Page 21 of The Reluctant Siren
He got down to his boxers, and she wished there was morelight. He slid into bed beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist andhauling her close. “Good night, princess. I’m glad you decided to be brave.”
She cuddled against him and fell asleep far faster than shethought she would.
Chapter Five
Six days later Niall looked over the building wherethey would soon be attempting to make contact with a young woman Harlow hopedwas working there.
They had been over the case four times now. He’d gottencomfortable in Harlow’s office and liked her partner, Ruby Lockwood. LikeHarlow she was smart and capable and funny. Hanging with them and Harlow’scousin Gigi had been incredibly fun. He enjoyed watching the three of them plotand plan while he made sure they were fueled with lattes and croissants fromthe nearby French bakery.
He was rapidly falling for this woman and the life aroundher, the life she could offer him. He was damn straight loving the man hebecame around her. He felt happier, more settled, and focused on the futurebeing close to Harlow.
And he hadn’t even slept with her yet.
He was taking it slow, though he rather thought she wasgoing to get frustrated with him and then his Valkyrie princess was going toforce the situation.
He had to tell her the truth before he took her to bed.
Not that he hadn’t. She’d slept at his place the firstcouple of nights, and they’d slept at her place last night. He’d stroked herand cuddled her, then slipped out of bed when she was asleep and took thecoldest shower in the world.
He had to tell her.
“According to the plans Ruby found, there are threeentrances. The main we’re going into, one at the back of the building, and oneon the east side that leads to an alleyway. It dumps out onto Taylor Street,”Harlow said, standing beside him on the busy street. She had a trench coat on,covering the fairly modest fet wear she selected for the evening.
She wore boy shorts and a lacy bra that covered as much asany swimsuit would, and the four-inch heels made her legs look a mile long. Italso meant she was almost eye to eye with him since she was tall all on herown. Her hair had grown out since he first met her. She’d had an electric bluebob, and now it was a deep purple and brushed the tops of her shoulders.
She was too gorgeous, and he was a jealous asshole becausehe didn’t want to take her in there. He didn’t want other guys looking at her.Not in that place. At The Hideout it was fine because everyone knew how tobehave and would treat her the way they should. He had no illusions Decadencewas the same.
“Are you okay?” Harlow asked, her eyes wide as she looked athim.
He nodded. He wasn’t going to admit that his inner cavemanwas dying to make an appearance. He had a brief fantasy of tossing her over hisshoulder, shoving her in his piece of shit Jeep, and making for Jensen’s oldplace a few hours west of Fort Worth. It was a ramshackle house set on what wasleft of his family’s ranch. Up until a couple of months ago Jensen’s aunt hadlived there and kept the place up, but she recently moved to be near herdaughter and grandkids, so with the exception of needing a cleaning, the placewas ready to stay in. More importantly, it was isolated and he could keep hersafe forever. He would call Jensen and tell him to finish his shit up and meetthem there and they would work everything out.
“Yeah,” was his reply because he was a man who knew how notto piss his woman off. “I’m good. A little nervous.”
She softened immediately, going up on her toes to kiss him.She did it more and more often now. Like she couldn’t help herself. “There’snothing to be nervous about.”
He was lapping it all up. Though his dick was definitelycomplaining. “I don’t want to fuck this up for you. What if I say the wrongthing and she runs?”
“You won’t say the wrong thing,” Harlow assured him. “Youdon’t have to say anything at all. Let me find her and talk to her. I’m goingto try to figure out how bad the situation is before I tell her who I am. Imight not even do it this time. It might take a few meetings to get her totrust me.”
So they would have to do this again. He better get used toit because Harlow loved her job, and he wasn’t sending anyone else in with her.“Then we should get to it. I’m going to tell anyone who asks that we’re justexploring. I’m not going to give away the fact that we know what we’re doing.”
He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know sincethis was her plan. He was simply reminding himself.
“We’re ready, babe.” She put her hand in his. “Let’s do thisthing.”
She seemed eager, anticipating the job like it was going tobe fun.
See, this was why he got out of the military. He was not thedude who liked an adrenaline rush. As they crossed the street he had to wonderwhat shit Jensen was up to tonight. He’d been careful about not telling Niallanything specific about what he was doing. He wanted Niall to have what hecalled plausible deniability.
Because it was almost certainly criminal shit.
They’d talked around the Jensen issue, Harlow not sayingmuch more than she’d had a passionate affair that ended when the guy fucked herover in an unpleasant way. But he had to wonder if Jensen’s unique style wasn’tmore of what truly called to Harlow. Would she wake up one morning and decideNiall was boring and ordinary? He was the guy who made her coffee every morningand watched TV with her. He wasn’t the guy who swung in and swept her off herfeet and into some wild adventure.
When she saw Jensen again, would she realize what she trulywanted?
And where the hell was the guy? Niall had called the burnernumber Jensen gave him to use in case of emergencies. This wasn’t an emergency,but he would have liked some advice on how to handle himself. Maybe somebackground on the club. Jensen was excellent at research.
Or maybe he hadn’t wanted to feel like he was alone intaking care of her.
