He scooped up her shirt from the floor and handed it to her. “He’s just checking in.” He hesitated, feeling the temptation to carry her into the bedroom and forget everything and that made him angry. At himself, and at her, for reasons he couldn’t quite identify. All he knew was he was headed for trouble, and he had to put space between them. “Remember when you asked me why this was a bad idea?” Her face paled. “Yes.”
“Troy was just checking in this time, but that might not have been the case. It could just have easily been the bastard who gave you an orgasm and got you killed, and I can’t be that, Kelly. I can’t protect you while I’m fucking you.”
Her jaw dropped, shock and hurt bleeding into her face. That made him want to pull her into his arms and apologize, which was exactly why he wouldn’t, why he couldn’t. She was far safer with Aiden the asshole, who wasn’t a distraction, who wasn’t going to make a stupid mistake like what he could have tonight. She didn’t know it, but he did.
She struggled to get off the counter, hugging the shirt over her breasts. He reached out to help her.
“Don’t,” she ordered. “Don’t help me.” She jumped down and gave him her back, pulling the shirt over her head. It was a cold shoulder he wouldn’t ever forget, no matter how much he deserved it.
No matter how much he didn’t want to deserve it.
She headed out of the kitchen without giving him another look, and he followed like the dog he felt like.
She climbed into the bed, turned out the light, and covered her head.
Aiden settled into the chair in the corner where he would sit and guard her, wishing he was in bed with her.
Chapter Eight
Kelly blinked into the sunlit room, memories of the night before, of Aiden and her in the kitchen rushing back over her. She squeezed her eyes shut again. What a fool she felt like when he’d declared he couldn’t
‘fuck her and keep her safe’. And that was last night. The morning after a stupid mistake was always worse by a good hundred percent. She wondered if he was still in the chair in the corner, or if he’d gone somewhere to sleep. She inhaled and decided just face him and be done with it. Dread would only make matters worse.
She sat up, her gaze going to the chair, which was empty, then around the room, to find she was alone.
Her nostrils flared with the scent of coffee, followed by a moment of bliss, thinking of a cup of caffeine she didn’t have to make herself. That was, until she realized said ‘cup’ would be in the kitchen, and she really didn’t want to be in the kitchen where memories of last night lingered. She glanced at the clock, appalled at the eleven o’clock hour. She never slept late. Never. There was too much to do to spend her time in bed. Well, unless she was spending it with Aiden, and now that she knew he was a jerk, even that wasn’t tempting. Only…she wasn’t so sure he was a jerk. He took his job seriously, he took protecting her seriously. She didn’t fault him for that, but his delivery of his message of duty had left a lot to be desired.
She threw off the sheet and pushed to her feet, deciding she needed that coffee far more than her pride, considering she’d slept half her Saturday away. Good thing she’d anticipated a late night and cancelled her new Saturday morning yoga habit that her, and one of the neighbors, had started several weeks back.
Kelly headed towards the kitchen, rounding the corner to find more than she’d bargained for. Aiden, and Troy, sat at her table, with everything from her box of Captain Crunch, to her Saturday morning paper, between them.
Both men looked up when she entered the room, and she immediately crossed her arms in front of her chest, wishing for a robe. It wasn’t like there was anything Aiden hadn’t seen at this point, but Troy was a whole other story.
“I thought you two were trying to be discreet,” she said, feeling Aiden’s eyes on her and refusing to look at him. He’d changed clothes and shaved at some point, his light blue t-shirt now a black one. She wondered how she slept through so much activity when she was supposed to be scared for her life. “I’m not one to have a man stay over, let alone, two men.”
“I snuck in before sunrise,” Troy informed her. He’d changed the leather for denim himself, and it made him a little less edgy and intimidating, but not much. “So we’re not worried about a daytime attack, I assume? I should consider myself safe and without the need of bodyguards?”
“You should consider yourself safe because you have bodyguards,” Aiden replied.
Her gaze met his, and she wished she hadn’t. Her stomach somersaulted like she was some sort of shy teenager, and he was the Captain of the Football team. It was ridiculous. Men didn’t make her feel like this. But then, she didn’t spread her legs and pant, on top of her kitchen counter for most men either.
“And,” Troy added, holding up some sort of remote control looking
devise, “because I have state-of-theart surveillance equipment set up, complete with silent alarms.” He set the gadget on the table. “Anyone steps on a piece of grass too close to the house, we’ll know it.” He held up the cereal. “Breakfast?”
“I’ll settle for coffee and you two telling me what I’m supposed to do now.” She didn’t move. Somehow, the idea of walking around in her t-shirt, felt very, very wrong now that Troy was here.
Aiden pushed to his feet and walked to the counter, grabbing a mug from her cabinet. “You do what you normally do.” He filled the mug, and then removed her favorite creamer from the fridge. Suddenly, he was in front of her, blocking her from Troy’s view and handing her the coffee. He opened the creamer and started to pour. “Say when.”
“When,” she said after a long pour. “And there is nothing normal about any of this.”
“All that matters is the bad guys think it is. What would you being doing right now if we weren’t here?”
“Lunch with my neighbor after the Yoga she tortures me into going to,” she said, trying not to think about sitting on that counter, her legs spread wide – with him, for him. “But I cancelled last night before going to the bar.”
“What else?”
“The same things everyone does on the weekends – groceries, movies, work.”