Clearly, the answer to my unasked question was no.
18
Fletcher
God damn, this woman got more and more stunning every time I saw her. Even today, dressed all prim and proper as Mrs. Hardy. Ha! Between her high cheekbones and luscious lips, she could never actually pull it off, even with that bobbed, black-haired wig she wore.
And those eyes. Those gold jewels, soaked in secrets, were definitely one of my favorite features about her. Anytime I glanced in her eyes, I damn near lost a few seconds.
It didn’t help that something had clearly changed between her and ole Rick. His whole body was attuned to her every move, even when he wasn’t facing her. Like he hovered over her in one blink and was facing me in the next. Not that I wanted her any less. Au contraire, my little goddess of death was more enticing now with Rick wrapped around her finger.
That kind of devotion meant really great sex, right? Curiosity, tinged with lust, burned through me.
Rick turned away from me and immediately it was like oxygen filled my personal space again. Then I caught what he was whispering to Drew.
“I really could kill him,” he whispered against the shell of her ear. Her eyelids fluttered shut, the long, thick, inky lashes fanned against her cheeks. When she opened her eyes, they were soaked in sin and desire.
Holy shit. I sat up and adjusted my pants, trying to stop my zipper from cutting into my hard dick.
She blinked it all away and then grinned like the cat that got the cream. That definitely didn’t help the state of my near painful erection.
I couldn’t help it, I grinned back. Her humor was contagious and it didn’t even matter Rick had threatened to off me for the tenth time. There hadn’t been any heat behind it this time. I was growing on him. I knew it.
“Now, now, Mr. Hardy. If you did that, you’d never learn all of the tricks to my trade. I thought you were curious?” I tutted at him.
His face lost some of that menace he did so well, as he nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t be opposed to learning.”
Ah, this was it. My in with the Hulk. It was really quite strange how this man exuded danger of the worst kind as he stared at you out of his icy blue eyes, then practically melted at Drew’s feet. Although I’d keep any puppy dog comments to myself this time. I liked to believe I was a man who learned important lessons the first time around.
For Drew, I’d be willing to learn all the lessons. How to kiss her, please her….tease her.
Rick did that growl he was so fucking good at, snapping my gaze from a smirking Drew back to him.
“Want to join the cyber brotherhood?” I joked.
“No,” he said as he furrowed his heavy black brows. There was a slim cut through the end of one brow, nearly unnoticeable but for some fucking reason I noticed it. I mean, honestly, if I had met this guy without Drew, I would have thought he was prime fuckboy material. But after getting to know his quirky ass, even at such a surface level, I could tell that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I just like to know things,” he finished.
Always priding myself as a man who reads people relatively well—especially given my chosen profession—I was actually shocked by his answer. Was Rick some sort of scholar? Shit.
This was my opportunity to secure a friendship with him, and I wasn’t about to fuck it away. Getting closer to Drew was too tempting. Now that I’d caught sight of something I wanted, every decision I’d made had been with the goal of sliding into her inner circle.
“I tell you what, come by my place sometime and I’ll show you a few things. I can’t divulge everything, you understand, but I can definitely help you.” I held out my hand and bent forward, offering a branch of friendship.
His nostrils flared as he stared at my hand. My gut screamed that he wasn’t going to take it, then he shoved his hand in mine and gave it a good hard pump. “I still don’t like you, but if Mrs. Hardy says it’s okay, then I’ll take you up on it.”
“Perfect,” I grinned.
Drew picked up her phone, her thumb swiping leisurely over the screen when she wasn’t typing something out. I knew what she was doing. The smart woman wouldn’t take my word for it, she’d want to see proof that I finished my test with flying colors. Which, of course, I had.
“Very good,” she murmured as she glanced up from her phone. An appreciative gleam shone from her eyes as she seemed to see me in a new light. It took a herculean effort not to preen at her feet, like Rick would have done.
“What’s next?” I cocked one brow in challenge. There was something else she wanted. Something bigger. I could feel it. Otherwise, why put me through all these micro tests to make sure I knew my shit?
“You wait.” She slid the phone in an expensive bag, and stood. “I’ll call you when I’m ready for you.” Skirting the table, she stopped when she was next to me and leaned down to press a kiss on my cheek as if we were old friends.
A cloud of lavender and sandalwood engulfed me and shot straight to my slowly softening dick. Damn it, I had just got it to start going down, and now I’d have to sit here for a few minutes until I could walk out without a tent in my pants.