final stroke and sucked him to the deepest part of my throat. There was a sense of accomplishment spurring me on as I brought him to his climax.
“Fuck,” he groaned. “Oh shit, Abi.”
He jerked as I latched at the base of his cock and settled in to suck until he came. His pressed his hands into my head and I mewed into his groin, loving that I could do this to him.
His spine tightened and I knew the blast was coming. He grunted, as I sucked hard and his release sputtered, running down my throat. I drank without mercy, swallowing and gulping until he closed his eyes and sank into the seat.
“Shit. That was incredible.”
I wiped my mouth and crawled into the seat next to him. “I love doing that.”
He grinned. “That makes two of us.” Reid shoved his dick in his pants and fastened them.
I looked out the window as the trees from Big Bear faded behind us. L.A. was on the horizon and just beyond that was the beach house. I had argued that before I did anything else, I was going to visit Javier.
Reid’s phone beeped. He looked at me. “I need to get this.”
I nodded. “It’s ok. I’m going to text Ralph we’re on the way.”
He answered quickly and launched into a tense conversation about a prototype that didn’t sound like it was working. It would take time, but eventually our lives would blend together again.
Only this time I realized it wasn’t going to be as easy.
Reid had been in every aspect of my life. He was next to me at every event. He was in the car wherever I drove. He slept in my bed wherever I stayed. And it was because I was the center of the relationship.
This new world wasn’t going to revolve around movie star Abigail Lawrence. This time I was the one who had to figure out how to navigate him.
I listened to him bark orders on the phone and I realized as much as I loved him, as much as I knew him—there was a side of him that was a stranger to me now. I had to take time to learn.
11
Reid
I didn’t like the idea of Abi stopping at the hospital on the way home. It was too public. The security was too lax, and she was too recognizable. The fact that she had gone into hiding would only make it worse if someone spotted her.
There was a fevered frenzy about her that had grown since the attack. This was not anything I would approve as the CEO of Taylor Securities or as a bodyguard for that matter.
But I was trying to be the kind of man who was less domineering and more like a partner.
I had my TS driver deposit us at one of the back entrances. Two agents met us at the service entrance, holstered and ready to shield Abi if needed.
I stepped out of the car first and scanned the perimeter. This part of the hospital was secluded. It was a common route for celebrities to use when they were discharged.
The agents nodded at me as they flanked the door.
I guided Abi inside.
“Is all this necessary?” she asked.
I folded my sunglasses and tucked them inside my jacket. “If you want to go to public places, then yes,” I answered.
We walked through the corridors and to a side elevator.
Javier had been moved from ICU and was in a regular patient room. I punched the button for the third floor.
Abi wrung her hands together.
“It’s going to be ok,” I tried to reassure her.
She nodded. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”
The elevator stopped, but I held the door closed for a brief second. “You and Javier survived something horrific together. It’s normal that seeing him is going to bring that up. You don’t have to do this until you’re ready. No one is
asking you to push yourself.”
Her eyes flared. “I am. I’m asking myself. That man deserves a thank you. He deserves a car or a yacht. I don’t know, anything that a person deserves for saving someone’s life. I can put aside my own anxiety for twenty minutes to tell him that.”
She stuck her chin forward and I knew her mind was made up. I’d seen that look too many times before to try to talk her out of it. If seeing her trainer brought darkness to her, I’d hold her. If the nightmares returned tonight, I’d fight them for her. She wasn’t in this alone.
I let the door go and we strolled into the hallway. Javier’s room was closest to the nurses’ station.
I saw a flicker of recognition on some of the nurses’ faces as Abi walked past, but they were used to stars. They weren’t the ones I was worried about.
Abi tapped on the door and it swung open.
“Are you up for visitors?” she asked.
Javier grinned. For a second I had to put myself in check and remember this man had almost died saving her. I hadn’t expected him to look like a damn Greek god.
Even in a hospital gown, he was all hard muscle. I frowned as I stood next to the door. I didn’t miss the adoring look on his face when he saw Abi.
“Abi.” He grinned.
She leaned over his bed, kissing him on each cheek.
“How are you? I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.” She pulled up a rolling stool and planted herself next to him.
“I was asleep for most of the week so you didn’t miss anything.”
“But still. I wanted to say thank you.” She choked, and I had to fight the urge to rush toward her and power her through this. “You saved my life, Javier. I don’t know if I can ever say thank you enough.” I saw a tear land on his hand.
“No. No.” He shook his head. “It all happened so fast. It was just instinct I guess. You don’t have to thank me. Maybe do a few extra squats at the club.” He winked.
That was it. I had gone from wanting to comfort Abi to wanting to punch the trainer. I moved slowly, my fists loose at my side. No shit he wanted to watch her do squats. She had an incredible ass.
“I never thought that chick would have had a gun. It still blows my mind. Since when do yogis carry guns?”
My head jerked. “What did you say?”
Javier looked at me.
Abi intervened. “This is Reid Taylor. He’s personally investigating the shooting,” she explained. “It would be a huge help if you could answer any questions he has. He owns Taylor Securities. We’re using all his resources to find the attacker.”
“What did you just say, Javier?” I pressed again. “Yogi?”
He blew a long breath of air. “She must be bat-shit crazy. Didn’t get Zen on that morning.”
I stood at the foot of the bed. “Are you saying you saw the shooter and it was a woman?”
Javier looked at me then Abi. “Yeah. I saw her. She was maybe twenty feet from us, standing between the cars. She had on yoga pants and a tank top.”
“And that makes her a yogi?”
He shook his head. “I saw her before she raised the gun because she had a fluorescent Namaste on her shirt. It was bright even at sunrise. In fact, if she hadn’t had that on I wouldn’t have had time to step in front of Abi.” He turned his gaze upward and she smiled at him.
What in the hell did this mean? The emails had been from a man. The gym video had been too blurry to distinguish any characteristics of the shooter, but we had all assumed it was a male suspect. What the fuck was going on?
“What else? What else do you remember? Did you recognize her from the gym? A client maybe?”
He rubbed his temple with his free hand. The other was strapped in a sling.
Abi gave me a stern look, cautioning me to slow down. I didn’t care if I was rushing him.
“No.” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen her.”
“Anything else out of the ordinary besides the shirt? Tattoos? Piercings?”
Javier paused. “She did have a tattoo on her wrist.”
“You saw that?”
“I probably wouldn’t have noticed it except it was on her shooting arm. I wasn’t close enough to see what it said.”
“But it said something?”
“I think so. I don’t know for sure.”
Abi patted his arm. “Can I get you something? Want some water? Or a protein shake?”
He laughed. “No. I’m good.”
I wanted to run through the analysis again. I needed to call Bex at the office. He was my lead agent and had updated me every hour. He never mentioned the shooter could have been a woman. We were certain it was an obsessed fan. Some lunatic who thought Abi had shunned him.
It had all the signs of a revenge attack. The emails seemed to confirm our theory.
But now I realized we had been wrong from the beginning.
“Abi, we need to go.”
“But, we just got here.”
I placed my hand on her shoulder and extended a hand to Javier. “Thank you for what you did. I hope you know it makes you a hero.” He shook my hand, gripping probably more than he should.
“Thanks, man.”
I squeezed her shoulder. “We’ve got to reassess the protocols tonight.”
“But tonight is the first award dinner.”
If I had to throw her over my shoulder and carry her out of here kicking and screaming, I would.
“Abi, if you want to go to that dinner, we need to leave now. All the plans have shifted.”
She nodded. Maybe she was starting to realize there were things she had to compromise too.
I waited for her outside the room.
A minute later she appeared.
“Is it really that bad?” I saw the worry on her face and had to admit she had been strong in there for Javier.
I nodded. “Worse. But you’re not alone, baby.”
She squeezed my hand. “I know.”
12
Abi
I don’t know what I thought it would feel like being inside the beach house again. The last time I was here I dressed, poured a smoothie, and left for my killer session with Javier. I grimaced. Bad choice of words.
I wandered through the rooms, feeling like a stranger.
Reid was behind me. “I’ve added additional window sensors and laser triggers at all entry points. I don’t have a full computer system installed, but by the end of the week you’ll have the best tech I’ve got.”
“Mmmhmm.” I nodded absently.
I looked out at the ocean breaking against the shore. It was rough today.
There were two men planted on the beach, wearing ball caps. There were two more in my driveway. This didn’t feel like home.
Suddenly, Reid’s arms wrapped around me. He kissed the side of my head.
“Something’s wrong. What is it?” he asked.
I didn’t want to admit he was right. I was more comfortable at Big Bear.
“It sounds dumb.”
“Try me.”
I sighed. “It feels creepy here. Like someone’s watching. Maybe it’s all the windows.”
It was why I had loved the old house to begin with. It wasn’t one of the new fancy Malibu houses. It had been here since the first wave of celebrities moved to the coast in the fifties. The windows stretched from the floor to the ceiling. I had loved the sunlight. Now I wished I could board up the windows and hide.
Those beautiful old windows made my skin crawl.
“Let’s head back to Big Bear,” he offered.
I shook my head. “I’m not going to be scared out of my own home. Besides, I’m not going to miss my first awards dinner. I have a dress you’re going to love.”
I spun to face him. Maybe all I needed was a little Reid distraction.
“What kind of dress?”
“A very low-cut black dress.” I grinned, flattening my hands against the ridges of his abs.
“Is that so?”
I nodded. “Want a
preview before tonight?”
He brushed his lips over mine. “I’d love a preview, but I have to go over the schematics for the venue.”
I stuck my bottom lip out. “Schematics over sex?”
“Believe me. Not an easy decision, but the dinner is only a few hours away, unless you want to cancel. In that case I promise to put your dress to good use right now.” He gripped my ass roughly and I moaned. “Want a trade?” he taunted.
I shook my head. “You know I can’t do that.”
“Then sex will wait.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Fine.” He took a step back. “But you aren’t leaving, are you?” Little alarm bells went off under my skin. I didn’t want to stay in the beach house even if I was under heavy protection. I couldn’t bear it without him.
“No. I’ll be here. I’ve had everything sent to my tablet. I’m not leaving.”
I sighed. “Good. Maybe I’ll lie down then. Can you work in my room? There’s a desk.”
“I can do that.”
He followed me down the hall to the master bedroom. It was a suite I remodeled as soon as I bought the house. There were soft blush hues mixed with a pale sky blue. I liked to think it was somehow both cool and warm at the same time.
He watched as I curled up in the center of the bed. Reid pulled a blanket over me, draping it at my shoulders.
“Don’t let me oversleep,” I warned. “I need at least two hours for hair and makeup.”
“Got it. I remember your schedule.” He smiled.
“I remember all of this.” I knew I sounded sleepy. My body felt heavy and exhausted.
“All of what?” he asked, running a hand over my hip.
My eyes burned too much to open. “The way we fit together.” I turned into the feather pillow. “The way your hands feel. The bourbon you drink.”
“You remember all that?”
“Mmmhmm.” I nodded. “And how no one else in their right mind gets up at 5am to work out. Except us.”
“What?”
I thought there was something different in his voice.
“I never dated anyone after you who wanted to wake up before five. We’re the crazy ones, I guess.” I didn’t know if either of us liked it, but it was what we had trained our bodies to do.
