Hurry Up And Wait (Owens Protective Services #24)

17. Isla

17

ISLA

“Okay, we’re going to sit down right now and you’re going to tell me everything about that man. Because there is no way in hell what I just witnessed was innocent.”

What she just witnessed. The whole day had gone by with her drooling over the men installing the security, but now she just had to talk about IKE. I rolled my eyes and pushed her out of my room, not that it helped any. She just walked right back inside and followed me over to my bed.

“Seriously, are you going to tell me what that was?”

“It was nothing.”

“Um…hello? Hot, mysterious man just whispered in your ear while fondling your hair. I think that negates everything you just said.”

“Fondling my hair?”

“Girl, I nearly had an orgasm from it.”

I nearly smiled, but held back. “That’s IKE.”

“Yeah, I got that from the way you said his name, all breathless and stuff.”

“I was not breathless.”

“In my mind, you were. ”

“That doesn’t mean that’s the way I was.”

She huffed out a sigh. “Would you just let me have my fantasy? I’m trying to live vicariously through you.”

“And what about all the hot men at OPS that you talked about?”

“Well, you came home, which didn’t give me much time to work with. I was planning to make my move tonight, but you just couldn’t stay out of my hair.”

“So sorry for ruining your plans.”

“You should be. I would never be so inconsiderate of your plans. So, tell me about IKE.”

“What’s to tell? He’s IKE.”

“God, you totally suck at the gift of gab. Who is he? Why did he bring you home? What does this mean for Kavanaugh? Are you going to still be living here in a week? If not, can I have your room?”

Those were loaded questions that I had no intention of getting too deep into. “Nothing is going on with him. He was protecting me after the explosion.”

“And he brought you back to his place.”

I shrugged helplessly. I didn’t entirely get it either, but I was safe. “I’m telling you, nothing happened.” Aside from that time he slid his hand into my shirt and brushed his fingers against my skin, but I wasn’t counting that.

“Yeah, nothing happened,” she scoffed. “Is that why you’re as bright as a tomato?”

“I am not!”

“Well, no, but you should be after the way he defiled you in front of me. I’m telling you, if you don’t go after him, I need to.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. IKE was not the man for me, and I knew that just from spending a small amount of time with him. He was so intense and moody, and I’d already had that once with Shawn. I didn’t need to go through it again. Besides, I was with Kavanaugh, as much as anyone could be with another person when one of them worked out of town.

“In case you don’t remember, something already happened with Kavanaugh. ”

“Ah, yes. The man we moved here for. So, what’s with the heaping ton of testosterone filtering through this place?”

“Okay, you need to stop. Nothing is happening with IKE.”

“And it never will because you’re with Kavanaugh.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s a terrible reason not to make a move.”

I glared at her, ready to kick her out. “It’s not a reason. There is no reason because I don’t want to make a move. He’s an ass, if you must know.”

“Right, he certainly looked like an ass to me,” she grinned wickedly.

“If you want him, then go for him,” I snapped, feeling foolish for getting upset.

“I would never encroach on your territory.”

I was nearly fuming and her continued banter was only making things worse. “Can we move on? Nothing is happening with IKE and it’s not going to.” I took a deep breath and blew it out. “So, what happened with all the hot men? Any good prospects?”

“A few, but I’m not exactly sure how to approach them.”

“Since when do you not know how to approach a man?”

“Well, they’re all so hunky and…deadly,” she smirked. “I feel like maybe I need a guidance system or something.”

I thought back to the way they acted about the package I brought them. She might be right about needing a guidance system. “They’re definitely strange and?—”

I stopped talking when I saw a shadow outside my window. My eyes widened as I heard a thunk, and I grabbed Riley by the arm, dragging her behind the bed.

“What? What is it?” she hissed.

“There’s someone outside!”

“On the roof?” she shrieked.

I slapped my hand over her mouth and did my best to think fast. That’s what would save my life right now. There were two of us and one of him—that we knew of. As long as we had the element of surprise on our side, we could live to see tomorrow .

“Okay, I’m going to turn out the light,” I whispered. “I want you to watch him and call out if he comes toward the window.”

Her eyes widened comically. “Why do I have to go by the window? That’s the murder zone!”

“It’s not the murder zone. He’s out there and we’re in here.”

“Then you go be by the window,” she hissed. “It’s probably Shawn, and we both know you have a better chance of talking him down than I do. He’d just kill me.”

That was true. Shawn really didn’t like Riley, and he made that pretty clear every time she came to the house. Of course, her constant need to call him names didn’t help the situation any.

“Fine. You turn off the lights and I’ll watch the window.”

“What’s the next move?”

I shrugged helplessly. “I haven’t exactly thought this through.”

“Great plan. We’ll be murdered tonight, but at least you can give yourself time to come up with a plan!”

“Shh! Just go!”

“Fine. I’m going!”

I crept around the bed to the window and peered over the ledge. The man was laying in the dark on the roof. I couldn’t see anything more than that. He was just a blur of dark clothing. With only the moonlight to illuminate the roof, I had little chance of calling in a description to anyone at OPS, but at least I could tell them their sensors had been bypassed.

On bent knees, I hurried over to the doorway and tugged Riley a few feet away from the door. “I’m going to grab my cell and call OPS. You stay here and watch for any movement.”

“Are you crazy? I’m not staying up here while you call for help! I am not the dumb blonde in the movie.”

“You’re going to be the dead blonde if you don’t do what I say,” I snapped.

“Uh…hello? I’m not blonde!”

“It was a bad analogy—one that you made up!”

She rolled her eyes at me, crossing her arms over her chest. “Are we going to argue semantics or find a way to escape the serial killer on our roof? ”

“Fine!” I hissed. “Let’s go. But if he breaks in while we’re downstairs, it’s your fault.”

I hurried downstairs, snatching my phone off the table as I made my way to the kitchen. I figured I had a few minutes tops before this guy worked his way inside. And that was if I was really lucky.

“OPS,” a bored voice said.

“This is Isla McKenna,” I whispered. “There’s someone trying to break into my house.”

“Isla, we’ve got someone on the way over. Where are you right now?”

“Downstairs with my sister.”

“Where is the intruder?”

“On the roof.”

“On the—what?”

“Outside my bedroom window.”

“Please hold.”

“No, wait, I?—”

But there was already elevator music playing. I couldn’t believe it. It was like calling 9-1-1 and being put on hold. “Enough of this,” I muttered, grabbing a frying pan out of the kitchen cabinet.

“Where are you going?” Riley asked as I ran upstairs.

“I’m going to bash this asshole’s face in.”

“You can’t do that! What if it’s not Shawn?”

“Of course it is!” I called over my shoulder, but before I could get to the room, she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to a stop. “Isla, as much as I want to see you bash in Shawn’s face, you can’t do this. I won’t let you. It’s an arrest waiting to happen!”

“No jury would convict me, not when they find out he was on my roof like some creeper!”

“Isla—”

“Look,” I said, taking a deep breath. “After the explosion, I was a mess. You didn’t see it because you were off staring at hot men. But I was a total wreck. I was seeing shadows and freaking out about every noise in the house. It was totally unlike me. I mean, I didn’t even want to be alone because I thought someone was constantly coming after me. Shawn did that to me, and now he’s out there on my roof, taunting me and trying to scare me. I won’t let him do that. I won’t sit back while he torments me.”

“Fine.” Her irritation was plain, but she wasn’t going to stop me. I could feel her giving in. “But I’m opening the window so you can concentrate on your swing. You never were very good at baseball.”

“Yeah, well, his head isn’t two centimeters around and this is much thicker than a baseball bat.”

“It’s a good thing you never played baseball if you think a baseball is two centimeters in diameter,” she muttered.

I ignored her and hurried over to the window. My hands were shaking and I was terrified out of my mind. I felt that horrible pain in my chest, the same as when I was at IKE’s house and thought there was someone there. The difference was that Riley was with me this time, which helped take away some of the fear. And this time, I wasn’t wandering around in the dark. I could do this.

“Ready?” I asked her.

She cracked her knuckles, then her neck and nodded at me. “Let’s do this.”

“Alright, on the count of three, raise the window as fast as you can.”

She nodded and I started the countdown.

“One, two, three!”

She heaved, but the window did nothing. I turned to her with a glare.

“I guess we should have made sure the window was unlocked,” she chuckled, flipping the lock. “Again?”

There were so many things I wanted to say, but this wasn’t the time. “Three, two, one!”

This time, the window flew open, and I stuck my upper body out the window, turned to my would-be assailant, and swung with all my might. It wasn’t until my arm was already in full motion that I saw the surprise on Kavanaugh’s face. It was too late to pull back. I couldn’t stop the forward momentum.

“Oh shit!” I shouted as the metal connected with his face. I dropped the pan, covering my mouth as he went flying backward, stumbling to the edge of the roof before falling over .

I turned to Riley in horror, unable to believe what I had just done.

“Did you just?—”

I nodded, my hands still covering my mouth.

“And he?—”

I nodded again, unable to truly believe that Kavanaugh was my perpetrator.

“We should?—”

I nodded, slowly shutting the window. I turned to Riley, wincing. “Do you think he’ll ever sleep with me again?”

“I think it’s best we pretend this never happened.”

I swung the door open, staring at the man on my porch curiously. “Can I help you?”

“Remember me? Fox from the grocery store?”

I knew exactly who he was and why he was here. “Yes, you were picketing about Funyuns space on the shelf.”

“Right,” he grinned.

“How’s that going?” I asked, leaning against the doorframe, pretending I didn’t see Kavanaugh behind him.

“I think we might be making some headway,” he nodded. “Hey, did you happen to notice anything unusual tonight?”

I pretended to think about it a moment. “Nope, not here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Everything’s been relatively quiet. We’re just enjoying a nice night at home.”

He nodded. I knew he could see the frying pan on the table behind me, but that didn’t mean I was admitting to anything. “That’s good. Because we had a few alarms going off at your house. We just wanted to make sure no one broke in.”

“I’m sure we would have known if that happened,” I laughed uncomfortably.

“And no one, say…opened a window and smacked anyone in the face with a frying pan? ”

I laughed hysterically at that, unable to stop myself. “I think we would remember doing something like that.”

“I know I definitely would,” Riley joined in.

“So, you didn’t hear a scream or see someone tumbling from your roof?”

I pretended once again to think about it. “Nope, that doesn’t sound at all familiar. Riley?”

“Yeah, I was washing my hair. I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Your hair is dry.”

“It’s fast-drying,” she said, not breaking under their interrogation.

“Fast-drying hair. That’s what you’re going with?” Fox pointed out.

“Going with? You make it sound like we’re lying. Is that what you’re accusing us of?” she asked, her eyes narrowing on him.

Yeah, this wasn’t uncomfortable at all. I should probably just admit that I whacked him in the face with a frying pan, but I really didn’t want to. Not when they showed up at my door pretending everything was perfectly normal. Now, had I opened the door and they immediately apologized for scaring the shit out of me, I might have been a little more forgiving.

Fox turned to Kavanaugh. “They don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“We really don’t,” I said, holding back the wince as Fox moved aside and I caught the massive red mark on Kavanaugh’s face, along with the rather nasty bump forming on the corner of his forehead. Yeah, I really got him good.

“Okay,” Fox grinned. “Well, the camera is fixed on your roof and there are no other issues. Oh, and we’re having a shawarma social next Friday. You should really attend.”

“A shawarma social,” I repeated slowly. “I will be there.”

“Me too,” Riley said enthusiastically. “Just make sure there are a few hot single guys there.”

“I know for a fact there will be a mechanic,” he grinned.

My eyes widened and Riley smacked my arm repeatedly. “Did you hear that? A mechanic.”

“And not just any mechanic. He’s former military. ”

I cried out as Riley’s fingernails dug into my arm, nearly breaking the skin. “Ow! Have a little respect for my flesh!”

“Did you hear him?” she hissed.

“I have two ears that are functioning normally.”

“Holy crap,” she bounced from one foot to the other. “A real live mechanic.”

“Yes, they have them in every town,” Kavanaugh muttered. “Not sure what’s so fucking special about them anyway. You know, I could carry a tire?—”

“Save it,” Fox sighed. “You know exactly what it’s about.”

“Yeah, I do,” he grumbled. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Well, if that’s all, I’ll just be going,” I smiled. I slowly shut the door, then leaned back against it, letting out a whoosh of air. “That was close.”

“Do you think we fooled them?”

I rolled my eyes at her, knowing we hadn’t come close. Then there was a knock on the door. “So close.”

Turning, I swung the door open and smiled brightly at Kavanaugh. “Are you really going to pretend like you didn’t just bash my head in and send me flying off the roof?”

“That depends. Are you really going to pretend you weren’t creeping around up there without a simple phone call first to let me know you were here?”

“Touché. I could really use an ice pack.”

I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside. “Good, because I could really use a drink.”

I dragged him back to the kitchen and pushed him down in a chair, then walked over to the freezer and grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables. I plopped it on his head, ignoring the wince as the frozen objects hit his massive bruise.

“Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome,” I said in a sweet voice. “Would you like to tell me why you were on my roof?”

He sighed heavily and Riley cleared her throat. “Well, I think this is a good time for me to make my exit. It was nice seeing you, Kavanaugh. Hope your face isn’t too bashed in. It would be a shame to mar that beauty.”

As she walked away, I turned back to Kavanaugh questioningly.

“I came home to see you.”

“Okay.”

“And I thought I should check the perimeter first. After everything you’d been through, I wanted to be able to walk through the door and tell you everything was safe. So, I started checking things out and I noticed something on the roof.”

“And you thought you’d check it out.”

“Well…yeah. I’m a guy. That’s what I do.”

I nodded, not any more satisfied with his answer.

“So…anyway, I climbed up there and—” He winced, shifting in his seat. “I sort of threw out my back.”

Okay, that wasn’t what I thought he would say.

He chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, you heard me right. God, it was so fucking embarrassing. Luckily, when you hit me and tossed me off the roof, it corrected whatever was wrong.”

“I’m sorry, did you say I threw you off the roof?”

“When I tell people about what happened, I’m going to say exactly that.”

“Isn’t it a little embarrassing to say a woman threw you?”

“Isn’t it a little more embarrassing to say I stumbled and fell after you hit me?”

My lips twitched in amusement. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me first.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise. I’m regretting that decision now.”

“So, why did you rush back to see me?”

“Well, when IKE informed me that you insisted on going home before the house was finished and that you said you didn’t need him anymore?—”

“Because I don’t.”

“—I thought it would help if I came home and persuaded you.”

“Really? And how did you plan on doing that?”

He left the bag slide from his hand and shoved the chair back, marching over to me and pushing me back against the counter. “I have a few powers of persuasion.”

I fought the smile that threatened to break out over my lips, but it was useless. As his hands drifted to my waist and slid over my skin under my shirt, I already knew I was losing the battle.

“What the fuck are you doing to me, Isla?” he murmured. Then his lips were devouring mine and his strong hands slid around my back, pulling me closer to him.

I was helpless, unable to stop him even if I wanted to. Which I really didn’t want to do. My hands had a mind of their own, running over his body and memorizing the feel of his muscles beneath his shirt. I gasped when I felt his hard length pressed against me and his lips sucking on my neck.

“Kavanaugh,” I moaned.

I’d only had one night with him, and that should remind me that we weren’t a couple and I couldn’t rely on him like I would a boyfriend. But with his lips pressed to mine, all I could think about was the ache building inside me since that explosion went off. I desperately wanted his touch to remind me I was okay. When all I wanted was him, I was left alone and unable to find comfort. But he was here now, and I was going to take full advantage.

I lowered his zipper as I got to my knees. His breathing turned ragged as he watched me, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Isla…”

“I need this,” I whispered. He probably didn’t understand, but after days of feeling like I had no control, I wanted to decide what I had and how. And what I really wanted was to feel his cock throbbing inside my mouth as I brought him pleasure. I didn’t waste another second waiting for his permission. I fisted his hard length and took him into the back of my throat, moaning as I tasted him on my tongue.

“Fuck, Isla!” His hips jerked against me and he held back, fisting his hand in my hair as he tried with everything in him not to lose control. I looked up at him from beneath my lashes as I took him over and over again, sucking on him until he was a crazed man, desperate for release.

“Baby—” His eyes slipped closed and the grip on my hair was so tight it brought tears to my eyes. He came hard, sucking in a breath as he spilled himself in me. I was just cleaning him up when he grabbed my arms and hoisted me in the air, tossing me over his shoulder. I felt him wriggle and then his pants were around his hips as he marched out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my bedroom.

I waved awkwardly at Riley as she watched him carry me to my room, and then she got up and slammed her door shut. I yelped as he tossed me down on the bed. Then he was between my legs with a wicked grin on his face.

“Now it’s my turn.”