Playing Dirty Read online

  Easing out of bed, I tiptoed to the bathroom, doing my business and brushing my teeth and hair. I swallowed a couple of Tylenol capsules to take care of the lingering aches and pains. After washing my face, I went back into the bedroom and saw Parker had texted me.

  I’ll pick you up on my way to work.

  Guess I wouldn’t have to worry about having to borrow Ryker’s truck.

  I texted back okay, hitting Send just as Ryker’s hand wrapped around my wrist and tugged me back onto the bed.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you,” I said.

  “It’s fine,” he said, his voice husky with sleep. “C’mere.”

  Time was short, but I couldn’t resist a naked Ryker. Turning onto his back, he pulled me on top of him, the sheet getting tangled around our legs.

  “How’s your stitches?” he asked, his fingers brushing lightly against my arm.

  “They’re okay,” I said. “Better than last night. You look tired.” I smoothed a hand across his whiskered jaw.

  “It’s been a long couple of days,” he said.

  “Everything okay at work? With Leo? Are you done with him now?”

  Ryker didn’t answer right away. His eyes looked into mine and his arms circled my waist, holding me close.

  “No, I’m not,” he said at last.

  That alarmed me. “What’s wrong? What happened yesterday?”

  “The FBI has gotten involved,” Ryker said, pushing my hair behind my ear. “I was in meetings about it yesterday. They’re chomping at the bit to get another crack at this guy and vice wants to redeem themselves since the case got tossed.”

  I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. “What does that mean?”

  “It means … they want me to go undercover again.”

  The knot in my stomach turned to lead. I didn’t know much more about cops than what I’d seen on television, but even I knew that being undercover was one of the most dangerous things they did.

  “What did you tell them?” I asked.

  “I said I needed to think about it,” he replied. “It’s dangerous and …”

  “And what?” I was afraid to hope that I’d figured in to his decision at all.

  “And I’d have to not see you,” he finished.

  “Not see me?”

  “I can’t be coming back here if I’m undercover,” he explained. “They’ll have me under constant surveillance once I go back in. I can’t chance leading them here to my house or anywhere near you.”

  “But they already know we’re dating,” I protested. “Hello, they showed up practically at my door.”

  “So I’ll tell them we broke up. I’m not leading a man as dangerous as Leo Shea right to you.”

  I didn’t want to think about not seeing Ryker or knowing how he was doing for God knew how long.

  The light blue of his eyes held my gaze and his hands slid up my back underneath my T-shirt. I lowered my head and kissed him, a sweet kiss that rapidly turned into more. Apparently, it didn’t matter if Ryker was tired, judging by the hardness pressed against my thigh.

  “I need to get ready for work,” I murmured as his mouth moved down my neck.

  “I’d say this’ll be quick, but that might not be much incentive,” he replied. “Instead, I’ll just say I’ll make it worth your while to be late.”

  Thoughts of protesting flew out the window as he pushed my pajama pants down my legs and flipped us so I was on my back. In another moment, my T-shirt was dragged over my head and I was as naked as him. Before I could enjoy the full frontal view he was displaying, he was scooting down the bed and spreading my legs.

  “Ryker—” I didn’t know what I was going to say, but it turned out not to matter. His head was between my thighs, his mouth on me, and thinking coherently was beyond my abilities.

  Ryker was an oral kind of guy and I was a very lucky girl. And loud. My fingers were buried in his hair, holding on for dear life when I came, and the aftershocks were still rippling through me when he slid inside me in one deep thrust.

  His dog tags pressed against my breast as he pulled me up to sit astride him. My body felt boneless, but he didn’t need me to do much. His hands gripped my hips as his cock moved inside me. The slide of his flesh against mine had the familiar tension inside my body coiling again.

  “Oh God, Ryker …” I sounded like a porno film on steroids, moaning his name, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  He moved faster, his mouth fastening to my breast, and stars exploded behind my eyes. My nails dug into his shoulders as I cried out, then he was pulsing inside me, his hands digging into my hips.

  The sweet feel of sated lethargy crept over me as Ryker kissed me, a slow, deep kiss made even more intimate with him still inside me. His dog tags were warm from our bodies, the metal pressed between us.

  “I’ve got to get ready for work,” I murmured against his mouth.

  He made a disappointed sound, but released me. Glancing at the clock, I mumbled an oh shit and hurried into the bathroom for the fastest shower I was capable of. I couldn’t put my hair up without using both hands and lifting my arm up hurt this morning, so I brushed my hair and left it long.

  Wrapping a towel around myself, I came out of the bathroom to get some clothes from the other closet and saw Ryker had again fallen fast asleep. Not that I blamed him. Sex on top of being exhausted? Yeah, I’d be out, too.

  McClane was lying on the floor in the open doorway, looking at me. I shouldn’t have made eye contact because he began to whine. Crap. He probably had to go outside.

  “Fine, let’s go,” I whispered, moving past him into the hallway.

  I tucked my towel closer around me when I let him out the back door. The wind was cold and I shivered. Time to get dressed. But before I could make it into the back bedroom, there was a knock at the door.

  Not wanting to wake Ryker, I hurried to the door and glanced through the small window. Parker stood on the porch.

  I paused in indecision, not wanting to answer the door in just my towel, but then he raised his hand to knock again and I jerked open the door.

  “Shh,” I hissed. “Ryker’s asleep.”

  Parker slid his sunglasses down an inch, looking at me over the tops. His gaze traveled from my bare shoulders to my painted toes and back up.

  “His loss,” he said. “I’m really starting to like the terry cloth look on you.”

  My face heated and I stepped back, but instead of retreating to his car like I’d expected, Parker followed me inside. Sliding his sunglasses into the inside pocket of his suit, he gave me a half-smile.

  “The stitches look better,” he said.

  I glanced down at my arm. The angry red from last night had faded.

  “Yeah. It’s better today,” I replied. “Listen, I’m almost ready. I just need to get dressed.”

  “Need any help?”

  The question was all innocence, but I knew better and flashed him a narrow-eyed look, but he didn’t look evenly remotely abashed.

  “I can manage,” I said, pivoting on my heel and trying not to feel Parker’s gaze on me as I left the room.

  Although chilly this morning, I knew it would warm up later today, so I found a long-sleeved dress in peacock blue and put it on. Nude heels went just fine with it, and if I was at home I’d have accessorized with a scarf or a statement necklace. But Parker hadn’t packed any of those things, so I felt not quite put together when I emerged from the bedroom. I’d grabbed my makeup bag, figuring I could put my makeup on while riding in the car.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” I said, grabbing my purse. “Oh, wait.” I’d almost forgotten McClane. I let him back inside and refilled his food and water bowls, then met Parker at the front door. A few moments later, we were pulling away in his BMW.

  I’d ridden more in Parker’s car the past few days than I had the previous years I’d worked for him. The car was immaculate and expensive, and after I unzipped my makeup bag, I hesitated.

  “Mind if I put this on
in your car?” I asked.

  Parker glanced at me, his eyes once again hidden behind a pair of designer sunglasses. “You’re not going to dump it all over the seats, are you?” he asked.

  I hid a grin. “That’s not generally how it’s done, no.”

  “Then it’s fine with me.”

  Flipping down the visor for the mirror, I made quick work of it, forgoing eyeliner since I was in a moving vehicle. The mascara went on, then the lipstick, and I was zipping everything back into the bag.

  “I’d forgotten this last night,” Parker said, reaching over to open the glove box, which put his arm in too close a proximity to my bare knee. The fabric of his suit brushed against my skin, which felt way more intimate than it actually was.

  I was on edge after yesterday. Something had shifted between us, becoming more comfortable, and it scared me. I didn’t want a closer relationship with Parker, not now. And yet I couldn’t deny that I was glad to see him, that being with him made me happy inside. It wasn’t something I wanted to examine too closely. There was no reason to alter my life just because Parker’d had a supposed change of heart. Who was to say he wouldn’t have another change of heart once he had what he wanted, and where would that leave me?

  Exactly.

  To my utter embarrassment, he handed me my packet of birth control pills. How thoughtful of him. Really. Dear God …

  “Um, thanks,” I mumbled, my face on fire. I stuffed the pack into my purse.

  “So I take it you and Ryker resolved your differences?” Parker asked.

  I glanced at him, but he was watching the road.

  “Yeah. Things are okay.” I frowned. “How’d you know?” Surely it wasn’t that obvious that I’d had sex this morning? Did I have beard burn from Ryker? My hands itched to flip down the visor and look in the mirror, but I didn’t.

  “Just a guess,” he said.

  There was a silence that wasn’t at all comfortable, then he asked, “Did he say anything about Leo?”

  I nodded. “He said he had been working undercover and that’s how Leo knew him … and that they want him to do it again—go undercover.”

  “Is he going to?”

  I frowned, thinking. “He didn’t say, actually. But yeah, I think so. We were talking about it, then kinda got … distracted—”

  “I really don’t want to hear the details,” Parker interrupted, his tone dry.

  I cleared my throat in embarrassment. “So, um, yeah, anyway … I guess if he does go back undercover, we won’t see each other for a while.”

  “How long is ‘a while’?”

  I shrugged. “He didn’t really say.”

  “Did he say anything about the shooting last night?”

  I shook my head again. “No.”

  Parker muttered a curse under his breath. “So he’s just going to go undercover and leave you alone in his house?”

  I could feel a headache coming on, and didn’t bother answering him. His jaw was clenched and his lips pressed tightly together, but he didn’t say anything else.

  He pulled into a Starbucks drive-thru, ordering breakfast for us and his usual double tall latte. I opened my mouth to tell the faceless speaker my order, but Parker was already speaking.

  “… and a grande nonfat pumpkin spice latte, no foam, add extra whip,” he said.

  I looked at him in surprise.

  “That is what you want, isn’t it?” he asked.

  “Uh, yeah,” I said, shocked that he knew what I’d order. “How’d you know?”

  The voice gave Parker the total and the car inched forward in line. “You have the pumpkin spice lattes in the fall,” he said. “And you always add whip. I figured after yesterday, you might need more than the usual amount.”

  I guess I shouldn’t have been so taken aback that Parker had known this. He was the smartest man I knew, was incredibly observant, and he never forgot a thing. I just hadn’t realized I’d ranked on his lists of Things to Observe and Things Not to Forget.

  Parker paid, handing me my cup before pulling back into traffic.

  “I was afraid Ryker would let us down,” he said. “So I called my contact at the CIA and told him what happened. They’re sending a cleanup crew to your apartment to repair the damage, by the way, free of charge.”

  Gee. How generous of them. Considering it was their fault Viktor was loose at all, it was the least they could do. “What did he say?” I asked.

  “You’re not going to like it.”

  That didn’t sound good. “What?”

  “They want to put you in protective custody until they can track Viktor down.”

  “What?” My screech made him flinch. “You’re kidding, right? Protective custody? For how long? And why just me? Why not you, too?”

  “Someone needs to be the bait to lure Viktor out so they can catch him.”

  It took me a second to realize what he meant. “No way,” I said. “That’s just … that’s wrong! They can’t make you risk your life—”

  “I volunteered.”

  My jaw hung open as I stared at him. “Why would you do something so crazy?” I blurted.

  “You think I’m just going to wait around until he kills you?” Parker snapped back. “I don’t think so.”

  He pulled into the parking garage, navigating through the levels to his reserved space. I took his coffee and mine so he could grab his briefcase from the back. Transferring the bag containing our breakfast into his briefcase hand, he settled his other hand on the small of my back as we headed for the elevator.

  This was new.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  I punched the button for the elevator and turned, realizing he was standing really close to me, sandwiching me between the wall and his body. He was tall and his shoulders were wide, completely obscuring my view of the garage behind him. But he wasn’t looking at me. He’d propped his sunglasses on top of his head and was scanning the parking garage level we were on.

  “The, um, you know … touching thing.” Talk about awkward. And the bigger problem wasn’t that he was touching me, but that I liked it when I knew I shouldn’t. God, this was turning into a psychiatrist’s wet dream.

  “It’s a helluva lot easier to shove you to the ground if I already have a hand on you,” he replied, still observing the quiet garage filled with silent cars. He moved and his jacket shifted. That’s when I saw the glint of metal at his side and figured it out.

  Parker was protecting me.

  The elevator doors slid open and he hustled me inside, keeping his body between me and anyone who might be aiming for us. Reaching behind, he hit the button and the doors closed.

  “You can’t keep doing that,” I said.

  “Doing what?” Parker asked, his body relaxing slightly.

  “I don’t want you getting hurt because you’re trying to protect me.”

  He looked at me now. “But it’s okay for Ryker to protect you?”

  “He’s a cop,” I said. “That’s kind of his job, I guess …”

  “You know I’m a Marine, right? Just like him. Just because I don’t wear my dog tags doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten what they mean.”

  Okay, now it looked like I was heading into totally-offended-Parker’s-manhood territory. I was temporarily at a loss. This was ground I’d never been on before.

  “I didn’t mean to imply—”

  “Sure you did,” he cut me off.

  And it hit me. He was feeling … inadequate. Because of Ryker. It was surreal. Parker was nearly revered at KLP Capital. I felt more than a twinge of pride that I was his assistant. And now his ex-bff-turned-cop, my boyfriend, was making him competitive? Over me?

  The elevator doors opened and we exited as normal, Parker heading straight into his office while I went to my desk. I was starving and the cheese Danish he’d bought me was devoured almost immediately.

  It didn’t take long at all for Megan to show up at my desk.

&nbs
p; “Oh my God, I heard what happened!” She rushed around my desk to throw her arms around me. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

  I squeezed her back, despite the twinge in my stitches. “I’m fine, thank goodness. But I definitely wouldn’t want to live through that again.”

  She pulled back, looking at me seriously. “The news said someone shot up your apartment? Some kind of gang drive-by thing. Is that true?”

  I nodded, deciding I’d just go with the gang story the CIA had apparently leaked to the media, and she gasped in horror.

  “That is so … I just can’t … thank God you’re okay.” And she threw her arms around me again. “Why are you even here?” she asked when she released me. “Please tell me Parker isn’t making you work today.”

  “I’m sure he would’ve given me the day off if I’d asked,” I said. She pressed her lips together, but didn’t say anything. I hurriedly spoke again. “I’m fine. Really. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I weren’t here.”

  This seemed to satisfy her. “If you’re sure,” she said. “Hey, it’s the end of the month so we’re ordering in lunch today. Chinese. No one has time to go out. Want me to order something for you, too?”

  “Yeah, that’d be great.” I gave her my order for sweet and sour chicken along with some money.

  “Anything for Parker?”

  I hesitated. Usually, he ate out somewhere unless it was a Monday. But he didn’t have a client meeting scheduled today and if Viktor was targeting him like he was targeting me …

  “Yeah. Get him Szechuan chicken, please.” The thought of someone shoving Parker into traffic made me shudder. I’d just come up with some excuse that would make him have to stay in today. I didn’t know what I’d do tomorrow, but resolved to take it one day at a time.

  Work was the usual and my arm wasn’t too bad. For all that had happened the past few days, I was for the most part physically relatively unscathed. As for mentally or emotionally … well, let’s just say that it was a relief to be buried in work so I didn’t have time to think about anything else.