Chapter 22

Nothing about his day had gone according to plan. After he had left Monica"s office, he figured he would put a few hours of work in and then be back to pick her up. Not only had that not happened, but he had been forced to meet with the chief of police. The federal agent who had hired them initially to look into Alexander Fletcher was back. As it turned out, they too were keeping an eye on Monica.

After the recent attacks, the federal agent was advised to loop in the local police department which led to him and Nash being called in to review what they knew.

Neither the police chief nor the agent was happy to hear they had nothing.

Luke waited until he was on his way home before he called Caden.

"How did the meeting go?"

His friend wasn"t one for pleasantries.

"As expected. They want us to do all the work and turn it over to them."

That was literally their job description, but this time it bothered him. Mostly because Monica wasn"t just some job to him. She was the woman he cared about. The woman who was at his home, waiting for him.

"Were they upset when they realized we didn"t have any more information than they did?"

Luke thought back to the meeting he had just left. "I"m pretty sure the FBI knows more than they're telling us."

"Shocker," Caden huffed. "I spoke with Tex. He overnighted that tracker. It'll be here tomorrow. He also said he might have a lead on Fletcher, but he can"t be sure. He asked that we give him a couple of days to check things out and then he would reach back out to me."

"I"ll take anything we can get at this point."

He didn"t know who this Tex person, was but if Caden trusted him, then he would trust him as well.

"I"ll have more for you tomorrow." With that, Caden hung up.

Ten minutes later he was pulling up in front of his apartment. Ryker had dropped Monica off earlier, and if his friend was correct, she had been surprised that he had given her a set of keys to his place. She was probably trying to justify that he only did it because it was easier.

That was just the excuse he would use if needed, but the truth was he wanted her to have access to his place for the foreseeable future. It went against his original plan to take things slow, but he didn"t care.

Slow was overrated. He wanted Monica in his life. In his bed at night. Her stuff in his bathroom or vice versa. Full stop. He just wanted Monica.

So when he let himself in, and found her curled up on his side of the bed, something in him shifted. After a long two days, she passed out knowing that she was safe because he made damn sure of it.

Luke moved over to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. It was late enough that he didn"t mind crawling into bed and catching up on the sleep that the two of them missed.

Stripping out of his clothes, he crawled into the bed in just his boxers. He didn"t care that this wasn"t his usual side of the bed. As long as he had Monica in his arms, he would gladly sleep anywhere.

"What time is it?" Monica asked in a husky voice when he rolled her over so that he could cuddle her backside.

"It"s late. Go back to sleep."

She wiggled her ass until she was close enough that not a single piece of paper could be slid between them.

"Soon," she mumbled. "Who decorated your apartment? I expected a bachelor pad, but this place is nice."

Last night, when they had gotten to his apartment after being forced from her townhouse, he could tell she had been too distracted to care about her surroundings. Her current question proved that she hadn"t taken the time to look around until today.

"It came completely furnished. The realtor advertised it as the perfect apartment for a single male. They weren"t wrong. I was able to move in one day and haven"t changed a single thing."

"That explains the nice decor." This time her words were laced with sleep. The next moment he listened to her even breaths and knew she had fallen back into slumber.

Luke thought about what she said about his decor. He hadn"t paid much mind to what his place looked like, but he would change everything tomorrow if that"s what Monica wanted. It was important to him that she felt comfortable in his space.

That was his final thought before he let sleep take him under.

He wokeup to Monica rubbing her ass against his erection. Sometime during the night, his hand had wormed its way up her shirt and was covering her one breast.

"If you don"t want another late morning, you should probably stop teasing me like that."

Her hips stopped and he instantly regretted his warning.

"What time is it?"

He glanced at his phone.

"Six thirty."

"Shit, shit, shit." Monica scrambled out of bed. "I hadn"t meant to sleep this late."

She might not have meant to, but it was obvious her body needed it.

"What time do you need to be at the office?"

He didn"t have the slightest idea what her normal workday looked like. Since coming back from Rome, it was one hit after the other.

"I wanted to be there by seven. Can I grab a quick shower?"

"You don"t have to ask."

He watched as she darted into the bathroom. Knowing she would want to leave as soon as she was ready, Luke grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt. He got dressed as he moved into the kitchen to start the coffee.

Sure enough, barely fifteen minutes later, Monica was racing into the kitchen fully put together. Today"s outfit was a form-fitting dress with some kind of jacket over top. Her dark hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck and her makeup was a little lighter than normal.

She was absolutely stunning, and he started to wonder just how far he could push her.

"Don"t even think about it." Monica didn"t even look up as she prepped her coffee into a to-go cup. "I can feel the look you"re giving me and I refuse to be late."

"Fair enough." He stepped close and placed a kiss on her neck. "But can you please put something besides coffee into your system?"

"I"ll have Amelia order me something before my first meeting."

He didn"t trust Monica not to forget, so he made a mental note to order her something as soon as he dropped her off. There was a great café not far from her place that delivered. He could have something there before Amelia got in.

"I need to grab my rental car today. I have a few meetings tomorrow that require me to leave the office." Monica was walking and talking. She took multitasking to a whole new level. He wondered just how often she pushed the limit in the morning.

"I"ll make sure Ryker grabs it on the way to your office."

Monica slipped into her heels and turned to face him. He had a feeling he already knew what she was going to ask.

"How long are you going to make that poor man sit in the lobby? He has to be bored."

Yup. Exactly what he thought she would say.

"He can be bored all he wants. It comes with the job."

"Sure, if I was paying you or this was an actual assignment, but it"s not. You"re making him waste his time when there are better things for him to be doing."

If only she knew.

"Trust me, he doesn"t mind." He opened the front door. "Now I thought you were in a hurry to get to work. Wouldn"t want this discussion to make you late."

Monica released the cutest growl before stomping out the door. He would"ve loved to tell her just how sexy he thought that sound was, but he liked his balls just as they were and he feared she would kick him if he opened his mouth.

She only stayed quiet long enough for them to get into his truck and start the commute to her job.

"At least let me pay you."

Now it was his turn to growl. "I"m not taking a dime of your money, and besides, Fletcher started out as an assignment. Just think of this as a continuation of that."

Technically he was still working with the FBI, so it wasn"t a lie. They had just asked him to back off, but he refused. His gut told him Fletcher wouldn"t stop until he got what he wanted. And that was for him to get information on Monica's clients. Even if it meant hurting her in the process.

"This discussion isn"t over." She told him as he pulled up in front of her building. He didn"t bother to argue. There would be no further discussion, but seven in the morning wasn"t the time to tell her that.

Monica refused to allow him to walk her up, but she did give him a kiss goodbye. Since it would be a little while before Dom or Ryker showed up, he opted to sit outside. He had a few things to handle anyway. The first was her breakfast. Then he touched base with Ryker, asking his friend to pick up Monica"s rental on the way in, and finally, he texted Caden. He wanted to know as soon as the tracker was delivered.

He would be making sure Monica wore that sooner rather than later. He had a bad feeling something big was about to happen.