Hanging in the door, with one hand on the handle and the other on the door jamb, she looked past the half a dozen new S.I.S. men around the couches beside her. Rocco, Will, and Ty stood around the pool table on the far side of the room and it was them that she spoke to.
‘Are you guys busy?’ Lacie called to the men she knew.
All of the men in the room had noticed her entry, but Rocco and Ty were concentrating on the game at hand. ‘Not for you, Princess,’ Will said. With his arms folded, he was propped against the wall, watching his friends play. ‘What do you need?’
‘Security,’ Lacie said. ‘Sorcha and I are going shopping. I don’t really want to go out with—‘
‘Say no more,’ Rocco said, putting his cue on the table then all three came toward her.
Lacie hadn’t realised that the three were paying so close attention until they jumped into action. ‘Whoa,’ she said, holding up her hands and using her hip to keep the door ajar. ‘I don’t need the three of you.’
The trio were already on her position. ‘There’s two of you,’ Ty said, taking the door from her hip to open it further.
‘Better more hands than less,’ Rocco said, grabbing a jacket from a hook beside the door and pulling it on before he took off another two to give to Will and Ty.
‘We’re not doing anything anyway,’ Will said, putting on his own jacket.
Ty got to the crux of the matter. ‘Plus, the boss would have our balls if something happened to you while one of us sat here on our asses.’
Lacie nodded in concession and let herself be herded backwards toward the elevator door where Sorcha was still poised. ‘You’ll be bored out of your minds.’
Sorcha had already called the elevator, so they all waited for it to arrive. ‘Let’s hope so,’ Rocco said.
Lacie didn’t like to be a bother, but she knew that they were right. Having three guards would make her feel safer and they would be able to keep an eye on Sorcha too. Ryder would appreciate his men being vigilant. Despite how self-conscious she felt, Lacie appreciated it as well.
By the third store, Sorcha was loaded down with bags and didn’t have any inclination to slow down. Melting her credit card made her happy and Lacie would bet she was burning the one her parents paid off, hence why Sorcha didn’t have to worry about the zeros on her receipts.
Seated on short leather benches that were perpendicular to each other, Lacie and Sorcha tried on the various pairs of shoes the attendant had brought them before Sorcha excused him.
‘Bruce cooked dinner last night before staying the night,’ Sorcha said, sliding her feet into delicate gold heels then extending her legs to admire them from afar. Bruce had been the hot topic of conversation. It was amazing to see Sorcha glow again, but Lacie knew she was setting herself up for a crash. Hope as she might that Bruce was taking his role as husband and father seriously, Lacie knew he was a guy who took the easy way out when things got too hard.
‘That’s good,’ Lacie said, putting on a pair of shoes Sorcha had selected for her. Indifferent to them, Lacie bent to tidy away the various pairs Sorcha had tried into their boxes. ‘Did you have sex?’
‘Yeah,’ Sorcha said, pointing her toes out and twisting her legs from side to side to check the shoes from every angle. ‘It’s a bit weird. I was sort of getting used to Shep.’
‘Have you heard from him?’ Lacie asked. Glad that Sorcha had brought him up, she eased into the issue.
‘He’s called but I haven’t answered the phone.’ Sorcha got up to walk in the shoes. Lacie slid the shoes she was wearing off her feet.
‘You’ll have to talk to him eventually,’ Lacie said, watching her friend walk back and forth in front of the low mirror.
Sorcha turned around and her smile lost some of its sparkle. ‘Get them,’ Sorcha said, watching Lacie return the shoes to their box.
‘What do I need fancy shoes for?’ Lacie asked, stacking the boxes. ‘Until my head is back to its old self, I am not tottering around in heels.’
‘Good point,’ Sorcha said. ‘Have you seen the doctor since you’ve been back?’
‘I have an appointment tomorrow. I’m just so tired and distracted… I don’t know if it’s an after effect of the drugs, or maybe some sort of psychological aftereffect.’
‘You definitely need a pick-me-up,’ Sorcha said. Kicking off her shoes, Sorcha rushed over to grab Lacie’s hands and pulled her onto her feet. ‘Next is the most important thing and there’s no excuses for you getting out of that.’
‘What?’ Lacie asked as Sorcha drew her toward a purple curtain in the corner.
Sorcha whipped it aside to show a store within the store. A vast but secret store. A very specific niche store. ‘Lingerie!’ Sorcha declared and kept Lacie’s hand to ease her inside.
This was more than lingerie. On the walls were mannequins wearing costumes and displays of sex toys, body paints, and how-to DVDs. But it wasn’t sleazy. It seemed rather tasteful and catered to most tastes and requirements. Lacie didn’t dare look over her shoulder at the three security men who would follow them in. Rocco, Ty, and Will had been respectful and gave the women distance to talk without fear of them eavesdropping. But they would not let her out of their sight, and so they would have to enter this space.
‘Shouldn’t you have bought this stuff before the wedding night?’ Lacie asked.
‘There’s always a reason to buy sexy underwear. We don’t need an excuse,’ Sorcha said, picking up a leather paddle and running her hand over the flat surface. ‘Do you think we should get toys?’
‘Ask Bruce,’ Lacie said, still absorbing all of the details surrounding them. ‘You know what he likes in bed.’
Patting her hand with the paddle, Sorcha considered this before she responded. ‘We’ll be married for a long time. It might be nice to experiment,’ Sorcha said, casting the paddle aside to rush toward what was probably considered the most demure corner, which was filled with babydoll nightwear and silky chemises.
Lacie followed on and caught up when Sorcha was searching a rack for her size. ‘You have plenty of lingerie,’ Lacie said, letting her fingers run over the delicate fabric. ‘Will any of this fit over Bump?’
‘A girl can never have enough lingerie, and I have to plan for after childbirth, not just before,’ Sorcha said, fingering the lace cup of a bra. Lacie was amazed to discover that her friend did forward plan—in the most frivolous area. ‘What are you going to get?’
Stumped, Lacie sealed her mouth and her thoughts because it hadn’t occurred to her to make purchases of her own here. ‘Me?’
Sorcha was searching through another rail of lingerie and selected another piece. ‘We’re here. Why not treat yourself and your boyfriend too?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Lacie said, shaking her head and taking her fingers away from the material she’d been fingering.
‘Why not?’
Glad that Sorcha was preoccupied with her hunt, Lacie’s brightening complexion went unnoticed… at least she hoped it did. Rocco, Ty and Will were somewhere on their periphery but Lacie didn’t dare look up to seek them out for fear they’d be sniggering about her reaction to Sorcha’s suggestion.
‘I don’t… I’ve never… I don’t even know if Ryder’s into that,’ Lacie said. ‘He likes me naked. I think lingerie would just get in the way.’
‘Every man likes lingerie on his partner,’ Sorcha said, picking up a third swathe of fabric. ‘It builds the suspense, toys with them, teases them.’
‘More often than not I initiate sex,’ Lacie said, moving with her friend as she moved through the apparel. ‘It’s hard to tease when you’re the aggressor. And I’ve had sex with him a million times. I think it’s a little late to be coy.’
Sorcha stopped to look at her friend and a frown came onto her face before she dumped the things she was carrying onto the rail beside her. ‘I’ve neglected you,’ she said. ‘With everything that’s been going on I forgot that you’re new to this sex thing.’
‘I think I’m doing ok,’ Lacie said, feeling two inches tall.
If it wasn’t bad enough that her best friend had announced that she was terrible in bed, the three men protecting her could hear every word and everyone in their building would know it tomorrow. Lacie wasn’t new to sex, she’d been with men before Ryder. But she was new to the kind of passion she experienced with Ryder. Before him, sex was something done for the pleasure of her partner and none of them had cared too much about how she might enjoy the experience.
Since her teenage years, orgasm was something she achieved on her own, with her hands or her toys. It was not something that she’d been capable of with her partners, probably because she was too tense and focused on not getting anything wrong since she got no encouragement from the men in her life back then.
‘Men are far more likely to lose control of their hormones than women,’ Sorcha said, taking Lacie to a lush leather bench in the corner to seat them both. ‘Sex can be a lot of fun, I’ve always told you that, but you should always make sure that they work for it.’
‘Work for sex?’
‘It’s easy handing it out when you first get together but if you keep just handing it out they get bored. Men like a challenge,’ Sorcha said, crossing her legs and leaning back to accommodate Bump. ‘It’s like training a dog. There are treats and punishments and their behaviour dictates which they should get.’
Lacie’s nose crinkled. ‘Isn’t that using sex as a weapon?’
‘It’s using it as a tool to make sure that you’re looked after, to make sure you’re treated well,’ Sorcha said, raising a hand as though she were delivering a college lecture rather than advising a friend.
‘Ryder treats me well,’ Lacie said.
‘Sure, now he does,’ Sorcha said. ‘You haven’t been together for very long. You’ve been in intense situations, things are fraught. You have to get it right now or in the long term your relationship will never last. You have to learn when to give it out and how much. You can’t be open for business twenty-four, seven.’
‘Why not?’ Lacie asked, believing that fair was fair. ‘He is.’
‘He’s a man,’ Sorcha said, returning to her educating tone. ‘We expect them to be horny dogs begging for table scraps. You have to claim power now or he’ll be walking all over you for the rest of your time together.’
‘You think I’m being a slut?’
‘I think you don’t want him to think that. You have to let them know that you’re in control, he’ll only get it if you deem him worthy. There are a million men out there and you could choose any one of them, and if he gets too big for his boots you need to make him aware of that.’
‘You want me to withhold sex and flirt with other men to ensure I keep Ryder?’
‘If that’s what you want,’ Sorcha said and her serious expression gave way to a smile. ‘And every woman knows that any good sex war starts with the tease.’ Sorcha presented her hands to the store they were in. ‘And this is our armoury.’
Sorcha bounced up to go back to her shopping and Lacie glanced around to see what she might pick up. Playing games with Ryder was off the table for her and Sorcha didn’t exactly lead by example when it came to how best to handle yourself in a relationship.
For now, Sorcha was happy, and Lacie would do all she could to maintain that delight in her friend. People went through such turmoil in relationships, she had too, before she met Ryder. He was a careful man, a responsible man, and she didn’t need to toy with him. Still, it was nice to get a glimpse of the old Sorcha again.
Lacie and her three security agents didn’t get home until it was dark. Sorcha had gone on quite a spree then insisted on dinner. The five ate together at Lacie’s insistence. They were all friends and she wouldn’t have the men standing and starving in a place full of sustenance.
After they’d arrived at Sorcha’s apartment, Ty helped Sorcha upstairs with her bags, and then the four of them travelled back to S.I.S. Lacie told them that they didn’t have to follow her up to the residence, but they stuck with her, each wearing their own private smirk. They’d had quite a day and heard more than Lacie would ever have wanted to share with them.
As the elevator doors opened, Ty went out first though Lacie couldn’t imagine what threat to her could exist here. Rocco draped his arm over her shoulders while Will stayed behind. No one was in the reception lounge, but when they got to the kitchen, voices warmed the air.
‘What time do you call this?’ Ryder asked, though he didn’t sound upset or angry.
Ty moved aside and she saw Gabe, Sonny, and Toby at the table with Ryder who leaned back with his hands linked behind his head.
‘Are you hungry?’ Sonny asked. ‘We have lots of food.’
‘We ate out,’ Ty said, pulling out a chair for Lacie but she shook her head.
‘I’m going to bed,’ she said.
‘It’s early,’ Toby said. She just smiled and left the men to it. There was beer on the table, so the poker chips wouldn’t be far behind.
‘Lace.’
The voice stopped her from entering the bedroom after opening the door. Glancing back, she turned when she noticed Rocco was traversing the hall to get to her. When he reached her, he gestured into the bedroom. Taking his prompt to go inside, he came with her and closed the door to give them privacy.
‘Anything wrong?’ she asked, folding her arms. There had been no incidents when they were out and if a threat had been identified while they were out, she would assume Ryder would be the one to give her the intel.
‘Today was impromptu. You haven’t had the standard client protocol discussion,’ he said. ‘There are a bunch of rules for us and we like to make clients aware of what to expect and how we deliver our service. I’m sure you’ll be getting the briefing soon.’
‘Then I don’t understand what—‘
‘We will never repeat what’s said, what we see, what we hear, nothing,’ he said and although this serious side of Rocco was an anomaly, it wasn’t unusual for him to be the one putting people at ease. Humour was his default way to do that, but when something else was required, he proved now that he was up to the task.
‘Ok,’ she said with a nod.
‘We wouldn’t do it with any other client and you’re no exception. We want to protect you. Our job is to protect you and that’s exactly what we’ll do, whatever it takes. I don’t know how you’ll want to configure your detail, which will be covered in your commencement briefing, and the fact that your boyfriend may take a turn on your rotation will be something you’ll have to work out between yourselves. But as for the rest of us, we see nothing, hear nothing, and say nothing.’
‘While seeing and hearing everything,’ she said, her hands fell to her sides. ‘What you’re saying is, I can have a torrid affair and you won’t tattle-tale.’
‘Yeah, I guess that’s it,’ he said, returning to a familiar smile.
‘You’ve noticed my discomfort,’ she said, he nodded. ‘My concern isn’t what you tell Ryder. All of you can give him a second by second account of my day, you have my permission.’
‘You squirmed all day,’ Rocco said. ‘You were obviously uncomfortable.’
‘About you and the other guys. Ryder knows everything about me, I’d tell him anything. But you and the others know me as Ryder’s girlfriend. Now you get to see a different aspect of me. You’ll all look at me differently, you’ll know more about me than I do of you. My secrets will be out and that will change each of my relationships with you.’
‘You can follow the rest of us around if you want,’ Rocco smiled and his good humour made her release a short laugh.
‘I suppose I still feel strange about all of this.’
‘You’ll get used to it,’ Rocco said. ‘Soon you won’t notice we’re there.’
Taking a long breath, she hoped that he was right. ‘Doubt that,’ she said.
Lowering his smile, some of his solemnity returned. ‘Lace,’ he said, touching her shoulder. ‘We
all love you. You’re a member of the team and we look out for our own.’
Teasing herself, she narrowed her eyes to peer closer. ‘Is this your way of telling me not to have a torrid affair?’
‘This is my way of telling you that if you did we’d kick Ryder out and keep you safe.’
Lacie laughed, appreciating how he put her at ease and he had made her feel better. She gave him a hug which he returned until someone cleared their throat.
‘Am I interrupting?’ Ryder asked. He stood in the doorway beside them wearing a smile. Lacie thought of Sorcha’s claim she should make Ryder jealous. Yet, here she was in the arms of another man, in a bedroom, and Ryder was completely unaffected. That fact only made Lacie love him more, though that it was one of his men probably made a difference to his reaction.
Rocco ruffled her hair then patted Ryder’s shoulder as he negotiated his way out around Ryder who closed the bedroom door. Lacie kicked off her shoes and pushed the straps of her dress from her shoulders letting it pool at her feet. She stretched and flopped down on the bed.
‘Oh it’s been a day,’ she said.
‘Heard you stopped for security before you left,’ he said. ‘Good girl.’
‘I thought you’d approve,’ she said, unhooking her bra and wriggling out of her thong.
‘I do.’
‘I need to have a shower and wash the day off me,’ she mumbled closing her eyes as she buried her face in a pillow. ‘Sorcha’s in her element. She and Bruce eloped, they’re married.’
‘That’s a surprise,’ Ryder muttered. ‘But as long as their happy.’
Lacie wasn’t in the mood to get into the details of if Sorcha was happy, if she’d acted on impulse, or how long any of this would last. The bed shifted, indicating to her that Ryder had seated himself beside her. His fingertips touched the back of her knee and slid up the back of her thigh toward her butt.
Hiding her smile in the bed, she tried not to let it convey in her tone. ‘Uh-uh, I’m withholding sex.’
‘You’re what?’
Sleight Mistake (Stone Investigations Book 2) Page 15
