She tensed, parting her lips.
That small action seemed to have gotten to her, but I planned to do so much more. I smiled. “Have you eaten?”
She gave me a wordless shake of her head.
“Whatever you want, we’ll eat. Let me get packed, and then we can go. I’m going to take great care of you. Anything you desire, I’ll give it to you.”
I could see her gulp, and she spread her legs a fraction. I liked the effect I was having on her.
Wooing her was going to be fun.
* * *
BILLIE
The following Monday found me bustling around the apartment, getting ready for work. I rapped my knuckles against the bathroom door that Daniel was currently occupying. “Hurry up before I leave you,” I called.
He immediately opened the door, dripping wet in only a towel. My jaw dropped as I ran my eyes over a very well-defined chest and toned arms glistening with water. His silky, black hair was slicked back, giving me full view of his endless dark eyes. My eyes went back to his tight stomach, trailing a bead of water’s path from his chest. I wanted to lick that drop of water from his soft tanned skin. After all, I was a bit dehydrated. My core fluttered, and I bit my lower lip, vision glazing with lust.
“Don’t want to be left behind,” he said, breaking my trance.
I looked back up at his face and found him smirking at me.
Damn it, he knew I was looking. What with me being all discreet and all.
“I can go like this if you want me to.”
He pushed his towel down, and in a panic, I reached for it, securing it back against his waist. “Absolutely not.”
His skin felt warm and damp. My knuckles grazed over that delicious V at his hip, and my lady bits throbbed at the contact. I needed to be mopped up and just poured into my bed for the day because I had no idea how I was going to get through it with him beside me.
I huffed but didn’t look away. The guy was hot as hell, and I was blessed with functioning eyes. I was going to look. I just hated that he noticed. I didn’t want to give him any ideas. “How fast can you get dressed?”
He snapped his fingers, and instantly, he was dry and dressed, looking sophisticated as always in a button-down and slacks.
I gave him a nod of approval and turned to leave, a little disappointed that I couldn’t take him to work butt-naked, but the way my hormones were set up, I’d get nothing done. And my job definitely needed me there due to the staffing shortage, especially with healers.
When we got to the hospital, I already knew he was going to be a distraction anyway and not just to me. One nurse tripped and fell while walking and ogling him. Even some patients in the waiting room paused their pain-filled moans to gawk at him. He really was almost ethereal.
Somehow, I made it through the morning without dripping drool on patients as he hovered around me.
I looked at my electronic pad, closing out a prior meeting with a patient. “So, what do you want for lunch? My treat.”
He sat in the corner of my office, one leg crossed over the other, book resting on his lap. “I’m the one who does the treating.”
“You won’t even let me cook. I’ve cooked for Kai and Ty.”
His eyes lit up, and he walked over to me, standing so close I had to look up at him. His cool scent smelled like the ocean and mint. I closed my eyes for a moment, swaying slightly as my body tingled.
I felt his breath tickle my neck, and I shivered, snapping my eyes open in surprise. “I’m a chef, of course, I’m going to cook. That’s my love language,” he said in a low voice before standing straight again.
There was a longing in his eyes that should have made me uncomfortable, but instead, I just wanted to bask in the attention he was so good at giving. Omega brain strikes again.
“Well, let me cook for you, then. This isn’t all about me. You’re supposed to be getting something from this. Being a bodyguard and a cook for me for free while you sleep on my couch just seems vastly wrong.”
He gave a head nod. “It’s what I want.”
I didn’t believe him. I felt it with Kai and Ty. The chemistry was on another level. But Daniel had a wall around him. Not in a hard way like Lance. He did nothing wrong. Said nothing wrong. He was just way too perfect, and I felt way too flawed. Perhaps it was all in my head that I couldn’t accept what he was offering. I had my own inadequacies, and he, more than the others, just seemed to make me reflect on it more. It wasn’t his fault he was so damn cool.
