Page 30 of Keep Me Safe
“What if that was your brother?” I asked.
“Then he’ll call back.”
The bed shifted as he closed the distance between us, touching his soft lips to mine like he was testing the waters, curious. Electricity jolted through me, and I had to gasp in a deep breath through my nose. His second kiss was more possessive and confident. His lush tongue swept over mine, and I could feel it . . .
Everywhere.
Desire flooded through my veins as he moved again, easing me onto my back. It was so he could climb on top of me, one hand on my hip and the other cupping my face, holding me into his demanding kiss. The bare skin of his chest was warm and smooth beneath my hands. I’d hungered for a man to possess me like this, and yet I suspected there was more to it than that.
I wantedthisman, andthisman made it clear he wanted me. How much he wanted me was growing harder between us, pressing pleasurably against the center of my legs. The heat of his palm slid down the unmarred side of my neck, steadily inching its way down over my collarbone. Further still, and without thought, my back arched into his touch. I wanted him to find his target.
But his phone buzzed again.
He groaned in annoyance, rolled off me, and snatched his phone off the nightstand. “Hallo?”
With the warmth of his body gone, the fog in my mind cleared and I regained control. I threw the covers off and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and wished I could scrub the desire from myself just as quickly. The conversation was heldin German, so I grabbed my toiletry bag and stumbled to the bathroom.
During my shower, I tried not to think about the man on the bed, or his seductive hands, or the way his kiss lit me on fire.
After my hair was dry, I emerged. Shawn hadn’t moved. He was sitting upright and staring vacantly into space. Still shirtless and still dangerous, even when he looked less like the polished businessman he normally was.
While I’d gotten dressed, a thought had hit me like a ton of bricks. “My fingerprints are all over the murder weapon.”
His brow furrowed. “First of all, you didn’t murder him, it was self-defense. And second, there’s no body. Jason sent a man to your apartment, and it was empty.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Had my attacker recovered enough to slink away? Or had someone else come to recover the body before Jason’s man got there? “What happens now?”
“You’ll stay here where you’re safe, until we have a plan.” He stared at me as if waiting for an answer.
Was there any other option? I drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”
I expected him to get up, to go to the shower, but he continued to sit there like he’d been sewn into the mattress.
“Thank you,” he said, “for agreeing.”
Annoyance bloomed inside me. “Can you stop doing that? Treating me differently?”
“What?”
“How you’re being nice to me. I don’t like it.”
He blinked. “I’m sorry, you’re asking me to be mean?”
“No, just treat me like you used to. I can’t handle it when you come at me all... sideways.”
“Sideways?” he repeated. “Are we in combat?”
I scowled.
He exhaled and then a slow smile grew on his lips, and I could see it in his eyes. The game was back on. He finally moved, but it wasn’t how I wanted it to go. He had on the smallest pair of boxer briefs I’d ever seen, and they clung to every inch of him.
“Want to take a closer look?” he asked, looping a finger under the waistband.
“God, no!” I spun in place, turning my back on him. Why had I asked for this? I was so stupid. It didn’t matter what version of him I got. The result was the same—I wanted him either way.
His footsteps padded across the floor, and I breathed easier when the bathroom door shut and he was gone.
The wardrobe choices in my suitcase were growing small, and I’d had to dress in the same outfit I’d been wearing the day he’d come to my office. The gray pencil skirt and black silk top with a matching gray suit coat. It had been a bit of a calculated move. If I dressed in my work clothes, I could wear my heels and be almost the same height as him.
