Page 27 of Defended By Love

“I need to go in and sleep.” If I stay out here any longer, who knows what I’ll do.

Grant takes in a rasping breath and tries to run his fingers through his hair. He swears when he’s foiled by whatever magic hair gel he uses.

“Do you want me to come in? Just for sleep. I promise.”

Ugh. I do. I want him to come in and give me so many orgasms that I fall asleep on his tongue.

“No. You’d better not.”

He nods and leans forward to kiss the top of my head.

“I’ll wait out here until you fall asleep. Just in case you need me.”

I look up at him, recognizing my mistake immediately. I didn’t know it was possible for some tech CEO to be such an amazing actor. The way he looks at me like I’m the most precious thing in the world shatters me completely every time.

“How will you know when I’m asleep?”

He smiles weakly. “I’ll know.”

I leave him with that, his words echoing in my head as I climb into my bed. I don’t know how, but I can feel him outside, pacing and looking towards my bedroom window. When I finally fall asleep, I am positive that he’s still out there.

Somehow, I just know too.

Chapter 14

I wake up just past six a.m. after my usual five hours of sleep, feeling refreshed and ready to kick some ass. I guess without the surprise trauma and orgasms, my body doesn’t crash as hard. Or maybe my body fuels itself on opportunities to work.

As my first item of business, I make a post on all my social media accounts telling people that I’m alright. Hopefully, this will eliminate the need to respond to so many people who care about me later on. Thus, avoiding wasting precious time.

Annoyingly, I see that I’ve already got a few messages from Beth, our office manager. They’re the same as yesterday. She basically says that she knows I sneak into the office in the middle of the night and wants to make sure I’m alright.

Ugh.

I text her a thumbs up and carry on.

For a second, I have a twinge of regret that I didn’t crumple up her list of ‘fun’ office ideas, but then I remember that it’s in a collapsed, possibly radioactive building. Still, if anyone would be able to recover the list, it’d be Beth.

If this really is a time loop, I make a mental note to destroy the list tonight. Just in case. There’s no way I’m participating in Pen Pal to the Partners.

Yesterday I made the critical mistake of not dressing for the opportunity to work. It’s a mistake I don’t repeat. After my shower, I take pains to do my hair and dress in my most powerful power suit. Yes, it has shoulder pads. No, they don’t look (very) tacky. I put my hair up into a tight chignon and wing my eyeliner into deadly, but professional points. I top it all off with red lipstick that I refuse to acknowledge is the same shade as Grant’s spandex suit.

This time, when I get to the building site, I’m in my battle gear.

I head straight for the same police officer as yesterday. Since he had information about the fact that this was called in, I have to assume that he’s a part of the team, or at least adjacently informed. Either one means that he’s high enough to know at least a little bit about what I’m after.

I sidestep the increasing media with relative ease—it’s not yet become the circus that it will—walk past the cop to the other side of the barrier and gesture for him to join me. He does.

Reaching into my cross-body bag, I pull out a writing tablet.

“I need some information verified,” I say coolly, not bothering to look at him.

Instead, I look at the scene. It’s earlier than before, which means Dominic and the tall man haven’t arrived yet.

But they will.

“Of course.”

“I’ve just got confirmation that you know who from Hart Link Incorporated is on his way. He’s been told to forgo a hazmat suit, so can I please get verification that stage 1 and 2 testing have been complete?”

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