Monica laughed and it was the sweetest sound. Especially with their faces this close to each other. He could both hear it and feel the vibrations against his chest, not to mention her breath that fanned across his cheek. His senses were overwhelmed and somehow his stiff cock swelled even more. He needed to take care of that soon or he was going to blow like a teenage boy seeing tits for the first time.

  “You know, I could take care of that for you.”

  She wiggled her hips like he didn’t know exactly what she was referring to. He bit the inside of his cheek.

  “Slow, remember?”

  “So you can pleasure me but I can’t return the favor?”

  Luke needed to think about anything other than Monica pleasuring him. Her delicate hand wrapped around his shaft or slipping into her wet heat.

  “Tonight isn’t about me. It was about making you realize what you would be missing if you kept ignoring me, and tormenting you in the process.”

  Desire flared in her green orbs.

  “And if I want to torture you in return?”

  Fuck. She knew exactly what to say to make him so hard, he was moments away from bursting.

  Taking a few moments, he closed his eyes and breathed through it. Willing his cock to sit back and wait its turn.

  “Any other day I will gladly let you torture me. Tonight, I’m sticking to the fact that we will take things slow.”

  "Fine." Monica rolled her eyes. "If you insist, then can I please get into something more comfortable? My skirt hiked around my waist with nothing on underneath is not exactly conducive to us taking things slow."

  She wasn't wrong. Feeling her heat pressed against his zipper was equivalent to tempting a dehydrated man with only a few drops of water. He wanted more.

  Luke rolled off her and waited until she stood up to smack her ass. "Go get comfortable. I'll wait here for you."

  The saucy look she threw over her shoulder did nothing to quench his need for her. He was torturing himself, but he couldn't seem to stop. When she was near, he wanted to touch her, to bury himself in her. Monica had a way of throwing all his good intentions out the window. He needed to find a way to change that.

  He quickly realized just how fucked he was when she walked back out a few minutes later. Unlike when her friends were over, this time Monica came out in a pair of yoga pants and an oversized sweater that hung off her one shoulder. Her face was clean and free of makeup and her raven hair hung loosely around her shoulders. She was a vision and his cock took notice.

  "I thought we agreed comfortable? Not to tempt a starving man."

  Monica looked down at what she was wearing. "This is comfortable. It's not my fault your cock doesn't agree with your logic."

  She purposely waved to where his cock was trying its best to break through his zipper. Luke adjusted himself and took a seat on the couch a few feet away from Monica. He needed a minute to get his body in check.

  It didn't take as long as he expected once the two of them started talking. He found out quickly that they had a lot in common. They liked the same music, had similar taste in movies, and were both career-driven. Although, he had known that last part even if they hadn't talked about it.

  What he didn't realize was that, despite the confidence she showed the world, she was scared every day of failing. Becoming CEO wasn't just her dream, it was a way for her best friend to stay out of the business. If she failed, she was convinced Carmichael would turn his intentions back to Ash and she never wanted that to happen.

  It wasn't until the second time Monica yawned that he realized just how late it had gotten.

  "I think I better get going."

  Monica looked at the clock and winced.

  "Shit, it's way past my bedtime."

  He laughed and Monica slapped his chest lightly.

  "Don't laugh at me. I require a certain number of hours of sleep if I don't want to be a raging bitch. Right now, we are teetering on that line."

  "We don't want bitchy Monica, now do we?"

  Monica walked him to the door and placed a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth. He was tempted to deepen it but decided if there was any hope of her getting any sleep, he needed to leave right now.

  "Good night, Monica. Sweet dreams."

  "Night, Luke."

  He waited until the door locked behind him before he stepped down onto the sidewalk. He’d just taken a step when something out of the corner of his eye caught Luke's attention. He walked in the opposite direction of his truck, to where he watched Monica park her car just a couple of hours ago. The sight before him quickly ruined the good mood he had been in.

  "Son of a bitch."

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Monica leaned back against her front door and traced her lips. She was glad one of them had the wits about them to slow things down. It wasn't going to be her based on the way she was ready to jump Luke's bones on several occasions throughout the night.

  So much for focusing on her career. She didn't think this was what Ash and Trista meant by going for it.

  Balance.

  She needed to find a healthy balance between the two.

  Monica was still pressed against the door when a knock sounded seconds later. A quick glance in the peephole had her smiling. Maybe Luke didn't have as much restraint as she gave him credit for.

  "Miss me already?" she quipped, yanking the door open. The serious look on his face dissolved any further banter she had. "What's wrong?" Now she was on high alert.

  "I need you to come look at something."

  Monica wasted no time slipping on a pair of shoes and following him outside. She understood what caused his look when they were mere feet from her car.

  Someone had slashed both her tires. At least that's what she could see from where she stood on the sidewalk. And the word BITCH was spray-painted across both doors.

  "Does the other side look the same way?"

  Her feet were cemented to the ground. Even if she wanted to move to look for herself, her body refused to cooperate. Anger consumed every cell of her body.

  "Yes, all four tires have been slashed, but they only spray-painted this side of the car."

  Monica tried to find some sort of calming breath. She thought back to all the techniques Ash had attempted to teach her over the years when her anger would take charge. None of it was working.

  "Fletcher," she hissed.

  It had to be him. There was no one else she had pissed off recently, and until her meeting with him, things had been fine.

  "Probably not him personally, but someone he sent."

  "We need to call the police."

  Along with her insurance agent and a rental company. She couldn't be without a vehicle while this mess was being handled. She had important meetings that couldn't be rescheduled over the next few weeks.

  "I agree, but I would like to call Caden first. Give him time to access the cameras in the area before the cops do."

  She was only half listening to what Luke was saying. It was the middle of the night and she hadn't thought to bring her phone out with her so she could check her schedule. She knew she had stuff tomorrow that would require her presence. She didn't have time to deal with this headache.

  "Monica?"

  She pushed thoughts of work aside for the moment. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

  "Before we call the police, I would like to give Caden time to see what he can find."

  "Whatever you think is best," she waved the suggestion off.

  Minutes before she had been happily thinking over her night, and now she was stuck outside in the cold while she tried to figure out how she was going to fit this into her already packed day.

  So much for getting the sleep she needed.

  Luke pulled out his phone and stepped a few feet away. She didn't even bother to try to discern who he was speaking to. She should care more, but all she could focus on was the anger she was feeling. When he mentioned having his friends watch over her, she thought he was being dramatic and taking things overboard. Apparently, she was wrong.

  She looked around the area. This was a good neighborhood. Not overly flashy and expensive, but far from the slums. Vandalism like this didn't happen, and least not normally. There was no mistaking this was a target attack, and she was the sole focus.

  "Okay, Caden is on it," Luke said, joining her again. "He said to give him a five-minute head start and then we could call the police. Why don't you go inside and grab a coat?"

  She was moving before she could even think better of it. She wasn't cold despite the chilly night air. Anger pumped through her veins and kept her plenty warm.

  Once back inside her house, she grabbed her coat, phone, and keys. She needed to grab her insurance information from the glove compartment. Just the thought of what it was going to take to clean up this mess made her sigh.

  She allowed herself an extra minute to regain her composure before she stepped back out on the sidewalk. It wouldn't do her any good to take her anger out on Luke. It wasn't his fault this was happening.

  "Caden texted. He gave me the okay to call the police, so I just phoned them. They were sending someone out shortly."

  "Why do you think he did this?"

  "Fletcher?"

  She nodded her head. There wasn't anyone else she could think of, so she had to assume it was him.

  "My guess is he's trying to intimidate you into working with him."

  Monica crossed her arms and let out a very loud snort. "Well, he missed the mark completely. This doesn't intimidate me, it just pisses me off. The time I'm going to waste dealing with this will only further piss me off, not to mention the sleep I'm going to lose. God help whoever gets in my way tomorrow." She looked down at her phone and winced. "Correction, make that today."

  "Here comes the cops now."

  That made her smile. Not the police showing up, but the fact that he didn't comment on the way she was handling the matter. Smart man.

  Monica let Luke handle the two police officers who showed up to take their statements. She answered questions when asked and provided her information, but otherwise, she hung back. It was nearly an hour before she was allowed to have her car towed and go back into her house.

  "What are you doing?" she asked when Luke followed her inside and locked the door after closing it.

  "Staying here to make sure whoever did that to your car doesn't show up again."

  She folded her arms across her chest and stared him down. "You really think they’ll come back tonight?"

  Her plan to crawl into bed and get a few precious hours of sleep was starting to sound like a pipe dream.

  "I'm not sure what to think, but I'm not taking any chances."

  "I know I didn't give you a grand tour earlier, but I only have the one bed. I use the second bedroom as an office."

  She never had a need for more. The only people who visited were Trista and Ash. Trista had her own apartment that the two of them used not far from here, and if they got too drunk, the three of them slept in her giant bed, just like in college.

  "That's okay. I don't plan on sleeping anyway, so the couch will be just fine."

  She probably should've argued with him. She was being a shit hostess, but honestly, she didn't have the mental bandwidth to do so. She was pissy and not in the right headspace to be good company.

  Instead, she shrugged her shoulder and went upstairs to her bedroom. After grabbing a spare pillow and some blankets, she trekked back down to her living room.

  "In case you decide to sleep." She was conflicted. If it had been earlier in the night, she would've kissed him before going to her bedroom. Now the moment was ruined and all she wanted to do was crawl in her bed and pull the covers over her head.

  "Good night." That was the best she could come up with.

  "Night, Monica. Sweet dreams."

  Yeah right. She just had to hope that she could sleep knowing Luke was one floor away.

  Shit. She was late.

  After hitting her snooze alarm three times, and then standing under the showerhead for longer than usual to regain some of her senses, she was late. And maybe she could've made it on time, but she had forgotten about her houseguest until she rushed into the kitchen half naked.

  Her goal had been her morning cup of coffee but what she got was a sexy Luke standing in front of the coffee machine. Things had only gone downhill from there when he updated her on what Caden found. Or lack thereof.

  Luke had arranged a rental car for her but it wouldn't be ready until after nine, so she had to settle for him driving her to work.

  So now she was ten minutes late to work and she knew even before she stepped off the elevator that her day was about to get much worse.

  Amelia's big round eyes when she turned the corner were the only warning she got.

  "Monica!" Carmichael snapped. "Care to explain why you're late this morning? Didn't we discuss the importance of making this company your priority? How can I retire when you don't take your job seriously?"

  That was her breaking point. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Maybe it was Ash's encouragement to stand up to him. Or maybe it was the fact that she just didn't give a flying fuck that morning because, instead of being the bigger person and politely asking her partner to step into her office to finish the discussion, she went off on him.

  "I'm sorry, Niles." She let the disdain and sarcasm drip from her voice at the use of his first name. He hated people calling him anything other than Mr. Carmichael. "I'm sorry that in the middle of the night, someone decided to vandalize my car by slashing all the tires and writing the word BITCH in big bold red letters across my doors. I'm sorry that I spent over an hour speaking with the police about it. I'm sorry that I'm running on only three hours of sleep and not enough caffeine to handle the shit required to deal with the insurance and get myself a new car. And I'm truly sorry that all of that meant I'm ten minutes late for the first time in years, giving you the impression that I don't care about this company."

  Monica didn't bother to wait around to see what he had to say. She got one glance at Amelia's scared expression before she stomped into her office and slammed the door.

  She would have to deal with that fallout later but right now she needed a second to think and figure out how she was going to make it up to her secretary for not one rude day but now two.

  Monica dropped her head onto her desk. Fuck, she was so screwed.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  "Does Monica know she's about to have a permanent houseguest?" Nash looked at him with a smirk.

  Luke was back at the office after a busy morning. He had picked up Monica's rental car and parked it a block away from her townhouse. Would it have been smarter to leave it at her office? Sure, but then he wouldn't have the opportunity to pick her up and advise her of his plan to unofficially move in. He hadn't told his friend his plan either, but he wasn't surprised that Nash had put it together.

  "Not yet. She wasn't exactly in a talkative mood this morning, so I thought it best just to show up tonight and hope for the best."

  Nash laughed and shook his head. "You are one brave motherfucker. I have a feeling she isn't going to agree without an argument."

  Neither did he and a huge part of him hoped that she didn't. He liked that she gave him shit. It meant life was interesting, but it would make it harder to take things slow like he wanted. He knew several ways he could make her comply but every one of them required the two of them naked. And rolling around in the sheets. The opposite of his goal.

  "Why exactly is Luke a brave motherfucker?" Caden joined them at the table. Setting his laptop down in front of him, Caden gave them half of his attention like normal when work was involved.

  "Because he plans to move in with Monica without telling her," Nash helpfully answered.

  Caden whistled. "That sounds like a stupid plan."

  "I'm not moving in," he defended himself. "I'm just going to stay at her place until we find Fletcher and whoever vandalized her car."

  "Still a stupid plan." Caden shook his head. "Especially since I got nothing off the footage I found this morning. Whoever the individual was wore all black and covered their face. There's nothing for me to use for facial recognition. And I tried to find other cameras in the area, but whoever it was found the one block with no cameras and used that area to park their getaway vehicle."

  "Did you see any vehicles leaving around that time frame?"

  "Nope." Caden shook his head.

  "So we have nothing," he confirmed.

  "That's correct."

  Luke sat back in the chair and crossed his arms. That wasn't the news he wanted to hear. Nor was it what he wanted to pass along to Monica. She had been mad when he dropped her off at work that morning. He had hoped that some good news would soften her up. It didn't look like that was in the cards for him today.

  "Do we have any news on Fletcher? Or maybe Samuel? Either one could be responsible. Hell, it could be both. Based on what we’ve learned, I wouldn't be surprised if Samuel didn't orchestrate something from inside prison."

  "I thought of that." Caden pulled his laptop closer and started to type. "I have a buddy of mine accessing prison records and privileges. That's more his area than mine, so I thought it best to pass along the task. So far we don't have anything, but if there is something to find, he'll get it for us."

  "So nothing on that end either?" He was starting to sound like a broken record.

  "Nope. Sorry, man."

  "Not your fault." He cleared his throat and looked around the office. "Where is everyone else?"

  "Dom and Ryker are watching Monica, per your request. They checked in and said she hasn't left the office all day. Jayce and Austin are meeting with one of Jayce's buddies from the Secret Service. His friend might have a job for us," Nash explained.

  "What kind of job?"

  The Secret Service wasn't one of the government agencies they would usually work with because they liked to keep things in-house and were known to walk a very straight line.

  "No clue." Nash lifted his shoulder. "His buddy didn't say, so we will have to wait to ask him when they get back. They flew out to California today but should be back within a day or two."

 

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