Hostile Territory (Blackbridge Security 1)

Why would he defend it? He’s exactly where he put himself. I believed his explanation about needing to talk to her about the diamonds, and that makes me a fool.

“It’s not what it looks like.” I pull my dress over my head, realizing too late that it’s on backward.

“So, you weren’t fixing to fuck my ex-husband?”

I can’t even look at my friend. The best I can do is look in her direction, keeping my eyes trained over her shoulder on the door I so desperately want to make a run for. The situation doesn’t even need explaining, so I clamp my lips closed. We won’t be able to ignore it for long, but Dani eyes Deacon warily as he makes a production of zipping his jeans and adjusting his cock. Of course he’d still be hard. I’m sure this went exactly to his plan, and that’s the kind of shit that turns him on. It doesn’t matter that I’m probably going to lose my friend. Yeah, she’s petty and vapid, but we’re like sisters.

I know I shouldn’t have been on his lap, mere seconds away from freeing his cock and sliding down onto it. I shouldn’t have done a lot of things these last couple of weeks, but nothing makes me regret what I’ve done more than watching Deacon walk across the room before disappearing into the bathroom.

Is he waiting for me to leave so he and Dani can have it out before hate fucking each other? I wouldn’t be surprised. No matter how much I’ve tried, I can’t keep her voice out of my head, the one that bragged about his prowess in bed when we were teens. It nearly made me gag in disgust then, but now I know exactly what she was talking about, even more so because I’m certain he has skills now that he didn’t years ago.

The heat from Dani’s eyes draws my attention back to her, and she’s standing with her hip cocked, eyebrows raised as she waits for me to speak, and I hate that I meet her gaze because now I can’t seem to look away.

She doesn’t say anything, and neither do I.

It’s not what it looks like.

Isn’t that what every person who gets caught red-handed says? I said those words moments ago. I’ve turned into a fucking cliché and I can’t stand myself.

“Dani,” I begin, but the words just stop.

As much as I want to tell her how I feel about him and explain that it honestly did just happen, I can’t. I have real feelings for the asshole even though he will never feel the same for me. Actions always speak louder than words and the way he just sat there with me on top of him without telling her to leave until we were decent is screaming from the top of the mountain right now.

I should’ve listened to my gut when it told me to run far and fast after he shut down the first time we ended up in bed together, but then he looked at me, held me when I was upset, and I told my inner voice to shut up. When his lips met mine, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop.

My friend holds her hand up, and instead of getting irritated, I snap my mouth closed.

“I’m not discussing this with him here,” she says after a long moment and quick look toward the bathroom.

The toilet flushes and water runs in the sink, but he still doesn’t exit the bathroom. I can’t help but wonder if he has his ear to the door and a grin on his face as he waits patiently for Dani to rip into me. Is this retaliation for invading his life, for taking up his time? Is it some form of manipulation to get Dani back and finally get me out of their lives for good?

If I hadn’t spent so much time with him recently, that’s exactly what I’d think was going on, but I can’t discount his sincerity when he spoke to me earlier.

I won’t let anything happen to you.

Those words, although they feel like a million years away, were spoken less than a half an hour ago. He meant them. I could see the truthfulness in his eyes. Emotion clogs my throat because I’m so damn torn. It’s the unknown that I can’t stand. If I thought I owned even a part of him, some fraction of certainty that if I stand up for what he and I have that he’ll be by my side, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but I don’t. All I have are doubts. I don’t know where he stands. I don’t know if he wants something from me. All I know is he got up and walked away, just like he has more than once, and that screams at me to keep the one friend I have left even though she’s done a terrible job so far.