“Are you okay?”
I slump onto the sofa and cover my face with one hand.Nope, definitely not okay.My life has been spiralling out of control since the moment she broke down my door.
“Shit!Fucking, shitty fuck!”Swearing doesn’t make me feel better.It sure as hell gets Kira’s attention though.
“Dylan.”
Hell no, I don’t need her to come any closer, but she crouches before me and rests a hand upon my knee.“Tell me—”
“My car blew up.I liked that car.”
She takes the champagne flute from my hand and puts it to one side.“The good thing is that you weren’t in it.”
“Yeah,” I drawl.“It’s such a good thing that someone tried to blow me to smithereens, but only totalled my car instead.”
“You know, I’m not entirely sure that was the intention.I think it was intended as a warning.If whoever did this intended to kill you, they’d have linked the detonation to the ignition, not the door release.”
It’s an interesting theory.It doesn’t alleviate the shakes I’m trying desperately to control.
“You might feel better if you got cleaned up.The team’s made sure we have everything we’re likely to need.”
Sure enough, there’s a full set of designer luggage stacked neatly by the side of the bed.“I don’t suppose that includes a machine gun,” I remark.
Kira shakes her head.“Do you even know how to use one?”
No, but she probably does.
“Go shower, or soak, or something.”
I don’t feel much like doing either, but maybe some distance from her will make this situation easier.Except, I miss her as soon as I’m in the bathroom and there’s a door between us.Maybe part of the attraction, or a lot of it, is down to the fact that she’s a distraction from the reality that someone out there genuinely wants to hurt me.That’s one hell of a load to take on-board.It’s something I ponder as I stand under the shower with my forehead pressed to the tiles.Who the hell have I offended so much?Is it even someone I’m acquainted with?There are a lot of strange people in the world, many with fanciful notions that have no basis in truth, and there are others who are downright vicious for the fun of it.Also, there’s a whole section of the population who hate me because I happen to fancy other men.And I do.I still absolutely do.I just get hard thinking about Kira too.
That’s all it takes.One stray thought.One image of her sighing beneath me and I’m hard enough to hammer nails, and glancing in the direction of the bathroom door almost willing her to fling it open and climb under the spray with me still fully clothed.
I want to peel all that wet cloth from her skin.Trace the line of her collarbone down to her breasts.I want to stroke, and touch, and taste, and rub against her until we’re both hot and breathless.I want to squeeze the cheeks of her arse in my hands and lift her against me.I want her heat and her hunger, sighs and orgasmic squeals.I want all the comforts she offers.The escape she provides from this nightmare.
Someone tried to kill me today.
It’s not like I’m a stranger to looking death in the face.I spent most of my youth in constant fear, but it’s different now.I have friends.I have support.Assuming I can trust anybody I know.I can trust Kira, can’t I?
What if I can’t?
What if she’s the biggest threat to me right now, and I’m alone with her in a country hotel under an assumed name with no way of contacting the outside world?
No one is watching us.
No one knows who we really are.
Fuck!
That’s a truly bad thing there.
It means there are possibilities—there’s wriggle room—enough in which to deceive myself.
I want another taste of the forbidden.It’s the last taste I’ll take.I cross my heart and swear it.One night with her and then I’ll walk away.We won’t see one another again.We won’t touch, or kiss, or fuck.I won’t dream of her as I hump my hand in the shower.
Why am I doing that?Since when was I a stickler for rules, and in any case where is it written that I can’t sleep with a woman if the notion takes me?
I can do whatever I like.Fuck whoever I choose, and no one else gets to dictate that to me.How I choose to spend my life is no bugger’s business but my own.
