by Imogen Wells
The soft caress of fingers on my cheek brings me back, “Hey, where did you go? I lost you for a second there.” I look at him and take a swim in the deep blue depths of his eyes. It’s like they’ve hypnotised me, drawing me in closer and closer, lips just a breath apart. A blaring siren has me jumping back, and the smell of smoke and burnt bacon assaults my nose.
“Shit!” Blue spins away, grabbing a tea towel as he turns off the hob, moving the pan to the sink, then waving the towel at the fire alarm. I attempt to curb a giggle, not very successfully. Blue eyes me over his shoulder, he looks pissed, but I’m not sure if it’s aimed at me, or the burnt bacon.
Deciding it’s probably best to remove myself from the firing line, I tell him I’m going to go sit in the lounge, grabbing my drink as I leave. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, and that kitchen was definitely packing some heat.
On my way to the lounge I check out the view, it’s stunning. I also notice that the balcony wraps around the whole of the outside, and I spot a hot tub too.
Stepping down into the lounge area, I place my drink on the pebble coffee table and take a look around. The artwork on the walls is a little dark and unusual, but I find I quite like it. I don’t see any photos except one on the far wall, as I draw closer and the picture becomes clearer, I realise it’s of a group of army soldiers. I recognise two of the three front and centre. Blue stands in the middle with his arm around the two either side of him, Rick being the one on the left. I don’t know the other guy on the right, but I’m not at all surprised they’re ex-army. They look close, and I wonder if the third guy is Seb, Blue and Rick’s other colleague.
I hear movement behind me, but before I’m able to turn around, a warm body brushes against my back. He doesn’t touch me, and I’m so grateful, clearly remembering what happened the last time.
“That’s you and Rick, right, and I’m guessing the other guy is Seb?” I ask, turning my head so I can see him when he doesn’t answer. He nods, then reaching past me he points to another of the guys in the picture, but I don’t even hear what he says. His close proximity mixed with the earlier sexual tension has my brain short circuiting, which becomes even more obvious when I try to turn around and escape. I literally bump into his chest and bounce back off. I wait for the inevitable pain from landing on my arse, but it never comes. Instead, I’m hauled up against Blue, with his arm wrapped tightly around me. And I mean tightly. I can feel every inch of his hot as fuck body, and my breath lodges in my throat. My hands rest on his pecs, palms sweating and my breath choppy.
“Steady, Bambi.” His voice is husky, and thinly veiled lust pours off him. “Breakfast is ready,” he says, his eyes glisten with the blatant innuendo, and then he slowly releases me.
Jamie was right, my fanny is fluttering, and I seriously need some new knickers.
Nine
Camryn
We sit at the breakfast bar to eat, and Blue tells me a little about his time in the army. I can tell he’s holding back, not giving too much away, but I don’t blame him because I know that being in the army holds some memories you wish to never speak of again. He’s particularly reserved when it comes to Rick’s past, but again, that’s not his story to tell, and I totally understand his loyalty.
Blue talks about their security firm, Triple R Security, that him and Rick set up after leaving the army four years ago, and Seb joined them a year later.
He finally tells me that his real name is Ryder. When I test it out in my head, my dirty little mind is very vocal about how she’d let him ‘ryde’ her any time, but I shut her down.
The conversation flows until the topic of me comes up, my first reaction is to clam up, but I realise if I want to move forward then I need to open up a little. I give him the basics, single child, parents both dead, it hurts like hell to say it out loud, but I do it. I tell him how I went to university and studied journalism, completely avoiding Sean altogether, but I know it won’t stop him from asking. I’m not stupid enough to think that Rick hasn’t told him what I was there for that day, otherwise, why else would he be here. I’m also curious about why Rick was so keen to get hold of me. When Blue asks me about Sean, and he does, I’m as ready as I can be.
“So, how did you and Sean meet?” It almost sounds casual, but I catch the underlying tone in his voice that tells me it’s anything but. I feel the anxiety creep in, but I tamp it down and try to disassociate myself, to tell it like it’s someone else’s story.
“The usual, night out with the girls.” I’m surprised by how steady my voice sounds, not a tremble in sight, but inside my whole body is vibrating. Adding a shrug of my shoulders to drive home the indifference that I don’t really feel but attempt anyway. I don’t think Blue’s convinced, not even one bit. “It didn’t work out, no biggie, it happens, end of story.”
“Come on, Cam, a four-year relationship and what, summed up just like that?” he scoffs, rising from his stool and clearing the plates away.
A spark of anger rises in me at his tone, and the implication that my explanation isn’t enough. Yeah, I’m not being completely transparent, but he has no bloody right to question my relationship. Who the hell does he think he is?
“How dare you…” then I pick up on something he said, “Hold on, how do you know how long I was with Sean?” I demand, as my brain goes into panic mode, and I jump up from my seat, stepping further away from him. He has his back to me at the sink, but I don’t miss the way his shoulders tense at my question. Don’t panic. There could be a reasonable explanation, just hear him out first.
Spinning to face me, I finally get a look at his face and him mine. Obviously sensing the panic battling inside of me, he hesitantly steps forward, but I raise my hands, warning him to stay there. Confusion briefly crosses his face. “I’m not going to hurt you, Bambi, let…”
“Stop fucking calling me that!” I shout, letting the fear get the better of me.
“Okay. Camryn, I can explain, if you’ll just hear me out.” He watches me closely, unsure whether I’m going to run or not. Well, that makes two of us pal. I fight my natural instinct to run and allow his words to register through my adrenaline addled brain. I give him the smallest of nods, and he moves to take up his seat again. I don’t move a muscle.
“It was Sully that told me how long you’d been with Sean.” He spits Sean’s name like he wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire. To be honest, neither would I. I’d pour petrol on him and dance round the flames as they engulf him. “You don’t work in my line of business without knowing or hearing about some of the less… pleasant, shall we say, members of society.” I grunt at that, and it’s not missed by Blue. “We’ve heard of him, know the circles he runs in and even knew a member of his close team, Tyler, as you know, he’s the one that gave you Sully’s details.” At the mention of Tyler’s name, I remember the video Sean sent me, nausea washes through me, and I feel the blood drain from my face as the images flash through my mind. My knees buckle, but Blue catches me, picking me up bride style and setting me down on the sofa in the lounge.
“Oh my god, he’s dead. Tyler’s dead. I can’t believe I forgot. How fucking stupid am I, and how did I forget that?” Blue crouches in front of me, his hands resting on my legs and gently rubbing slow circles on the inside of my thighs with his thumbs.
Aware that I’m not making much sense, I take a couple of deep breaths and try again. “He’s the reason I called Rick, Sean sent messages to my phone, like Rick did, but Sean also sent a video. A video that showed him torturing Tyler because of me, it’s my fault. Someone else died because of me, their blood is on my hands again.” I drop my head into my hands in shame. The tears fall freely as my heart fills with guilt at causing someone else’s death.
“Hey.” Blue pulls my hands away from my face, replacing them with his own. “You listen to me right now, this is not your fault, none of it is. Do you hear me, Camryn?” I go to argue, but I’m stopped in my tracks when his lips land on mine in a punishin
g kiss.
It takes a split second for the shock to fade, and then I’m opening to him, letting his tongue war with mine when it demands entry. I grab his wrists where his hands still hold my face, not sure if I’m trying to pull him closer or push him off, but when he groans into my mouth, I give up the fight and melt into him.
Blue’s intoxicating, masculine scent invades my senses and has my body arching towards him, as he moves one hand into my hair at the nape of my neck. I release his wrists and run my hands up his chest, over his shoulders and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him further into me.
My legs drop open, inviting him into the space between my thighs, and my core throbs as his hips meet mine. I’ve lost all sense and just allow my body control, which clearly wants to climb him like a damn tree. Blue breaks the kiss, and I gasp for breath as he kisses across my jaw and down my neck. Before I know it, I’m laid out beneath him as he towers over me, running his hands all over my body. I don’t feel an ounce of the fear that usually comes from being beneath a man, trapped and unable to escape or fight back.
I feel Blue slide a hand under my top, his warm, rough fingers glide up my stomach to my breast and squeeze enough to cause a spike of pain, but it’s a good pain. I throw my head back on a groan as he rips the cup of my bra down, pinching and tweaking my taut nipple. At the same time, I feel his hard length push against my core, and the roughness of our clothes causes friction in all the right places but it’s not enough. I want more. No, I need more. I reach for the button of his jeans, but Blue’s hand stops me. Confusion and shame wash over me at the thought that he’s come to his senses and realised what I already know. I’m damaged goods.
Just as that thought passes through my mind he jumps up, pulling me with him, and then I hear it. The ping of the lift arriving, and the doors whooshing open. He grips my hair, pulling my head back and whispers in my ear, “We’ll finish this later.” Kissing me quick then releasing me just as Rick walks in.
Rick looks surprised when he sees me, but that could be the fact the heat in my cheeks, my swollen lips and my messed-up hair are a dead give-away for what he just interrupted.
After a quick greeting, I excuse myself to the bathroom in the direction Blue pointed.
Once inside the bathroom, I slump against the door and wait for my heart to slow its crazy pace. Going to the sink I finally get a look at myself in the mirror, as I thought, a hot mess. I touch my fingers to my lips, still tasting Blue and feel how his mouth moved against mine, just imagining it has my thighs clenching together. Urgh! My mind spirals with the thought of what would have happened had Rick not turned up.
I must be more fucked up than I thought, one minute we are talking about Tyler being dead, and the next I’m under a man who is dangerous to my very soul, dry humping him like a hormonal teen.
Embarrassment has me taking my time, in no rush to face either of the men in the other room.
Ten
Blue
What the fuck was I thinking kissing her like that, forcing myself on her. I know her history I’m not a complete arsehole, although some may disagree. The guilt over the death of Tyler so clear on her face. She actually blames herself, and what a fucking load of shit that is. I needed her to feel something good, and my dick was in total agreement with that stupid fucking plan. Still is, painfully so, I might add. Spouting that bullshit about having blood on her hands made me so fucking angry, and as I’m a twisted son of a bitch, it made my dick stand to attention too.
I watched as the shame washed over her when I stopped her, and I saw the thoughts running through her mind clear as day. She thinks she’s damaged, that I stopped her because I wouldn’t want someone like her. Well, fuck that shit! I don’t want no pampered fucking princess, and I see the darkness in her eyes, it calls to me. Like I said, twisted son of a bitch.
“You want to explain to me what the fuck I just walked in on?” Rick demands, stepping down into the lounge.
“Not really, no.” I take a seat, running my hand over my face. “Look we were talking about Tyler, she got upset and almost passed out. I was trying to be a fucking gentleman.”
“What by fucking her?”
“Fuck you, man. It wasn’t like that, and besides, I don’t have to fucking explain myself to you,” I say, then lean back, putting my hands behind my head. Looking over to Sully, I say, “She thinks it’s her fault Tyler’s dead, and she…”
“Hold on a second, how does she know Tyler’s dead? I never told her that,” Rick says. Then I remember what she said before I kissed her, about Sean sending messages to her phone with a video or something. When I tell Sully, his face pales and mines not far behind when I think of the implications of Sean knowing her number.
“Do you think he knows where she is? Maybe Tyler gave her up before Sean finished him off. Fuck!” I slam my fist into the seat beside me.
“So, let’s assume that Sean told her about Tyler, to make her feel guilty, which obviously worked, but just because he has her number doesn’t mean he knows her location. I don’t believe Tyler would give her up, not for a second. The phones a burner and difficult to trace, as we well know, and I told her to destroy it after reading the messages.” Sully doesn’t say let’s hope she did, but we’re both thinking it.
While we wait for Camryn to return, Sully tells me he brought a couple of the guys I asked for with him to help watch her while she’s at work or if I can’t be there. I can’t say I’m happy about it, but Russ and Scott are good guys and I trust them. Despite the fact I want to fuck her, make her body sing and hear her screaming my name, I have a job to do and that has to come first. This job has been in the works for the last three years, we can’t afford for anything to screw it up, especially as Tyler paid with his life getting the intel we need to take Sean Donovan down.
I didn’t lie to Camryn about my job, the three of us do run a security company, I just didn’t disclose the other side of our business, and the shady shit we do for the even shadier clients that employ our services.
As well as the usual security guard detail for businesses, events and the rich and famous, which mostly consists of babysitting spoilt little daddy’s girls, we also work for the police and government. We have several private investigators and undercover operatives, like Tyler, who we use to infiltrate corrupt businesses and criminal organisations, and being ex-army means the wonderfully corrupt government get to take advantage of all our skills with no comeback if it goes tits up. Like with Tyler. He won’t get the funeral he deserves without blowing our op and that’s fucked up.
I hear the bathroom door and minutes later Camryn walks back into the room. As she walks towards us, I watch her carefully, but she’s put the mask back in place. Just as she reaches us I catch her eye, I see it, the shame and embarrassment, but I also see the want in her eyes right before she drops them to the floor and taking a seat across from me. That move has me clenching my fists at my side, and no matter how much I try to catch her eye again she refuses to meet mine.
“Blue tells me that you may have had some other messages, and that Sean sent them to you,” Rick asks, getting straight to the point. It pisses me off, but I keep quiet.
Camryn sits with her hands in her lap, and I can see her rubbing her thumb and fore finger together, a clear sign of her anxiety. Bypassing me all together she raises her head, lifting her chin and looks straight at Sully.
“Yes, there were messages,” she swallows, taking a breath before she continues, “and a video that—” she licks her lips, then places her hands under her legs, “that showed Sean torturing Tyler.” Her voice breaks a little on that last bit and has me itching to go to her, but I stay where I am. She’s not as weak or fragile as she thinks. I’ve seen the darkness that glints in her eyes, and I’ve felt her need for vengeance. It’s beautiful. Whatever Sean did to this beautiful woman hasn’t broken her, like he thought. No, this is a woman who is ready to fight back.
“Where is the phone, Camryn? Did you destroy it like I tol
d you to?” Rick’s gaze flicks to me before going back to Cam.
“No, it’s at the house. I know you told me to get rid of it, but I thought that maybe you could use the video as evidence,” she says, a little unsure now. She watches Sully, but she doesn’t give away the fear that I know is just below the surface. “I’ve had that phone for the last six months, and yes, he may have got the number, but I know they aren’t easy to trace and it’s switched off. I’m not a complete idiot.” A little indignation coming into her voice.
“Okay. Blue can collect it from you when he takes you home. Just as a precaution I have a couple of guys that will be tailing you.” I see the moment she goes to argue but Sully cuts her off, “They will be discreet, you won’t even know they are there. And, like I said it’s a precautionary measure.”
“One you’ll take” I add, and that has Camryn finally looking my way. The glare she’s throwing me would cut a lesser man down. Me, not so much. I just want to spank her arse before I take her hard against the nearest surface. I shift to ease the discomfort of my raging hard cock, as an image of Cam laid out on the coffee table flashes through my mind.
“You think one kiss gives you the right to order me around? I don’t fucking think so!” Now she’s looking at me. There’s a fire in her eyes that sets me alight. I lean forward, elbows resting on my knees and offer her a dimpled smile. Then I mask my emotions and show her I mean business.
“No, sweetheart, I don’t, but my job does. So, in that vein, you’ll do as you’re told.” Then I drop back in my seat. The shock on her face tells me I hit a sore spot, and the devil on my shoulder preens at that. I can see Sully in the corner of my eye cover a smirk with his hand.
She doesn’t engage me further, instead turns back to Sully, where they continue to discuss her security detail. I’ll let her think that Sully’s in charge, for now. But she’s mistaken if she thinks she or Sully have any say in her safety. I protect what’s mine. Mine, now there’s a word I’ve never used in a sentence when talking about a woman before, but I put it to the back of my mind. Where it’s going to fucking stay.
