Page 28

The aftermath of what happened at the warehouse was a fiasco, especially when it came to the paperwork.

Luckily, no one had died from the crazy circumstances.

Even Stacy, or Aspen Rhodes, had managed to survive the gunshot wound to the stomach and was recovering in the hospital under police surveillance, ready to take her to prison after the doctors deemed her well enough to recover in a cell.

I was just glad that we were able to stop the petrylle from becoming genetic guinea pigs all for the sake of revitalizing Archibald Rhodes.

The scientists had revealed that they’d intended to inject the bone marrow from the petrylle into the senator.

They’d then been subsequently arrested so their level of commitment to the plot conjured by Aspen Rhodes could be evaluated.

Maxim was also in custody, even though I had a feeling he wouldn’t be there long.

I had made sure to mention that he was helping her because Stacy had threatened his parents.

And while his actions had been dumb in helping his bigoted girlfriend, he didn’t deserve to rot because of those choices .

Hudson had a few cuts and bruises from the interaction, but he was otherwise in perfect shape.

He’d told me afterward that he’d “taken a beating or two before” and that this was nothing that was going to set him back.

I didn’t know what the fuck that meant, only that I was recommitted to staying on Hudson Rowe’s good side by all means necessary.

I’d gone over everything with my boss immediately after police had swarmed the warehouse and saved everyone, including all of the kidnapped petrylle.

Apparently, word was traveling fast about the petrylle being recovered and I was getting all the credit for it on social media, much to my boss’ delight.

I told her that she needed to make sure the world knew that Hudson and the rest of the ORBIT board were the only reason any of it was possible in the first place, and I wasn’t the hero. They were.

Already living through one hell of night, I made my way out of my boss’ office after debriefing her on all I’d learned about the Rhodes family around midnight, heading home for a very, very long sleep.

By the time I’d gotten home, I’d almost passed out on the couch and decided that was good enough. But the comfort of my king-sized bed lured me to the bedroom, and I was safe and snoring under its sheets before I could even fathom the day I’d had.

Morning came all too soon, and I’d never been happier that it was Saturday than I was when I woke up around eleven that morning.

No work to keep me busy, my boss telling me to rest up for an official report on Monday morning addressing the kerfuffle on live television, which gave me the weekend to write up a speech to deliver.

But that was going to be Sunday Wallace’s problem.

Saturday Wallace was all about relaxing and staying in bed as much as possible.

After wiping the sleep from my eyes, I hesitated about whether or not I should text o r call Wrex.

I wanted to see him, badly, after he’d dived in front of a bullet for me.

But there was nothing I could think of that warranted the big enough praise he deserved for it.

So I hesitated for a full hour before I was able to shoot him a text.

I was wondering if you’d be up for a visit?

My heart quickened. Would Wrex feel the same way that I did now after the excursion at the warehouse?

While I wasn’t sure that I was ready for a full-on relationship at the moment, seeing Wrex in direct peril had shown me that he was definitely more than just a hot fuck to me.

He was so much more than that, and he could potentially be even more in the future.

I didn’t want to scare him. I loved the fun and flirty vibes we’d been having before the kidnappings had wedged hardship between us.

There was the very real possibility that he’d realized that living that frivolously was all the more important and that he’d want to keep things even more casual, as in only sharing one night with guys he intended to bed.

But I held out hope that we could at least talk it out.

The warehouse had complicated things between us.

Now, it felt like there was no chance in hell that we could go back to the lightheartedness we’d been so enjoying.

It just felt kind of impossible right now and that’s why I wanted to see where Wrex’s head was at.

If it was over, I needed to hear it from him.

A message pinged back, so wrapped up in my thoughts about potential rejection that I hadn’t been paying enough attention.

As long as it involves being in your bed and moving as little as necessary.

Oh well that’s a given. I could order us some pizza and we can enjoy it in bed and talk?

Sounds perfect. I can be there in an hour if that works?

Absolutely. See you then

Clutching my phone to my bare chest, a beaming smile unfolded across my face. Maybe things weren’t so complicated between me and my favorite petrylle after all.

A series of knocks decorated my condo’s door an hour later, and it was the second time I’d gotten up out of bed for the day.

The first being when I had answered the door for the pizza delivery just five minutes before Wrex’s arrival.

The pizza delivery guy got the Wallace special for free because I hadn’t felt like covering up, answering the door in just my underwear and thanking him for the pizza.

I walked past the two pizza boxes on the kitchen island as I made my way to the front door.

I greeted Wrex with the same smile I’d given the pizza delivery guy, only this time there was a growing tent forming in my underwear now as I took in the sight of my favorite petrylle.

Wrex was wearing a pale yellow crop top and khaki pants.

There was something so deliciously slutty about a man in a crop top.

Just the sight of him made my dick twitch expectantly in my underwear.

Wrex smirked as he looked down at my crotch before meeting my eyes again. “Happy to see me, I see.”

“Always,” I chuckled, leaning forward to kiss him. He hesitated for a second, but then returned the quick peck with intent. I mentally notated that, realizing that talking was definitely in order if he was hesitating to kiss me already.

I tried not to let the thoughts swarm me as I closed the door and gestured to the pizza boxes on the kitchen counter. “I got one cheese and one supreme. I wasn’t sure what you’d prefer.”

“All pizza is good pizza,” Wrex commented with a chaste smile. “One of the best things humans ever thought of, in my opinion. ”

“Hard agree.” I laughed back easily, but I could feel the tension tightening around my neck as I grabbed the pizza boxes and started heading for my bedroom.

Wrex cleared his throat, causing me to turn around and see that he wasn’t following me. I placed the pizza boxes down on the coffee table I’d just happened by. “Before we head to the bedroom, I really need to get some things off my chest. If that’s okay.”

I smiled despite the nerves twitching within my veins. “Of course that’s okay, Wrex.”

Closing the space between us, Wrex stopped when he was close enough to reach if I outstretched my arms. He looked so serious, and he looked so handsome that all I wanted to do was to crash my lips against his, but I refrained for fear of upsetting him when he clearly needed to express himself.

“What happened at the warehouse was insane,” Wrex admitted.

There was no chance I was going to combat that with an opposition, so he continued.

“And while I definitely don’t think I’ve completely dealt with the way that it made me feel in all aspects, it definitely brought something to light that I can’t ignore. ”

The end of our situationship practically hung in the balance, ready to fall from the pedestal it had been teetering on since we started hooking up.

Wrex wanted time to heal from the trauma of being kidnapped by a petrylle targeted hate group, and I couldn’t blame him for wanting to remove himself from a sexual relationship in order to do that.

Not wanting my disappointment to shine, I dulled my features and nodded for him to keeping going.

“Being held at gunpoint was the scariest shit I think I’ve ever experienced,” Wrex looked away, doing his best to bury the memory so that it wasn’t easily readable on his face.

“A thousand things ran through my mind. Would I ever see my family again? Would I ever find a different job besides my IT position at the construction company? W ould I ever be able to finally move out on my own? Typical things that would run through your mind when a threat was placed on your life.”

His smile made it harder to accept that he was about knife our relationship in a quick lash, spilling the insides of our casual friends with benefits’ guts all over the floor of my condo.

A part of me felt slighted that he could cut through our relationship with such an ease he’d yet to voice, but at the same time, he was the one that had been taken from the street and thrown into a van or however the hell Stacy and Maxim had managed to move him, not me.

I had no right to regulate what he’d been through.

“But the number one thought I had when I was in that warehouse was how much regret I’d have if I never got to kiss you again.”

My head tilted as if I’d heard him wrong. “Me? Your loudest thought was about me?”

“Yes, Wallace.” He said, shaking his head, as if he couldn’t believe that I was questioning it. “You.” He stepped forward until our chests were touching, trying to keep myself from shaking when our groins connected with a rough thrust. “It’s always you, I just wouldn’t let myself hear it.”

“Wrex, I…” This wasn’t what I’d been expecting. Hell, I’d been steeling myself for the exact opposite of this conversation. Now that I was confronted with what I wanted, I suddenly couldn’t find the words to express myself. “What are you saying, exactly?”

“I’m saying that I know neither of us were looking for a relationship when we started this, but that you’re the only one that I want to be with. If that’s also what you want.”

Heart quickening with overstimulation, I couldn’t speak, couldn’t fathom grasping the right words about how I felt about him.

So I grabbed both sides of his handsome face and kissed him hard like I’d been wanting to ever since he’d graced my doorstep.

My hands wove patter ns into his dark buzzed hair, relishing in the traced tickles they left on my fingertips.

Wrex put a hand on my chest, grabbing at my bare pec while his other hand slid down my stomach and picked at my underwear’s waistband.

A light shove from my chest broke our kiss as Wrex pried us apart. “If that means you want the same thing, I’d like to hear it so I know we’re on the same page.”

Chuckling, I cupped his chiseled jaw and stared into those endless blue eyes I’d grown so accustomed to. “I want you, Wrex. You and only you. I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m still apprehensive after my divorce, but I don’t want to be with anyone else.”

“Good.” Wrex beamed. “And I’m totally okay with us taking things incredibly slow. I just…I want us to be, well, an us.”

“We already are,” I assured him. “Plus, I feel I kinda owe you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, smirking.

“Since you went and jumped in front of a bullet for me and all.” A thought, not for the first time, occurred to me and I decided to blurt it out before I never got the chance to ask.

“Did you know that your luster could deflect bullets?”

“No,” Wrex admitted, mewling into my touch by sliding his hands across my lower back and pulling me into him, our hips sizzling together with tangible heat. “I just knew you couldn’t.”

Nuzzling into his skin, I tucked my head into the crook in his neck as we pulled each other close, inhaling his usual scent of fresh rain and warm laundry.

I was completely taken aback that Wrex was mine.

And I was his. The fact that he was willing to take things at a slower pace only made my heart throb harder for him.

We pulled apart and I placed a kiss on his lips again. “Well then, Wrex. This is me officially asking you be more than casual with me. ”

He snickered, shaking his head at me. But I felt his lips on my cheek as I smiled wide. “I humbly accept.”

“Good,” I moaned, taking one of my hands and grabbing a handful of his perfect ass, jiggling it for effect. “Because I have some plans for this ass that I’d like to run by you.”