He worked his hand between us, and curved it around our cocks. His knuckles bumped my stomach as I arched up into his hand, gasping. I already knew that Alex kissed as if there were notomorrow, but that was nothing compared with what he knew how to do with his hands. I was making embarrassing noises as I grew close, begging him to move faster, begging for more, and then I cried out, and my spunk landed warm and wet on my skin. He was gasping, looking down at me as his hand worked. He shuddered and groaned before collapsing on top of me and burying his face into my neck.
“I’m squashing you,” he said after a while, and made as if to move.
I held him there. “You’re warm.” It was an excuse—once I let him go, this would be over. And now that my brain was in charge once more, I knew I couldn’t risk doing that again with him.
He lifted his head and looked down at me, I couldn’t see his expression in the shadows as he stroked my hair back from my face. “I’m getting a mite chilly,” he said at last, and rolled off me. “Don’t suppose you’ve got something useful like a towel in your car?”
I had precisely nothing in my car save my phone, a spare wheel and a tool kit. I scrambled to my feet, feeling the cold for myself now that my warm, Alex-shaped blanket was gone, and found my clothes. My cashmere jumper would have to be sacrificed for a very good cause. I tossed it to him. “Use that.”
I didn’twant to go back into the Fortescues’ house smelling as if we’d had sex. When he gave back my somewhat damp jumper, I wiped myself off carefully with the dry bits before slinging it in the car boot. I’d find a bin somewhere to discreetly dispose of it.
Once we were dressed, I started the car and turned on the heater. He passed me his phone. “I’m not sure anything there’s of use. As well as James’s desk, I had another look at his computer, but there wasn’t anything obvious lurking among the documents. All the ‘Mort d’Arthur’ emails were cryptic. I took pictures of them anyway, in case their dates mean something to your grandfather.”
He reallywasn’tjust a pretty face. I squashed the urge to cup his face in my hands so I could admire it some more. This was important. This was why I was here.
There were various financial statements and annual reports, and I was almost at the end of the photos when I paused and paged back.
“Shit,” I said. “He’s disinheriting Charlie.”
Chapter Eleven
ALEX
Unsure why that merited such a shocked reaction, I made an encouraging sort of noise so that he’d explain.
“Sorry,” Nate said after a minute. “It’s irrelevant to our investigation, but it’s a hell of a surprise.” He continued reading through the legal document I’d photographed without having time to study myself. “It’s not signed yet,” he added. “Do you think Charlie knows?”
I shrugged, but he evidently wasn’t waiting for an answer.
“Most of his shares are going to Steven.” His brows drew down. “That bastard’s behind this somehow. He must have inveigled James into it.”
I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. “What’s Charlie to you anyway?” I asked, because there was no mistaking how swiftly he’d taken Charlie’s side.
Nate continued staring at the screen for a moment before looking up at me. “My ex,” he said. “Myveryex.”
“Ella seems to think you’re getting back together.” Why couldn’t I stop digging? It was what I always did, picking at whatever would hurt me until it did.
“Charlie had that idea, too. It’s not going to happen.”
“You sure about that?”
“If I thought it was a possibility, I wouldn’t have done what I just did with you. I know it didn’t mean anything between us, but I’d never cheat.”
That stung. Iknewit didn’t mean anything, necessarily, yet it had been so good I’d believed it had.
“I don’t know how much juice the battery’s got left, so you’d better finish with the photos,” I told him.
I sat quietly while he flicked through the last of them. He wasn’t blowing off this unexpected friendship that was developing between us. He was simply telling me he didn’t want a relationship. I should be grateful that he’d been so clear and honest about that. Ishouldbe. But I was bitterly disappointed. What made it even worse was my knowledge that I’d sleep with him again in a heartbeat. I was my own worst enemy.
“Shit.” He clutched the phone tightly, his knuckles white. “These are Aunt Amanda’s accounts. James Fortescueisbehind the attacks.”
Again, I wasn’t sure why that was such a surprise.
Nate returned my phone and rubbed his hands over his face. He looked suddenly weary. “I knew he had to be, but I didn’t want to believe it,” he confessed. “When Charlie and I were together, I spent as much time here as I did at home. I know the Fortescues are—well, they’re somewhat austere, but they made me feel welcome. Unlike my family. Not Uncle Thaddeus, of course, but the rest of them.”
I kept quiet, not wanting him to stop speaking, though my dragon was snarling at what that said about Nate’s family.
“My parents passed away when I was eight. Mrs Fortescue isn’t like my mum was, but she was kind. I think she loves Charlie more than the others, and some of that spilled over onto me.” He rubbed his forehead fretfully. “She’s changed, too. You wouldn’t expect people to change so much in five years, would you?”
