His phone rang and he had no intention of answering it—he couldn’t even get his brain to fire enough to pay attention to whose ring tone it belonged to. Hollis’s mouth came back onto his, tongue sliding deep into Ian’s mouth and he thought about opening himself up to this man, letting him push his dick deep into his body and his moan nearly drowned out the next ring.
Back to back phone calls. He pulled back from Hollis, breathing hard. “Something’s wrong.”
“Feels pretty fucking right to me,” Hollis said, his voice hoarse.
“No, I mean yeah, this is definitely right. But my phone keeps ringing.” He patted Hollis’s arm so he’d put him down and the rumbling chuckle that came from Hollis’s throat made him shoot the man a hot look.
His phone rang again and this time, the ring was Snow’s. He frowned. “Something is really wrong.” He pushed away from Hollis and answered his phone.
“There was a fire at Shiver and Lucas is in the hospital. He’s fine—just smoke inhalation. But we wanted you to know where we are and Rowe said to hang there because he’s sending you another bodyguard.”
Ian’s knees went week and Hollis was there to hold him up. Thankful, he leaned back into the man’s big body, loving the hard arm Hollis wrapped around his chest. “I’ve got Sven here.”
“Apparently, he thinks there should be two. Hold on.” Snow said something in the background, then came back. “Don’t worry about coming here. They’re releasing Lucas. Your second bodyguard’s name is Royce. Rowe said to tell you that Sven knows him.”
He thought about telling them about the man Hollis had chased off and decided not to give them anything else. Plus, knowing Snow, he’d turn into Ian’s shadow. It had taken him months to get space from Snow when the man thought he was in danger before. When he hung up, he turned to Hollis.
“I like that you’ll have more than one bodyguard. I’d stay with you myself if I could.” He groaned and pulled Ian into his big body again. “I have to go. I don’t want to.”
“I don’t want you to either.” It was weird. He barely spent any time with the man but he felt like he knew him and the way he made him feel was unlike anything Ian had felt in his life. He wanted more. A lot more. “Do you know when you’ll be free?”
Hollis shook his head, expression tightening. “Listen to me. Where I am, I hear things. And one of the things I’ve been hearing is that you and your friends are definitely a target of Boris Jagger’s.”
“We know that. Do you know why?”
“I’m working on finding that out.”
Ian held his breath and stared hard into Hollis’s blue eyes. “You’re working undercover in Jagger’s world?” The words came out as a whisper.
Hollis framed Ian’s face with his big hands. “I hadn’t planned on touching you but I can’t seem to help myself where you’re concerned. Are you fine with what happened here tonight?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I need to know.” He cradled Ian’s face, stroking his thumb over Ian’s bottom lip. “I need to know one hundred percent that you are okay with me touching you like this.”
“I am.” Ian understood then that Hollis had no intention of answering him and in his heart he knew. This man had taken a dangerous job because of him. He didn’t understand that. It stole the air from his lungs and he started to shake. The last thing he wanted Hollis to think was that his shaking came from fear so he stood on his toes and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to the corner of Hollis’s mouth. “I hope you finish your job soon because I want nothing more than for you to come back and touch me a lot more than this.”Chapter 21They’d been home from the hospital for half an hour when Rowe stepped out of the shower. The hot water had helped the various aches and pains he felt from hitting asphalt more than once tonight, but he still winced when he pulled on his favorite pair of sweatpants. They’d been washed so many times, they were thin and soft and would settle under the big-ass road burn on his lower back. That raw skin hurt like a son of a bitch and he probably should have asked the doc for some kind of cream or something. But they’d all been focused on Lucas, who was thankfully fine.
He headed toward the kitchen, planning to grab a cup of coffee because he wouldn’t be sleeping tonight, even if dawn was only a couple hours away.
George. His hand tightened around the mug and he took a deep breath as anger and grief swept through him in equal doses. He hadn’t known George well; he’d been with the company less than two years. No family except for a sister in Charlotte, North Carolina and a few nieces and nephews. But he’d been a good cop at one time and died a good man. And this bullshit that was haunting him and his friends had killed him.