All her fingers were pressed together, her palm facing me. It was more like she wanted to shake my hand. I brought my arm up and slid my palm against the back of her hand, wiggling my fingers between hers and curling them around, the tips caressing her palm.
She sighed, a contented little sound that made me feel like I just completed a marathon with the best time of all the runners, and her head fell against my chest.
Damn.
I wasn’t used to this kind of physical contact. I was used to making out with girls I barely knew in darkened corners of bars or basements. I was used to copping feels and groping wherever my hands would reach. Oftentimes, me and the flavor of the night would drink enough to not care (but never enough to make me drop my guard) I didn’t know her name. And then we would stumble somewhere more private and I would screw her without even thinking about it.
It was part of my cover. I was the guy who was too busy dicking around to pay too much attention to the business. I was the guy who would rather follow orders so I had more time with the ladies.
I didn’t say I didn’t like it. In my eyes, there was no such thing as bad sex. Sex felt good, it relieved stress, and yeah, the ladies were always willing.
And because they were always willing, I never had to put much effort into scoring. I never had to think about holding hands or making her smile. I never worried about if she was bored or worried about something.
But with Taylor, I did.
Having her in my lap, having her skin against my skin, feeling her steady, even breathing as she relaxed into my body… I wanted to hold her hand. I wanted to know what she was thinking, and I secretly hoped she enjoyed where she was sitting as much as I.
Is this what it was like to think about someone else ahead of yourself?
“Thank you,” she whispered, drawing me out of my internal musings.
“For what?”
She lifted her head and looked up at me. God, I loved the way she looked at me. Like I fucking hung the moon or something. “For being here,” she whispered. The side of her lip curved upward. “And for being so amazingly warm.”
I tucked a strand of scarlet hair behind her ear and kissed her temple. “Drink your girly ass drink,” I replied, gruff, handing her the bottle of purple Gatorade.
I leaned my head against the wall, thinking about how ape-shit crazy I was. This was a shitty, dangerous situation. I was supposed be on vacation right now, not patching up bullet wounds with stolen medical supplies.
Even so, there wasn’t anywhere else I would rather be.
I heard a noise out by the couch but couldn’t see around the corner. I heard a bit more scuffling and a couple low swears.
Every muscle in my body tensed.
Something was up.
And that something probably wasn’t good. I needed to be out there solidifying my “relationship” with them. Selling them on the fact I was loyal to their cause. Hopefully, Mac and the rest of the people on the raid would be here soon, but until then, I needed to make sure this shit went smoothly.
The last thing we needed was something to go wrong.
“Why don’t you lie down and rest,” I murmured, lifting her against me and sitting up. Then I laid her gently on the cot.
“I was resting,” she complained, that pouty lower lip poking out just a little bit more.
Shit, she was cute.
I used the flannel to cover her legs and then turned away to go see what the guys were up to. Snake was there, standing beside the hastily framed-out wall. The look on his face had everything inside me screaming red alert.
I stepped away from Taylor, keeping my body positioned between the cot and Snake. “What’s up, man?”
He held up the smart phone in his hand. “You a fucking cop?” he said, his voice low and even. Violence radiated off his every pore.
Across the room, his three boys stood up in silent threat.
So much for shit going smoothly.
10
Taylor
I kept my body still, despite the barely contained turmoil sweeping through the room. I wanted to jump up and deny, deny, deny.
Cop? What cop? I wanted to ask, but I knew speaking would only make it worse. Surely Brody knew how to handle this kind of situation. Surely he could explain away whatever made them suspicious.
“You think I’m a cop?” Brody scoffed, his voice sounding slightly bemused. “That’s actually pretty flattering. You think I could pull something like that off?”
My coiled insides relaxed slightly because he sounded so genuine there was no way they wouldn’t believe him.
Snake laughed. “It’s pretty out there.”
I didn’t like the way his laugh sounded. Slowly, I turned my head so I could look across the room. Brody’s back was to me, and it blocked almost the entire view of Snake.