CHAPTER 20

H ow long was the appropriate amount of time to let a siren grind against my dick while thinking about my boyfriend before I could try the next step in my plan? Not soon enough. Jesus fuck .

I wanted to bleach this part of my memory. It would’ve been so much easier to just shoot my way through, but the risk of casualties was too high.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Journey whispered in my ear. No, I really didn’t want her calling me that. “You seem… tense. Distracted. Am I not enough?”

Play nice. Suck it up. Be a love-sick puppy.

“That’s not it at all,” I said. Grabbing her hips, I pulled her tighter against me. “Work has me tense.”

That was the understatement of the year.

“Oh, I bet.” She ran her fingers through my hair, nails scraping against my scalp. “Tell me what I can do to make you feel better, baby. Let me take care of you. ”

The way she was inside my head enough to pick up on some of Gray’s nuances was alarming. It was as if she was cultivating an identity meant just for me. I didn’t like it. Still, I smiled. I had no idea how much she could glean from me, but I needed to keep up the facade as completely as I could.

“How far are you willing to go?” I asked. Curling my fingers around the back of her neck, I pulled her close and kissed the spot under her ear. She sighed and leaned into me, smoothing her palm down my chest.

Fuck, I needed to just bleach… everything when I was done here. Why’d it have to be sexy strippers? Why couldn’t it be angry construction workers with a vendetta? That would’ve been so much easier to deal with.

Seducing strippers to get access to secret rooms? No, thank you.

Punching people to get my way? Absolutely.

Fuck, I sounded like Gray. I was irritated as fuck, even as I tried to pretend I wasn’t.

Journey said nothing as my lips skimmed down the line of her neck. I gripped her hips firmly to keep her snug against me before letting my hands wander.

“Are you feeling feisty tonight, Sarge?” she said with a small giggle. On any other occasion, I probably would’ve enjoyed this.

“Let me be real clear, sweetheart, about what I want.” Was I about to push my luck? Probably. But every minute stuck in here was a waste of time. I pulled back to make sure she could see my face in the dim room. I caught the faint glow in her eyes and knew it had nothing to do with the lighting. “You and I both can feel what you’re doing to me every time you rub that sexy little body of yours over my cock.”

It most certainly wasn’t her. I was working real damn hard to keep Gray naked at the forefront of my mind to keep this goddamn facade up. This whole hunt was a fucking disaster I wanted to scrub from my brain.

“All I want,” I said as I trailed my fingers up her arm, “is to sit back and watch a gorgeous woman ride my cock all night long.”

“You think that’ll happen?”

“In a place like this, I know what VIP means. So, what’s a guy have to do to get some alone time with your gorgeous self upstairs?”

“Oh, that’s more for the customers who come back,” Journey told me quickly.

“Come on, sweetheart,” I began as I pulled her a little closer. I didn’t need to get close—she could hear me just fine—but I did. My lips brushed against her ear as I said, “It’s my last night in town. Don’t make me spend it alone.”

Yeah, I was propositioning a demon. I needed fucking church after this.