Shep sat there for a second, no doubt trying to process the insane shit that had just flown out of my mouth. But when it was no clearer to him why I was talking as though we were a couple hiding from our boss, instead of a casual fuck, he just…moved on.
Thank God.
“Let’s focus on the actual problem at hand, okay?”
Fine by me.“Okay, let’s.”
“I think you should cancel your upcoming appearance until we touch base with Alessio and see if any other correspondence made it back to them.”
“In other words, find out if this fucker is merely threatening me, or if the rest of our brothers are currently wondering which one of us is coming out on top.”
Shep arched a brow. “Be serious.”
“You don’t think they’d wonder?”
“I mean about the threat, Theo. You need to cancel the soccer game.”
“No.”
“There will be a stadium full of people there?—”
“And I’ll have you to protect me.”
Shep’s jaw clenched and began to twitch. “There’s only so much I can do.”
“Good thing I’m not a wilting flower, then.”
Shep rubbed at his brow as though he was getting a headache—which he probably was.
“Can I have my phone back?”
He sighed and handed it over, and I glanced down to check the last text that had come through—the one that had caught Shep’s attention before I could look at it—and sucked in a breath.
The first photo that had been sent was a fun kiss to Shep’s neck, an unexpected, impulsive move that had caught him off guard. But this second one was somehow even more intimate than the first. Not because we were touching—there was no physical contact in this shot. But my resident stalker had caught a moment where Shep and I were standing facing one another, me looking up at him and laughing at something he’d said, and Shep’s eyes were twinkling with a joy that had been long absent.
There was no faking that kind of enjoyment in one another. That kind of chemistry. No way to brush off the emotions on both our faces, and had a tabloid editor or one of our brothers seen it, they would’ve known in an instant something was going on.
We looked like a…couple. A very happy couple.
Putain.
“How long until we land?” I said, suddenly needing to get up and away from the man next to me.
“Three hours.”
“Good.” I unbuckled my belt and got to my feet. “That’s just enough time for another nap.”
“Seriously?” Shep said as I stepped past him and headed toward the back of the plane. “You’re going to sleep now?”
I glanced back over my shoulder. “Oui, unless you want to join me.”
Shep let his eyes trail down over me, and then, just as I’d suspected, he shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
There was nothing like a cold, hard reality check to remind you that shit was getting out of control, and this thing between us had ignited into something neither of us had expected or knew what to do with.
So for now I’d go and take my nap…alone.
26
