Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,35
him off that his attitude was unusual enough that it made Beth weep with fucking gratitude. That dick she’d been married to should have had her on a damn pedestal for the last decade, but instead, he’d torpedoed her expectations into the depths along with her self-esteem.
Alaric wrapped an arm around her shoulders because that was allowed, right? He was only offering comfort.
“Tomorrow’s a research day for me, so I’ll drop you off at the ranch in the morning. Judd mentioned having a report for you to format in the afternoon, but you don’t need to sit around here all day while I make phone calls. Just keep an eye out for anyone visiting the senator, okay?”
Alaric didn’t expect any further contact, but it might make Beth feel useful.
“Okay.”
“Hey, here’s a movie with horses in it. You want more wine?”
“I’d better not.”
He kissed her hair because as he said, he was an asshole, and then sat dead still when she rested her head on his shoulder. Actions have consequences, idiot.
A white horse pranced across the screen. Wasn’t Beth’s old horse white? Which reminded him, he’d promised to search for the beast, and he hadn’t done a damn thing about finding it. He needed to speak to Naz and get the ball rolling. Tomorrow. He’d speak to Naz tomorrow. Tonight, he’d accept his punishment as a human pillow and watch a terrible movie with Beth.
Damn, this bed was uncomfortable. Alaric shifted, trying to avoid the lumps, then realised his mistake. He wasn’t in his bed at all. No, he was still on the couch downstairs, and the lumps were partly Beth. She was lying half on top of him, her legs tangled in his, and when she shifted against his chest, burying her head tighter against his shoulder, her hair tickled his face.
The sensible thing to do—the gentlemanly thing—would have been to carry her upstairs and tuck her into her own bed. But despite his earlier words, Alaric was no gentleman.
He wrapped his arms around her, closed his eyes, and returned to his filthy dreams.
CHAPTER 14 - SKY
“LONG DAY?” HALLIE asked.
To hell with the vegetables. I needed comfort food tonight. Luckily, there was a dish of macaroni and cheese in the fridge, and I scooped half of it onto a plate before sticking it all back into the dish again and microwaving the entire thing.
“You could say that.”
“Did you meet Rafael?”
Did I meet him? I’d embarrassed myself totally in front of him. I stared at the food going round and round on the turntable as memories of this morning made an unwelcome reappearance.
Rafael hadn’t put me down when we got out of the gym. No, he’d carried on walking through the house and up the stairs to the next floor, where he’d dumped me onto a velvet sofa in the corner of what looked like a meeting room.
“Do you want me to get a doctor?” he asked.
“What? No!” I tried to force a laugh past the lump in my throat. “Why would I need a doctor?”
“Because you were having a panic attack.”
“A panic attack? Don’t be silly.”
I’d thought I was over them. A year had gone by since the last one, since Lenny hugged me and stroked my hair and told me everything would be okay. That time, it had been set off by a man’s cologne. He’d walked past us on the street, I’d caught a whiff, and bam! I was right back in the limo with my rapist again.
“I know what a panic attack looks like, Sky. A friend of my sister has them.”
“Well, you clearly don’t know that much, because that’s not what it was. And I’ve got no idea why you brought me up here. Alex is gonna be pissed.”
Rafael just pulled out his phone and tapped away at the screen for a few moments. What was he doing? Messaging Alex to tell him to go easy on me or something? Now I’d look like a wimp.
“Alex is booked onto a course this afternoon. He’ll have to go to headquarters.”
“What kind of a course?”
“‘Staff motivation: how to get the most out of your team.’ Now he’ll be pissed at me instead.”
Don’t laugh, Sky. There really wasn’t anything funny about the situation.
“Yeah, well, I’ll still get into trouble. I’m supposed to be on a schedule here. Boxes to tick and all that.”
“You’ll stay on schedule.”
“How? You just sent Joseph Stalin off for a lesson in bullshit, which, by the way, is a complete waste of time because Alex