Defending Pacer, стр. 29

I feel like a real piece of work. “Yeah about that—”

“It’s okay,” she interrupts, “I found some paperwork today that explained why you dislike Karen Lawson so much. Her husband investigated a couple of your cases, right?” Her blue eyes draw up to mine.

What paperwork have you found, honeybee? Is it the paperwork Reed told me he has?

Smiling, I can’t help but want to kiss her sweet face. Despite what I’ve done in my life, she’s still willing to accept me. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve someone like her, but I know I’m going to do everything I can to keep her.

“I won’t ever lose my shit like that again,” I assure her between kisses. “It’s just this whole media circus got the better of me today.”

She nods and offers a faint smile. “I know the feeling. I just don’t understand what their obsession is?”

“What the fuck is that all about?” I chuckle.

She laughs. “My life, your life—they’re both extraordinary. Are we the only people who understand that about each other?”

“Possibly.” I couldn’t agree with you more, honeybee. “Good enough reason to see where this goes, if you ask me.”

With that, I kiss her and our bodies naturally meld into one another. There isn’t an inch of her body that I don’t beg to have against me. In the most unique of ways, she fits me and I fit her.

We fit.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I didn’t realise how soundly I slept until I woke up. That was some good sleep. We only had sex for forty minutes, which is an official record of the shortest time for us.

Forty minutes. Is this a change in the relationship? We’ve gone from fucking for twelve hours, to an hour, to forty minutes … all within thirty-six hours. Is it a sign that things are slowing between us, already?

Don’t be a dickhead!

We’ve only been together for less than two days. But getting to know her for two weeks has only cemented that she has all the things I want in a woman. She had the sex appeal before we had sex, and now that I know what that leads to, she has more appeal than ever.

I hold her body in my arms; she sleeps heavily within them. I roll onto my back and she moves with me, tucking in like a little ball of wool. If you stay right here, I will protect you forever.

I want to tell her how much she is perfect for me.

My Ma and sister have tried to tell me that there is such a thing as love at first sight. I would scoff at it. I believed in insta-fuck —I could instantly tell when I was going to fuck a woman … which was all the time.

I fucked Chelsea the first time, too. I wanted to fuck her for the past two weeks beforehand. But then something happened. Emotions fired off like the electrical currents in a light bulb.

After that, everything changed. Something happened that my Ma and sister never spoke to me about. They didn’t warn me about what happened when you fucked a woman that you have feelings for. I felt something for Chelsea, and suddenly our fucking turned into something so much more. It turned into … feelings.

She wriggles within my arms. Squeezing her, I let her know she’s still with me. Her head turns first, then her body manoeuvrers around to face me.

“What time is it?” Her first-thing-in-the-morning voice is edible.

My fingers playfully dig into her torso. “What is it with you and time?”

She squirms and giggles at my strong fingers. “I have a job that requires me to know the time.”

“Excuses,” I retort.

“Says the man-child.” Your sexy tongue, honeybee.

It’s always her sexy tongue; it gets me every time. I lean my arm out and reach the phone on the bedside table. “Eight-fifteen.”

Chelsea’s body rolls backwards, and her arms stretch out as the wave ripples over her body. It’s incredible to watch.

“I’m glad you broke into my house.” She laughs.

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think you were worth it. So where were you last night?”

She eyes me for a second before answering. “Working.”

Unconvinced, I shake my head. “Working on what exactly? You weren’t in your office,”

“How do you know that? Did you break in there too?” She walks out of the bedroom as she talks.

“I have my ways,” I call out after her.

Is she avoiding this conversation? That only means she’s hiding something. I hear the shower start and decide to join her.

Her bathroom is like a piece of history. I’m sure it’s all the original work. The white claw bath is huge. They don’t make them like that any more. The bath/shower combination has a shower curtain with a black and white picture of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. It makes no sense and makes me laugh. I didn’t notice this in here last time.

Chelsea’s head pokes around the edge of the curtain. “What are you sniggering at?”

“Ziggy Stardust on a shower curtain?” I smile.

She draws the curtain back playfully. “Don’t even question my Bowie obsession. It will be a deal-breaker if you do.”

Climbing in the shower behind her, I watch her shampoo her gorgeous blonde locks for a moment before taking over and rubbing her scalp. She leans back. I can see the smile on her face from here. This feels nice.

“I never would’ve picked you for a David Bowie kind of girl.” I work her hair into a lather.

“And what does a Bowie kind of girl look like?”

She amuses me so much. “Not you. You look like a Celine Dion type of girl. Or maybe Lady Gaga.”

She peaks out at me between her dark lashes and grins. “Please! Don’t insult me. Lady Gaga maybe, but Celine Dion? Are you kidding me?”

I guide her head under the water and wash out the worked in shampoo. She smiles the whole time. It makes me smile. I could get used to this co-showering thing. I look down her body while she rinses the rest of the shampoo out. Yep, definitely could get used to this.

***

“I’ll wait until you’ve gone first and head out through the garage. Hopefully there aren’t any paps waiting for me out the back. Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you over to work? Or at least you should get a cab today.” I slip my gloves on, now fully dressed.

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t care if they follow me. I have to meet with friends this morning. I meet with them every morning for breakfast … well, except for yesterday.”

She sheepishly closes the door on the spare room that has my shrine that she made. Despite her best efforts to keep it hidden, I know it’s there so I’ll just humour her and go along with the act of not taking notice. Pulling her coat on, she wraps a scarf around her neck. There’s my boring suit girl. I smile.

“Just call me if you need me to come and rescue you.” I pull her to me.

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you? I can handle the cameras, Pacer. I have a feeling this will all be over soon anyway.” She kisses my lips.

What are you up to, my honeybee?

“You’re up to something, and whatever it is, I’ll find out.” I have to warn her again. “There are a few things about the city that you just don’t understand. I don’t need you getting involved in something that could be dangerous. Leave that up to me.”

Her eyes search mine. “Tell me what’s going on, Pacer? What’s Jackson Reed got to do with all of this?”

I’m going to sort that asshole out before he comes after Chelsea. If he touches even a hair on her head, he will wish his death came fast.

I shake my head. “It’s nothing you need to worry about. Jackson Reed is bad, but his days are numbered.”

“Please be careful, Pacer. He has friends in such high places that even I won’t be able to help you if you get caught doing anything to him.”

Her words make me laugh. If only she knew the Jackson Reed I know—he has a lot of enemies in high places, too. I want to call a meeting with him today. This needs to be sorted before he gets out of hand.