Inescapable

“Yes, she’s my chief’s daughter, so what?”

She shrugged. “Just learning. Very clever,” she added nodding at the screen. “Whack-a-mole.” She chuckled. “Do you think it will work? I mean, will she tell him?”

“She’s an extremely bright kid, and apparently she checks her email every day. Gets excited about receiving mail, so she will mention it. In fact she will bug him so much we’ll have to play the game next time I get to visit.” He chuckled.

Lily’s hand tightened on his shoulder.

“And, most importantly, her dad will know there’s a leak at work, because I’ve gone via an outside route.” He reread the message, thought through the implications, and hit send. Before he could start brooding on his decision, he closed down the computer connection. She was still looking at him with a curious expression on her face and a half smile. “Hopefully our shooter will be behind bars, and soon.”

He stood up and slapped her playfully on the bottom. “Let’s see if we can find you some underwear.”

“Do you have a sister?”

“Unfortunately not,” Seth replied as he led her towards his parent’s bedroom. Frowning, he wondered what the hell he was doing bringing her up here to his mother’s room looking for clothes. Because I can’t have her knickers hanging off driving me insane, that’s why. He gestured into the bedroom and then at the chest of drawers is on the far side. “See if you can find something in there.”

Moments later he heard her giggle softly. “I don’t think your mum and I are the same size.” She turned to face him, holding up a rather large pair of pink knickers.

“This was a bad idea,” he mumbled vaguely. Size and colour were not the problem. He’d realised that he had no inclination to see Lily in his mother’s underwear. Lily had returned her attention to the drawers, bending down as she did so. Her skirt rode up and he got a flash of her bare bottom.

She wasn’t wearing any underwear, torn or not.

His cock immediately hardened at the sight of her pussy and bottom, bent over like that, wiggling. “Forget it,” he said. “I’ll take you to a shop.”

“Are you sure it will be safe,” she queried, still bent over the drawers.

Staring at her exposed pussy, Seth shook his head. None of them were safe with her walking around like that. His barriers were dropping all over the place, but he had to get her arse covered up and soon, or he’d lose focus altogether.

Chapter Twelve

When Adrian had brooded and sulked long enough to make him feel ashamed of himself, he emerged from his room and walked into the kitchen, which he found empty. In the hallway, he heard creaking floorboards that sounded as if it was on the stairs above,

so he wandered to the residents’ lounge. His knee was feeling much stronger, which was a relief, but he didn’t want to undo that by tackling the stairs.

In the lounge, the curtains at the window where open a few inches, which was unusual. Curious, he crossed the room and peered out. He looked out at the scene beyond, reflecting on how his world had shrunk from everything that it once was, to what was inside these walls. Just a few days before, he couldn’t even stand the thought of going into witness protection, being locked up and away from everything that he knew, and at times it now seemed as if the whole world had vanished off the face the earth and there was only three of them left. Three of them here in this isolated the old manor house with its quaint well-stocked bar, and its creaky floorboards.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of the rather baggy jeans that Seth had given him to wear, he wondered vaguely who they belonged to. He’d asked Seth if they were his, and he’d said something non-committal about finding them somewhere in the house. That seemed like a good enough answer, given the circumstances.

It was uncanny, the way he’d adapted to this strange life inside a couple of days. He was in a strange house in place he didn’t know, wearing another man’s clothing, and yet he was okay with it. It was Lily who’d made that happen, she’d made this time positive—exceptional, even. He had no doubt it would have been a completely different story had she not been forced to join them. It was quite possible that he was simply burying his head in the sand about Carlisle and the trial—not to mention the fact that someone with a gun would rather he was dead and buried.

Which came first, the attachment to Lily, or the need to escape the oncoming trial? The trial was something he hadn’t allowed himself to dwell on too much, he knew that, but a voice in his head kept shouting that it was Lily; it was because she’d proved to be everything he wanted and more. Second-guessing himself meant doubts were being thrown up all the time. He was still kicking himself about taking on the Carlisle account at all, and that messed with his head.

When he heard Lily’s voice and her laughter approaching outside the room, he turned away from the window and watched as she darted into the lounge. She threw a pink woollen item on to the sofa.

“Seth found me a couple of sweaters and he has kindly offered to do the honourable thing,” she rolled her eyes as she said that, “and take me to the shop to buy some necessities.”

Seth was taking her out of here? Why did that make him feel so unsettled? “Necessities?”

She turned around and lifted the back of her skirt, exposing one naked buttock. Adrian was reminded of a poster he had on his wall as a teenager. It had a tennis player in exactly the same pose. He shook his head and laughed softly. Her cheeky pose made him want to hold her in his arms. Making his way to a nearby armchair, he grabbed her from behind as he did so, pulling her onto his lap.

“Hey, be careful, watch that leg of yours.” Her cheeky expression turned serious.

“Yes, nurse.” He rolled her close against him and moved one hand under her skirt to caress the bare buttock she had shown him.

“Ah, I see you’re recovering your physical abilities, Mr. Walsh.” Her expression softened to a smile again. She put one arm around his back, settling in.

“That I am, so you better beware.” He was about to say more when Seth entered the room carrying a scarf in one hand. “Here, you can use this to cover your hair. We have to be quick and discreet about this. It’s totally unorthodox, but I guess it has to be done.” Glancing in Adrian’s direction he added, “Are you okay with this? It won’t take much longer than an hour.” He looked towards the patio doors. “I’d be much happier if we kept those curtains closed.”

Crossing the room, he switched on an up-lighter and a lamp, and then drew the curtains closed.