I’m in my new room, tucking panties into a drawer when Austin walks in, freezing in place as his gaze zeroes in on the black lace in my hands. I watch as his Adam’s apple bobs, his thick swallow audible in the small room.
“Can I help you?” I raise a brow, feigning strength and annoyance, even though my stomach is all a flutter.
Austin clears his throat as his feet bring him deeper into the room, his proximity making me even more nervous.
“Yes. I wanted to talk to you about some changes. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t sure how I’d handle Jack and Pen under the same roof.” He rubs at his stubble, breathing audibly through his nose. “Well, as you saw in the game room, it isn’t going well.”
“Is that why we’ve moved out into one of the cabins on the property?”
“Yes.” A shudder washes over him before he continues. “That house… I don’t even want to know what’s happened or what’s going to happen in it. That’s why I’m having a home built about ten acres west of the main house, but we’ll be staying here in the meantime.”
I’m nodding, wondering where I fit in. “Okay. Does this mean you still want me to stay on?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I asked you earlier today if you could stay on, and you said you’d think about it, but I need to know.” Austin pins me with an intense stare I can’t discern. “Things are clearly changing, which means I’ll be cutting your checks instead of Jack. The terms under which my brother hired you will no longer apply and there’ll be changes to the conditions surrounding your employment.”
It’s my turn to swallow back the lump in my throat. The way he said that last word has me feeling all kinds of filthy. “Okay. Have my duties changed?”
His face transforms as his eyes fill with heat, but he quickly blinks it away. “No. That’s not it.” He leans back on the dresser and crosses his arms in front of his broad chest, the new stance letting me perv on his exposed forearms.
Jesus. He’s rolled back his button-up shirt—something he never does—the change letting me see all the beautiful art he has tracing his bronzed flesh. The intricate designs are all black lines apart from the various pops of green. So. Damn. Sexy.
“Anaya, I know my brother hired you, but I’d like to ask you to stay on with me as your direct boss. I’ll be the one paying you. The one giving you orders.”
My knees wobble and my core clenches. God. Why did that sound so hot?
“Yes, sir.” I hear it. The shake in my voice, and apparently, so does Austin.
He pushes off the dresser and walks toward me, only stopping once his body is a mere breath from mine. “Is that something you like, Anaya? Taking orders?”
My face heats and I look away, unable to withstand the heat in his eyes. It’s like molten lava, searing a path wherever they land, threatening to melt me in place.
“Answer me, Monroe.” The pad of his fingers press against my jaw line, coaxing my head to turn toward his.
I blink, letting my eyes settle onto a sliver of his neck because I can’t muster enough courage to do more. “Monroe. Why do you keep calling me that?”
His hand leaves my chin, the backs of his fingers caressing my cheek, back and forth. “Because that’s what you are. My blue-eyed Monroe, with your blonde hair, endless curves, and bee-stung lips. You’re every man’s weakness.”
My eyes shoot up to his and I see the surprise in his face, like he hadn’t expected to tell me all that.
But like a gauntlet being thrown down, he clears his throat and steps back; the moment shattering whatever heat there’d been between us. “It’s late. I shouldn’t be in here.”
He turns and heads toward the door, speaking without turning back. “Let me know if you’re not okay with the new terms. I’ll give you two weeks to decide.”
And just like that, he’s gone, leaving me a shaky mess of emotions with a massive need to relieve the deep ache between my thighs.
It’s been ages since I’ve pleasured myself, and the thought of doing it here and now, a door down from his, only gets me wetter.
Shaking my head, I walk toward the door and close it, trying to push out all my sinful thoughts along with it.
Pressing my back to the door, I let myself slide down, groaning as my butt hits the ground.
I’m a married woman and he’s a newly widowed man. What in the hell is wrong with me?
Austin
I’ve just closed my bedroom door when my phone lights up. Looking down, I see the number to William from WRATH securities flashing across the screen. Without hesitation, I click the line open and press the phone to my ear. “Talk to me.”
“Hello to you too.” There’s a smile in his voice, which hopefully means good news.
“Hello, William. There, I’ve greeted you. Is that enough or should I send you flowers and chocolates too? Maybe pen you a sonnet while I’m at it.”
Laughter booms through the receiver. “So damn dramatic. Don’t get your panties in a wad.”
“They aren’t. Do you have anything for me, or did you just want to hear my masculine voice—let it remind you of what a real man sounds like?”
“Har. Har. Keep talking and I won’t tell you about Anaya’s husband, Ray.”
With the mere mention of that man’s name, my breathing picks up and my cheek starts jumping like a recently acquired tic. “William, you better start talking, or I swear I’ll pull my hand through this damn phone and rip the information right from your throat.”
More laughter ensues, making my patience wear thin and driving me to the brink of insanity. “Okay. So get this, he’s a model citizen. Clean as a whistle. Not even a damn speeding ticket. Mother Teresa wouldn’t even come back this clean. Either he’s lived the life of a monk, or something’s not right.”
I feel my face scrunch at his words. How is that possible? “Can you send me a copy of his social and driver’s license?”
“Already on it. You should have a copy of both in your inbox right now.”
I place him on speaker and pull up the email app on my phone. Finding William’s message, I tap it open and wait for the images to load.
I’d pictured a million different scenarios in my head when it came to Anaya’s husband, but none of them were this.
The guy in the photo looks to be in his early to mid-forties, the date of birth corroborating my assumption. Anaya is into older men? I mean, I’m older than her at thirty-three, but only by a decade and a year.
This guy, Ray, seems to have an extra ten years on top of that.
“Austin? You there, brother?”
“Yeah, sorry. It’s just sort of a shock.”
“What? That he’s a saint on paper?”
Of course he didn’t catch the massive age gap between Anaya and Ray. He’s only looking at it from a security standpoint. Which is what I should be doing too, isn’t it?
I grunt out a sound, unwilling to come clean with my thoughts.
“Yeah. But we’ll get to the bottom of it. It’s what we do. It’s what we live for.” William’s too cheery tone has me sighing.
Truth be told, I wish I could be as happy as he is. And for fuck’s sake, I should be. Penelope is home and my children are safe. I’m a lucky man.
But nothing I tell myself can shake this immense guilt I carry around my neck like a damn anchor, bringing me down and placing me in a perpetually bad mood. To make matters worse, I know I’m not easy on Anaya.
She makes me feel extra messed up. I look at her and the feelings she elicits have me acting like a damn lecherous thief, stealing moments of joy that I have no business experiencing.
My thoughts drift back to how she looked in her room—her full lips parting when I asked her if she liked taking orders. God. That made my dick so hard, it’s a miracle I didn’t reach down and give it a squeeze right then and there.
“Austin? You there?” William’s voice cuts through the line and it’s then I realize I’ve mentally checked out for the last couple of minutes.
“Yeah, sorry. I’m here.”
“Everything okay? I mean, besides the current mystery and the fact that we still don’t know what happened to el Jefe and his men.”
“Speaking of which. What’s going on with that, any leads?” Distraction and avoidance are the name of the game. I don’t understand what’s going on in my head and I’m definitely not ready to delve into that can of worms with William.
“We haven’t been able to get anything solid, but something Cárdenas said when we left his villa stuck out. I think he might have something to do with it. If so, then you can count yourself lucky. One less problem to deal with.”
“Lucky my ass,” I scoff. “Nothing that good comes free. One way or another, that man will come knocking—like the grim reaper, collecting what’s owed.”
“Amen to that.” William lets out a long sigh. “Anyway, that’s all I have for now. I’ll keep you posted if I get anything else. We’ll talk soon.”
The line goes dead and I’m both relieved to have his happy ass off the line but also angst ridden, wanting to know more of what they have on Ray. I have no doubt that their file has important details like where he’s at right this second.
As if it has a mind of its own, my hand clenches into a tight fist, the skin around my knuckles cracking from the stretch.
Thoughts of Anaya with another man have me vibrating, turning my vision red. What could she want with him? He’s old enough to be her dad.
Against my better judgment, I open the bedroom door and step into the hall, unwilling to wait for answers. I need them now, and It’s a good thing I know where to get them.
