Page 37 of Before and After

Shit, I looked like a woman who’d just come and enjoyed it. My cheeks were pink, my lipstick was smeared.

And I was sticky between my thighs.

I took a few minutes to clean up, and I ruthlessly ignored everything that had just happened.

Maybe I could live like this forever. In total denial that Caden Castro had just fingered me to a magnificent orgasm in the hotel bar.

“Get a hold of yourself, Allie.” I dried my hands. I was going to finish my drink, see if I could salvage anything from my botched surveillance of the extreme-sports guys, then go home.

When I headed back out into the Bluff Bar, I was shocked to find Caden leaning against the bar, talking with Ross.

What the hell was he still doing here?

I wanted to turn and hide, but instead, I lifted my chin and marched forward. Ignoring him, I sat on my stool and picked up my drink. I took a hefty sip. It didn’t manage to wash away the memory of that hot, sexy moment.

He leaned in. “Why are you here?”

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“I want an answer.”

I huffed out a breath. “I told you, to have a drink.”

“I thought you were going to meet up with him. But that’s not it, is it?”

I studiously kept my gaze on the shelves of bottles behind the bar.

Caden’s voice lowered. “You’re watching him, and asking questions about him and his friends.”

I gaped at him. “How do you know I was asking questions?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I know everything.”

“You do not.” Ross was a tattletale who’d just gotten interrogated.

“In this hotel, I do. Talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

His mouth flattened. Then he pulled out a stool and moved it close to mine and sat. Suddenly, I found myself inches from him. He was all strength and watchfulness and ruggedness. I tried not to quiver, or stare at the way his muscular thighs pressed against his suit pants.

He thinks touching you was a mistake, remember?

“Allie?”

I blinked and shook off my Caden daze. “Something is off about those guys.” I kept my voice to a low murmur.

He eyed me.

“I don’t have any proof. You seem like a proof guy, so that’s why I didn’t come to you. I wanted to see if I could get something more concrete. They always have people around, and I don’t know why, but they bug my housekeepers too. No one likes them.”

“They cross any lines with the staff? Mouth off? Touch anyone?” His tone was dark.

“No.” I liked that he went instantly into protective mode for the hotel staff. “Something is just…off.”

He was quiet for a beat, and I expected him to tell me to go home.

“I agree.”