“Sounds to me like Pri might have you thinking about staying around,” Blake comments.
That apple falls close to the tree, but it’s also soured before it ever hit the ground. “You know that’s not an option for me.”
“Nothing is possible if you decide it’s impossible.”
I grimace. “Are you auditioning to write fortune cookies or what?”
“Smartass,” he grumbles. “Enough of that until later. I’m calling to officially give you a heads up. The lot of us will be there in your room in half an hour. You need to make a decision about Pri.”
I don’t have to ask what he means. We had this conversation last night. “You don’t want to stay at the hotel?”
“It was a good move last night when we didn’t have time to prep our team, but I asked our team assassin. Savage seems to think you’re vulnerable in a hotel. And I got a second opinion and asked Seth, one of our former spooks. He said the same.”
“And they suggest what?”
“Two options: a fancy flat on Fifth where we’re well-sheltered, or your place, which has been carefully sheltered and prepped. You need to decide which.”
The question of the hour—or rather, in this case, a half-hour. I know what I want to do. I know what I should do. Those two things conflict. I stand and watch the bathroom door for Pri’s return as I ask, “Do you have an opinion on her safety?”
“Do you want me to tell you what to do?” I ask. “Because you know I am all about telling you what to do.”
“This isn’t about me, Blake.”
“Isn’t it?” he challenges.
My jaw tics. Pri exits the bathroom. Her hair has that wild, just fucked look. No, I amend, the wild, just fucked by me look that would have me ready to get her naked again, if she wasn’t holding her phone, with her delicate brow furrowed. Something happened. Something always does.
“I have to go,” I tell Blake. “I’ll let you know when you get here.” I disconnect. “What’s wrong?” I ask, meeting Pri at the end of the bed.
“Logan left a voicemail.” She punches play and the message begins.
“I told the police I shot myself. Because I’m protecting you, Pri. That’s what I told you at the restaurant. All of this is to protect you. You have no idea just how much I’ve protected you. You need to come and see me and you need to do it now.” The call disconnects.
“I don’t have any idea how much he did to protect me?” she repeats. “What does that mean, Adrian? Are my parents more involved in this than I know about? Because damn it, I already barely know how to save them.”
I catch her arms and step into her. “I don’t know, but we’ll find out and if we can save them, we’ll save them.”
“Only we won’t. I know that deep in my gut, the way I suspect you knew it with your brother.”
“I did,” I say, “but I fought for him until the last minute, until that was no longer possible, and that’s what we’ll do for your family.”
“We?” she challenges.
I don’t even hesitate as I confirm, “We. And that includes me and all of the Walker team, who will be here in about twenty minutes.”
Her eyes go wide. “Twenty minutes? The entire team? What’s going on?”
“We’re going to game plan together and then move locations.”
“Move where?”
“To be determined,” I say, backing her up into the bathroom. “We should shower together to save time.” I untie the robe and settle my hands on her shoulders, easing the terry cloth down and letting it fall to the ground, my gaze raking hungrily over her puckered nipples.
“Adrian,” she whispers, and I fold her close, my blood hot, my body hard, my heart completely at her mercy.
My fingers tangle in her soft, dark locks. “I will never get tired of you saying my name.” And then I kiss her, drinking her in, some might say avoiding the topic of what comes next. But I’m not. What comes next is us under a hot spray of water, her pressed in the corner, and me pressed inside her.
That is what comes next.
Chapter Twenty
ADRIAN
I fuck Pri in that shower as if I will never fuck her, let alone make love to her, again. And maybe I won’t. I drive into her, her leg at my hip, water flowing over us, with the fierceness of a man who must have it all, all of her. When it’s over, we don’t speak but it’s in the air—it being all the things we haven’t talked about but will soon.
Don’t ask me how we manage to get dressed by the time Blake and the crew arrive, but we do. With my direction, and a need to stay neutral to draw as little attention as possible, both of us dress in black jeans and black T-shirts.