“Here’s the deal, Chase. I see you’re a hands-on kind of guy.” I lean in a tiny bit more. “Every time you consider putting your well-meaning fingers on Terina, I want you to pretend it’s me you’re touching. And if you’re not comfortable doing it to me, then you better not fucking do it to her. Am I understood?”
Eyes wide, he swallows. “Yeah … uh, yeah. Got it.”
I give a curt nod. “Then I suppose you should get back to class.” I wait for him to realize he’s got to squeeze past me if he wants to escape.
It’s the most fun I’ve had in weeks.
Miraculously, Terina’s form must be perfect because Chase abstains from giving her any pointers. As if she needed any to begin with. She eats, sleeps, and breathes yoga—her body bends and folds as though she were a circus performer in a past life.
Well, fuck.
I may have just unlocked a new kink because seeing her work her subtle curves on center stage for me might be my new favorite fantasy.
I chide myself to focus and manage to keep from getting a hard-on during class. After that, I take Rina to her place to check on things and let her pick up anything she might have forgotten.
“We should probably empty the fridge. I completely forgot about that, and there’s no telling what might be rotting in there,” she says after piling a bunch of random toiletries into a tote bag.
“Already took care of it last week. I had one of the guys come by.”
“Oh,” she says, surprised. “Thanks.”
I nod, holding her stare while a myriad of questions pass inscrutably behind her eyes.
“I guess that’s it, then. I think I have everything.”
We lock up and head back to my place. She cooks shrimp scampi for dinner while singing along to music playing on a mini speaker. I work on my laptop at the table, as though I don’t have an office a few feet away. I don’t want to hide away in my office. Not when I can be endlessly distracted by the goddess in my kitchen, though I try to hide my fixation.
Our evening together is an odd mix of comfortable yet awkward. We’re polite but distant—as though we’re both dancing around the elephant we’ve silently agreed to ignore. We’re back on that knife’s edge as if we haven’t learned a thing. I’m not sure the two of us can exist together with the intensity of our chemistry without giving in or combusting.
Nevertheless, we try.
An entire week passes in a holding pattern. We are planes circling the airport with fuel levels inching dangerously low.
Each passing day, pressure builds in my head with every empty word we exchange and incidental touch. I wonder if shecan hear the ticking time bomb in her head the same way I can every time we’re in a quiet room together.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Counting down the seconds to something cataclysmic.
Whatever this is between us won’t survive much longer in its current state. Will the new order lead to something beautiful, or will it devastate all it touches?
I fucking wish I knew.
And on top of it all, that’s not the only obstacle to cross our path. Over two weeks have passed since the snake, and we still haven’t confirmed the source of the threat or which dealer obtained it.
The best news of the week was the return home of Renzo, Shae, and the new baby. All are doing well. We have security detail on their house night and day. I suggested they seclude themselves in a safe house for the next month or so, but Shae insisted she wanted to be in her own home with the new baby. And when Shae makes up her mind, there is no changing it.
Aside from that, the week has been utterly unremarkable, which makes me especially hopeful when I see Renzo’s number flash on my phone.
Please, tell me you’ve had a breakthrough.
“Hey, man. How’s the new family?” I ask before jumping into business.
“Tired but good. Who knew that a baby who sleeps all the time could be so exhausting?” He sounds like he’s just finished his first triathlon. I have to laugh.
“Not sure you’re allowed to complain about being tired, seeing as how you didn’t push that baby out and aren’t waking up to feed it.”
“Just wait. You’ll see one of these days,” he grumbles. “Listen, I called because we got a message from Reaper. Says he’s not responsible.”
