Page 4 of Covert (Ruthless Love #2)
Chapter four
Axel
T he new girl is cute as hell.
I liked the way she held her breath as she took me in. I like how her body betrayed what she was thinking.
Baby girl wants me, alright.
I'll give her a week to settle in. She seems like the flighty type.
The things she did for Beckett were thoughtful; I know how much they meant to him. Maddox felt like an asshole that those things had never occurred to him, and that we know Beckett likes to suffer in silence. But we should have done more for him.
Her little ankle bracelet makes me smile whenever I hear it, like Pavlov's dog.
And I can see how the way Beckett looks at her has changed.
The first few days, it was with trepidation and nervousness; now he watches her with longing and pain.
And I wish I could take it all away for him.
But I can't fix his trauma response any more than I can make her love him back.
Because I'm pretty sure he's already in love with her.
Me? I'm in lust.
I watch her routine. I watch her work. I know Maddox mentioned after the first day how he doesn't expect her to last, but I keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't feel uncomfortable with any of the clientele, and that she doesn't screw anything up.
If she does, I can fix it before Maddox finds out .
At night, I hack into the shop's computer and verify that the accounting is correct and the inventory is good. So far, she's taken to the job like a pro.
She's friendly with everyone who walks in and seems comfortable, even with the drug dealers and strippers. She finds something to complement them, no matter who they are, and they seem to adore her for it.
I wouldn't mind keeping her around. I love being able to look up from my work and catch a glimpse of her leg from around the half-wall.
I love how her breath catches every time she's near me.
I love making her squirm. Her pale skin blushes pink and red every time I've caught her checking me out, or when I maintain eye contact with her for longer than appropriate.
And she's a nice distraction from what I do at night.
I need to work her up to the idea of letting me in.
We've been open for an hour, and I've done a butterfly tattoo on an ankle and a skull tattoo on the shoulder of a wannabe gangbanger.
Nothing crazy, but nothing exciting either. I get that these types of tattoos pay the bills, but I'm itching to get into something challenging. Something creative.
My restless energy begs me to do something foolish. It begs me to fuck with Nikki just a little more than I normally would.
With an hour before my next appointment, I sneak up to the half-wall. Nikki has her back to me, facing the door in case anyone comes in. She's sitting on the stool with her legs crossed, Kindle in her lap, bottom lip snug beneath her teeth.
I snag the Kindle from her lap, just to see what she's reading, and to get a rise out of her. What? It's how I flirt .
"Hey!" she protests, jumping to her feet and grabbing for the E-reader.
He licks my wet slit before circling his tongue around my clit.
I choke on my own saliva. She reaches around me, but I spin to keep my back to her. She presses her chest into my back as she reaches around the other side.
Porn.
Nikki's reading porn.
Nikki reads porn all day.
Has she been sitting here, getting all worked up and horny, every day? Just feet from where I work?
Holy shit, and what does she do when she gets home?
An image of Nikki on her back, chest heaving as she gets herself off, makes my mouth go impossibly dry.
She almost snags it from me, so I raise it higher. She's a short little thing, and I secretly love feeling her squirm against me.
"Give me that back!" she shouts, in a petulant protest.
"He finger-fucks me against my bedroom door until I come, screaming his name..." I read aloud, loud enough for the guys to hear me, too.
Nikki finally stops squirming. Beckett and Maddox both look up from their empty stations. Maddox was eating ramen, and his chopsticks paused midway to his mouth, mouth agape.
"Nikki's been reading porn all day."
She balls her little hands into fists at her side before raising one hand out flat, waiting for me to give her the Kindle back. I'm tempted to go on, but I don't want to seriously offend her; I just want to tease her a little. Steal a little of her attention .
"It's called smut, and I'm not embarrassed. Everyone loves sex. Why wouldn't they want to read about it?"
She looks me dead in the eye. She says she's not embarrassed, but the pink on her neck and cheeks says otherwise.
I give her a long, heated stare, daring her to look away first, as I place the Kindle back in her waiting hand.
I drop my voice, both in pitch and tone. "Good to know," I say lowly, stepping in closer to her.
She grips the Kindle and spins away from me, but when she does, a flash of silver on the back of her neck catches my attention.
She regains her seat on the stool, and I take the opportunity to learn more about her.
I sweep the rest of her long, black hair to the side of her neck and confirm what I thought I saw. An ugly, vertical scar, right in the center of her neck.
I trace my thumb down it, which causes her to shiver. Her hand slaps mine out of the way to cover the scar, and she turns to look up at me. Instead of lust or anger, her features are tight with fear.
"What happened here?" I ask, raising my other hand to trace it again. Except she doesn't move her hand, so I end up sweeping the back of her knuckles instead.
"Please," she whispers, a tinge of desperation in her voice. "Please don't ask that."
My brow pulls together in confusion. What could have possibly caused that scar?
What could she possibly be hiding? Did someone else do that to her?
It's raised, jagged, and messy. It doesn't look like she got the stitches it likely needed.
Was she stabbed? In a car accident? What kind of accident would happen just to the back of her neck? Did she do it to herself?
The confusion grips my mind and steals all of my restless energy. She's a question I need to figure out. An enigma. This beautiful, innocent, apparently sexual woman with a past we know nothing about.
Nikki Smith has just become my newest target.