Page 63 of Bad Situation

She takes a big breath before biting her lip. “Patrick is going to chew my ass for about five minutes. But I’ll take it for you.”

“Good.” I pull her up to me again and put my lips on hers. “I’m also ready to have more than fifteen minutes with you at a time. Go take a shower and I’ll see what you have for breakfast.”

With her messy hair and smeared makeup, she smiles and pulls away from me. I don’t dare move so I can appreciate her walking the distance to her bathroom in nothing but the black lace thong she wore to bed last night. I should regret the fact we were interrupted but I’ll take it if it’ll set her free so I can have her all to myself.

When she gets to her bathroom door, she turns to peek over her shoulder. “I’m so relieved. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

I flip the covers back to climb out of her big bed. When I start for her, her eyes go directly to my cock, which woke up this morning excited and ready. I reach out, pulling her back to my front and lean down to whisper, “You can thank me later.” I drag my hand up her stomach to cup her tit and feel a chill run over her skin. “I have plenty of ideas how you can pay me back.”

Her eyes flare. “I can’t be late. We’re meeting at Lehmans and it’s a good fifteen-minute drive from here.”

I kiss the top of her messy-haired head. “Get showered and I’ll get dressed. I’ll meet you in five minutes.”

I let her go even though I don’t want to. I’m ready to get this shit over with.

*****

Jen

I don’t know what I’m more nervous about—finding out who’s trying to frame me or telling Patrick and the rest of my attorneys that I’ve been consorting under the covers with someone from the opposing team.

I know I don’t have to mention the under the covers part but they’re smart. They’ll know what’s going on the minute we walk through the room.

I could’ve said no to Eli but, honestly, I’m over it. Eli is right, Patrick will be pissed but he’ll get over it, he won’t have a choice. That still doesn’t make me any less nervous.

“Take this exit and then a sharp left.” As I give Eli directions, I do what I’ve perfected when I’m nervous. I play it cool, calm, and collected. I learned early on, my biggest weakness is letting others see my weaknesses, so I’ve learned to mask it. I had to. Too many people at MI wanted me to fail. Apart from this shit situation I’m currently in, I haven’t done too badly.

Eli captures my hand and hauls it across his console. “Everything’ll be fine.”

I roll my eyes. If I ever hear that again, I may shoot someone.

After I took a quick shower, I barely had time to pull my hair back and throw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Eli came in and helped himself to my toothbrush. When I frowned, he just shrugged and went about his business of making himself at home in my bathroom, washing his face and running a wet hand through his hair to straighten it. He had me out the door in record time which meant there was no time for coffee or breakfast and my stomach is complaining.

“It’s up here to the left,” I say as Eli rounds the last corner. Even running out the door, we’re a few minutes late. “When we get in there, I’ll introduce you and explain vaguely that we knew each other before I was served but I didn’t know you were an agent. Patrick is going to flip—it’s his nature but I know how to handle him. Just follow my lead and it’ll be fine. At least my dad won’t be here since they’re still entertaining guests at the ranch. Patrick said he didn’t want to bother him and we’d fill him in later.”

Eli parks on the street, down and across from the building. When he flips off the ignition he turns to me and hitches a brow. “Basically, you want me to shut up.”

I tip my head. “I put it nicer, but yes. Until I get the chance to lay it out for him. Oh, there he is.”

Patrick is parking his BMW in front of the building.

Eli grabs his keys. “This is your party. Just give me the signal when it’s okay for me to speak.”

I grab my purse and get out as he rounds the front of his truck to meet me. He’s beeping his locks when I ask, “What kind of signal would you like?”

He takes my hand and shrugs again. “A wink, blow me a kiss, grab my ass—you pick. But if you go for my cock again, I’ll have to take you down.”

We’re waiting on cars to pass before we can cross the street, so I turn to look up at him and have a hard time keeping the stupid grin off my face. “That would not be a good first impression when introducing you to a man I’ve known most of my life. His daughter and I were friends growing up—”

I don’t get another word out. Just like that day in his warehouse of a gym, Eli does what he threatened and takes me down, but this time he doesn’t do it carefully. I’m thrown against the grille of his truck before we hit the pavement. The side of my head slides across the ground before he has a chance to tuck my face into his neck as he wedges us both under the front of his truck.

This is because, out of nowhere—on this quiet Sunday morning on a midtown Dallas street—gunfire pierces the air like a bolt of lightning, but one that doesn’t stop. I’m no stranger to guns, but hearing bullets ricochet off buildings and cars is something different altogether. People are screaming and cars are crashing.

Eli moves against me as he mutters a string of curse words. He produces a gun of his own and only then do I realize I’ve got a death grip on him. When he tries to untangle himself from me, he growls, “Do not fucking move.”

“No!” I scream but it doesn’t do any good. He’s up and around the back of his truck despite my efforts to hold onto him.

I’m not sure how long the gunfire goes on but, when it finally stops, an eerie aura blankets us. Alarms are going off, screams become shrieks, and there was no need for Eli to tell me not to move.

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