Page 37 of Protected By the Billionaire Ex-SEAL

“Oh.”

The second oh feels more meaningful, her eyes widening with it. I can see her gears turning, but she bites her lower lip and I’m distracted.

“Are you and Aimee a thing?”

I blink and look down. “What?”

“Aimee Sutton?”

“Oh.” I can lie, but that’s another jerk move. “Yeah. Sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

“When we’re in the same place at the same time. We slept together twice. The last one was a year ago…so yeah, but I don’t know if you call that a thing.”

“And now?”

“No. We haven’t hooked up. We haven’t…”

I suck in a breath when her palm rests on my stomach, warmer than it was earlier…no, hotter. Her thumb plays with the hem of my shirt, driving me batshit crazy that I almost miss the next question.

“Why won’t you sleep with clients?”

Her thumb is sin personified, dragging down my belly button, but I grit my teeth and try to reason it out. I have to because I need to be fair to her and let her know how things are.

“Because it’ll complicate things. I can’t have attachments and feelings getting in the way of me protecting you.”

It’s the nail in the coffin, for sure, and it’s painful as I wait for her to finally back off and declare it’s not worth it. Any woman would, and I can’t blame them since these are my hangups, and I know they deserve more.

But shock riddles my system when her hand doesn’t retreat. It keeps going down instead until a button is released, then a zipper is lowered. Then that hand is wrapped around my cock, squeezing until the pleasure flashes hot and cold in my body.

And Raven whispers in my ear.

“Then we won’t involve feelings. Just this.”

Chapter 12

Raven

My mind is filled with the memory of Christian groaning as I worked his cock in that empty shed, the fair still in full swing just outside the door. There was a thrill to knowing we weren’t completely alone while he slowly lost control under my touch. Of maybe getting caught in such a public place.

But he stopped me abruptly at the last second, tucking himself, still hard, back into his pants, then steering me out of the shed and to the parking lot.

Now we’re driving home in silence, the car filled with so much tension. I’m afraid to ask because…well, I don’t know if I’ll like the answer.

I’m almost sure of it when he parks the car and is as rigid as ever, his voice cold and just a bit distant. He doesn’t even look at me.

“You go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

The disappointment is sheer enough that I’m left speechless as I head to the living room, where I end up standing and staring into space. Then I snap out of it and turn, determined to get to the bottom of this?—

And Christian swoops right in from the garage’s side door, locking it first before he lifts me off the floor and—oh.

“Christian.”

His kisses are madness. They bring me to life and make me lose my thoughts altogether, leaving behind a blessed emptiness as the roaring lust takes over.

His hands? They’re a different set of madness, touching me as if he’s claiming me and already unbuttoning here and unzipping there. Then, he finds my breasts and cups them, his thumbs already working on my nipples.

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