Raw Redemption (Crossing the Line #4)(11)

She wanted to push, but her stubborn nature wouldn’t allow it. If he didn’t want to tell her, she wasn’t going to beg. “You have a pet name for me already. Can I come up with one for you?”

“I’d prefer you didn’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I might like hearing you say it a little too much.” His attention was locked on her mouth. “I can’t have this conversation with a hard dick, Ailish.”

She sucked in a breath. “Do you have a plan to make it soft?”

His crack of laughter made her jump. “That plan can’t involve you.”

“Why?”

“Damn, you ask a lot of questions.”

Ailish’s shoulders sagged under the weight of disappointment. “Oh God. I have a fourth fault now, too?”

Henrik’s sigh blew her hair back like a stiff gust of wind. “While I’m with you, Ailish, I’m working. There are lines I can’t cross.”

Even knowing it was a little evil, nothing could suppress the pop of excitement in her belly. She was alone with a man—a gorgeous man—who wanted her. But had to keep his hands off. It was a tease’s paradise, and they were both screwed. Or not screwed, depending on your point of view. “We can’t sleep together.”

“No.” He dropped his needful gaze to her breasts again. “We can’t.”

She executed her best nonchalant shoulder shrug. “Oh.”

“You’re smiling again.”

Ailish couldn’t stifle her chuckle. Man oh man, she really liked this big ol’ bruiser, and they’d only just met. He deserved a fair warning about what he was getting himself into. “Henrik, you should probably put as much distance between you and me as possible. I really like that you want me. And I probably won’t be able to help trying to keep it that way.” She drew a lazy circle on his abdomen with her index finger, watching in awe as the ridged muscle shuddered under her touch. “For instance, I’d love to tell you I’m wearing cheap white panties and you can see clear through them in the right light.”

His body did this kind of heave, right at Ailish, flattening her backside against the sink. Their mouths were suddenly so close, she could feel his hot puffs of breath on her lips, feel his chest lifting and falling where it met her breasts. “I don’t like hearing that you’ve talked to other men that way.”

“I haven’t,” she whispered. “I don’t. I usually just—”

“I do not want to know.”

Henrik made a subtle move, just a downward roll of his hips that dragged his erection over the crotch of her leggings. But it wasn’t really subtle at all because he stopped right over her clit and nudged forward. She nearly jumped out of her skin, it was so unexpected, her body’s deluge of need so extreme. “H’oh boy.”

His mouth sifted through the hair covering her ear. “Tease me as much as you want. Just don’t try to send me packing again. Are we clear?”

“I told you I don’t like being ordered around.”

He rasped the stubble of his jaw against her neck. “You’d love the way I do it.”

Ailish’s outrage was shattered when Henrik pulled away, leaving her to sag back onto the sink. “You’re not the only one who can tease.” Her mouth hung open as he backed through the doorway into the bedroom. “Where do you keep those see-through panties?”

What had just happened here? She couldn’t deny her curiosity over wanting to see what he did next. Not very many things surprised her, but this man—he couldn’t seem to stop. Brow knit, Ailish pointed toward the top drawer of her dresser. She watched as Henrik remove a single pair, examined them a moment, and stuffed them into his back pocket.

“I’ll be watching the cabin, but you won’t see me until tomorrow morning. We’ll talk then about why I’ve been sent and your potential role in the investigation.” He paused at the door. “You’re safe, Ailish.”

Finally, she found her voice. “What about you?”

He arched an eyebrow.

“Men who anger my father don’t last long. Especially when I’m involved.” She hugged the bathroom’s doorframe. “Maybe that’s the real reason I think you should put distance between us.”

“What did I say about trying to send me packing?”

“I can say whatever I want because you just stole my panties.”

He held up a shiny black device. “And your phone. Say good-bye.”

“This friendship is over.”

His laugher followed him out the door.

Ailish frowned at the entryway for a moment before shutting off all the lights and slipping into bed. Time to consider the real matter at hand. Henrik was here to take her back to Chicago, to operate against her father. A terrifying possibility. Despite her father’s overprotective nature, he wouldn’t hesitate to mow down his own daughter if he perceived her as a threat. Running away with his money had already accomplished that task to a certain degree, but if he realized she was working with the cops? It would be the ultimate act of betrayal.

Could she believe Henrik Vance when he said cooperating had to be her decision? What if the police had really found new evidence against her to use as leverage—and this was just a ploy to bring her in peacefully?