Dragging myself out of Olivia’s bed was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my entire life. I was acting like a lovesick schoolboy and it needed to stop. Immediately. No girl, even a sexy, smart, open-hearted fool like Olivia, was worth losing my head over.
Although, remembering the feeling of hitting bottom deep inside her, watching her eyes widen with desire, was pretty fucking close to going to heaven. It was stupid to fuck her. It would have been even more stupid not to. Those tiny striped pajamas. Hotter than any fancy lingerie I’d ever seen.
Enough.
I strode out to the front of her apartment, stopping in the living room to take a peek out the window. Everything looked as it should on the street below.
Fussing with the burner phone’s operating system — seriously, why? What was this button layout? I dialed Benjamin’s number. He answered right away. Good man.
“Hey boss, I was about to call you myself. Just got updates from all the teams.”
“Good. What’ve you got for me?” I asked.
“First and foremost, we’ve implemented every increased security measure discussed last night,” Benjamin informed me. “Ash and Azalea have coordinated surveillance on everyone on our potential threat list. All security staff are on 12-hour shifts indefinitely. We’re not taking any chances.”
“Excellent. Way to get shit done fast.”
“Thanks, I try. Oh, and one more thing. We’ve beefed up security at all your public-facing businesses as a precaution and are conducting deeper background checks on all new hires in the past six months. Can’t be too careful with moles,” Benjamin added.
“Smart move. What else have you got?”
“Marcus, we know you’ve been at Olivia’s for hours,” Benjamin said, taking on a more serious tone. I stiffened, wondering where this was going. “You had doubts about her before.”
I sat down on Olivia’s shitty sofa and scrubbed a hand over my face. “I did. Still do. The timing is fucking weird, Ben. Meeting her right when the shit hits the fan.”
“Yes. Neither of us are big believers in coincidence.”
“Exactly. But I don’t know, man. This girl isn’t pinging my radar. She’s not telling me everything, and she’s scared, but hell, she should be. You looked into her. She’s a regular citizen.”
“Absolutely,” Benjamin agreed. “Her background is solid. If it wasn’t for the loss of her parents, I’d say she’s lived a charmed life.” He stopped, but I could practically hear the gears turning in his head over the line.
“Finish your thought,” I told him.
“Marcus, you know I respect the hell out of you. I wouldn’t do this job for anyone else.”
“Yeah, yeah. Got it. You have a crush and dream about blowing me. Get in line.”
Benjamin laughed. “You wish.” He cleared his throat. “Olivia’s background is clean. Normal. But I still have to wonder. Why does a girl with everything going for her risk it all for you?”
“You mean other than my charm, wit, and intelligence?”
“Boss, you know what I mean.”
I sighed. “Yes. I’ve considered it too. But what the fuck am I supposed to do? If she’s on the level, this girl is in danger now because of me. I can’t just toss her away and wish her good luck. I’m an asshole, but not that much of an asshole.”
“Pretty sure we’ve got some hate mail that suggests otherwise, but I agree,” Benjamin said. “So, what are you going to do?”
“What I always do. Whatever the fuck I want, while watching my back.”
“Got it. Oh, I did want to ask about one thing,” Benjamin added.
“Sure,” I said, just as a notification chimed in my phone. I glanced at my phone. “Hold that thought, Benjamin. I gotta make a quick call. Let me get back to you in a bit.”
“No problem.”
I ended the call and tapped to dial back the number from the text notification, walking through into Olivia’s kitchen. I needed food and figured I could throw something together to take back to bed.
The phone rang for a few seconds. “Moore?”
“Yup. Office Friendly, it’s been quite a while.”
“Yeah, well, I had to go through five people to get this number so…” the voice on the other end of the line said. Dirty cops always act like they’re doing you a favor, as if I wasn’t paying him a shit ton of money to give me information.
“Yeah, things are a bit wild on the streets right now. I assume that’s why you made the extraordinary effort?”
“Correct. My precinct is going crazy. Half the rest of the city is too. What we’ve long considered controlled areas are kicking up trouble. Robberies, petty assaults, street fights, vandalism – you name it. Oddly enough, the only parts of the city not experiencing this rise in low-level crime are the ones controlled by the actual, ah… ‘families’. Smells like nasty shit brewing to me.”
“Me, too,” I agreed. “I’m working on figuring it out. Keep me posted and I’ll do the same, okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Listen, keep your people tight.”
“I always do,” I said, turning as I heard a noise behind me.
Olivia entered the kitchen, wearing nothing but a sheet wrapped around her. My cock twitched.
“Who’s that?” Olivia asked, her voice a mix of curiosity and annoyance.
I hesitated for a beat before answering. “Work colleague,” I replied, keeping it vague. Officer Friendly laughed through the speaker, and I quickly ended the call, giving Olivia my full attention.
“Really? Is that your work phone?” her eyes narrowed.
That was interesting. “I switch them out a lot.”
She just looked at me for a long moment. “Okay. Can’t you stop working for five minutes?”
“I’m not just setting up meetings and shit. I have a ton of staff and businesses to manage. There’s always something going wrong that I have to deal with. It comes with the job. Trust me, I’d much rather shut out the rest of the world and focus on you.”
Her beautiful face softened, and Olivia nodded. “I know, Marcus. I understand. It’s just hard. Everything has been so crazy lately.” She looked around at the cabinets I’d opened in her kitchen. “What exactly were you doing?”
“Trying to find us something edible,” I said, a hint of frustration in my voice. “But you don’t have any food here.”
Olivia raised her bare, smooth shoulders in a shrug. “I’m working on it, okay? Cooking might not be my specialty, but I have other talents.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that right?”
She shook her head with a giggle. “That’s not what I meant, Marcus.”
I crossed my arms. “You sure about that?”
Olivia chewed briefly on her lip before looking me in the eye with a playful smile. “I suppose if you’re really looking for something to eat, I might have a good idea what you’d enjoy.” She let the sheet drop to the floor.
“Goddamn.”
She stepped closer, and I couldn’t resist the urge to taste her lips. Our mouths met hungrily, tongues tangling as I pulled her against me. My hands roamed over her silky skin, fingers digging into the curves of her ass.
Olivia moaned into my mouth. I hoisted her up onto the counter, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. The edge of the counter dug into my lower back, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was the feel of her body pressed against mine, the intoxicating scent of her skin.
“Let’s go back to bed,” I suggested.
Olivia looked up at me, her eyes dark with lust. Her hand snaked down between us, rubbing firmly over the growing bulge in my jeans. “Sounds perfect,” she purred, but just as her lips met mine again, my phone rang.
I froze, feeling torn between the woman in front of me and the demands of my dangerous life.
“Seriously?” Oliva asked, pulling back. “Again?”
“Give me a fucking minute.” I moved away from her and snatched the phone off the counter. “What?” I barked in frustration.
“There’s a situation we need to discuss,” came the reply. I could hear the tension in the caller’s voice, but I didn’t care.
“I’m busy. Call back later.” I hung up and turned my phone off, tossing it back onto the counter with a clatter. “Happy?” I asked Olivia, my voice rough with irritation.
“No, actually, I’m not,” she replied.
“Then tell me what’s really bothering you.” I knew it wasn’t just the phone calls.
“Fine.” She took a deep breath, her full breasts rising and falling with the motion. “I don’t know if I can handle this, Marcus. Your job. And I don’t blame you for what happened last night, but… I don’t like it.”
“Olivia, you’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know.” She waved her hand. “I believe that. But I don’t want to be sitting in my apartment alone, wondering if you’re safe. How can we start something real if you’re always running off to fight or steal or whatever?”
“Olivia…” I paused to calm down my annoyance at being questioned like this. “This is my life. The good and the bad. At the best times, a lot of what I do is illegal. And some of the people I associate with are really bad news. But that’s the deal. I worked really hard to get where I am and I’m not going to stop building the empire I deserve. Didn’t you have to study hard for years to be able to get your job?”
“Of course, but it’s not the same.” Her eyes flashed with anger. “My job doesn’t hurt anyone.”
“Is that right? Corporate law never hurt anyone? Give me a break, Liv. Even you can’t be that naïve.”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “Okay, sure. But Palmer, Foster, Bennett & Associates isn’t one of those firms,” she retorted, her voice shaky but defiant. “There are strict rules about the clients we represent. It’s why I wanted to work there. Half the partners are out of the country on a humanitarian aid trip right now. That’s very different from what you do, Marcus.”
I clenched my jaw, frustration growing as I stared into her eyes, willing her to understand. “You can either accept who I am or choose to end this now. I won’t be made to feel bad about what I do for a living.”
“Marcus, I just–”
“No,” I cut her off, my anger reaching a boiling point. “I came from nothing and made something of myself. I’ve seen things you can’t imagine in your worst nightmares. But I survived. I clawed my way out of hell and I’m proud of that. I’ll give you the world, Olivia. But I will not change who I am.”
Olivia stared at me, her eyes wide with shock and hurt, and I hated myself for causing that pain. But I’d had enough. “Decide,” I told her. “Now.”