Hot Protector(74)

“I meant that you and Sophie can crash in one of the offices if you like,” Hawk said. “Not letting you leave here until we have an answer.”

“I’m good,” he said, unwilling to move. Unwilling to go and talk to Sophie, to face being alone with her in a place where they weren’t surrounded by other people or the droning of jet engines. What the fuck would he say? What could he say? Last night, when he’d held her close and told her he liked her, he’d said everything.

Everything he knew how to. He didn’t know how to do more than that, though something within him wanted to. But what more was there?

He rubbed his temple. Jesus, he’d made mistakes. Huge mistakes. He should have never gotten involved with Sophie, never let his dick rule his brain where she was concerned. Because he had to admit, even if it were just to himself, that he was fucking addicted to her body. That even now he was jonesing for another taste, another hit.

Like a junkie, he was trying to figure out how to get that fix. How to hit it one more time without hurting anyone. Without hurting Sophie, because fuck, she didn’t need any more disappointment in her life.

The door opened and Evie walked in with Sophie, ending his battle with himself not to go to her. Evie’s long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her belly had the slightest curve to it now.

Chase didn’t miss the way Matt looked at his woman, at the way his eyes went soft and his face looked as if someone had handed him the keys to heaven. Chase’s heart lurched at that look, then his gaze slewed to Sophie.

Her hair hung in waves down her back and over her shoulders. She was dressed in formfitting jeans, the motorcycle boots, and a black tee that hugged those magnificent breasts of hers. She was wearing that cherry-red lipstick again and looked like sex on legs.

Ice was deeply, totally in love with Grace Campbell, but even he couldn’t help the way his eyes slipped over Sophie. Chase saw it and wanted to growl, but then Ice looked away and Chase decided he had to give the man that much since this was the first time he’d laid eyes on Sophie. Matt had seen her at the airport, and of course Hawk had met her a few days ago.

Ice had been in this room the whole time, so he hadn’t seen Sophie when she’d arrived. Billy was too engrossed in his screen to look up—but then he did, and he did a double take too.

Chase was seriously ready to pounce on someone, but Billy got his shit together before Chase could act. After the initial shock of Sophie, the guys looked at her no differently than they looked at any of the other women who came into their paths. Every man in this room, except for him, was married or committed—and they were all in too, because Chase knew what they had done for their women.

Risked it all.

Risked their lives.

Gone to hell and back for love.

No, they might look at a beautiful woman—they’d have to be dead not to—but they weren’t interested.

“Got anything, baby?” Evie asked.

Matt took her hand and stood, guiding her into the chair he’d been occupying. She smiled up at him with such a look of love on her face that Chase envied the motherfucker more than he already did.

“Billy broke the code—now we wait for the translation.”

Sophie looked tired as she pushed her hair back behind an ear. “Of course it wouldn’t be as simple as English files with a big red arrow pointing and saying, Look here for the incriminating shit.”

“Never is,” Billy said.

Sophie leaned against a desk and crossed her legs, her hands going behind her to brace herself. Chase couldn’t help but think of the first night he’d fucked her when he’d put her on the counter and tasted her pussy for the first time.

As if she knew what he was thinking, her gaze sought his. Their eyes locked for a long minute. They said things without saying a word, and Chase’s heart rate kicked up as he stared at her.

Her neck bore his mark just as his did hers. It had to be clear to anyone watching them that they’d gotten involved over the past few days.

Hawk’s voice cut into the silence that had descended on the room. “If you want to sleep for a while, Sophie, you can use one of the offices. It could be hours before we know anything, but you don’t have to stay up if you’re tired.”

Sophie shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

“All right then, who’s hungry?” Hawk asked. A chorus of voices agreed they were. “I’ll order pizza.”

The pizza arrived within half an hour, and everyone grabbed a slice. Sophie picked at hers of course, and Chase felt unaccountably angry about it. She’d been free with him over the past few days, lost some of that self-consciousness and eaten without thinking too much about it.