Page 32 of Baby Take Me Home

After a very long time, he shifted and propped himself up on his elbow. He ran his finger over my cheek and pushed a strand of hair off my face. He leaned down and gently kissed me. “Stay here tonight.”

I didn’t know whether he was requesting or demanding. I didn’t care. I just knew I didn’t want to leave. “I thought you’d never ask.”

* * *

TJ

On Saturday morning,I was awake at 0600. During the summer, I kept my shades over the window near my bed angled slightly open so the dawn light woke me before my alarm rang. It was a much more pleasant way to wake up, but this morning, it was still going to take a behemoth effort to drag my reluctant ass out of bed because a gorgeous woman was curled against me. She stretched and sighed in her sleep, and my morning wood got harder. Good thing I’d been planning on a cold shower anyway to invigorate me after only four hours of sleep, followed by a hot rinse to warm up my muscles before my workout.

I liked to be finished exercising and off the gym floor by 0730, when Kessler and Li showed up for their joint workout. Their fitness levels and fighting skills were arguably the most important ones of the team. Their dedication to remaining in top form had saved themselves, their teammates, and innocent civilians multiple times in the eight months the Alpha Team had been working together.

Thinking about my team was enough to get me to roll to the edge of the bed, but then Ashlee’s hand snaked up over my hip.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” She yawned. “It’s so cozy in here.”

“Grabbing a wake-up shower before my workout,” I answered. I turned toward her to kiss her, and her hand slipped under the sheet and wrapped around my hard-on.

She grinned. “Thinking about me?”

“So, so much,” I mumbled against her lips.

My alarm beeped, jarring me out of my horny haze.

“Shit,” I groaned as I hit the off button. “If I don’t get moving, I’ll have to skip my workout.” But I was already leaning into her, kissing her, running my fingertips up over her ribs and the under-swell of one breast. There’s more than one way to get a morning workout.

She ran her tongue over the pulse in my throat and I shuddered. “I’m joining tactical crew for their workout later, so I could use a wake-up shower myself.”

My cock twitched at the thought of lathering her up, then pressing her against the shower wall and slipping into her from behind. “You win,” I whispered. “But it’s my turn to take control.”

“And what if I want to be in charge?” She grinned as she gripped my shaft and stroked me.

I closed my eyes. “Mmm. Then you’ll be in charge.” I opened my eyes and grinned down at her. “Either way, I win.”

We’d only been doing this since Wednesday, but already it was so easy between us, having sex well into the night, falling asleep in each other’s arms, waking up in the same bed, enjoying a morning quickie before she sneaked out of my room and back to her own.

But tomorrow night, we would take her home. She would have her Tuesday lunch with Luka Kovac. If he was satisfied that she wasn’t a threat, she would write a puff piece about him and return to her real life. If he was unconvinced, Ashlee Armand would disappear. Either way, it wouldn’t be safe for her to see me again. My time with her was almost over.

I lay back down beside her and kissed her long and slow. “Let’s stay here for a while before we get in the shower.”

She nodded. “I’d like that. And I’m thinking maybe no one has to be in charge this time.”

I pulled her into my arms and held her tightly against my chest, running my hand through her unruly hair. “Sounds amazing.”

But the truth was, she was in charge. Whether she was dominating me or I was commanding her, she was lord and master of more than my body. After thirty-five years of skating close but never skidding off the edge and falling in love, I’d finally screwed up, and under impossible circumstances. I’d handed over my heart to Ashlee Armand. In a few days, she would hand it back to me in pieces and walk out of my life for good.

PART3

THE PROTECTOR JOB

CHAPTER 13

Ashlee

“More weight on your back leg,”Mai told me. She stood off to my left while Cynthia stood in front of me holding a punching shield. “That’s better. Can you feel the difference?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Cynthia said. “Now, hold your core firm. Feel all your strength coiling in your body. Feel that?”