Page 9 of Hidden Obsession

Chapter Four

Mason placedthe pod into the coffee machine and discreetly watched the door. He had slipped out of bed silently, leaving Cleo asleep, her violet hair spread out on his pillow as he had imagined, only his imagination had not done her justice. The image of her pale skin, relaxed face, long black eyelashes flat against her rosy cheeks, was a vision not even he could conjure.

It was the way she had cocked her top leg over the sheets, hugging the pillow to her body, the delectable curve of her ass on display in those yoga pants had him contemplating throwing away good sense and crawling back into bed. He wanted nothing more than to wake her with his mouth or hands on her body. But last night was new, and he worried how she would feel this morning.

Cleo was important to him, way beyond a colleague or friend. She had the potential to be everything, and he didn’t want to screw that up by scaring her off or moving too fast. So he backed away with the sole intention of making them some breakfast and having a cold shower, not necessarily in that order.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and put a mug with sugar and creamer on the side for Cleo in case she came looking while he was in the shower and moved toward the bathroom. He would use the bath off the hallway this time; he didn’t want to freak her out by using the en suite.

He silently grabbed his clothes from the drawers and moved to the bathroom, ignoring the erection that hadn’t gone away since he’d crawled into bed with her last night. As he showered, he replayed every second of her climax in his head. The way she sounded, the way she pushed her body into his as she sought relief. It had been heady and erotic, and his hands itched to make her climax so hard she fell into a blissful sleep.

His cock bobbed, growing harder under his hand. Mason swiped his thumb over the head, imagining it was Cleo’s hand touching him. He wrapped his hand around his shaft and worked his cock, leaning his other hand against the wall for support. The water hit his skin pouring over him as he came in a rush of breath, the force of it making him sag against the tile.

He took a few seconds to recover and catch his breath, then finished his shower. Drying off, he dressed in a crisp white shirt with a dark blue tie and a dark navy suit. It was second nature for him to wear a suit to work; he had worn one for so many years it felt wrong not to wear one now. It was also a great way to hide a weapon and still give him the freedom of movement that combat pants did. Knotting the tie in a traditional Windsor knot, he combed his wet hair and threw the damp towel and his pajamas in the laundry hamper.

He exited the bathroom and ran into Cleo, barely having the reflexes to grab her arms and stop her from landing on her ass. “Are you okay?”

He took in her sleepy, mussed form and it became his new favorite look on her. Her hand moved to his bicep to steady herself as she examined him, the blush that crept over her skin from her neck to her cheeks was adorable.

“Yes, I need coffee.” She ducked her head and moved away from him toward the kitchen.

He followed, not looking at her ass at all, and made his way to the coffee pot to pour her some of life’s great elixir. “So, we have to meet with Emme and Shane at nine to go over your case.”

“Is that necessary?” She took the cup and added milk and half a sugar.

“Yes, absolutely, it is. The stalker knew where you were last night, where you lived, and he threatened you. We can’t just brush it off as nothing. He needs to be caught and locked up before it escalates.”

“Fine. Anything I can do to help?” She hugged the mug and took a sip, her eyes closing in ecstasy, a moan slipping from her throat.

Mason found himself gripping the edge of the countertop to stop himself from moving to her. Her eyes opened and found his, and she must have seen the desire there because her lids went heavy with need, her bottom lip dropped open slightly, and he saw her breath hitch. He was seconds away from saying screw it to his plan to take things slow and dragging her back to bed to finish what they started when his phone pinged on the counter in front of him.

Her eyes cleared, and he saw her walls go up as she jumped off the stool, with her coffee in her hand. “Can I grab a quick shower?”

“Yes, of course. Everything you need should be there.”

As she vanished down the hall, Mason opened the text from Shane to distract himself. He couldn’t resist calling after her though. “Shout if you need me to scrub your back.” He heard the sexy laugh from her as she walked away and smiled.

“Dream on.”

“Every night, baby.” He laughed back and grinned harder when she laughed louder.

* * *

They arrivedat the Alliance offices with ten minutes to spare. Cleo seemed to be in a flap because she hadn’t been able to get everyone coffee as usual. Mason had nixed the idea of her popping into her usual coffee house, telling her that her regular habits needed to change until they had caught the guy. That had gone over like a lead balloon.

Cleo, he was finding out, was a creature of habit. She liked things done a certain way and in a particular order. He had kind of known that about her but not how agitated she got if things couldn’t be done the way she was used to.

Cleo flew around her reception desk, with only a cursory pat to Killian who came wandering out to greet her just in front of Caitlin.

Caitlin rushed forward, her eyes coming to his in question, to which he nodded. “Hey, Cleo, are you okay? I heard what happened.”

“Yes, I was a little shaken up, but Mason took care of me.” She blushed at the double entendre. He would like to take care of her more if she would let him.

“That’s good. Don’t worry we’ll catch this asshole,” Caitlin stated as she walked to the door, her work dog at her heel. “Come on, Killy, let’s take you to see your new friends before the meeting starts.”

Alliance had taken on another four dogs in the last year. Kingsley Knight’s wife Sydney, who also happened to be their former client, was working the breeding program with Caitlin. The two new German Shepherds and two Rhodesian Ridgebacks were less than a year old, and training was going well from what he could see.

He saw Cleo moving around like a madwoman and went to her. Grasping her shoulders, he spun her to face him, holding her tight but not painfully so. “Calm down.”