CHAPTER 11
ZIGGY
I walked the guys to the door and stopped Ryder and Riot on the way out.
“I’ll be along in a moment,” I said. “I just need to talk to Lucky.”
“Remember what I said,” Ryder warned.
“That’s what I need to talk to her about,” I said. I was thoroughly disgusted with the whole thing, but I couldn’t deny that Ryder was right. “Meet you in the lobby?”
“Sure,” he nodded.
I ran back inside, closing the door behind me.
“Lucky, how are you feeling about everything now that you’ve met them?” I asked. She stood and smiled up at me, her lips begging me to kiss them.
“I feel much better,” she said. “I like them. A lot.”
“They’re great,” I said. “And even more so, they’re going to keep you safe. We all are.”
“Good,” she said, wrapping her arms around my waist and pulling me close. She leaned up on her tip-toes, pressing her lips against mine. It took all my strength to reach around and grab her hands and pull her away. She looked up at me questioningly.
“I need to tell you something,” I said.
“Oh, God, you’re married,” she said.
“What?” I asked. “God, no.”
“Oh, then what? This doesn’t look like good news.”
“It’s just…now that we’re working together, I hate to say it, but I think it’s best if we don’t…well, you know.”
“What?”
“It’s best to keep things professional.”
“What are you saying, Ziggy?”
“I’m saying we probably shouldn’t kiss anymore. Or sleep together.”
She burst out laughing, then stopped suddenly.
“You’re serious?” she asked, raising a brow.
“It’s Solid Ground’s policy,” I shrugged, taking the coward’s way out. If I was a man, a brave man, I’d have told Ryder that as much as I respected him, I couldn’t agree to his demand. Instead, I’d let him barrel all over me and make me think it was for the best. I mean, shit, maybe it was, but tell that to my throbbing cock and Lucky’s accusing eyes.
“Policy,” she said, nodding. “Right.”
“But that doesn’t mean I’m abandoning you, Lucky! I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. I won’t leave your side, not for a minute, not until this is all over. We just can’t…”
“Fuck. We can’t fuck.”
“Right.”
She shook her head slowly, her anger fading into something else I couldn’t recognize. She smiled slowly and then turned away, leaving me standing there alone with a raging erection.
“Whatever you say,” she said, flinging the words over her shoulder as she walked away. My gaze fell to her swaying hips, and when she stopped in the hallway and turned around, it took a surge of Herculean strength not to close the painful distance between us.
I fucking hated this. There was no other way to put it. But Ryder was right. I couldn’t put her safety in jeopardy, no matter what I had to sacrifice.
She could see my struggle. It was written all over my face, not to mention throbbing in my pants, even now. But so was my determination.
“I can’t budge,” I said to her.
“Good luck with that,” she whispered, a sly, teasing smile spreading across her face as she reached up and pulled her shirt over her head.
“Lucky…”
She wiggled out of her jeans in a flash, with sparkling eyes full of temptation. Standing in only her bra and panties, I swallowed hard as she peeled them off next.
“Lucky…” I growled.
She lifted her chin in defiance, meeting my gaze with a steely dare.
“I can’t, babe,” I muttered, the pain of my words ripping through every inch of me. She turned on her heel, spinning away and slowly walking down the hall, giving me a perfect, excruciatingly, painfully tempting view of the sweetest bare ass I’d ever seen.
She disappeared around the corner without a word, leaving me drooling in a pool of regret.