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“Good.” I kissed her temple, which made that incredible grin of hers widen again. It really was all I wanted—her being happy. I didn’t want to hold her back in any way. “I think I have a plan. It might be easier to get Ethan on board than you think.”
CHAPTER16
Ethan
Something was up with Taylor. Not in a bad way, thankfully, but her shift in mood was still giving me pause.
She wasn’t nervous about being home alone with me today. After her shopping trip, she’d noticeably loosened up, smiling and teasing me in that way that lifted the darkness that sometimes built up inside of me. I felt looser, too, the feelings for her that I’d tried to shove away taking up residence in the front of my thoughts. That mental fence holding them back was gone, burned to ash.
I was around her constantly, and she often told us what was going on in her world. From what I knew, nothing in her work was bothering her—the creeps that contacted her were promptly blocked, and we hadn’t had any attempts from intruders.
Even though the threats surrounding her calmed down, I wasn’t ready to tone down our security measures. My top priority was to make sure she was safe. But selfishly, I couldn’t imagine moving out and not seeing her every day.
So if she wasn’t stressed, what was going on?
I studied her as she worked on her computer across the table from me, her huge headphones on. A cute little furrow appeared between her brows as she nibbled on the paper straw in her iced coffee. Maybe it was just stress. But maybe not—she was happy. The party last night had gone well, and Troy was thrilled with the event. She wasn’t hungover, either, as many of the party’s guests probably were.
I must have been staring at her, because she looked up at me and pulled her headphones off.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yes.” I cleared my throat, my face growing hot. “I was just wondering how you were.”
“I’m good.” She perked up. “Kind of hungry, though. Do you want to order in?”
“Sure.”
She grabbed her phone and came over to me. Instead of standing a normal distance away from me, she put a hand on my shoulder and leaned over me to show me her phone. Her long, dark hair swept across my shoulder. It smelled like vanilla, and I wanted to press my face into it and inhale.
“Tacos?” she asked, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“Whatever you want.” My mouth was so dry that the idea of eating was impossible. “I’m fine with anything.”
“Hm, okay.” She leaned her elbows onto the table as she looked through her phone. The position put her cleavage on display. Her laptop had come up high enough to hide it before, but now she was inches from me. The skin of her neck was so smooth and tempting. I wanted to rake my teeth down it. “Then it’s tacos. I’ll get you that chicken burrito you like.”
She went back to her desk, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. I was going to lose it if she got close to me like that again. I wished Harrison and Cody were here to act as a buffer. Harrison had somehow resisted her, even after having a taste. Was he still faring well?
She went back to work, typing away with her headphones around her neck. I forced myself to focus on what I was working on, a security plan for a former client who wanted to protect his newest property. He was a big, boisterous man in his fifties who had the habit of making awful jokes. The perfect antidote to my cravings for Taylor.
Eventually, the doorman, Shipley, called me to let me know that the food was downstairs. I went to get it for us, my stomach growling. I checked my phone on the way down. Cody and Harrison were going to be out for another few hours, so my misery was going to have to continue until then. Having Taylor so close, but so far. I’d been the one keeping all of us from her—I couldn’t be the one to crack.
I returned to the apartment and found Taylor at the table. She’d changed into tiny shorts along with her tank top. I looked up at the ceiling for a moment to gather myself.
“Thank goodness. The food came right on time.” She got up, her shorts riding high on her shapely thighs. I looked at a space past her head again. “I’m so hungry.”
I put the food down and pulled out her container of tacos. The place was far from authentic, but I’d liked the burrito the last time I had it.
“Let me get us drinks.” She peered inside her taco container. “Do you want a seltzer or something?”
“I’ll get it for us. Sit, please.” I went to the kitchen, just to give myself space.
I came back with two cans of her favorite seltzer. The way she was curled up in her seat made it look like she wasn’t wearing pants at all; an idea that made even more blood rush to my cock. I slid the cans across the table and quickly sat down across from her to hide the situation going on in my pants. Fuck.
I grabbed my burrito and started tearing off the foil, just to have something to do with my hands. She grabbed a blue corn chip and nibbled the corner, not taking her eyes off me. Her dark brown doe-like eyes were unnerving, like she was peeling past all my layers to the pulsing lust at my center.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, my voice rough. I cleared it. “You’re watching me closely.”
“I just like to look at you,” she admitted with a delicate shrug. “Ever since we had our shopping trip, things have been great between us, yeah?”
