Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

Or if she was going to take that agreed upon out and run with it.

As far and as fast as she could.

Ty had not wanted to leave her. And that alone had spooked the hell out of him, chasing him out of that bed and back to the safety of his own home.

But now that he was here, he glanced around his empty, sterile apartment, where he never felt quite alone. He was haunted by too many ghosts to find peace in his own home.

Filled with restless energy, he checked the clock on his kitchen wall. It was early…just before seven. He needed a walk to clear his head. He picked up his heavy camera bag, slung it over his shoulder and headed back out.

He absently waved at the night guard on the front desk as he walked out into the cool evening. The sun would set in about twenty minutes, and the sky was already painted in hues of orange, pinks, and crimsons.

He didn’t have a particular route in mind, he just walked until he found something he considered interesting enough to shoot. Usually, it was enough to keep his mind occupied, finding the right subject matter, choosing the lens, framing the shot…but this evening—even after finding a lonely sandal without its mate, the task didn’t absorb him as it usually did.

Not when he could still smell Vicki on his clothes, taste her on his lips. He really ought have showered and changed before fleeing the silence of his home.

This wasn’t good. It was a fucking disaster. He should have left her the hell alone. Why didn’t he keep his hands to himself?

What the fuck had he been thinking?

Who was he fooling? He hadn’t been thinking at all. His dick had done all of the decision-making today. At least Ty had wrestled control away from the tyrannical, greedy fucker long enough to lay down some ground rules.

Nine weeks. That was it… Strictly rationed, pure and simple sex.

Nine weeks was long enough to scratch this itch but hopefully short enough not to fuck it up with messy, emotional complications. Not if they both adhered to the rules.

He had given her ample opportunity to change her mind, but she wanted this. As much as he did. It would be okay. They could make this work. They would make it work. They were in it now. There was no going back.

God, he was hard for her again. He had left her apartment still wanting her. And it had spooked him; how insatiable he was for her. He would have worked that sweet little body all night if he’d stayed with her…and that unquenchable need could not be indulged. He would pace himself. Like an addict, trying to avoid self-destruction, he would allow himself only enough to take the edge off.

That was the only way this would work.

Ty was waiting for her as usual the following morning. Vicki was a bundle of nerves. She had barely slept last night. On edge despite the draining orgasms he’d given her.

She wasn’t sure what to expect when she saw him again, and she held her breath when she opened the front door to find him waiting by the elevator as he had most mornings since he had started shadowing her.

He was wearing a black suit and a white open-necked shirt, sunglasses already perched on his nose. Legs braced apart, hands folded in front of him, at ease but ready for anything.

“Morning, ma’am.”

That was it. Quiet, emotionless, normal.

Ty being Ty.

“Morning, Ty.” She shouldered her bag and swept past him into the elevator. If he could do this, then so could she.

He wanted discretion…Vicki hadn’t known that discretion meant pretending that everything was business as usual even when they were alone.

He stepped into the elevator with her and stood in his usual spot, three feet away from her, watching the floor numbers tick by.

Vicki hated this; it was ridiculous. Surely it wasn’t necessary for them to be so cold with each other when they were alone? They’d made some real progress yesterday…before the sex. They’d had actual conversations, enjoyed each other’s company. Things hadn’t been this icy with between them since the very beginning.

They were in the car before he broke the silence and then only to remind her to put on her seatbelt.

She sullenly glared at the back of his head but clipped the belt in place and reached for her phone to call her mother.

She was happy for the distraction and tried to pay close attention when her mum asked for her advice on cakes, and place settings, and bridesmaid dresses. It was a good way to spend the drive and it kept her focus off Ty, whose gaze remained on the road for the entirety of the journey.

She ended the call while he was parking the car. Then waited for him to follow the usual protocol. But instead of immediately exiting the vehicle and feeding the meter, he sat for a moment with his hands at ten and twelve on the steering wheel. She lifted her eyes to the rearview mirror to find him staring at her.