A camera hangs from a strap around her neck. She looks like she’d been about to say something, but her surprised gaze falls over my shirtless body, lingering a moment too long on my abdomen. Caught. I watch her eyes trail up my torso, then linger another moment on the clavicle fracture scar from the accident before returning to my face—and fyfan, is she blushing?
Fuck, it’s going to make me hard.Baseball, fermented herring, Poirier’s soiled hockey pads.My grip tightens on the doorframe.
“Can I help you?” I say brusquely.
“I tried to nap, but I can’t sleep and I feel like shit. I figured some fresh air might help. Any chance you’d want to show me around?” Hearst looks oddly sheepish. She sounds sheepish, too.
These are dangerous waters.
“I—” I start, but fall flat. She looks so hopeful. I look anywhere besides her naively eager face. Finding an interesting stain on the ceiling I say, “Where’s your crew?”
The thought of her companions tempers my blood rush a bit.
“They’re napping, and I don’t want to go out alone in a city I’ve never been to. Please?” she says, with all the saccharine sweetness of a girl who’s never been toldnoin her life.
I should say no. I have recaps to watch. A suitcase to unpack. Lint to roll off my clothes.
“Fine,” I say instead.
Fuck me.
“Yes! Thank you. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
“Give me a few,” I say after her. She gives me a thumbs up over her shoulder and disappears around the corner. I dig my palms into my eyes.
As soon as she’s gone, I shut the door and push my trousers down to my ankles. Back against the wall, I slide to the ground, legs sprawled out in front of me as I take myself in my hand. My eyes nearly roll back in their sockets as my fingers close around my length, it’s such a relief.
I think of those full, impertinent lips, slightly parted as she took in the sight of me. I wonder if she liked what she saw when she opened the door. If her mouth went as dry as mine. Fully hard now, pre-come beads at my tip, and I swipe my thumb over it, dragging it over myself with a groan. As I start to move my hand up and down, I wonder what kind of sounds Hearst makes when she’s being fucked the way she likes. If she’d look up at me like that as I dipped a finger into her, all large eyes and feverish cheeks and shallow little breaths. I wonder if she’d gasp as I added a second finger, or what she’d say with that mouth of hers if I sucked her wetness off my fingers, tasting her, swallowing her down.
I pump myself hard and fast, knowing I’m not going to last long. I dare to let myself imagine what her mouth might look like wrapped around my cock, the sigh she might let out as she takes me into the warmth of it, and I’m undone. I come with a shuddering breath.
My head falls back against the door.
Suddenly I’m wrung out, with no desire to traipse around Stockholm, but the little witch is waiting for me downstairs. As my desire fades, it’s replaced by shame. She’s my boss’s daughter. A business partner. She trusts me to show her around.
Meanwhile, I’m thinking about fucking her. It’s completely unprofessional and a violation of trust.
She’s off-limits.When did I become so inept at heeding my own advice? Worse, I suspect one round with my hand isn’t going to be enough to keep this unfortunate attraction at bay.
It’ll have to do for now.
Chapter 24
Freddie
I grab a coffee in the lobby while I wait. Some of the team are hanging out on the lounge chairs surrounding a fireplace—LeBlanc, Häkkänen, and Bell, and they’re laughing at something on Thompson’s phone. A few of them glance towards me, their smiles fading just a little. I try my best to ignore them as I brew a cappucino, telling myself it doesn’t matter what they think of me, even if somewhere, deep down, something inside me aches.
“—ask her,” Bell pushes.
“Unless you’re afraid,” comes Häkkänen’s deep, resonant voice.
“Fine. Hey, Freddie!” Thompson calls my name. What could he possibly want? I stiffen, but force myself to turn around. They’re all looking at me.
“What?”
“Come tell us what’s wrong with Thompson’s dating profile,” LeBlanc says. His dark hair’s slicked back like he’s just taken a shower, his tan skin flushed like he’s recently showered, and there’s a ruthless gleam in his coal-colored eyes. The cotton tee he’s wearing clings to his biceps.
I blink.
