Maybe I should ask Kelsey what she thinks.
I squash the thought. Of course I can’t ask Kelsey for advice. We may be friends now, or fuck, something more if I have a say in the matter, butthisis the line I can’t cross—at least until after one of us is awarded Jaxon’s long-term security contract. So, even if Kelsey wasn’t on her way back with Nash—
“Nash!” I say, startling Eddie with my outburst.
“What?”
“Leo can switch teams with Nash. It’ll be good for Nash to get some different exposure, plus it resolves a possible situation we’ve got going on in their team.”
Eddie raises an eyebrow, but I wave away his questioning look. I don’t need one more person knowing about Nash’s crush on his teammate.
“I’ll talk to them about it tomorrow,” I say. “Nash has been on pre-site duty rather than moving with Jaxon directly, so Leo will still have some exposure to Jaxon and the fans but won’t be dealing with the same level of crowds.”
Eddie nods his agreement, and we chat for a few more minutes about how things are going with his team and his family back home. He has two daughters in middle school, and I guess his wife is about to ship them both off to boarding school. For some reason I don’t exactly understand, he finds the whole situation endlessly hilarious.
My gaze continually slips away from Eddie to the revolving door at the entrance, silently willing a woman with wild blonde hair to walk through.
When I realize I’ve yawned twice and completely lost the thread of the conversation, I say goodnight to Eddie and head to bed. I ride the elevator to the eleventh floor in silence, my mind fully on the woman who has somehow crept into every corner of my thoughts, turning even the hectic moments into ones filled with her.
It takes all my self-control not to text Nash to confirm all is well, but I know Kelsey would take it as an insult to her ability to take care of herself. I swipe into my room and head for the shower, fighting the urge to reach out and make sure she’s safe, even though my heart keeps demanding it.
Between the stress and the constant thoughts of Kelsey, my body is on edge. As I step into the shower, the hot water cascades over my tense muscles, offering a momentary respite from the chaos of the day. But even as the steam rises around me, my thoughts drift inexorably toKelsey. Her intelligence, her quick wit, the way her eyes light up when she knows she’s right—it all comes flooding in in vivid detail.
I close my eyes, letting the water run down my face, and I imagine her here with me, water droplets clinging to her curves, her lips parting as I pull her close. My hand moves lower, gripping myself as I picture running my fingers through her damp hair, tasting the water on her neck.
I stroke faster, lost in the fantasy of Kelsey’s body pressed against mine. Giving my imagination free rein, I lift her up, pinning her to the shower wall as she wraps her legs around my waist. I can almost hear her breathy moans, feel her nails digging into my back.
I lean my forearm against the cool tile, my hand working faster as the fantasy intensifies. In my mind, Kelsey’s lips crash against mine, hungry and insistent. I lift her higher, angling her hips just right as I slide into her warmth. The water pounds down around us as we move together, our bodies slick and urgent.
My breath comes in ragged gasps, echoing off the shower walls. I picture Kelsey’s face, flushed with desire, her blue eyes locked on mine as she nears her peak. The imagined sound of her climax pushes me over the edge. I come with a muffled groan, my body shuddering as waves of pleasure wash over me.
As the last aftershocks fade, I let the hot water rinse away the evidence of my release. Guilt and longing war within me as I shut off the shower and step out, wrapping my towel around my waist. I start brushing my teeth, using the two minutes to look myself in the eye and remind my body of all the reasons it should stop fantasizing about Kelsey Harper. Or the one reason. The one and only reason: weboth need to win this contract, and we can’t both win. Though that’s starting to seem like a flimsy excuse.
I pull open the door to the bathroom, a puff of steam escaping as I make my way to my bed. A beep to my right pulls my attention to the door, and I pause, unsure what to do as the door to my room opens, revealing a backlit figure.
“Um, this is—” I start to say, but the woman releases a yelp, automatically dropping her bag and taking up a fighting position.
A startled breath leaves me as I quickly assess the threat, but my thoughts falter when I meet the same blue eyes I was just fantasizing about. Kelsey.
The moment stretches between us, her eyes locking with mine, a mix of surprise and something deeper flickering there. It’s all too much—the way my body reacts like it’s been waiting for this. I blink, trying to determine whether this is real or some exhaustion-induced hallucination, but her presence is too solid, too real to deny.
My pulse races, my heart thumping in my chest as if it’s trying to escape. This is her—the woman who has captured my attention and won’t seem to let it go—and now she’s standing in front of me, close enough to feel the heat of her breath.
The towel around my waist suddenly feels like it’s not enough of a shield, or maybe is too much of one, as her eyes trace my chest, wandering along the grooves of my abs, up over my shoulders, before landing on my face. The surge of pride that flares inside of me at her perusal quickly flees as her brows pull together in confusion.
“Is this not…” she says as she steps back into the hall to look at the room number next to the door. “I think you’re in my room.”
“Bold statement from the woman who just walked in on me coming out of the shower in what is clearlymyroom.”
Kelsey lets out a sigh of frustration, and without thinking, I close the foot of distance between us, wrapping her in an embrace that feels like it’s been building for far too long. Her body stiffens, but then she lets out a soft breath, and I swear, it feels like the world settles for a moment.
“What are you—” she begins, but her voice falters, and she doesn’t pull away. Instead, she leans into me just a fraction, like maybe she’s testing the waters too.
“It’s been a long fucking day, and I just need a hug,” I admit.
Her breath hitches, and for a second, I think she’s going to say something I don’t want to hear—maybe pull herself away and tell me there’s nothing between us. But she doesn’t. She stays right there, her head against my chest, like she’s listening to my heartbeat. I feel it—this rightness, like when you come back to your childhood home after you’ve been away, and everything is familiar and safe.
“Okay,” she mutters, pulling back just enough to look me in the eyes. “I suppose I should call Gail and figure out how we got assigned to the same room.”
