wrong with that door? You need me to reset it?”
“I’m sure it’s just a glitch. I’ll see you in a moment.” Pierce fought the door closed, immediately turning to go to the kitchen where Mona was fighting with the door there.
“Is the building on fire?” He went to the alarm, punching in the code to reset the system. The piercing noise immediately cut off.
“Why is this door locked?” Mona yanked on the handle, shoving at the lever like it might suddenly free her.
“The doors here are self-locking. The only way out is to know the pass code.”
“Well you should probably put it on a sticky note or something in case someone needs to escape.” She huffed out a breath, releasing the handle and turning his way. She gasped a little, stepping back, putting as much distance as possible between them.
Which wasn’t much, considering her back was now pressed against the door.
“Is that what you need to do, Mona? Escape?” He couldn’t help but ease a little closer.
Her eyes dipped, hanging on his mouth long enough to make her thoughts clear. “I don’t want Dutch to get the wrong idea.”
“And what would the wrong idea be?” Pierce shifted his weight, managing to steal a little more ground.
“That we’re—” She swallowed, her throat working as her eyes came to his. “That we’re—”
“Lovers?”
The barely-there flush he’d enjoyed seeing on her skin was nothing to the full-fledged flame tinting her skin now. “That’s not what I was going to say.”
“What were you going to say?” He took advantage of her distraction, inching even closer.
“I was going to say involved.”
“Is that not the same thing?”
“No.” It was a whisper as her eyes again fell to his mouth.
“Tell me the difference.” He wanted to know how she saw things.
What she wanted.
“One is more.” The tip of her tongue skimmed across her lower lip in a way that almost made him groan. Those lips had been torturing him all night. If she made a habit of adding her tongue to the mix he would be as good as ruined. “One is just sex.”
Three little letters. One little word.
But coming from her mouth it was so much more. A sin and a prayer riding the same wave.
“I have no interest in being your lover then, Mona.” He hadn’t intended to be so forward with her. Not yet.
His phone started to ring from where it was tucked into his back pocket.
“Fuck.” He should have stayed and talked to Vincent if for no other reason than to avoid this damned interruption. He slid his phone out, ignoring the call from Dutch.
“Who was that?”
Pierce punched the code into the keypad, unlocking the door. “Dutch.” He took her hand in his, pulling her from the door so he could open it.
“Where are we going?” Mona’s steps were silent as she followed him down the steps.
Pierce glanced at her. “Remember when you said you wanted to meet with Vincent?”
CHAPTER 6
“NOW?” MONA HAD to rush to keep up with Pierce’s steps. “I’m in my pajamas.”
He paused, turning to rake his deep blue eyes down her body. “Good point.”
At the landing to the second floor they stopped. Pierce pulled open the door and tugged her through it, taking her straight to the door to her room. He swiped his badge and the lock clicked open.
“Did you just unlock my door with your badge?”
He held it open. “Can we talk about this while you get changed?”
“You can’t be in here while I get changed.” Her skin was hot again.
She glanced down. The blanket from Pierce’s sofa was still wrapped around her. No wonder she was hot.
“I promise to close my eyes.”
“No.” It wasn’t that she thought Pierce would try to peek at her. The thought of him being interested in seeing anything she might have was ridiculous.
It’s not like he wanted to—
The sound of voices carried up the stairs leading from downstairs.
Pierce wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her body tight to his as he swung them both inside and closed the door behind them.
The long line of his frame pressed to hers, strong and solid and—
Oh God.
She didn’t mean to look down.
It was just so shocking. So baffling.
Maybe it was the jeans. Just the added bulk of the fly.
A lot of added bulk.
That had to be it.
Certainly Pierce would not be—
He released her. “Go. Get dressed before they hunt us down and you lose the opportunity.”
Her head was spinning, tripping around in a cyclical stupor. “How could they find us?”
“I don’t know if you’re