“I don’t even want to know,” Jordan said. “So, Adrian, are you going to bring Jules to the Coleton masquerade party this weekend?”
“That seems like an unnecessary risk,” I said. “Russ Coleton is going to be there.”
Jordan crossed her arms. “Everyone will be wearing masks. And if you care about keeping this girl, you should include her in as much as you can. How do you think she feels being stuck in the apartment while this all happens without her?”
“She probably feels good,” Noah suggested. “You think she really wants to help us tank the family business? I figured she’s only going along with it because of her feelings for Adrian.”
“Doubtful,” Travis muttered.
“No,” I said. “I think Jules is sincere. She really wants to help this happen.”
“Then don’t make her sit at home while we do this,” Jordan said. “I know we can’t have her here. But find some ways you can make her part of what we’re doing.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I’ll see if she wants to come to the party.”
Noah cleared his throat. “In other news.” He turned his laptop around to face us. He spent a few minutes going through what he’d been able to gather now that we were at Central. New security access had given him the ability to dig deeper than he had so far, and it apparently was a productive dig.
I found myself zoning out while he explained just how “by the balls” we had Coleton. All I could think of was the way Jules had looked in that sparkling moonlight when we skinny dipped. When she had me by the balls. I found myself grinning.
She had a very dangerous way of making everything else matter less to me. I would’ve never tuned out what Noah was saying before. I definitely wouldn’t have been getting a hard-on at the conference table because I was replaying yesterday with my girlfriend. It was completely unprofessional, and I couldn’t stop it.
But for the first time, I found myself wondering what would’ve made my dad happier? Would he rather see me getting revenge on Coleton or see me finding a woman who actually made me happy?
“So,” Noah said a few minutes later. “Honestly, I thought it would take longer. But I think we’re close. Very close. Travis just needs to win over this Ahmad guy in human resources. Jordan, you’ve got to keep IT off me a little bit longer. That Clark guy is pretty good, and I’m worried he’s getting close to realizing these breeches aren’t external.”
I nodded. “And I’ve got to get close enough to Russ Coleton to make sure he thinks he’s pressing the button to supercharge his business, when all he’ll really be doing is triggering the detonator.”
Everybody was grinning in self-satisfaction when my phone chimed again.
“Message, from, sweet cheeks. Eggplant. Eggplant. Eggplant. Water drops. Water drops. Eggplant. Banana. End. Message.”
I cleared my throat. “I may need to pay a visit to IT,” I said quietly. “See about this phone.”
“It sounds more like you need to pay a visit to ‘sweet cheeks’ before she floods your apartment,” Travis said.
* * *
It turned out that Jules hadn’t been bluffing with the water drop emojis. When I came home, she practically jumped me in the hallway. I had her right there standing against the wall, and then I went to take a shower before bed. She joined me, and I had her again in the steam after she’d gleefully helped shampoo my hair and soap me. By some miracle of libido, we both still had the energy to go for a third and final round once we got into the clean sheets with our hair still wet from the shower.
I was holding her against me, both of us still naked and now exhausted.
“How are you feeling about all of this?” I asked.
“Like three is a good number.”
I chuckled. “I mean about New York. The apartment. This whole situation.”
Jules’ back had been to me, but she turned to face me, her golden hair pooling around her face and in front of her bare chest. She looked every bit the escaped princess I’d taken her for that first day in my office. Little had I known she essentially was. She was Coleton royalty, and she was on the run. But had I rescued her or stolen her?
“I think it’s temporary,” she said.
“This is. The apartment and the work. It’s the final leg. And when it’s done, it’ll only be us.”
“Do you think ‘only us’ will work? What if it’s one of those things. Like an affair where all the magic was in the wrongness.”
“Then we can roleplay about destroying your father’s business to get ourselves in the mood,” I said, kissing the smooth skin on her jawline.
She smirked. “I’m serious, Adrian.”
“So am I. The world is a big, big fucking place. They always say there’s someone for everyone, but nobody ever talks about how hard it is to find that needle in the haystack. I never wanted someone who was only ‘good enough.’ I didn’t have time to go looking for that perfect woman, and I’d resigned myself to the fact that it wasn’t in the cards for me. Then you came raging into my life, and now I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you here.”