Page 24

I braced myself against the shower wall. I hadn’t meant to go down that rabbit hole. It was none of my business. But since I’d discovered it, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head.
Was she single? Why, when any man would be lucky if she even looked his way?
When we’d talked at the base of the palace stairs, she’d told me she was lonely, an emotion I knew all too well. She’d looked like an angel, barefoot, and in a tight dress that I’d wanted to take off her.
She’d gifted me her mask. I’d brought it home. Last night, I’d unpacked my bag and had to take it from the room or I’d stare at it and think of her.
Which meant it was watching me from across the bathroom.
Fuck.I stared back through the shower glass, picturing her eyes and the curve of her cheek under the lace. Allowing my mind to wander down that road was a dangerous game. My dick was way too interested in her, and she’d been a client.
The thought smacked into me that right now, she wasn’t. I’d been fired. Heat rushed me, and I fisted my half-hard dick, squeezing then stroking myself while keeping my focus on the mask.
Damn, I needed more.
Lurching from the stall, I snatched it from beside the sink and got back under the water. Then I wrapped Princess Alexandra’s lace mask around my dick and gave myself a stroke.
Heat and need hit me in a rush. Images filled my brain. The teenage version of us dirty dancing, Alex’s hands roaming. Then two nights ago when my arm had been across her body, under her breasts.Fuck. More.When she’d brushed a kiss to my cheek.
The deeper I let myself go, the harder I got, picturing every perfect curve with an electric flash of attraction.
The memory adapted to me turning my face to claim the kiss. Her lips under mine…
That did it. My lust for her crashed into me, and I came into the hot water, white lace encasing me and the sensation abruptly, damningly good. A pulsing flood of desperate need followed for a lass who could never be mine, no matter how badly I wanted the opposite.
I wanted her.
Breathing roughly, I let that settle under my skin then opened my eyes, reclaiming logic where I’d temporarily lost my mind. Done. I could manage this thing, whatever it was.
Action was needed that had nothing to do with my over-interested dick. Even if peeling off the mask left a lace imprint I wished would never fade.
Thirty minutes on, and with a clear head, I hunted down my boss at the hangar.
In a repeat of yesterday, Ben ushered me into the office. This time, I had better control over myself.
I dropped into a chair. “Something has been playing on my mind.”
He made go-for-it hands for me to proceed.
“The bouncer at the club got paid off by the photographer. Alex saw the exchange of money. But she was in disguise and was sure she hadn’t been recognised. Her wig and mask were good enough for a casual bystander, so who told him she was there in the first place?”
“Not the bouncer?”
I tapped my finger on my knee, working it through. “Maybe, but a bribe given at that point makes me think it was to turn a blind eye to him taking the pictures. Not to tell him she was there in the first place.”
Ben followed my lead. “Because the money would’ve changed hands earlier at the point the informant had something to offer. If true, that suggests it was someone else. Who do ye think?”
“This is going to sound wild, but one of her bodyguard team. They chose the bar we were going to and also chose to ignore Alex going into the club, even though I told them. It feels too coincidental. I don’t know how I’d find out, though. If I track down the photographer, he isn’t going to give up a source, and they’re hardly likely to admit it.”
Ben considered my point. “Perfect timing. I just took a call from Barrington. From Jared, he had a completely different story than the one ye gave.”
I snorted. “Naturally.”
“He fired him.”
I blinked at my boss. “Oh, shite.”
“We had a long talk, and let’s just say this was the first deep dive he’s done into that team since they were set up. Jared and co have had a number of complaints and breached protocol multiple times.”