Watch Me

Definitely not my type.

But no matter how hard I’d tried to forget about him as I'd finally laid my head on my pillow to try and snatch a few hours of sleep, he’d been there. That mouth that probably twisted into cruel, ugly sneers when there was no camera around had invaded my thoughts. My body hadn't cared that he stood for everything I despised. All it had wanted to do was imagine what his silky hair would feel like beneath my fingertips and discover if his skin would be just warm or a little bit hot to the touch. I had no clue what his voice sounded like, but that hadn't stopped my brain from hearing him whisper my name as I drove into him over and over. And those cold eyes… those had been bright with fire as he’d clung to me and begged me for more. By the time I’d given in to my need, there’d been nothing to show for my night except stained sheets and a body that should've been sated but, strangely enough, wasn't.

I'd managed to collect myself as I'd made the journey into the city, but all of my good intentions to be the professional Mike needed me to be had begun to fall apart when Jude Archer himself had walked out of his office and through the waiting area for the first time that morning. His picture hadn't done the man justice. Yeah, his features had all been the same and there was that definite air of superiority in the way that he moved, but there’d been something else too. Or maybe I’d just wanted to believe that. Maybe I'd wanted to justify why I'd ended up with my sheets tangled around my body that morning.

I’d wanted to see something that wasn’t really there.

Archer hadn’t noticed me when he’d walked by. Hell, he hadn’t noticed anything at all. I'd written it off to him being distracted as most people usually were when they were on the phone and filed it under one of the talking points I’d planned to have with him.

As I’d waited, I’d considered that as much as Jude Archer might not want to admit it, he was no longer just a regular person. His dalliance with Clifton Hayes had assured that he didn't get to live in oblivion anymore like the rest of us. As long as he was fucking the old man, he was either at risk or he was the risk. Kidnapping, extortion, blackmail… the list of security threats were endless.

I'd ended up taking advantage of Archer’s first absence from the office by using the time to study the space. At one point, his assistant had left the suite completely unattended and I'd actually been able to explore Archer’s work area completely uninterrupted. His computer had been locked, but there’d been any number of places, including a private bathroom, where an intruder could have been lying in wait for Archer to return. I'd spied the security cameras in the man's office, but when I'd sat at his desk and spent a good twenty minutes toying with my gun’s clip and not one security person had shown up, my anger had started to grow. I'd returned to the sitting area and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the comings and goings of Jude Archer. I'd sat and listened to him humiliate his clearly incompetent assistant but had still managed to rein in my anger. The Nikolai Falkov patience meter had been tested and tried, but it had hung in there.

I'd been patient, but not completely unaffected. Every time Archer had walked past me, I'd found myself holding my breath. And every time he'd neglected to even make eye contact with me, I’d grown more and more irritated. But as much as I hated to admit it, my irritation hadn’t come from a professional perspective. No, it had been all personal. My mind and body had been in an endless battle all day over my undeniable attraction for the asshole who probably made more money in a day than I did in a month.

"Well?" Mike snapped, reminding me of his presence. The fact that I’d once again gotten lost in the craziness that was Jude Archer had my cheeks heating.

"It needed to be done," I murmured.

"That's it?" Mike practically yelled. "You point a gun at the client and get yourself arrested? I don't even know what the fuck to say to that, Nik!"

I didn't either, but it was the absolute truth. Even now, I wouldn't do things differently. I just didn't know how to explain that to Mike. Hell, I wasn't used to needing to explain myself at all. I'd earned Mike's trust. But that was gone now and I couldn't blame him. The reality was that I had fucked things up for him. Well-intentioned or not, I'd let my emotions get the better of me and now Mike and his family would pay for it.