The King (Gentlemen Rogues 2)

Something occurred to me. "What if it's not about suspicion? Maybe he's trying to get in Saff's knickers and this is more about his obsession than our cover being blown."

Gabe was silent for a moment and then said, "That's a good point. This could have nothing to do with your agent status at all. It could have to do with you, Saff."

“I spent my whole life with men ignoring me, and suddenly a potential arms dealer wants to stalk me? That's a lot."

When Gabe hung up and I was left alone with Saff, I swallowed hard. My fingers were already tingling with the anticipation of touching her. "We don't have to do this. We can fake it."

She folded her arms. "How are we going to fake it? We don't know where the cameras are."

"Look, it just has to look real enough in some random cameras right? It's highly unlikely he's got night vision in there. I get you upstairs and we put on a good show, no big deal. Get you on the bed, and we just—" What the fuck was I saying? I cleared my throat. “Fake it. We don't have to actually, um, have sex."

Her eyes went wide. "Jesus fucking Christ, things were not supposed to go like this."She started pacing back and forth.

“It's fine, Saff." I strolled to her and put my hands on her shoulders. “You trust me, right? You wouldn't have agreed to come on this mission if you didn't trust me in the field."

Her gaze lifted and met mine directly. “Yes, I trust you. You're my partner. But Lock, from the moment we step back in that villa, it has to look real. If that matters to you too, are you going to be okay to pull this off?"

She had no idea I’d been fantasizing about what she would feel like for weeks. And now I had to go and live out my fantasies. But only to a point, and fake it. Yeah, easy. “You're my partner and I want you to trust me."

She nodded, her gaze never straining from mine. “I do trust you. We're in this together, and we can do this. I also think you're right. I don't think this is about us as agents. The stuff he was saying out in the balcony makes me think it’s more about wanting me to be some kind of third in a poly situation than anything else."

“I think so too. Also, I think Graciella was hinting that she was going to call you and apologize. I think she knows something is not right."

She shook her head. "We're just going to go in and play the part. I'm sure you've hooked up in a million bars and clubs and with all kinds of women, right? We can do this."

"This is different. We're a team, and this is awkward."

She gave me her determined smile. I'd seen it before when she was about to do something she didn’t want to do. "We can do this. We're adults."

“It's just for show. If you don’t want to do this, we won’t. You’re my partner. I only care about your safety.”

She put her hand over my heart, and I knew she could feel it trying to jump out of my chest.

With her eyes locked on mine, I watched hungrily as she licked her bottom lip. “I want to.”

Her voice was a low whisper that went straight to my cock, “Fuck.” My brain offered up all the ways I could consume her. My throat constricted as I asked, “Anything off limits? Something you don’t like?” We wouldn’t be able to ask real questions once we were inside the villa.

Her eyes went wide. “No. I guess I’m pretty vanilla.”

“Nothing about you is vanilla. Just touching you is hot to me.”

She swallowed. “This is only the one time.”

I knew what she meant. Didn’t mean I had to like it. “Guess I better make it count then.”