“Carly is twenty-four. Ms. Emerson is sixty-five,” I explain when anger stretches from Regan’s stomach to her face from my delay.
She spreads her hands across her cocked hip, making my night even more torturous. “Your point being?”
My smirk morphs into a genuine smile. She’s extra cute when she’s green with envy. “My momma taught me to respect my elders, that’s all,” I force out through the annoyance clutching my throat.She’s not cute. She’s not yours. She’s an assignment—nothing more.
“Oh.” Her lips twitch, but not another syllable leaves her mouth.
It’s for the best. The only solution I could think of to tame her sass was sealing my mouth over hers. That’s not a sensible thing for a man in my predicament to do—again.I broke god knows how many rules kissing her, but the backlash I could endure if anyone discovers I brought a target to a government building would be mammoth.
I could have protected Regan at any hotel of her choosing, but the apartments stacked above and below mine are swarming with agents—old and new. She’s safer here than she’ll be anywhere. For that reason, and that reason alone, she will stay here. I’d rather lose my position than put her life in jeopardy. I can’t explain it any more simply than that.
Regan’s hands fall from her hips when my front door pops open with a creak. The floor plan of my apartment is modest, but it is clean and nicely furnished.
I enter and flip on a light. One bulb lights up my entire property. “My bedroom is through the hall; the bathroom is opposite it.”
“Thebathroom, as in you only have one?” Regan gingerly shadows me into the manly space.
When I nod, she groans, making it apparent tonight won’t just be hard on me.
“The kitchen is to your left, the living room to the right. That’s pretty much it.”
Regan stops so abruptly, I crash into her. “What about the guest room? Where’s that?” Her eyes scan the dimly lit space as if she’s willing an additional bedroom to magically appear.
When several blinks fail to summon one, I notify her, “There is only one room.”
Her eyes rocket to mine, but the lust quickly dims when she hears my reply. “I’ll take the couch.”
Her cheeks redden as a growl rumbles in her chest cavity. “Three strikes and you’re out of the game!”
I don’t have a chance to question her cryptic reply before she snatches her bag from my hand and hotfoots it to the only hallway in my apartment. I can tell the exact moment she discovers my bedroom. It isn’t because she slams the door with the same dramatic edge as when I forfeited our game of tonsil hockey. It is the lack of door slamming that gives away her location. Because the hinges on my bedroom door were broken, I removed it two months ago with the intention of replacing it. The hinges are now brand new, but I never got around to putting the door back on.
“If I discover the toilet seat up, I’ll murder you in your sleep,” Regan shouts in warning before violently shutting the only door in my apartment. It is attached to the microscopic bathroom that’s been lacking fresh towels since I moved in months ago.
I gulp loudly. I thought my biggest battle tonight would be getting Regan to my apartment. Only now am I realizing keeping her here will be the real challenge.
Chapter Fifteen
I don’t know why I’m showering. My skin is so clean, it’s gleaming like I’m vying for a part inTwilight.
It’s a pity soap can’t clean my insides just as well.
The whiskey heating my veins has me feeling fearless, but the shake of my hands started long before alcohol scorched my throat. When I walked into my apartment this evening, the same odd feeling I got at Substanz years ago bombarded me. Instead of validating my intuition, I brushed it off as a consequence of my botched attempt at seducing Alex. I thought my lack of mojo had me misreading the facts but I should have known better. My intuition has never led me astray. Not with Luca. Not with Alex. And not now with the deranged person who wants to cut off private regions of my body and send them to hell where I supposedly belong.
Angry women I am used to. No matter how many times I pledge that taken men are not on my radar, they never believe me. I'm not out to steal your husbands, ladies. Even a faint discoloration on the ring finger has me running for the hills. So if your man is out trawling for a date, project your issues onto him instead of the poor, unsuspecting victim he wants to buy a drink. I didn't ask for him to sit next to me, just like I didn't ask for you to call me every derogatory name under the sun. We women should stick together when it comes to lying pieces of shit who pretend they’re single the instant they leave home, not drag each other down. We are sisters, so how about we start acting like it?
Although I’ve dealt with my fair share of ill-informed women. I am fairly sure tonight’s incident isn’t a revenge-seeking wife. It had a personal edge to it, like the assailant knows me better than half the people in my inner circle.
What gives it away?
The fact they called me Rae. No one calls me Rae anymore—not even my dad. The instant he discovered it was my "stripper" name, he went back to calling me Regan. Even though I assured him multiple times that cabaret dancing isn't stripping, he claimed the amount of cleavage on display made it seem as though it was.
So that only leaves one person who calls me Rae: Alex. You'd think that would make him suspect number one. But for some reason, he isn't on my hit list. Although stupid to admit considering I hardly know him, I trust him. He reminds me a lot of Isaac. He is protective, stern, and has a heart bigger than Texas.He also doesn't want to touch me with a six-foot pole.
Whining at my inner monologue, I remove the suds from my body before stepping out of the shower. The knocks keep coming when I realize I forgot to bring a towel in with me. I could use my satin slip to dry myself, but then what will I sleep in? It is freezing in here.
“Alex!” I shout, hoping there is a magic way he can bring me a towel without seeing me naked—again!
My hands dart up to cover my breasts when Alex answers not even two seconds later. His voice is so clear, I swear he is just outside the bathroom door.
