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Chapter Ten
Ox sat at his desk, trying to focus on the report in front of him, but his mind was on the woman in his bathroom.
Images of Eveline naked as the water cascaded over her body played on a loop in his mind. He remembered every damn curve of Eveline’s lithe form. Remembered how he’d kissed his way down her body. Recalled every cry of completion as he’d taken them both over the edge.
His cock hardened, and he gripped the sides of the chair so he wouldn’t get up and stalk into his bathroom to join her.
Ox warred between anger at himself and his body for reacting to her. He didn’t doubt he needed to keep his ass glued to his chair and concentrate on his business.
The ping of an incoming email provided him with the distraction he needed. The email was from Irish, and it contained the video footage of Eveline walking into the building.
Like always, Irish didn’t say what Ox would find when he opened it. For the first time since Irish had joined him at Alliez, he wished his friend would at least give him a rundown of what he’d found. At least Irish had given him a brief explanation of why Walt hadn’t been at the desk Eveline had come in. Ox couldn’t blame the man for leaving his station when he had to answer the call of nature, but he just wished Walt hadn’t needed to go right then.
Ox sighed and clicked on the file. The grainy image popped up on the screen. If Cass had been in the office, she would’ve enhanced it so that it was crisper. Not that it mattered, he could see exactly what was going on. Nothing prepared him for the sight of Eveline stumbling into the building, her clothes in disarray, her arm hanging at her side. Even though he knew that she was safe in his shower, Ox’s breath caught in his throat when he spotted her slight sway before she reached the elevators.
He didn’t need to see anymore, but, fuck he wished Cass was in the office so she could let him know if she’d found anything before Eveline made it to the building.
Ox sat back in his chair and swiveled it so he could look out the window. His apartment was on the fifteenth floor of the building, and if he leaned to the left until he was practically on his side, he could see the “D” from the Hollywood sign.
Not that he did that. He hadn’t bought the place because of the view. He’d bought it for the location and proximity to the office.
Now his mind was focused on who could be after Eveline. He couldn’t ignore the fact she’d given him some damning information about her boss and then a week later she was assaulted on her way to see him.
Would Gerald really want to harm his own employee?
With the way his business practices had changed, anything was possible. The last thing Gerald would want would be for his reputation to be tarnished and if the information got out that was the likely outcome.
Again, Ox couldn’t shake the idea that this was what Gerald wanted him to do. Did he want Alliez to out him to the security community as a specialist with questionable morals and for him to turn around and prove the information on the thumb drive was false?
Had Eveline’s attack really just been a random mugging on the streets of LA?
If she’d had her purse stolen, he’d believe that. She didn’t, which meant she was targeted, but for what?
This wasn’t a new thought. Ox had wondered about it while he was sitting by her side watching over her.
Round and round he was going. Asking the same questions and still coming up with nothing concrete.
The crisp pine scent of his bath wash drifted through his senses, catching his attention and yanking Ox out of his head.
Eveline was standing at the desk, her dark hair still damp and curling at the ends over her shoulder.
He’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t heard her come into the room.
The leggings and tight tank his sister had left behind before she’d moved to New Zealand fit Eveline perfectly. The bruises on her face were darkening, and the butterfly strips covering the abrasions on her cheek had come off.
Had she taken them off, or had they fallen off in the shower?
Did she need more?
Ox moved to her side and gently touched his forefinger across the cut. “Does it hurt?”
Her eyes drifted shut, and her body relaxed against him as his free hand rested on her hip.
How he wanted to pull her close. Hold her and tell her that nothing and no one would ever hurt her again. The memory of brushing his lips across hers after he’d secured her seatbelt in the car was fresh, and he had to hold himself back from succumbing to bringing it to life.
Eveline was temptation personified, and he was finding it harder and harder to resist.
“It doesn’t when you touch it,” she whispered, and it took Ox a moment to work out what she was referring to.
