“You could?” Her question came quickly and earnestly. As if she doubted her own perception.
“Yeah.” Cash grinned. “He likes you, too.”
She laughed and let her head fall back against the headboard. “I hate that I’m so needy and so obvious. What the hell kind of badass agent am I?”
“A pretty damn good one, I’d bet.” Cash would have said more, except Aarav returned with a tray loaded with containers.
He stutter-stepped when he saw Sola and Cash sitting on the mattress together.
Sola waved to the empty space on the other side of Cash. “There’s only one bed. What you said was right. Tomorrow’s going to be a bitch of a day. We need to rest while we can since neither of us slept much last night.”
Cash had a pretty good idea of what they’d been doing instead.
“Good thing it’s massive, and I’m a sound sleeper.” Cash hid his smirk behind his hand, figuring they’d have been plastered on each other for sure without him wedging them apart. “I’m sure you won’t even notice me here.”
Aarav mumbled something that didn’t sound like English beneath his breath and Cash would have bet his father’s entire casino it was curse words in his native language. His audible aggravation was both endearing and hot.
Cash turned to Sola and winked. “I see why you like him.”
She opened her mouth, maybe to ask if he was into guys, but then shut it as if realizing they weren’t actually friends who’d met at the party they’d bailed spectacularly on.
When Aarav passed each of them a meal, all three of them used the excuse to fill their stomachs and occupy their mouths with something other than potentially problematic discussions. And afterward, they were true to their word. Sola bound his wrists and lifted them over his head, hooking them to an eyebolt he hadn’t noticed before, embedded in the headboard.
Did they transport fugitives on the jet often? Or was this part of an entirely more enjoyable function of the furniture?
While Sola immobilized his upper body, Aarav cuffed each of his ankles and secured them to the foot of the bed. Cash had enough leeway to roll from side to side and get mostly comfortable, but no hope of escaping and not enough slack that he could reach either of his babysitters.
Sola and Aarav adjusted their pillows and settled down on either side of him, both of them facing inward, whether to keep an eye on him or to maintain eye contact with each other while he was splayed on his back.
“Can’t say as I’ve ever spent the night strapped to a bed between a sexy woman and her man before, but I’m willing to try anything once.” Cash grinned as Aarav squirmed.
It was more fun than he would have guessed to tease the guy. Especially since there was no denying the tent in Aarav’s shorts before the guy whipped the covers up to his waist, leaving his spectacular chest and tattooed ribs on display. Damn.
“Shut up and go to sleep,” Aarav muttered.
“I guess having a near-death experience makes you pretty aware of the things you’ve missed out on and might still like to try before you go.” He looked to Sola then, who nodded.
“Our jobs make me think about that a lot.” She peeked over at Aarav then. Did that bastard know how lucky he was? If not, Cash was more than willing to give Sola whatever she was missing if he could.
There, next to them both, he could sense the difference. They were alive. Fully and truly, where he’d merely been existing until now. Spoiled, rich, and utterly without use to anyone.
It took him a long time, at least an hour after both Aarav and Sola dropped off, to start to doze. In addition to their heat radiating into him, making his entire being buzz, he’d had a lot to think about. If nothing else, that day had taught him that he needed to do more, be better, and try to make a difference so that what he left behind could be superior to what he’d been born into.
He wanted a purpose like theirs, whatever…exactly…that might be.
7
As Aarav held the door to the Shields headquarters open for Cash and Sola with one hand, he reached over his shoulder to rub the back of his neck with the other. His pathetic massage did absolutely nothing to relieve the tension threatening to permanently kink his spine, giving him one hell of a headache. He blinked to clear the black spots that appeared each time he clenched his jaw before reminding himself he needed to relax.
He couldn’t decide if he was more frustrated because he hadn’t been able to make love to Sola again after her harrowing daredevil escape or because of the churning in his gut that had made it impossible for him to eat a bite of breakfast. That sickness had increased while sharing a bed with Sola and her new pet, especially since each time he’d conked out for a bit he’d had a nightmare about slaughtering someone innocent.
This was exactly why they should never have allowed themselves to give in to the desire that had been brewing between them for months. A couple spectacular hours in the sack had changed his entire life. Part of him couldn’t believe it had actually happened. Finally. But the rest was full of condemnation.
Not only was his evolving relationship with Sola screwing with their careers and his ability to be impartial, it had awakened a side of him he’d long kept under control. Or more like, had never had to try to suppress. Before Sola, before his bond with her, he’d never been interested in pursuing a physical relationship with anyone. After a few admittedly stellar orgasms, his body had been on full alert every moment since, including the long flight back with Cash pressed up against one side of him.
He’d vacillated between the horror of bad dreams to jerking awake only to experience his libido reawakening, his cock not getting the memo that his mind was being tortured by what ifs.
What the hell was up with that? It must have been because Sola was so near and yet out of his reach, as she had been all these months. Then he’d lain there restless and horny as hell, until he fell into another fitful slumber.