bent over and retrieved her pants from where they’d fallen to the floor. He noticed she carefully kept her face averted. “You said you’ve been fantasizing about me. Did you mean it?”
Uh oh. The breathy murmurs had changed to crisp speech; she sounded like a lawyer questioning a hostile witness. Was he about to face a lawsuit? Not that he could deny what he’d just done to her-he’d definitely shattered the employer/employee boundary.
“Have you really been fantasizing about me?” she demanded again.
“Yes.”
She pulled on her pants, her head bent over as she fastened the clasp at her waist. “Does that explain why Miss Stewart and you are no longer together?”
“Nope. Cynthia and I…well, let’s just say we were never exclusive.” Tread carefully, Sammy, Rosie’s not ready to know about the club or its members. Not that he could tell her if he wanted to without permission from the board.
Rosie slanted him a strange look as she fastidiously did up every single one of her blouse’s buttons, including the two she’d left undone when she’d first met him at the limo. “So why did you keep seeing her?”
Because Cynthia was a damned good fuck who let him enjoy some of his kinkier preferences while he fantasized about another woman didn’t seem to be the right answer.
He realized Rosie was holding her breath, realized what she was asking.
“You’re askin’ why I never approached you before.”
She gave him a stiff nod.
“I’m your employer. I couldn’t treat you as anything other than an employee without risking a lawsuit.” Until tonight when his dick definitely had taken control of his brain.
“Is that honestly why you told Chad to assign someone else?” When she finally looked at him, he was surprised at the anger spearing out of her eyes.
Oh yeah, this was no wilting lily waiting for a man to validate her existence. She hadn’t let whatever had happened just now distract her the way it had him.
He shouldn’t have let his frustration get the best of him, he shouldn’t have taken her the way he had. Hell, he shouldn’t have kissed her, even that was way over the line. But he didn’t regret it either. His fantasies hadn’t come close to matching her in reality. She’d tasted like strawberries and rain and heaven rolled into one enticing package.
He wanted to see her eyes unfocus again. And often. Now. Without thinking, he stroked her cheek. “Believe me, baby, I wasn’t objectin’ to you guardin’ me because I think you’re not good enough. I know you’re one damned good protective officer.”
With precise movements, she tucked her shirt into her pants. “Then we’ll forget this happened. I’ll tell Andy and Kris one of them will be staying with you from now on.”
She was out the door and in the foyer before her words penetrated the haze of his lust.
Forget this happened? She could do that after the full-body orgasm he’d just given her? He scrambled from the bed, having to fight his way out of the comforter that had tangled about his feet. “Hell no, we won’t forget this happened.”
The front door was just closing behind her as he reached the foyer. He yanked it open and stalked into the hall following Rosie. “You think I’m gonna just let you walk out of here after what we just did?”
He pulled up short, shutting his mouth when he saw Kris and another man standing in the hallway by the door to 1202. Kris’s eyes went wide, then his lips pressed together until they were nearly white. His scowl deepened, and he muttered something under his breath. Though Sam couldn’t hear what he said, he had a pretty damned good idea the newbie had just lost any respect for his lead op. Or more likely him. The other man-Scott Phillips, the guy Troy had assigned to the cause-went from a look of surprise to a carefully blank look. From beneath lowered lids, his eyes narrowed as he assessed Sam, lingered on the woody Sam was still sporting.
Rosie’s hands clenched as she slowly turned back to face him. She stabbed her fist toward him, one finger pointing at the door to his penthouse. “You. Get back in your apartment.”
“Rosie-Ms. Ramos-”
“Now! And lock the door behind you.”
Aware of the two men watching them, Kris with overt hostility, Sam considered grabbing Rosie and pulling her back into his apartment where they could continue the discussion in private. Until he saw her move into a defensive position as she anticipated his thoughts. He settled for a dignified retreat.
Rosie waited until she heard the deadbolt click before turning back to her co-worker. Co-workers if the man carrying the khaki duffel bag was who she suspected.
Kris cleared his throat. “Hey, I guess I should introduce you two.” He hooked a finger in Scott’s direction. “Scott Phillips, I’d like you to meet our lead op-Rosie Ramos.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Ramos.” Phillips hefted the duffel and headed toward her, his eyes flickering down. “You might want to, um,”-he waved his fingers over his chest-“check your buttons.”
A glance down at her blouse revealed she’d misbuttoned her blouse and a large gap had displayed her bra to all and sundry. Aw, crap! She wheeled around and hurriedly redid the buttons. When she turned around Scott had disappeared into the apartment.
“He’d just arrived when…” Kris waved toward Sam’s door. The questions she knew he wanted to ask hung so heavy in the air she needed a forklift.
“Kris, about what just happened-”
Kris held up his hands though he spoke through clenched teeth. “Hey, if you and Sam are having an affair, it’s no skin off my back. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, you know?”
Except it wasn’t Vegas, and she’d just lost the respect of two of the men she needed to respect her right now. Not to mention her self-respect had just taken a nosedive, especially since ninety-seven percent of her body was screaming at her to march right back into Sam’s apartment.
“Look, we’re not having an affair.” No, she’d just let her boss strip her naked and go down on her. It wasn’t an affair when the pleasure had been so one-sided, was it? Didn’t it take her returning Sam’s attentions for it to be a proper affair? Which she would have done-willingly, eagerly-if Sam hadn’t pulled away. If she hadn’t walked away.
A second passed, then another before Kris spoke again, “Did Sam…he didn’t force himself on you, did he?”
She looked up in surprise, and saw Kris’s jaw was locked, a fierce look in his eyes. He wanted to protect her, she realized. For all his joking and tricks, deep down he was the stereotypical knight in shining armor.
“Did he hurt you?” he asked again. “Did he threaten you, or your job?”
Hurt her? He’d told her he’d fantasized about her the same way she’d fantasized about him. Right before he’d given her a mind-blowing orgasm. Which definitely hadn’t hurt. Well, okay, maybe her ego hurt that he’d pulled away and apologized. But that wasn’t exactly something she could confide in Kris. Or anyone.
When she didn’t answer, Kris turned on his heel toward Sam’s door forcing her to grab his arm. “Kris, stop. We got in an argument over his schedule and how we’re going to protect him. You saw how he was fighting it this morning. It was just more of the same.”
Though she couldn’t speak for Sam, it was as far from normal as possible for her. The whole scene in that bedroom seemed more like a dream than reality. But she hadn’t decided if it was a fantasy come true or a nightmare in the making.
Kris hesitated. Then, even though he knew she wasn’t telling him the truth, he relented.
“Listen, I know I said I’d take the watch tonight, but could you stay in Sam’s apartment instead?”
“Sure, Rosie, anything you want.”
He ducked into their apartment, emerging moments later with a beat-up gym bag. He glanced over his shoulder when he reached Sam’s door. From the look he gave her, she had a feeling he knew it wasn’t Sam she didn’t trust, but herself. That she was tempted to walk back into the lion’s den and meow.
Without saying another word, Kris opened Sam’s door and shut it behind him.
Muttering about her own idiocy, and flinging curses toward Sam, Rosie fled into the safety of 1202. Phillips’ duffel was just inside the door, though she couldn’t see him.
Andy looked up from the laptop. “Hey, Rosie. I sent Scott to crash in the second bedroom with Skippy since
