Page 83 of Tortured Tones

“Ava.” I piled my clothes into a heap beside me. “Hotel security are covering us until we leave—not your team. We’re fine.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She rushed over to her bag, yanked out a bra and panties, and slipped them on. “This isn’t good.”

I rubbed my brow. Her stress levels didn’t help lower mine. “No, it’s not ideal. But we need to talk—”

“Cole, I don’t want to talk.” She ripped on a T-shirt. “Last night shouldn’t have happened.”

“Maybe not. But it did.” I found my trunks, jumped off the bed, and pulled them on. “We had a fuck-load of fun in the process.”

“Fun?” The anguish in her tone shuddered through my bones. “You’re my client. Getting involved blurs the lines. I need to stay focused on protecting you, not getting emotionally involved. Fuuuuck!” She paced in front of the TV cabinet. “What have I done? I needed a perfect record and reference from Wells for the courts. Without one, I could lose Josh or not get more time with him. Oh, no. No. No. Oh, shit.” The fear quaking in her voice stabbed every muscle in my chest.

“Ava.” I stepped over to her and caught her upper arms. She wouldn’t lose her son because of me. “I won’t let that happen. I’ll provide you with whatever reference or high recommendation you need. Last night had nothing to do with your job. We got carried away in the heat of the moment. We let off some steam. We got whatever has been brewing between us out of our systems. It’s okay.”

“How can you be so calm?” She closed her eyes and swayed on her feet. “We fucked up.”

“I’m not calm. Trust me.” I may have been on the outside, but my pulse was shooting through my veins, rapid-fire. “But we need to work out how to handle this and set our story straight. I don’t want you to lose your job. I don’t want things between us to change. I don’t want you to regret last night. Because I had a fucking great time. You were amazing.”

She met my gaze. The storm of panic that had been brewing there transformed into clouds of doubt. “Really?”

“Yeah. Really.” I never lied about great sex.

Her shoulders slumped. She twisted out of my hold and sank onto the end of the bed. “Shit.” Her fingers trembled as she ruffled them through her hair. “We got carried away, didn’t we?”

“We certainly did.” I sank beside her. I hooked my arm around her back and gave it a rub. “It wasn’t my intention or part of a plan. Please believe me.” I’d honestly just wanted her to come to the party and have a fun night. But when I’d danced with her, something in the air between us had shifted. I’d upset her. I’d wanted to make sure she got back to the hotel safely, but that was when things had spiraled in a completely different direction.

“It wasn’t mine either.” She pursed her lips, then blushed. “I don’t think I’ve ever had four orgasms in a week before let alone in one night.”

“You’ve been missing out.” I chuckled, tugging her against my side.

“Clearly.” She play-punched my arm. “But don’t get a big head over it.”

“I won’t.” Maybe just a little.

She winced and rubbed the deep grooves in her brow. “But when Wells finds out, this isn’t going to go down well. I could get pulled from this gig or fired. Fuck!”

My head raced, searching for a reasonable story. Everything from I got wasted and passed out to I tried to hook up with her but she knocked me unconscious to I spent the night throwing up in her bathroom flitted through my mind. Funny thing was, they were all believable. I just didn’t want our night together to cause any problems. “Hey?” I rubbed her back again. “Why does he have to find out? No one knows I’m here. Kennedy left us last night out the front of the hotel. Does your team access hotel footage? Will they see I didn’t go to my floor and stay in my room?”

“No.” She shook her head. “We only do that if there is an incident.”

“Has there been an incident?”

“No.” She fidgeted with her hands in her lap and stared toward the door. “But what if you run into someone when you walk out the door and return to your floor?”

I shrugged my shoulder. I’d left plenty of hotel rooms that hadn’t been mine before. “I’ll just say I picked up some chick in the hotel bar and stayed in her room.”

She faced me, raising both eyebrows, then softened her voice. “You’d do that to cover my ass?”

“It’s a damn fine ass, so yes.” I covered her hands with mine and held them against her bare thigh. Thighs I’d explored every inch of last night, and I’d enjoyed every moment spent doing so. “I’ll take this to my grave if you want. I’m good at keeping secrets.” Until they blew up in my face, like sleeping with Shelby had. But no. I didn’t want Ava to get into trouble. We’d keep this between us.

She lowered her chin. “I don’t want to be dishonest with my team, but I can’t risk this somehow getting back to Wells...or to Luther. He’d find a way to use it against me to keep Josh.”

“I won’t let that happen.” I swirled my thumb against her soft flesh in slow circles. “I don’t want to lose Charlotte either. I’ve got Hannah watching my every move too, reporting to the social worker. Neither of us needs this to go beyond that door. I’m not sorry for the incredible night we had. I certainly won’t forget it in a hurry. But for now, we have to act like nothing happened.”

“How can I do that?” She turned toward me and clutched my hands against her chest. She searched my face—for what, I had no fucking idea. Her voice jumped, taking on an anguished, desperate tone. “You want me to lie? I can’t do that. I’m falling in love with you. Don’t you feel the same way? Don’t you want me to be your girlfriend? Be with me forever?”

“Shit.” Hot nausea swept over me. Where the fuck had this Ava come from? I closed my eyes, shook my head, and lowered my chin. My heartbeat pummeled my ribs. Painful jolts stabbed behind my eyes. I didn’t want this. “Ava...you know who I am. I like you, but...”

“Cole.” She shoved me hard on the shoulder and burst out laughing. “I’m fucking with you. I’m not in love with you. I’m not stupid. We had one night of crazy, hot sex. But it can’t happen again. We have to be sensible and responsible. For our kids’ sake, if nothing else.”

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