Moonlighter (The Company, #1)(100)

We don’t talk. And I’m no longer shaking. But we don’t sleep, either. “I’m going to have to talk to the police,” I whisper eventually.

“Yeah,” he agrees, stroking my hair. “Tomorrow. Dad will call them and tell them you were at that restaurant to meet the victim.”

“I don’t know anything,” I realize. “It’s going to be a short conversation.”

“The shorter the better,” Eric agrees. “It’s not a great time to bring up Max’s conspiracy theories.”

“I guess it isn’t.” I think about that for a moment. “Fucking Max.”

Eric barks out a laugh. “I say that all the time.”

“No, really. I don’t want to know some of the things I know.”

“Yeah, but even if Max didn’t share his theories, nothing would change. Someone is targeting The Butler’s manufacture. You didn’t choose this problem. It chose you.”

“Really?” That may not be true. “I got up in front of a tech crowd in Hawaii and told the whole room that I was going to make the smartest product in the world. The most secure. I basically implied that I was a beacon of light in a dark sea of bullshit.”

Eric tucks his face against the back of my head and laughs. “You’re funny when you’re in shock.”

“Seriously—I waved a red flag in front of a bull. ‘My product will be purchased by rich people who value their privacy and security! Please step right over here and shit on my lawn!’”

I can feel Eric’s body shaking with laughter.

“It isn’t funny.”

“No.” He snorts. “But you’re funny. And smart. You’re all the good things, Engels. And I love you, even if you don’t want to hear it.”

Oh, Eric. I screw my eyes shut, because I don’t have the mental energy to resist those words tonight. I want to hear them more than I care to admit.

“I had a bad feeling about tonight,” he says in a low voice. “I can’t even explain it. But when you got out of that car, I just wanted to put you back inside it and drive away. And when I heard that gunshot, I couldn’t get you away fast enough. And not because it was sort of my job. Because I need you, honey. And I won’t stop trying to convince you that it’s true.”

I need you, too. The words are on the tip of my tongue.

But Eric isn’t listening, anyway. He’s already kissing my shoulder. And after he sweeps my hair out of the way, my neck.

I roll imperceptibly closer, granting him access. Chills break out all over my skin as he drops lazy kisses anywhere he can reach.

My body and my mind are so exhausted. But I let his kisses and ministrations roll across my consciousness, washing away the fear. I doze on a cloud of kisses. I’m so relaxed that when he slides a hand into my panties, I gasp in surprise.

“No?” he asks, pausing.

“Yes,” I breathe, waking to all the possibilities. “Yes, please.” I kick off the panties, and he lifts my gown over my head.

He’s so gentle as he takes my heavy breasts in his hands, and fits our bodies together, the way they’re meant to fit.

“Need you,” he sighs as he thrusts slowly.

“I need—” I gasp as my pleasure mounts. “—You, too.”

And I get more of those beautiful neck kisses just for admitting it.





When my alarm music starts playing in the morning, I wake to find myself wrapped around Eric. I’m clutching him the way I used to hold my teddy bear.

“Make it stop,” he mutters, grabbing my phone off the bedside table. “What do I tap?”

“That’s not how it works,” I say, pressing my cheek against his shoulder. “You have to ask Bingley nicely.”

“Bingley!” Eric bellows. “Shut that off!”

The music is silenced immediately. “Of course, my lord. Would you like to snooze?”

“Yes,” Eric grunts.

“Until when, sire?”

“Next Tuesday.”

“Tuesday at what time?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

I hug Eric even more tightly. “We have to get up anyway.”

“No.” He rolls over and wraps his arms around my great girth. “Don’t we deserve a day off?” One gray eye opens. “Are you okay? Did you sleep?”

“Mostly.” Although my subconscious poked me a few times in the night. My eyes flew open in the dark as I remembered the sound of gunfire, and people’s screams. I lay awake for a while, listening to Eric breathe, before eventually falling asleep again. “I’ll be okay,” I decide. Because I’m the lucky one. “Mr. Khun won’t be.”

“I know, baby. Did you know him well?”

“Not at all. I met him exactly once before, in my office. But still…” I swallow.

Eric runs a comforting hand up my bare back. “It’s not your fault. You were just trying to pay him a lot of money.”

“I know that. It’s possible he was killed for reasons that have nothing to do with me.” Possible, but not likely. “And where do I go from here? I can’t just ring up the next manufacturer on my list and offer them the job. Too dangerous.”