“You lowered my rent, agreed to be my fake boyfriend, and you’re helping me find the stalker for free. Those aren’t the actions of someone heartless.”
If she only knew.
“I didn’t do them out of pure selflessness.”
“Maybe not the first two, but what are you getting out of helping me with the stalker?” she challenged.
“The world thinks you’re my girlfriend. Can’t have anything happen to you or it’d look bad for me.” The lie slipped as easily from my tongue as my own name. “I’m the CEO of a security company, after all.”
That, and a world without Stella in it was one that didn’t deserve to exist.
My hunger to piece together her puzzle tethered me to sanity and fed the tiny part of me that still believed in goodness and humanity.
It was the order to my chaos, the flame to my ice.
Without it, I would be unmoored, and that would be the ultimate danger—both to myself and the people around me.
Doubt crept into Stella’s eyes. “Is that the only reason why?” She sounded less sure than she had a minute ago.
My hand stilled on the back of her neck.
The air between us stretched so taut it vibrated against my skin, and the sudden change in atmosphere dragged us into a place where there was no threatening note, no stalker, and no fake arrangement.
There was just the weight of her on my lap, the scent of her in my lungs, and the warmth of her in my soul.
It was raw, real, and so fucking addicting.
“Do you want there to be another reason?” A question and a challenge, disguised by a cloak of softness.
Stella’s lips parted with a soft, audible exhale. A dozen unspoken words consumed that single breath, and I wanted to keep every one of them for myself, to hoard them close to my chest the way a dragon guarded its treasure.
But instead of giving me the hit I so desperately craved, she gave a slow shake of her head.
“Don’t lie to me, Stella.” I rubbed my thumb over the back of her neck in a lazy, languid stroke.
The sound of her swallow filled the space between us.
Her teeth dug into her lush lower lip, and the desire to pull her hair back and plunder the softness of her mouth consumed me.
Just one taste.
The reasoning of an addict desperate for his next fix.
I’d never tasted her—yet—but I imagined she’d be even sweeter than in my imagination.
Our breaths thundered together in an erratic drumbeat.
One taste. Then I could sate this ceaseless hunger inside me.
One taste, and—
A sharp ring snapped the taut air in half and left me with whiplash.
Stella’s eyes widened a fraction before she scrambled off my lap like I’d suddenly caught fire.
Dammit.
Irritation solidified in my chest at the interruption as I stood and picked up the call. I walked to the corner of the room and turned my back so she couldn’t see the displeasure darkening my face.
“This better be important.”
“It is. I’ve got intel that Rutledge might jump ship to Sentinel.” Kage wasted no time beating around the bush. “Not fucking good, especially after the Deacon and Beatrix situation. People are going to talk.”
My irritation intensified.
Unlike Deacon and Beatrix, Rutledge was one of our biggest accounts. Losing him would be unacceptable.
“Explain.”
I switched gears to business mode as Kage laid out what he’d heard. The executive security world was a small one, and one could learn a lot if they had eyes and ears in the right places.
“It’s not confirmed yet,” he said after he finished. “But I figured you’d want to know. If he leaves…”
“He won’t.” Rutledge’s exit wouldn’t be a fatal blow, but it would make Harper Security look weak. And in my circles, showing weakness was akin to pouring blood into a shark pool. “I’ll have a talk with him. In the meantime, keep an eye on Sentinel. I want to know if anyone on the team so much as fucking sneezes.”
They were up to something. Once was luck and twice was coincidence, but three times? That was a pattern, and not one I particularly liked.
“You got it,” Kage said.
I hung up, my mind already working through the implications of losing another account to Sentinel. I wouldn’t, of course. I knew Rutledge well, including his weak spots. But I always liked to have a backup plan in case everything went south.
One of these days, I’d have to take care of Sentinel for good.
Should’ve wiped out their entire damn system like I’d wanted.
It’d take more work, but I could hide my tracks well enough that no one could pinpoint me as the culprit.
“Is everything okay?” Stella’s voice pulled me out of my musings. “That sounded intense.
“Yes.” I smoothed my expression into placidness before I turned. “Just a hiccup at work. Nothing important.”
If I were alone, I would’ve already put the pieces for Sentinel’s demise in motion. Since I wasn’t, and I was with Stella, I set those pieces aside.
For now.
“I hope you’re not planning a competitor’s ruin,” she said solemnly. “That would be a bit heavy for a Friday night.”
I almost smiled, both because she’d unerringly hit the nail on the head and because I spotted a glimmer of her usual sparkle in her eyes.
She’d regained her composure during my call. The rosiness had dissipated from her cheeks, and she was curled up on the couch next to that stupid purple unicorn with a faint curve of her lips.
“Don’t worry. I keep the destruction to business hours, Monday through Friday.” I raised a brow at the mischief in her growing smile. “Care to share the joke?”
The sparkle in her eyes brightened. “Check my Stories.”