Chapter 7
Joe woke at six a.m. It was still dark. But he could smell the crisp October air, the scent of autumn in New England flooding his senses and giving him that sense of well-being that never got old. Memories flashed of school days, jumping into piles of freshly raked dead leaves, that rustling sound as the colorful leaves flew around in the cool wind. Football games on the weekends—Friday nights in high school, Saturday afternoons in college—and watching his favorite New England Patriots on Sundays. That’s how he’d rolled growing up with his dad and two brothers. There were no women in his household for as long as he could remember. But he stretched his memory back again, searching for a glimpse of his mother at the edges, just offstage, a bit out of reach, never quite there. He’d been four years old when she’d disappeared.
He shook it off. Took in a deep breath of the cool cleansing air and, this time, he caught the scent of woman.Mae Monday. Reaching out without thinking, he pulled her into him, feeling the lush flesh of her rear against his rising cock, taking in the heady scent of her perfume mixed with sex and sweat. Squeezing his eyes shut, he refused to think past this moment.
Was that how it would always be? Flashes of contentment in between the eternal restlessness of his life?
He remembered her say she adored him only a few hours earlier and waited for the uneasiness it should bring, the way such declarations by women it always did. But all he got was a jolt of lust. And a smile in his heart. They had chemistry like he’d never experienced before, he’d admit to that. Whatever else there was, if anything, he couldn’t say.
There shouldn’t be eventhatbetween them. They hadn’t been out on a date. He’d been rescuing her from a bunch of thugs out to steal something from her.
She wasn’t a new lover—no matter how delightful she was. Mae Monday was his client. And he was responsible for her safety, not for her orgasms.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
She opened her eyes, fluttering her lashes until he could see her deep brown eyes, the sexy mischief in them even before she was fully awake.
“Good morning, gorgeous.” He couldn’t help himself. Evidently. Her smile appeared, lazy and happy and unconditional. No fake Hollywood smile on this woman. Nothing at all fake about her last night. Just real, all-out passion.
“Morning? But it’s still dark out.” She rose up on an elbow to look out the open window where a breeze wafted in.
“We need to leave in twenty minutes. Dark or not.”
“Oh. I guess I can’t complain since it’s my meeting we’re in a hurry to get to.”
“You’re not a complainer, are you? I don’t remember you complaining . . .”
“No complaints from me. In fact, I’m the girl who’s going to give you praise. I’d love to take five of those twenty minutes to show you how much I adore you right now—”
The brakes screeched in his head, slamming to a stop the runaway lust that had taken him so far off course. She would suck him in if he didn’t watch out. Her sudden declaration sounded and felt too much like hero worship, the exact kind of thing he’d been avoiding for years—since his test pilot days. He’d thought her too sophisticated, too old—or at least too mature and wise for that kind of thing. But how else could he explain it?Empty words?
Or it could be the mind-blowing sex, the out-of-this-world chemistry, maybe even the connection they’d had. But still, none of that added up to adoration. At least not where he came from. But Hollywood was another universe. Maybe in her world it was normal to let your emotions run rampant over logic and reality.
She might be self-indulgent, but he sure as hell knew better.
He sat up, promising himself to behave, determined to get back to business.
“We need to leave early because we’ll be landing at a different airport. Hollywood Burbank.”
“You mean Bob Hope Airport?”
He nodded. “Zero Go Team has a hangar there too.” He picked up his phone to check his texts. “I texted them the plate numbers and warned them to look for our friends, Sal Vito and company. I’ll have them pick up what we need and have it waiting. Including a new set of wheels. The Land Rover is compromised.”
“Compromised? I love the way you talk. Sounds so dangerous.” She trailed her hand down his chest, past his naval to his cock and grabbed hold. Even though he’d anticipated it, the shockwave of pleasure nearly knocked the good sense out of him, nearly caused him to abandon his plan to behave and instead indulge his passion. His breathing quickened. He desperately wanted to see her head thrown back with orgasmic pleasure again, wanted to feel her writhing in his arms—
Then she let go.
“We should leave.” She heaved a sigh. “I have that damn meeting.”
“Tell me about the meeting. I’ll be going with you.”
“You will? What do I tell them? I can’t say, ‘Hey meet my bodyguard, Joe.’”
He shrugged. “I’ve been called worse things.”
“I need to keep this . . .problemquiet.”
“The police have been notified. Maybe you should talk tothemabout being quiet. They’ll want to talk to you.”