“Yes, God, please.”
Chuckling, he kissed her hard and sent her over the edge with his fingers. “I loveyou, Valerie Sanchez. Only you.”
I believe you.
She rolled and rose to her knees, still breathing hard and feeling the unsteady euphoria of her body’s reaction to his hands and mouth. And his words.
Yanking the sheets down to his knees, she straddled him—still careful of his stitches—and sank immediately onto his straining erection. They groaned in unison.
His look of surprise turned to pleasure, then alarm. “Condom,” he said, his voice strained, lifting her hips with a grimace.
“Oh, dammit.” She reached for one of the packets from the dwindling pile on the nightstand and sheathed him, returning to the joyride with a grateful sigh.
He loved her, and she was a fool to question it.
Tara Fujimoto hadn’t had sex in six months—and how about that for an amazing record, ladies and gentleman? Her best friend Jenna would be so proud—but she had recognized the scent of lovemaking the moment she stepped through the doorway of Dan’s apartment.
At least someone was getting some.
Now she sat across the rickety dining table from Scott and Valerie, trying not to gag on one of the bagels she’d brought at how cute they were with their “accidental” touches and excessive eye contact. As much as she wanted to fault them for bad timing, that would make her a hypocrite.
She was the queen of bad timing and bad choices. Hands down.
Besides, she was desperate to help. Not only because Thanksgiving was lonely with her sister in Ohio visiting her husband’s family and Jenna in South Carolina with her new husband, but because she’d been itching to prove her worth outside of the office for months. God knew she would never be anyone’s bodyguard, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use her looks and the fact that men—hell, everyone—underestimated her to Steele’s advantage.
This was her opportunity to prove to Kurt that she deserved a chance in the field and, bonus, help a friend in the process.
There was a time when she’d thought about hooking up with Scott. After the disaster with her last boyfriend, she was done with muscle-bound guys who loomed over her. Scott was totally hot, but…safe. Except that, even though he studied her openly in a way that could mean he found her attractive, he’d pretty much drowned her in friends-only vibes since he started at Steele back in June.
Probably Kurt had given every guy there the “hands off” speech, which she appreciated, even though it was unnecessary. But beyond that, there’d never been any spark for her in Scott’s eyes. Admiration maybe, but nothing more.
Then again, she was damaged goods and all the guys knew it. They’d been treating her with kid gloves since the whole thing with Colin blew up. Hah, literally!
She took a sip of coffee to cover her inappropriate smile.
“Thanks for bringing breakfast,” Valerie said. “We’ve been brainstorming for the last few hours and completely forgot about eating.”
Brainstorming? Is that what they were calling it these days? “Of course. The Bagel Hut is on my way over, and they’re actually open through lunchtime today.”
Scott frowned at her, his pale brows coming together. “Are we messing up your plans?”
“Nope.” She held herself erect. “I don’t have to be anywhere until five.” She was on the evening shift for Thanksgiving dinner at the women’s shelter, which mainly meant cleanup duty. It would last an hour, tops. The little kids would help and they’d make each other laugh, and she’d go home happy and tired and feeling lucky again.
A perfect day.
“So, how can I help?” Tara asked.
Valerie leaned forward, wiping her lips with a paper napkin. “I need to get inside Aggressor to retrieve a thumb drive. Normally, I’d come up with a con to talk my way inside, but these guys know meandScott.”
“You want me to talk my way in?” Her pulse picked up with excitement and a healthy dose of fear, but Valerie shook her head.
“Even if you could, which I think would be hard during such a quiet weekend, there’s no door you could use to let me in without setting off an alarm. And it’s too difficult to explain where the drive is since you’re not familiar with the second floor. I’d like you to distract the guard while I hop the turnstile.”
“The place should be pretty much deserted today,” Scott said. “We’ll need to verify, but on weekends and holidays there are usually only two security personnel on duty.”
“I’ve worked a lot of extra hours there,” Valerie added. “One guy makes the rounds on the half hour while the other mans the desk in the lobby. The rest of the time, they’re both at the desk.”
“Which means we want to time it so only one guard is downstairs.” Scott popped a piece of bagel in his mouth and washed it down with a sip of coffee.
