Chapter Eleven
William would never admit that his hands were shaking, but Anne could tell just from being so close to him. He said nothing as they crossed the floor of the gala and nothing as they headed for the elevators. Once in the elevator, she put her hand on his chest.
“What did Egerton say?” Anne asked.
“It’s not important. It isn’t relevant to the case.” William had finished the champagne in the ballroom, and his hand looked like it was itching for another drink. “It could still be either Egerton or Santiago. The legwork is all up to the PD.”
He looked up at the ceiling and let out a heavy sigh.
“Will—”
“Not sharing, love. Not something your partners need to know.”
Anne frowned. Then she reached into the plunging V neckline of her dress and turned off the mic. “They aren’t listening now. What happened?”
William shook his head. When the doors opened, he took her hand and made a determined line into the hallway until they reached room 437. He opened it, took her inside, and flipped the deadbolt.
“Where’s the bloody bar?” William groaned. He shucked off his suit jacket and dropped it on the bed.
“There.” Anne pointed with one hand toward what looked like a large, two-door cabinet made of dark wood, as she slipped out of her heels. She hadn’t minded them as much as William had imagined. All of her boots had a significant heel. She disliked feeling small around the other officers.
William bent over the fridge and pulled out the whiskey. “Cheers, pet.” He poured several fingers, set the bottle down, and knocked the whiskey back.
“Jesus, Will.” Anne came over and took the bottle. “Is that really necessary?”
“It is. You want?” William took the bottle in hand again.
“There is not enough no in the world.” Anne reached into the bar and pulled out a bottle of wine and a Toblerone.
“Good plan,” William said, pouring himself another glass as she poured her wine.
“If you don’t tell me what happened, I’m going to beat you up and take the whiskey from you,” Anne warned him. She hopped on the bed and opened the candy.
“Love it how violent you are when you’re being supportive.” William sunk into a large leather chair and threw his legs over the side.
This time, he savored the whiskey as he recounted what he’d heard from Egerton, what he’d suspected about his father, and exactly what he’d learned from his mother before she’d died. Anne set the candy down and went to sit on the free arm of the chair.
“That’s terrible,” she said.
“Noooo.” William scoffed. “That’s par for the course between the Spencer’s and Egerton’s, right? We’re completely normal.”
“What I mean to say is, that’s completely fucked up. He threatened you even as he was offering you a partnership, and we’re going to nail him to the wall,” Anne clarified.
“There’s that lovely violence again. You must be the best mum.”
Anne stiffened. William rolled his eyes up to her.
“You think I don’t mean that? My mum taught me how to fight with knives. She taught me how to shoot. And if anyone had come at me with a blade when I was alive, she would’ve slit them from neck to navel within five seconds.”
“What, was she training you to be an assassin? I have higher aspirations for Evie.”
“She trained me to take care of myself. But she probably did train a hit man or two. I know she was involved in MI6 back in the day.” William drained his glass and let it rest in his lap for a moment. “Do you…?”
“What? What is it?”
“D’you reckon the ring you found at the scene could’ve been my mum’s? She gave me mine. And she had one that looked like it. She might’ve given it to one of her students before she died.”
Anne sat with that for a moment, carding her fingers through William’s hair while he looked at her in askance. She didn’t know. She only knew that if the intel they’d gained tonight was accurate, they might be one step closer to figuring this tangled web out.
“Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. Egerton still could’ve been trying to frame you. He could’ve been using your possible arrest to make you want to join him,” Anne said.
“He doesn’t work that way.” William reached for the bottle and filled his glass once more. “Dunno why I care so bloody much that my father probably had me stabbed to teach me a lesson. It’s not exactly new information that he’s a fucking psychopath.”
Anne said nothing, just continued to pet his hair, occasionally curling it around her fingers. She kissed his forehead, and he closed his eyes. Maybe it was the evening, with all the glamor and dancing. Or maybe it was just the two glasses of champagne and the red wine she’d downed. Anne hadn’t drunk anything in more than a year. Whatever it was, her gentle kiss on the forehead somehow turned to her fingertips on his chin, tilting his head back, so that she could place a less than gentle kiss on his lips.
William returned the kiss, no doubt more intoxicated than she was, and shifted in the chair to cup the sides of her face with his strong, deft hands. Soon, she was in his lap, squeezing his thighs with her own and following every long, heated kiss with another until they were both panting and shaking.
His hands slipped under her dress and moved up her thighs, only stopping when he felt the gun. Anne laughed and moved to unfasten it.
“Speaking of protection,” Will muttered.
“I’m on the pill. I don’t need a little sister for Evie right now.”
When she set the gun on the table, she looked up, hesitating just for a moment. But then he was kissing her again, and she melted. He was with her again, pressed to her, his scent and warmth a part of her as they frantically scrambled out of their fancy clothes. She’d wanted this more than she could say, even in moments when she’d pushed him away. Especially then.
When her dress was pooling on the floor, she climbed on top of him, her chest heaving, and moved her hands down his bare torso. She paused slightly at the scar on his side and gave him a firm kiss. His hands cupped around her ass, holding her up as she gripped his shoulders.
We should stop. We should stop, her mind chanted. But her body didn’t listen. It had been starving for him for too long.
So long, in fact, that she skipped everything and rubbed her hand over his thick erection before rising up and guiding him inside of her. She was tight with disuse and let out a soft cry. William moved one hand up her back.
“You alright?”
“Yes. Just… keep going.”
Anne bowed her head forward and kissed his nose before beginning to ride. William’s hands supported her, and he gave soft grunts, thrusting up into her as she came up and down, letting his hardness push against her sensitive flesh, which was now slicker and more accepting. Her body needed him, it seemed, as much as her heart had.
It wasn’t long before she was quivering and weak, gasping with each thrust. Her thighs trembled, and William supported her with his strong arms. She would’ve fallen if he hadn’t been holding her. Her orgasm rose up in her like a tidal wave causing her to stiffen and shake and clench.
“There you go. There’s my girl,” William whispered. Her eyes were clenched shut, but she knew he was watching her. He’d always loved watching her come.
When she was finished, she gripped his shoulders, willing herself to keep moving on him until his hips jerked and he came as well. His hand gripped her right cheek so hard that she was sure there would be prints left behind and, in a stab of perversity, she found the thought amusing. Now they could be both marked. She sort of preferred hers.
With a roar, he finished. He had always been so loud. People down the hall probably knew what they’d been doing. Anne slumped into his arms and pulled her legs up. Then, resting her head on his shoulder, sated and spent, she finally let her mind question this.
We should’ve stopped. I never should’ve started. This one’s on me, it told her.
For the moment though, she didn’t care. She was where she wanted to be, and it felt right, even if it was possibly the worst thing she could have done.
***
They had made it to the bed. Eventually. As William lay curled around Anne, he considered that his brewing headache and the emotional grenade that Egerton had dropped had been more than worth a night of passion with his best girl.
Anne lay sleeping beside him. Her hair was a mess, and he brushed his fingers over it, smiling at the smear of her lipstick and the way her face looked utterly untroubled by her daily life. He could help with that. She would fight him, but he could help her make certain her babysitters were smart and trained, and wouldn’t leave her baby girl with strange men. And he hoped, sometimes, he could be the one looking after Evie. The afternoon hadn’t been completely easy, but although he wasn’t much for children in general, William had liked Evie, once the kid had started opening up to him.
Anne rolled over and yawned, snuggling into the bed. William smiled and rested his chin on her shoulder.
“Hm? Oh, God. What time is it?” she murmured.
William glanced over at the clock. “Almost 2:00 am. Who’s watching Evie?”
“I told Michelle I’d be late…” Anne stretched her arms over her head and opened her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about them.”
“I don’t have to, but…” William shrugged. “I like your family.”
Anne frowned, and William started rubbing her shoulders.
“Do you need to get back?”
“I need to check in with Jeffers and Lopez first.” Anne rubbed her eyes and sat up, causing the blanket to fall away.
“Well, we could do that, or…” William waggled his brows and reached over to caress her breast.
Anne closed her eyes for a second, then shook her head and brushed William’s had away. “No, William. I have to-I need...”
She slipped out of bed and went about fetching her clothing.
“You need to go be a cop. I get it.” William leaned back on his elbows. “I can check in with you later, then?”
Anne pulled on her panties and started to fasten her bra. “No, I mean, we can’t do this again.” She looked at him. “Not ever. I shouldn’t have let you do it to begin with.”
“Let me? I seem to remember you being the one kissing me and crawling into my lap.” William sat up. “I didn’t exactly twist your arm, Anne.”
“Fine. I let it happen, and I shouldn’t have. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, or that I don’t like you, but nothing has changed.” Anne pulled up her dress. She looked like a well-fucked princess. “This can’t go anywhere. I’m sorry, but we both know that it can’t.”
“The hell it can’t. This is a choice you’re making, for the both of us, again.” William threw off the covers and stood. “Is this because I mentioned Evie? It’s not an issue for me. She’s a great kid, and I’d help you—”
“You can’t help me with Evie! You are a criminal.”
“I did fine with her the other day! We played with blocks and made animal noises. We didn’t cook meth or build a bomb.”
“One afternoon with a child isn’t the same as being a parent. You get that, don’t you?” Anne zipped up her dress and pushed back a falling lock of hair. “Because dating a single mom means you’re on deck to be a dad, and that takes more than just keeping her amused and alive for a few hours. It means participating in the guidance of her education, her health, and her moral character.”
“Well, then she’ll be fine being guided by your perfect self.” William swept past her to grab his own clothes.
“I never said I was perfect,” Anne said, the conflict clear in her voice, “but I can’t just keep fooling around with you, Will.”
“Well, that’s on you, love. Because you’re the only one who’s fooling around here.” William buttoned his pants and stood, facing the window. “And as for her dad… You got someone else banging down your door for the job?”
“It isn’t like that.”
“Yeah.” William jerked on his shirt. “Your little sis said her father wasn’t in your lives. So, you’d basically let her go without, then have me, is that it? Because I’d be so bloody terrible at it that she’d be better off growing up with abandonment issues, like you?”
“I’m not exactly alone here when it comes to daddy issues,” Anne pointed out.
William turned to glare at her. She brushed out her hair and pulled it back into a small ponytail.
“Fine.” William gestured toward the door. “Go then.”
“Don’t be like this. I’m just trying to set boundaries—”
“Get out of here!” William shouted. “Go!”
“I will!” Anne shot back. She grabbed her shoes, reached into her dress, and said on the way out, “I’m incoming, guys. We have a lot of work to do.”
William watched her go, then dropped back down on the bed and put his head in his hands. It hurt more than he could say; Anne walking out of his life again and for exactly the same reason. And though he hadn’t spent much time with Evie, the thought that he could never be good enough for her stung as well. Partially, because he suspected it was true.