He didn’t say anything else. He was staring out the window, seemingly lost in thought, except… I remembered he’d said he was always listening, always aware. What had his training been and where?
I rose from my seat and started to move toward the door, walking backwards at first. I didn’t want to take my eyes off him. I could pretend it was because I was afraid of him, but that wasn’t it. He was simply too gorgeous. I wanted to take every opportunity to drink him in.
6
Leo
I held myself still, muscles tense. Ezra began making his way toward the door. I should let him go. In fact, I should tell him to keep on walking right out the front door and across the street to the café.
I wasn’t going to do that, though. He did well here, and he deserved to be somewhere his skills were needed. Despite what I’d told him, he would be safer with Cathy. No one in Swain’s entourage would pay any attention to him if he weren’t at the shop with me. Had he been here long enough to already be a target?
If he had, I would make sure Swain never touched him.
I was across the room in two strides. I took hold of Ezra’s arm once again. “Don’t go.”
He turned to face me, lips parted. I wanted to bite them, to suck on his lower lip until it was red and swollen. I wanted—
When his tongue snaked out and moistened the lip I’d been staring at, something in me broke. The tension of the morning, the long hard fight I knew I had ahead of me, the way I’d been holding back all became too much. The barriers I’d put up crumbled. I seized Ezra’s shoulders, pulled him to me, and took possession of his mouth.
He whimpered as my lips pressed to his. He held himself stiff at first, but it only took a second for his body to soften. He circled his arms around my neck and pressed his body to mine. When I grabbed his ass and hitched him against me, his groan made my cock so hard I thought it might tear my jeans.
He rubbed himself against me, and I lifted him. He was so light it hardly took any effort. Our tongues explored each other’s mouths as he wrapped his legs around my waist and clung to me.
I walked us toward the desk, needing to get him on a flat surface. There were a million reasons why this was wrong, but right then none of them compelled me. The only thing I wanted was this man. He was mine, and I was going to have him.
When I set him on the edge of the desk, he opened his legs, letting me step between them. I kissed and licked his neck, and he dropped his head back, giving me better access.
“Mine,” I growled as I nipped the soft, tender flesh.
“Please.”
I was slowly laying him back when someone knocked on the door, jerking me back to reality.
“Wait,” I yelled.
“You’re going to want to hear this,” Giorgio called.
“I said to fucking wait.”
When I looked down at Ezra, he was staring up at me, eyes wide. What had I done? I’d sworn to myself I wouldn’t touch him. I was all wrong for him.
“Does this mean we have to stop?” Ezra asked, his voice dreamy.
“I’m sorry.” Truthfully, I was more sorry we’d been interrupted and had to stop than I was that I’d taken advantage of him, but I couldn’t let Ezra know that.
“Did you mean… Do you really…”
“I shouldn’t have started this. I promise it won’t happen again.”
He looked stricken, and it made my chest tighten. No matter how difficult it was, I couldn’t let my desire for him or that rejected look in his eyes make me compromise his safety.
Ezra slid off the desk and straightened his clothes, not looking at me. “I should get back to work.”
When he started toward the door without looking at me, I almost reached for him, but I balled my hands into fists at my sides. I had to let him go. It was the best thing for him even if…
No. I couldn’t start convincing myself we could somehow work. It was all this talk about love from my friends making me question myself, not something more, something real.
And yet… when I thought about being with Ezra, I didn’t just think about fucking him. I thought about sitting on the couch with him on my lap, holding him against me, taking him out to my favorite restaurant, sharing my favorite pastry with him. I wanted to be with him, not just be inside him, and that fucking scared me.
Giorgio stepped in as Ezra stepped out. Ezra didn’t slam the door like I thought he might. He gently pulled it closed, letting the lock click softly. I heard his footsteps as he walked away. They were slow and careful. It would have been easier if he was angry. Knowing I’d hurt him made me long to pull him into my arms and say I was sorry. I wanted to tell him that I wanted him just as much as he wanted me, but I couldn’t.
Giorgio raised his brows. “What did I interrupt?”
I growled at him. “Nothing.”
He looked me up and down as I glared at him. “Right.”
“Ezra was listening at the door earlier.”
“Oh fuck. How much did he hear?”
“I’m not sure.”
Giorgio frowned. “Didn’t you ask him?”
“I got distracted.”
“Did you now?”
“He heard us talking about wanting to kill someone, but he doesn’t know who.”
“Are you sure?”
I replayed the conversation in my mind. My years in the CIA had taught me to notice even the tiniest indication someone was lying or hiding something. “I’m sure.”
“He’s going to try to find out.”
“I’ll handle that.”
“Will you?” He raised his brows and looked at me pointedly.
“You and Niall wanted me to hire him.”
Giorgio sighed. “Because it’s obvious you like him.”
“That’s irrelevant.”
“No, it isn’t because if he—”
“He’s not a spy. He’s not here for someone else. He’s just curious. He reads mysteries all the time, and if your employer was doing secret shit in the back room, wouldn’t you want to know what was up?”
Giorgio smiled. “See? I knew you liked him.”
Fuck. I was being way too defensive. “He’s too nice for me.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what you need.”
“It’s not what he needs.”
Giorgio snorted. “Maybe you should let him figure that out.”
“Is that how it went with Lane?”
“Don’t.” Giorgio’s eyes went cold.
I held up my hands in surrender. “Let me take care of things with Ezra. It won’t be a problem.”
“He could be a liability.”
I hated that he was right. “I should probably send him back to the café.”
“Who else are you going to hire that you trust?”
“No one. I’ll just have to do the extra work myself.”
“When we need you working to get Swain?”
I was already stretched too thin, but Ezra’s safety had to come first. “The easiest way to keep Ezra out of this is to keep him out of the shop.”
Giorgio studied me for a few moments.
“What?”