Page 106 of Hurry Up And Wait

“And what obsession is that?”

“You need to control everything. It’s pretty clear by the way you hover over me when you’re here and the massive amount of security—and the insane way you wanted to place guards on me—that you have a tiny bit of a problem with not being in control.”

“That’s just ridiculous. Ask Eli. He’ll tell you I’m great at following orders.”

Uh-huh. “Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it.”

He dug his fingers into my side, eliciting a yelp from me. But all too soon, I was trapped under his body, forced to endure the torture of his fingers dragging every last laugh from my lips. And every time I thought I was done, he started up again, just to see if he could get a few more giggles out of me.

“Stop! Stop!” I begged. Finally, he shifted off me, relenting from his endless torture. It took me several deep breaths to finally breathe properly again, and when I looked at him again, his eyes were brighter than I’d ever seen before. “What?”

“You’re so fucking beautiful.”

I blushed from head to toe, lifting my hand to brush his cheek. “You’re too sweet.”

“Not sweet. Just…”

Again, it was on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t let the words out. I tried not to be disappointed as he rolled to his back and pulled me in close. It should have been enough that he was here with me. He came home when he wasn’t supposed to, all because he couldn’t stay away. And yet, something inside me longed to hear the words from his lips—for him to not hold back and tell me what was on his mind. I already felt like there was so much he wasn’t telling me. I just wanted one thing to be real. To know that through everything, there was something more than sex.

But as the moment passed and we laid together in the dark, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Not yet.

Maybe when this job was over, he could finally give me that piece of himself.

I staredat the package on my front porch and sighed. I didn’t need to see the return address to know who it was from. There would be shredded divorce papers inside, probably with a nasty note to me. Not that it mattered. My lawyer assured me there were ways to move forward and end this. That’s all I really wanted.

I’d become really good at ignoring the gray car parked on the street. It couldn’t be Shawn. There was no way. And yes, it bothered me that someone was out there, always watching, but they hadn’t made a move yet. What was I supposed to do? I got photos last week and sent them over to OPS, but the car was listed as belonging to a corporation. Any number of people could be driving it. Maybe it had nothing to do with Shawn. Maybe it was a spy for another graphic design company. Or the government, here to watch my every move and then tax the hell out of me when I bought a new pair of shoes.

Unrealistic? Yes, but it was the government. I wouldn’t put anything past them.

I tossed the box on the table and chose to ignore it as I grabbed a second cup of coffee. I heard a loud yawn behind me and spun, jerking as a naked man appeared before my eyes.

“Holy shit!” I gasped, shoving my hand out to block the more…endowed parts of his body.

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Riley said you weren’t home,” he said, snatching the paper off the table and holding it in front of his lower half.

“Of course she did.”

“She knew?”

“Most likely. It’s probably payback for—” I snapped my lips shut as I realized I was about to reveal what Riley caught me doing. This manmost definitely didn’t need to know any of that. “You probably don’t remember me. I only saw you in passing. I’m Isla.”

“Bowie,” he said, holding out his hand.

I cringed, shaking my head.

“Right. Naked.”

“Did you need something?”

“Coffee. Two cups.”

“Uh…right,” I said, spinning around to grab two mugs and top them off with coffee. I held them out to him, but realized it would be rather difficult for him to climb the stairs naked. “You know, I’m just going to set these down on the table and turn around so you can…” I made a motion with my hand for him to scurry back upstairs.

“I would appreciate that.”

I did just that, then closed my eyes as I spun around and counted to twenty. When I heard the floorboards creak upstairs, I finally opened my eyes. Well, that could have gone better. I never thought the first time I met Bowie, he would be completely naked.

I grabbed my mug and quickly headed outside to sit on the porch. There were no naked men there, and I wouldn’t have to hear Riley giggling about the prank she just pulled on me. But I only got about ten minutes of peace before she came outside and sat on the swing beside me, grinning like a fool.