‘And there was me thinking that was your department,’ I tease.
‘Oh, believe me, I’m on it,’ he says grimly.
Come to my office if you want to talk about what happened. My door is always open.
Yep,and so are the flies of your corduroy trousers, by all accounts.
It’s one offer I’ll decline.
I might be desperate, but I’m not that desperate.
12
ARCHIE
Sprawled on my back, I alternate between staring at the ceiling and the digital clock. At two thirty in the morning, there’s still no sign of sleep. A lustrous full moon glares through the half-open new blinds, but that’s not what’s keeping me awake.
I haven’t slept well since my final military tour. If I get three hours, it’s a good night.
Every time I close my eyes, my brain replays technicoloured images of my men blown across a dusty dirt track when that bomb went off at the side of the road. Those pictures will haunt me forever.
And if my brain gives me a brief reprieve from tormenting me, my body starts, hyper-aware of Victoria’s across the hallway. My skin tingles as I recall her smooth skin beneath mine.
Shame and a burning longing simultaneously wash over me. She’s my client. Ryan and Sasha’s little sister. And even if she wasn’t, she’s still too young for me. And too good. We’re classes apart.
Thank God Ryan interrupted us. It’s like he has a sixth sense where I’m concerned.
An email pings through on my phone.
It’s from Declan. Ryan and Jayden’s guy who carries out the background checks. Harrison has come back clean. Not that I’m going to willingly offer up that information to Victoria. Even if she threatens to extract my teeth one by one.
It’s unequivocally unfair of me to keep her away from other men. She’s entitled to live her life, but accepting that and putting it into action are two very different things.
The thought of having to guard her, hovering five feet away while she dates another man, is unbearable. Watching helplessly as someone else gets to press their lips against hers. Take her out to dinner or the movies. And even worse, bring her home afterwards.
Acid churns in my stomach. If that happens, which it will at some point because I can’t expect her to remain single forever, I’ll have to conjure up some weird and wonderful illness that will excuse me from my position.
It’s hard enough being here, aching to touch her. There’s no way I can sit back and watch while someone else does.
A high-pitched scream from across the landing sends me hurtling out of bed. It’s weighted with sheer unrestrained terror, and rips directly through my heart.
Grabbing the gun from my bedside drawer, I dart to the landing, blood pounding in my ears.
I scan for intruders, but it’s clear.
Kicking open Victoria’s door, I charge into her bedroom, adrenaline propelling me faster than a bullet. Her door swings back, slamming against the inside wall with an almighty crash.
Victoria is lying face-down on the bed, writhing between the sheets. Her fingers clinging to the cotton like her life depends on it.
The screams continue as if she’s utterly petrified.
But there’s nobody here.
There never was.
Whatever’s haunting her is in her head. I can relate more than she’ll ever know.
My chest sinks with an exhale of relief.
