“Hey,” I snorted. “This tracks.” I leaned forward and passed him my fortune and as soon as he read it, pieces of cookie burst from his mouth at the laugh he couldn’t hold in. I followed suit.
Pass the bill to the guy on your left.
Dan handed me his, and I couldn’t contain myself…especially with the very thoughts I’d been having about him forthe past hour. I cackled and gripped my stomach as my back slumped in the chair.
You are not illiterate.
It sucks that I have to ruin this moment of clarity between us, but the simple fact is…I didn’t need a cookie to tell me that everything I’m allowing him to see right now could end up landing me in a boiling pot of horse shite. The problem with my hasty generosity is that I never consider the consequences before I reach a hand out to help someone. It’s just not who I am. I dug my fork into my carton and faced him.
“Alright, mate. The cookie has spoken. So, where’d ya do your best readin’?” He sucked a bit of sweet and sour sauce off the side of his dirty thumb and made a really brave attempt not to look at me for a few long seconds.
“Afghanistan.”
I knew it.
“I’m sorry, dude. That’s fuckin’ ridiculous. You don’t have to tell me anything, I’ve seen it a lot. Sucks I have to even say that.” My food tasted like bland cardboard after that. I tossed the carton up onto the desk next to all Bridget’s shit. “You can stay as long as you want, just try to be discreet. Obviously, there’s some sensitive—”
“You a spy?”
Well, that was forward. Ten points for Dumpster Dan.
I crossed an ankle over my knee. “Not quite. Why?”
Dan dipped his fried mystery meat into his sauce and gestured with it toward the screens before taking off a good-sized bite. “Not from here. Lots of toys. Wads of international cash. I’m a little outta practice, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…”
I grinned and adjusted my glasses, dropping my leg back down. “I only play spy where it concerns my lassie. She’s a little vault of secrets. I’m a hacker. Accent just wets knickers and adds to my charisma.” I winked.
“That’s bullshit. I’ve tried that. Didn’t get me foodorpussy.”
My snort was loud. I really like this chap. But it doesn’t mean I can trust him. I need him to drop some information I canuse. A last name. His branch of service. Anything. But if he’s armed forces, I doubt he’ll be that sloppy. That’s burned into their bones. Only thing left to do is to really test him. I swiveled and glazed code after code over anything important. By the time I was finished, Dan had laid himself down on the cot, surrounded by all his empty containers. I know he’s tired. Exhausted in probably a thousand different ways, and it shows—but the one thing Dan didn’t mean to show me was thewayhe’s sleeping.
He’s not paranoid, doesn’t have one eye open in caution, nor did he hesitate with curling up and leaving his back open to me with that blanket I thought he’d forgotten about.
He trusts me.
I moved the heater closer, and left him a note that I’d be back to check in later today. The sun was nearly up when I’d made it back to the building, and I dropped Bridget’s goodie bag back into her car, locking it before I took the elevator back up to our floor. Most significant others would be filtering through every horrible scenario, wondering what kind of woman a lad like me would be dippin’ our cocks into if they spent a whole night pissed off and away from the house…
…What the hell kind of sad sod does it make me if I’m the one that just spent Valentine’s Day evening eating Chinese takeout with a homeless veteran after refusing a blowjob?
Sigh.
CHAPTER 7
The Princess
There was something I realized while I lost the feeling in my legs, sitting on my knees in an empty shower after having a cock in my mouth one minute…and not a coherent word the next.
Queens don’t get on their fucking knees for this.
Am I being a complete asshole? Am I doing questionable things behind the back of a man I don’t deserve? Did I deserve what he just did to me, walking out of here and making a statement after my obvious blow to his pride? Obviously, yes…but I’m still hanging onto the fact that every bit of this shouldn’t come as a complete shock to a guy that knows me just as well as Mal does. I’ve got too much going on behind this curtain to worry about this shit right now, and I’m making enough of a mess of it without this hanging over my head. I finished showering and took Dec’s advice about the lasagna. That’ll be a retort on its own if he comes home to find it still in the oven. I snatched the only bag of Bugles left, and my new vibrator and laid back against our pillows with my legs wide open while I opened my chips like a good girl.
Think I won’t get my reward…fuck that. Think again.
I switched the rosebud on and situated it under me until my eyes crossed. Oh, it’s good. It’s divine, actually. I hope hewasstupid enough to set up cameras in here. I hope he hears every moan through a mouthful of fucking Bugles and loud crunching while I soak the bed by myself. Pout all you want, Declan darling…nobody gets me off better thanme. The little red devil pulsed and buzzed and God help me; I tried my best not to think of everything I just missed in that shower. I tried to convincemyself that I feel nothing and just let the orgasm take me away. My clit has other plans on this fine Valentine’s Day. Lady petunia decided to go just as numb as my knees, and if I wasn’t fuming when I sat like a lost dog in the rain earlier…I sure as shit am now. I grabbed the toy and chucked it across the room, not giving a single fuck about where it landed or what it broke.
It rattled against the top of my dresser until the bitch finally rolled off and conked out when it hit the floor. “Asshole…goddamnValentine’s Day. StupidLydia. Gorgeous fuckingshoes.” I kept grumbling well after I was under the covers and hiking my leg around my body pillow, beating it with my fist like a ritual until it started to look comfortable…but I didn’t realize I needed to hit something as bad as I did either. “Stupid—BUTTONS!”
Punch.
