I kept myself in check as much as possible while this woman made of brimstone and consequences refused to talk about anything other than the size of my cock.
Her constant reminder that she saw me beating off was worse than torture. It was like having blue balls 24/7 with a fucking electric chain wrapped around my dick that zapped it every time I thought about her.
Every time I thought about her on her knees, and my cock not just a verbal mention in her mouth, but sliding along her tongue, hitting the back of her throat—
Zap.
Fucking zap and stop thinking about her.
“I’ll have you know, Agent Reyes was a perfect gentleman the entire time.” Scarlett sprung forward in her seat once again, slinging her wafting scent forward too. “He didn’t lay a single finger on or inside of me that I didn’t ask for.”
I rolled my eyes up to hers that were waiting for mine in the mirror. “That doesn’t exactly sound very exonerating.”
“No, it sure as shit doesn’t.” Derek chuckled in delight like he’d hit motherfucking gold and tapped the back of his fingers against my rigid shoulder. “I think I’m going to request to be her personal chauffeur next time, all right?”
He’s trying to get punched at this point, right? Right?
“There’s not gonna be a next time so don’t get your tiny dick too excited, m’kay?” Scarlett slanted her head at Derek, popping his jaw wide open.
“Okay—” Derek twisted towards me. “How can you say I’m being an ass when she says shit like that?”
“Because you were being a fucking pervert and James thinks I’m adorable, that’s why.”
Startled at her words, I blinked at her reflection, wondering how the hell she’d deciphered that when I was doing my best to deny it to myself. I was losing my grip around her in every sense of the meaning, and that was all the proof I needed.
Scarlett’s gaze was on Derek’s but slid over to mine for just a moment long enough to send me a goddamn wink that flustered my whole world in the same second it was delivered.
“Adorable is not the word I’d use for you,” Derek grumbled under his breath, earning my attention again. “When I first saw you, I thought ‘Oh, SAC Avery doesn't have a picture of her up in his office ‘cause she’s hot and doesn’t want his agents blowing their load all over her photo.’ Now I just think it’s because he can’t stand you.”
“Hey!” I barked, bite in my voice. “Too fucking far.”
“What? It’s true. I mean, he’s got a photo up of his other kid but not her. The stars seem to align pretty clearly there.”
Every muscle in my body blared to reach over and tear his fucking mouth off as he mentioned Scarlett’s brother. My eyes jumped to her reflection in the rearview mirror, my heart kicking up against my ribcage as I saw her.
Just the mention of her brother and her fire had quieted, the spark in her enigmatic eyes snuffed out. She sat back and sank into the cushions, head lolling off to the side to gaze out the window.
Her silence was resounding. Ear-splitting.
Heartbreaking.
I felt her silence like a hand pushing down on my chest, caving in my bones and resilience. My stare kept jumping back between the road and her reflection in the mirror. The pout of her mouth was like two pillows soaked in sadness, the bright green of her eyes dulled as she stared out the window at nothing.
Her sadness was infectious like everything else about her, and I wanted it gone. I reached forward towards the radio and switched the channels back. Low piano notes flooded the car, and I watched her face more than I watched the road for when the music made its way to her.
Once it did, she closed her eyes. She squeezed them tight, the space between her eyebrows pinching as the hum of the song faded in around her.
I turned it up, thinking the louder the music was, the better it would comfort her.
Her sadness was like any one of the low notes from the piano, resonating and palpable through the vibrations it emitted through my chest. I felt her sadness all around me, her emotions a tornado effect of high-voltage energy and turbulent need swallowing me up—a need to make it stop for her, to destroy the cause of her sorrow.
The need her pain manifested inside of me roared at me to steal her away from her own storm, even if just to give her a few moments of rest.
The more I watched her absorb the music and sit in her sadness, the more the roaring began to ring like a piercing plea to protect her, help her, pull the goddamn car over and get in the backseat with her so she wasn’t alone. She listened to every note of the music as if it were telling her a secret, one she promised to never tell.
Derek fidgeted in his seat next, dropping his head back against the headrest and breaking the moment in half. “How can you like this shit? Aren’t you supposed to like Taylor Swift or something?”
Silence held the car for a beat.