Page 23 of Ghost

10

GHOST

Tamsin had migrated across most of the mattress during the night and ended up sprawled half over me, one bare leg tangled through mine and her cheek resting over my heart. Her arm was curled tightly around my chest as though she had caught hold of me in her sleep and didn’t want to let go.

I stayed still beneath her with one arm locked around her waist and felt more settled than I had in years.

She shifted in her sleep, the inside of her thigh sliding higher over mine, and my cock hardened against her hip with enough force to make the thin blanket useless. Her lashes fluttered before vivid blue eyes opened against my chest. She blinked sleepily, then lifted her head and found me smiling down at her, the last traces of dreams giving way to a self-conscious blush as she registered where most of her body was sprawled.

Color began moving beneath the freckles across her nose before her gaze dropped to the hand still fisted in my shirt. “You look very pleased with yourself.”

“You climbed on me in your sleep.” I tightened my arm when she tried to shift away from the erection pressed against her.

“I was unconscious.” Her brows drew together as though that should settle the issue, although the blush spreading over her cheeks said she had become acutely aware of the hard length against her hip.

I gave one shoulder a lazy lift. “Still counts.”

She muttered something beneath her breath and planted a palm on my chest to push herself upright. The movement dragged her thigh across my cock and pulled a low sound from the back of my throat, making her freeze with her mouth parted. I caught her waist and brought her back down. She decided she needed to put half the room between us.

“Where are you going?” I asked, letting my thumb move once over the warm strip of skin exposed above her shorts.

“The kitchen.” Tamsin tried for matter-of-fact, but her eyes kept dropping toward the blanket tented between us.

“Too far.”

A sleepy laugh escaped her despite the way she pressed her lips together as though encouraging me might have long-term consequences. The sound loosened something in my chest and made my cock throb harder. Apparently, every part of her had been designed to make self-control unnecessarily difficult.

My phone vibrated across the nightstand before I could persuade her that coffee could wait. Stryker’s name was displayed on the screen, and I released Tamsin only after sliding my hand down the curve of her hip to her ass and giving it a possessive squeeze that turned the pink in her cheeks several shades deeper. She pulled the blanket higher as I stood, but her gaze followed me toward the door and paused on the erection straining against my jeans, giving me enough satisfaction to carry into the hallway.

“Yeah?” I answered.

“No clean signature on the incendiary. Could be one of the two local bombmakers we know who take contract work, but the build was simple enough for somebody with pyrotechnics experience. Cipher’s digging into them, as well as every Bellamy property and everybody tied to the shared credentials.”

“Anything move overnight?” I leaned against the wall and looked through the open bedroom door, keeping Tamsin in sight while she sat up and tried to tame her hair with both hands.

“Nothing we caught. Warehouse stayed quiet. You still with Tamsin?”

My mouth curved as she glanced toward me. “Keepin’ her real close.”

Stryker made a sound that resembled amusement.

“Figured.” Then he was all business once again. “Call when you have something new.”

The line went dead, and I returned to the bedroom as Tamsin swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The oversized shirt she had slept in slid high enough to expose most of her thighs, and she tugged the hem lower when she caught me looking.

Her chin lifted in a silent challenge even while the color in her cheeks deepened.

“What can you tell me?”

“No maker’s signature on the fire device.” I crossed the room to stand between her knees. “We’re checking a couple of men who build for hire and everybody tied to Bellamy’s shared access. Warehouse and your other properties stayed quiet overnight.”

“So we still don’t know who made it.”

“Not yet.” I hooked one finger beneath her chin and tipped her face up, enjoying the change in her breathing when I stepped even closer. “But we’ll figure it out.”

Tamsin studied me before nodding, not asking about the club’s methods of finding that information. Her easy acceptance of the boundary made me want to put my mouth on her, but she slipped off the mattress before I decided being late to the warehouse was worth it.

We managed coffee, food, and clothes without me bending her over the kitchen counter, though it came close when she went on her toes to reach into an upper cabinet. Her sleep shorts climbed over the rounded curve of her ass while her shirt stretched across her tits, and my hand closed around the edge of the counter hard enough to whiten my knuckles.