“Why don’t you know how it works?” He turned and leaned his ass and both hands against the sink. “How is that possible?”
He was going to think she was frigid or something, but she forged on anyway. “Because I don’t normally like anyone in my space or being in theirs. It’s… awkward.”
“Is it awkward for you being here with me?”
“It freaking is now,” she muttered. “But only because we’re talking about it.” Her eyes widened when she realized she’d voiced the words and not kept them in her head where they belonged. Mortified, she looked at her feet. She didn’t remember taking off her shoes, but figured she must have kicked them off sometime during the night.
An amused sound came from him, somewhere between a laugh and a snort, but not quite either. “Baby, how can a beautiful woman like you not have men beating down your door to spend their nights curled around you and having blow your mind morning sex before starting their day? Are the men in Hamburg blind, crazy, or both?”
“A baseball bat next to the door and knowing when to use it is helpful in keeping the persistent ones on the opposite side of the door.”
He stepped away from the sink and came to her, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and whispered, “Would you take that bat of yours after me if I knocked on your door?”
She glanced at his mouth and those oh so kissable lips of his before meeting his gaze. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“Good.” His eyes smiled into hers. “But I might wear a ball cup and Kevlar… just in case.”
She found her big girl panties and pulled them up in her mind. “How does this work? I live in Germany, you live here.”
“We don’t have to decide right now, beautiful.” He cupped her cheek. “Don’t overthink this. We enjoy it—enjoy us.” He swiped some shaving foam from his chin and dabbed it on her nose. “We’ll figure out the rest as we need or want to.”
“I thought men like you had backup plans for their backup plans?”
He snorted. “Baby, backup plans for backup plans are for missions, not for my love life. When I’m all in, I’m all in. No backup plan required.” He went back to shaving.
How could he just do normal things when such an extraordinary thing was happening? She closed the lid of the toilet and sat down. “All in?”
“All in,” he confirmed. “The rest of the decision is up to you.” Gunnar’s phone beeped and he glanced at it. “Remi found something. We gotta get to the war-room, stat.”
“Then you are just going to have to restrain yourself from jumping me the second I’m naked.” She stood up and stripped off her t-shirt. “Because I’m not going down there until I’ve showered.” Some brazen streak she hadn’t known she possessed reared its head, and she smacked him lightly on the bottom before turning and flipping on the shower.
The three seconds it took for the water to start to flow was enough for him to cross the bathroom and scoop her up. “If you’re gonna get clean anyway, then we should make sure you are sufficiently dirty in the first place.”
“Do we have time?” She slid down his body under the water.
“I’m the boss, baby,” he reminded her, “and I say damn straight we do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Why are you whistling?”
Gunnar frowned at Remi in confusion. “Huh?” He scanned Remi’s desk, looking for evidence that he’d overindulged in Monster already. “Why are you giving me the side-eye?”
“You’re whistling, and now you’re all defensive about it,” Remi pointed out. “Did you and Jorja have fun last night?”
Rage blasted through his veins, bubbling like champagne, as his hands fisted at his sides. In three steps, he was across the room and yanked Remi out of his chair. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Whoa.” Marco stepped between them. “Settle down, Boss. Remi was only asking how your date went last night. Because it sounds like you had an awesome time.”
“Do not…” He sucked in a breath as his rational side reclaimed dominance over the man who wanted to hoard a new relationship and keep it private. He shook Remi, then dropped his hands. “…Just don’t.”
“Sorry.” Remi sheepishly went back to his computer.
Gunnar refused to apologize for wanting to protect Jorja from the teasing his guys were more than proficient at. She’d be here in a couple of minutes, and he didn’t want her walking into snickers and smirks. Given their conversation in the bathroom, she’d run as fast as she could, and if their crap meant he had to chase her all the way to Hamburg, then he wasn’t going to be very happy.
“I don’t think we should take this one.” Colt brought them back on track. “We don’t know if it’s connected to the list.” He nodded to the whiteboard Remi had placed in the corner of the room. “Two more names have been crossed off it since last night. There is only the Czech dude and you left…”
“Shut it, Colt, I’m not hiding behind the castle walls,” Gunnar replied. “I have a life to live and a job to do.” He picked up the offer which had come in overnight. “We don’t tell the DOD no unless it’s a complete shitshow.”
