padded to the bathroom. She reached in and turned on the shower jets. I wished I had time to join her. Of course, as the thought crossed my mind, it crossed hers too. Her cheeks colored and she let the robe fall open. That was my girl. As she sensed my lust, she instantly made herself available to me. She didn’t even realize she was doing it.
A low, wicked laugh escaped my lips. Unable to resist, I went to her. I pulled her into my arms.
“I’d stay all day if I could. And there’d be no need for this.” I tugged at the robe. She let me. It fell from her shoulders and pooled at her feet.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” she whispered. “Archer...how can I want you again? We just…”
I took a step back. Yes. This. I wanted her to myself. She’d need no clothes ever if it were just the two of us.
But it wasn’t. No sooner had I thought about it before my cellphone beeped in the other room. J.C.’s tone. He expected me at a security meeting over an hour ago. He’d come looking.
“You’d better go,” she said.
“Are we clear?” I asked. “You’ll do as I say?”
Now it was her turn for a wicked laugh. Fuck. She’d have me hard again in an instant that way.
“Yes,” she said. “I’ll stay here and wait for you. J.C. never lets me talk to anyone else anyway. But I need you to make me a promise.”
Anything. I would promise her anything. And I also knew how dangerous that was.
“Keep your cool,” she said. “J.C. isn’t stupid. I’ve seen him watch you. He knows how good you are at what you do. You’re a big part of the reason the Taurus is so successful. Everyone who comes in that door is afraid of you. In awe of you, yes. But they have a healthy respect for how lethal you could be if you wanted. J.C. can’t run the club without that. You’re as much of a draw as I am. You know that, right?”
“I don’t sell product like you do,” I said, then wished I hadn’t.
Product. It was theft. An abomination and desecration of the Source. Phaedra blanched.
“I didn’t mean…”
She put a hand up. “It’s okay. I know what you meant. And you’re right. We have different roles in J.C.’s eyes. But we have to keep him thinking he’s in control. Archer, we have to keep working together to make sure those assholes can’t keep doing what they’re doing. I need you. So promise me whatever you do today, you’ll use your head, not your…”
“My wolf?” I smiled.
“Yes,” she said.
“I promise,” I said. Then I reached for her and gave her a firm swat on the ass. She gasped and once again, I sensed her heat rising. If I didn’t tear myself away, I’d spend the day between her legs. And God I wanted to. Needed to. Maybe someday soon.
Phaedra gave me a playful shove out the bathroom door. Somehow, I found the strength to leave her.
My phone rang again. There was no need to answer. I knew where I’d find J.C.
I closed the door, locking Phaedra in from the outside. As I made my way to the stairwell, another call came in. This time it was Topher. I was about to answer, but a scent stopped me.
It hit me in the chest. I gripped the wall to steady myself.
Fae.
They’d been here. All through the hallway and around Phaedra’s room.
“What the fuck?” I whispered. How had I not sensed it before? How the hell long had they been out here?
Then, the answer slammed into me. Of course they’d been here all along. They knew. Perhaps they’d even watched.
I was an idiot. Phaedra warned me not to think with my wolf, but that wasn’t the problem. I’d spent the last twelve hours thinking with my dick, and that was exactly what J.C. counted on.
I charged up the stairs heading for J.C.’s suite. He was waiting for me, a knowing smile on his face as I burst through the door.
“There you are,” he said. “Get a good night’s sleep, did you?”
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I think the words you’re looking for are ‘thank you,’” he said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked. Only I already knew. He’d led me by the nose right to Phaedra’s bed. For all I knew, she’d let him.
14
Phaedra
Archer didn’t come back. Not that morning. Not that afternoon.
The staff of the Taurus had