Page 8 of James (Big Northwest #6)

CHAPTER EIGHT

PHILLIP

“ I T’S NOT THE Venetian, but it’ll do for tonight.” Phillip engaged the ball latch on the door of their new hotel room as James wandered through the space, looking it over.

She eyed the single king-size bed dominating the space. “I didn’t see anyone waiting for me in the lobby so it’s a step up from my apartment.” She frowned. “Not that I’ll ever see it again.”

“I’ll send someone to see if there’s anything salvageable and have it packed up and put into storage for now.” He could add that to the list of tasks his assistant would be tackling first thing in the morning. “Tomorrow we can go shopping and get whatever you need.”

James snorted, turning to face him as she stretched her arms out wide. “In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have anything to buy new shit with.” Her arms dropped, along with her shoulders. “All my money and the prepaid cards I used to handle shit online were in my purse.” She flopped down to sit on the bed, catching her head in her hands. “And my purse was in my car. I’m sure those fuckers figured out which one belonged to me and cleaned it out.”

Another task that would be going on Nathan’s list. “Did you have an assigned spot?”

Her eyes lifted to his, the frustration they carried answering his question.

“It’s just money.” He wanted to soothe her, but fuck if he knew how. “I know that’s easy for me to say because it wasn’t mine that was lost, but I do know you won’t miss it nearly as much as you’d miss your life if you’d tried to get to that bag.”

James blinked up at him, her head tilting to one side. “They weren’t going to kill me.”

Just the thought of one of those bastards getting their hands on her had his fisting at his sides. “You don’t know that.”

James huffed out a bitter laugh. “I do though.” She sat a little taller, defiance tipping her chin. “I’m not worth anything if they can’t show me off.”

He’d seen bits and pieces of what James and her sisters were capable of. Knew from Craig’s carefully phrased explanations and vague answers there was more to them than anyone was supposed to know. He needed to know that secret. And to earn it, he was going to have to prove to James he was someone she could trust. Someone she could confide in.

“At some point, I’ll need to know what’s really going on.” She stiffened, so he kept talking, making his position clear. “It doesn’t have to be tonight. Doesn’t even have to be tomorrow. But if you want me to keep you safe, I need to know what I’m dealing with.”

James closed her eyes, head falling back. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I know I’m asking you to tell me something the whole group of men who came after you probably already know.” He gritted his teeth. “And if those assholes know, keeping me in the dark isn’t doing anyone any good.” Those men shouldn’t know more about her than he did.

“Can we talk about this later?” She worked the toe of one sneaker against the heel of the other, kicking it off. “I’m tired and my head hurts and I hate everything.”

Phillip offered a nod, even though he’d really been hoping she’d open up to him. Let him in. Just a little.

Turning away, he went to his bag and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. He set it onto the mattress, along with a bottle of water. “I’m going to take a shower.”

James nodded, her gaze downcast as she picked up the pain pills. “Thanks.”

He didn’t know what else to say to her, so he grabbed a pair of underwear and his toiletry bag and stalked into the small bathroom. Switching on the shower, he peeled away his clothes, tossing them into a pile. His pants might be salvageable, but the T-shirt was ruined, so it went right into the trash.

A light knock at the door had him going still. His heart rate picked up at the thought of James opening the door and finding him naked. It was both titillating and terrifying, and had his dick standing at attention in two seconds flat.

“Yeah?”

“Can I look at the pictures on your phone again?” She paused, her voice sounding smaller when she added on, “Please?”

“Sure.” He rattled off the passcode, one hand gripping his straining cock in an effort to calm it down. “Anything else?” The question came out clipped and abrupt and had him cringing. The woman had been through a fucking nightmare today and he was being an asshole.

Yet another reason he had to figure out how to get her home without fucking up both their lives.

“No. Thanks.” She sounded off. Like he’d hurt her feelings with his abrasive tone.

Fucking hell. This was going to be a shit show of epic proportions if he couldn’t keep himself in check around her. If he couldn’t control his reactions to her. To what she was.

Stepping under the water, he scrubbed at his skin, washing away the sweat and grime from their escape down the side of the building and his nearly naked, barefoot strut to the car. He’d dealt with all kinds of crazy situations in his life, but this one was by far the wildest.

A lot like the woman he’d be sleeping next to tonight. Thanks to some sort of convention happening at the hotel, they only had a few rooms available. All of them sporting king-size beds. And since there was no way he’d be letting James out of his sight, they were stuck sleeping in the same bed.

There were worse ways he could be spending his night, but trying to relax next to the woman dominating way too many of his thoughts and driving nearly all his actions would be almost impossible. Especially since she’d be sleeping in his fucking clothes.

After drying off and pulling on his underwear, he brushed his teeth, flossed, combed his hair, clipped his nails, and trimmed his eyebrows. Because he was a coward who was fucking stalling. Hoping to kill enough time that she’d be asleep when he was finished. He’d be safer climbing out another window than he would be getting into that bed with James.

He’d initially thought she was dangerous, deadly even—probably because she tried to kill him the first time they met. And she was. One predator recognized another. But James wasn’t as wild as he first believed. As feral. The woman was a complicated collection of contradictions, and it was fucking with his mind.

And his dick.

When he finally worked up the balls to walk out of the bathroom, the lights were off and hope bloomed in his gut. The television was set to a home improvement show, but the volume was turned way down. Taking the quiet as a good sign, he rounded the corner, prepared to stealthily slide under the covers and park his ass at the edge of the mattress.

But two steps into that plan he stopped short. Frozen in place when James’s eyes locked onto him. His mouth went dry at the sight of her tucked in, the mess of her blonde hair spread across the pillow beneath her head. “You’re awake.”

His phone was clutched in her hand, one finger hovering over the screen as her attention came his way. One brow angled at him as her eyes drifted down his body. “And you’re hard. Again.”

“Maybe that’s just how it looks.” He forced his feet to start moving again, because his dick certainly wasn’t going to calm down with her staring at it like that.

Her brow pitched higher as he climbed into the bed beside her, keeping as close to the edge as he could. She stayed silent as he grabbed the light layer of covers and flipped them over his body then tucked both palms behind his head, trying to look relaxed.

She continued watching him, her interest in his phone completely forgotten.

As expected, her attention only made his dick situation worse. He hadn’t been in bed with a woman in… Fuck, maybe a year. Jesus, he needed to spend a little less time working before his cock shriveled up and fell off.

When this job was over, he’d go back to Chicago and find a nice woman with sweet smiles and soft words to date. Too bad sweet smiles and soft words didn’t get him hard. Not like aggression and a bad attitude did.

One more way he was like his father.

Finally James turned back to his phone and the photos of her family she’d been scrolling through. “If you wanted to camp all you had to do was say so.”

The fuck was she talking about? “I don’t want to camp. Why in the hell would I want to camp?” Camping was fucking miserable. It was uncomfortable and messy and?—

James shrugged, her shoulders shifting against the pillow. “I just figured, since you’re pitching a tent.”

His cock had finally started to calm down, but her mention of the bastard had it standing back at full attention. Tall and proud. The thing hadn’t acted right around James from the start. He shouldn’t be surprised it was misbehaving now.

Rolling away from her, he tried to get comfortable on his side, fighting the overstuffed pillow into some semblance of a comfortable shape. “Go to sleep.”

James scoffed. “How am I supposed to go to sleep with a pogo stick bouncing around in the bed next to me?”

He craned his neck, looking her direction while keeping his body facing away. “Did you just call my dick a pogo stick? How fucking old are you, grandma?”

James’s eyes widened. “I was raised in a camper in the woods without television or internet, so you’ll have to forgive me if my burns aren’t as hip as you think they should be.”

He choked on a laugh. “Hip?”

“You know what?” She swiped across the screen of his phone and shoved it close to his face. “At least I don’t have a plant identification app, grandpa.”

“If you’re going to be all judgy about it, I’m not going to let you play with my phone.” He grabbed for it, but James managed to pull it out of his reach.

“I’m not being nearly as judgmental as I could be.” She lifted her brows, leaning as far as she could to keep the cell away. “I bet there’s a lot of gold to mine on your Pinterest boards.”

He should have put all his shit in folders before showing her those photos. Should have hidden every dirty little secret away from her beautiful, prying blue eyes. “Men are allowed to have hobbies.” He made another grab for the phone.

James rolled away, laughing as he tumbled along with her, the long lines of her limbs tangling around his as they wrestled over the cell, arguing and flailing across the bed. He managed to get his hand on the device, but before he could get it loose, she hooked one leg around his, pinning it in place while pushing against him, knocking him off balance and changing their trajectory.

Before he could blink, his back was against the blankets and she was on top of him, straddling his hips, her blonde hair tousled and messy as she grinned down at him, expression triumphant. James held his phone high above her head. “I win.” The words barely cleared her lips before her eyes dipped to where her body met his.

He expected her to scramble away. Get as far from him and his problematic pecker as she could manage, giving him shit about it until she passed out from exhaustion.

Instead, James dropped his cell to the bed before bracing both her hands on his chest and leaning forward. “I’m starting to think you like me a little more than you let on, Phillip.” She worked her hips, rubbing against him the same way she did at the club. “If you wanted, we could work out an agreement.” Her fingers pressed into his skin, just short of causing a pinch of pain. “Another dance for a shopping trip?”

It was a tempting offer. There hadn’t been a day that’d gone by where he hadn't thought about the way she rubbed her body against his.

Usually with his dick in his hands, fisting it until he came.

But he wasn’t one of her friends , and the sooner she figured that out, the better off they’d both be.

Gripping her hips, he met her gaze. “One dance was more than enough.” He hefted her up and off, depositing her onto the mattress beside him. “You don’t have to bargain with me for basic human decency, James.”

She stared at him, mouth opening then closing. After a few seconds she straightened. “I just thought?—”

“You thought I was like the men you’re used to dealing with.” He held her gaze, hoping she could see how serious he was. “I’m not.”

Her lips pressed flat as her chin tucked. “It’s not a big deal. It’s just a dance.”

That’s where she was wrong.

Reaching down, he grabbed the covers, doing his best to fix the mess they’d made as he pulled them over both their bodies. Once they were back in place, he turned, putting his back to her once again. Because even looking at her was too much right now.

He shoved his head into the uncomfortable pillow and closed his eyes, willing his brain to forget the way she looked at him when he turned her down. The shock that flashed across her expression was expected but fleeting. It was what came next that would be a problem.

Interest. Appreciation. Hope.

He wanted her to trust him. To understand she could rely on him to keep her safe. To protect her from anyone who tried to hurt her. He just hadn’t considered the full ramifications of that ask. Or how slippery that fucking slope would be.

And he was already sliding.