CHAPTER 13 - MALLORY
The sheets felt weird. I kept my eyes closed because it didn’t occur to me that anyone could be in danger when they were lying in a comfy bed, so clearly I was safe for at least a little while longer.
I moved around in bed like I always had enjoyed doing, stretching my legs and arms out, finding the edge of the mattress to my left before rolling to my right and pushing out again…
Only to have my fingers and feet collide with something, something very warm and firm yet soft. With hair on it. I threw my eyes open and came face to face with…him.
Oh shit. We were in bed together. Last time this had happened I’d woken up alone and wondered if the entire thing was a dream, but this time here I was, touching his perfect skin, staring into his beautiful face as he breathed in and out in perfect cadence.
Barrett.
I couldn’t believe we were in bed together, not after how things had ended last week, when he had just up and disappeared on me. All this time I was trying to be strong, trying to tell myself that a one night stand was totally my thing, and what a great and wonderful one night stand I had just had!
I hadn’t believed a word of it, not even for a second. I wasn’t that kind of girl, not to say that was good or bad — it just wasn’t me. But now, seeing him lying next to me, feeling his breath on my face, hearing his chest move up and down as it rustled against the blankets…
It was more than I could handle. I almost choked up, memories of last night hitting me all at once, and I tried to blink away the fresh tears, but I couldn’t.
I had watched the head of my company, Tate Norman, kill a man in cold blood, and send one his assassins to kill me for having seen too much. It was straight out of a thriller movie, and I couldn’t believe any of this was real.
But Barrett being in bed with me proved it was. He was the link — he’d been in the building and I had seen him just out of the corner of my eye, like those people on TV always said about ghosts. He had saved me from the man in black…
And now here he was, lying right next me, inches away. Barrett proved it was real, and that I couldn’t escape from it. We were on the run. I had nowhere else to turn.
What was I going to do?! Where would I go?!
Kelly.
I had to call Kelly. Not because Kelly had some sort of special knowledge or experience with getting out of tough scrapes with assassins or anything, but because I desperately wanted to hear the sound of her voice, something calm and soothing and familiar, even if she was going to lecture me about something or other.
I turned my head away from Barrett’s sleeping and yet somehow still unbelievably gorgeous face, which was no small feat, and looked around the room. It was small and efficiently furnished, a chair next to the bed, some end tables, a closet here, a doorway to a bathroom over there and another one to the main room next to it. Nothing fancy.
I needed to find my phone. Without moving too far too fast, I sat up in bed, and as the blankets fell off me I realized I wasn’t wearing my skirt or blouse from last night! My face burning up in embarrassment, I looked back at Barrett before realizing that it wasn’t like he hadn’t already seen me naked before.
Flashes of memories from that night a week ago came dashing back into my mind like they had way too many times over the last few days, and I could feel myself get a little turned on. “No, no, no” I said to myself, shaking my head firmly. Now was not the time to go gaga over the hunk you woke up next to in bed.
Now was the time to figure out what to do about the scary men coming after you.
Focus, Mallory, focus. Find your phone and then figure it out from there.
My feet hit the cold carpet and I felt the feeling pass up through my legs; I shivered as I let go of the blankets, making sure that Barrett wasn’t disturbed. I found my skirt and blouse folded and sitting on one of the drawer cabinets on the other side of the room, my purse sitting on top of them.
I grabbed the purse, opened it, and reached in to get my phone out, hoping I had enough juice for a call after a night of not being plugged in.
It wasn’t there. I turned my purse inside out, dumping its contents onto the pile of my clothing and stealing another glance back at the bed to make sure Barrett was still sleeping.
As much as I wanted to trust him, I just couldn’t know for sure what was going on.
My phone wasn’t there. I looked back at the bed. He must have taken it! Unless there was someone else in this apartment, but that was much less likely.
What else could I do? I had to make a call. I couldn’t risk going outside. I could look for my phone, but if Barrett had taken it, I was sure he would have hidden it somewhere that I couldn’t easily get to, especially while being as quiet as I wanted to be.
Of course, there was also the possibility that I had dropped it in the office last night. My memories of hiding out in the closet and what happened before and after were hazy at best.
As I took in the rest of the room, trying to figure out what to do next, my eyes landed on something, and I breathed in sharply, then let out a sigh of relief so loud that I was worried Barrett had heard me.
Next to the bed, on his side, was a phone. Not a cellphone, a regular, plain, old, corded phone. The kind that felt like it belonged in a museum standing right next to a payphone, with the heading ‘can you believe we used these once?’
I tiptoed over to the bed, taking in Barrett’s strong and ridiculously sexy scent once more, allowing myself to be momentarily swayed by it before I shook my head and got down to business.
I had memorized Kelly’s number long ago just in case my phone ran out of juice in a bind; I had never even thought that I would need that number because I was being hunted by killers out to get me.
I reached down to pick up the phone, and then Barrett’s strong hand clamped down on mine, and I couldn’t move anymore.
I whipped my head over to him, and Barrett looked at me, all trace of the peace of sleep gone from his sharp features. “Don’t,” he said, softly, but far from good-naturedly. “No calls.”
“I just need to call my friend,” I whined, hoping he would see reason. “I just need to make sure she knows I’m OK.”
Barrett shook his head, and the look in his eyes said that no amount of convincing would change his mind on this one. “By now they’re already checking her phone. You can’t call her. Understood?”
I shrugged, slumping over and sitting next to Barrett on the bed. “I…understand,” letting the fear of getting caught again win out over my need to talk to Kelly. “Are we really safe here?”
Instead of answering right away, Barrett sprang out of bed, and I watched his lithe body, covered in those incredible tattoos, move toward the windows, reaching up and moving the blinds out of the way one by one, checking to see if anyone was watching us.
He was wearing a tiny pair of black boxer-briefs, and all of a sudden I forgot nearly everything but imagining, remembering what he was packing underneath them.
“We’re safe here for now,” he finally said after finishing up with the windows. “But that’s not to say we should advertise who we are and why we’re here.”
I gathered my thoughts after the sight of his body had scattered them to the four corners of the room. “Why are we here?”
“We’re here to lay low for a bit, and figure out our next steps.” Barrett said.
That didn’t sound right to me. “It doesn’t sound like you have a plan.”
Barrett came back toward me and sat in the chair next to the bed. I was suddenly very aware of just how little clothing we both had on, but Barrett didn’t seem to notice. “Frankly, Mallory, I don’t have a plan right now. This is all happening very fast.”
“You’re telling me,” I said. “I’m the one who’s not used to this kind of thing.”
“And I’m not used to having to make sure a civilian is safe.”
“Oh!” I said. “In that case, I could just leave and make it much, much easier on you!” I stood up and started to move toward where my clothes were, fully intending to get out of there.
Barrett’s hand closed around mine, he pulled me back toward him. The next thing I knew I was in the air, landing on his lap. “Oof!” I said, realizing that I was sitting on his lap.
Not something I was going to complain about. Not me.
Barrett’s huge arms closed around me, pulling me close to him in a bear hug. I felt his cock under me, through two layers of fabric, stir, and even though I didn’t want to, I wiggled my butt around, sighing with how good it felt to be back in his arms.
I only wished it was under better circumstances.
“Listen to me,” Barrett whispered, his mouth right next to my ear as I stopped resisting and nodded. “I am trying to keep you alive, Mallory. Whatever else happens, you must know that is true.”
I didn’t say anything.
“You’re in a really tough spot, and I understand that, and I’m sorry that this has happened to you. But you can’t just run away from it. Not from these people.” He shifted around so we could look each other in the eyes. “I know these people and what they’re capable of.” He shook his head. “You don’t mess around with them.”
“I understand,” I choked out, the tears coming back as I realized just how hopeless my situation was. “What can we do? Where can we go?”
He pulled me in close, and in that moment, all I wanted him to do was kiss me. Kiss me, have sex with me, make me forget what had happened last night, and not think about the future for a little bit, and how short a future I might have.
Barrett didn’t do any of those things. He just held me close to him, and I felt the warm pressure of his heart beating strong in his chest under all those muscles.
Barrett was like a suit of armor that I could wear.
“We’ll figure it out,” he whispered, as I nestled my head just below his chin covered in rough stubble. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
In that moment, I believed him.