Endgame (21 page)

She tossed her phone on the patio table then strode out to the middle of the small yard. Aaron flicked the back spotlight on since the sun had set. She was pretty in forest green, knee-length pants and a black shirt, that purple bra of hers peeking out of the V-neck. She followed his gaze to her shirt, fixed the lacy indiscretion, and asked, “You ready, punk?”

“Yes.”

She held her hands out in welcome. “Go for it.”

He rushed. He charged four steps, and the world spun upside down, then right side up as he slammed onto his back. She loomed over him and cocked her head, spinning slightly with the world. She put a sneakered foot on his chest, claiming him like a mountain. “Best of three?”

“Five.” He yanked her foot and she collapsed. Ha! He rolled, her feet connected with his chest, and suddenly he was flat on his back again, with her straddling his waist, staring down with innocent, violet eyes.

“Jesus,” he whispered, awe mixing with fear. “This is scary.”

“No flashbacks. I’m just sitting here,” she whispered back.

“You okay, Ginger?” Jake asked.

“I think he broke one of my nails, love.” She ran a finger over Aaron’s lips. “You okay?” she asked softly. “Because kicking your ass is making me very, very hot. I’d hate to think you hurt your…” She glanced down to where her hips made contact with his. “There’s an Aaron James asset I’d like to guard later.”

He flicked his brows upward, wishing Jake was gone so she could guard it now. “You have a safe place for it? Somewhere wet and tight?”

She grinned, dimples flashing. “Maybe.”

“I hope it fits.”

She snorted and ruffled his hair in an un-Charlotte gesture. “So cocky. Go again?”

“Sure.”

He grabbed her hips and rolled, but she dove the opposite direction, off his body and he found himself prone with no Charlotte under him. She straddled his back, pinned his chest to the grass, and grabbed his hair. “Three,” she whispered. “You make me so wet, under me like this. But the game’s over, love.”

Jake clapped as Charlotte rose and sauntered back to the patio. Aaron rolled over, and Jake smirked as he wrapped a congratulatory arm around Charlotte’s waist. “She’s magnificent, isn’t she?”

“I can’t believe a girl kicked my ass,” he lied.

“I can’t believe you were cocky enough to think I wouldn’t.” She accepted Jake’s kiss on the cheek and crossed her arms over her chest. “They didn’t send me to you because I’m a good girl. I can kick Jake’s ass.”

“Can she?” That impressed him. He’d wrestled Jake enough as a kid, and Jake had been part ox back then.

“Yes,” Jake said with a sigh.

Aaron heaved himself to his feet and went to stand behind Charlotte, hands on her hips as he kissed her neck. “Where did you learn to fight like that? It’s hot.”

“I had anger management issues that needed a different venue. It was this or learn to chuck knives at your brother.”

“She did learn to chuck the knives,” Jake informed him. “Keep that in mind.”

Aaron kissed her neck again, teasing that spot under her ear that made her moan, luring her into his web. “My Danger Girl.”

“Aaron!” She elbowed him in the ribs, and he winced.

Jake laughed. “Danger Girl. I like that better.”

“Don’t get any ideas. I can change your code name, too. Chase has always wanted to call you Asshole.”

Aaron let his hand trail down her back to her ass. He wrapped the other hand around her waist. She relaxed against him and tilted her head, allowing him access to her long, pale throat. God, he loved her skin. He lapped a path to her earlobe and gently bit. “That made me so horny. Let me work on four,” he coaxed in her ear, soft enough so Jake couldn’t hear.

“Mmm.” She placed her hand on his and took a step back, deeper into his embrace, her ass against his groin.

Aaron tightened the hold on her waist, reached his arm between her legs and lifted. She shrieked and struggled as he ran to dump her onto the grass. He sprang, covered her with his length, and pressed her to the ground before she could kick him into next week. She stared up at him, panting, violet eyes wild.

“All mine, baby.” He planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Call Chase.”

“Nooo,” she shrieked. “Jake?”

Jake shot Aaron a look of approval for beating Charlotte at her own game. “Sorry, sweetheart. He pinned you.”

“I had best of five.”

“You said he just had to pin you,” Jake reminded her.

“Whose side are you on?”

“I consider myself impartial most of the time. But Aaron should realize he was damned lucky. Ten seconds more and he would have died a bloody death.”

“Yeah, I know.” But it didn’t stop the grin from stretching from ear to ear.

She smacked Aaron’s chest. “Fine. Let me up.”

“Oh, no. Give me her phone, Jake.” Jake tossed it, and Aaron caught it and handed it to her. “Right now, then you can get up.”

“Fuck,” she muttered and dialed. “Hey, love,” she said in English, which surprised him because they seemed to never speak it on the phone. “Aaron has this crazy notion in his head that I’m to teach him spy games, and he wants your permission.”

She listened for a moment. “What kind of things? How to take a punch, shoot, hand-to-hand combat. Knives, maybe? Things he would need for the next movie.”

Knives? Aaron nodded and strained to hear what Chase said on the other line.

“What?” Her eyes widened. “No!”

“What did he say?”

“But I don’t want to.” She glared and put her finger to her lips. “I don’t know why, I just don’t. I’m telling you, this will come back to bite one of us in the ass someday.”

Spy camp was a go from the depth of the glare she shot him.
Yes!
Aaron leaped up and danced around the yard, knowing he was a poor winner. He didn’t care. He was going to camp.

“Fuck you, Chase.” She ended the call and chucked the phone at Aaron’s head.

Aaron caught it with a laugh, strode over, and held out a hand. “Awful touchy,
love
,” he said sweetly.

“You are my punishment,” she said with a sneer, rising without touching him. “I fucked up, so now I have to teach you whatever you wish, within limits. As if I don’t have better things to do.”

“You don’t,” Jake reminded.

She scowled.

Aaron felt a little bad for her. She didn’t deserve Satan’s punishments, just his. “If you really don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

The scowl deepened. “No, now I have to. You don’t understand. If I don’t follow through, my ass will be his. He’ll know. He knows every-fucking-thing. You do what you’re told, or he finds some sick way to make you pay. Up until now I was exempt from the sick payments.”

“I warned you, sweetheart,” Jake said from the table. “No one is exempt, even me.”

Chase was a dick, but Aaron already knew that. “You don’t have to work for him.”

Charlotte’s eyes flicked over to Jake, who looked up at that point. They exchanged a glance that made Aaron wonder. “Easy for you to say.”

Aaron sighed. Of all the things he had expected out of spy camp, a reluctant coach wasn’t one of them. “Is it that bad, to teach me?”

“Yes.” She bit her lip and said to Jake, “Why don’t you teach him?”

“Your punishment.”

Ever nosy, Aaron asked, “You going to tell me how you fucked up?”

“You know why I fucked up.” She lowered her voice and scowled, which he didn’t find as cute as her glare. “Not watching you have sex with that tramp in England, one, which led to you tied in a chair for two. He doesn’t know I’m sleeping with you. Yet. When he does, that’s strike three and I will pay dearly.”

“Charlotte,” Jake warned, his tone firm.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

As angry as she was, Aaron couldn’t help but feel giddy at the idea of spy camp. This was going to kick ass. “When do we start?”

“Tomorrow.”

****

Charlotte had a problem, a huge one, and not a clue as to how to tell Aaron without looking pathetic and weak. As she brushed her teeth before bed, she contemplated her options. She could tell him as Ma’am. Order him to his knees, tell him he was going to sleep with her in his bed, hold her, and that was that. No explanation. Somehow, she didn’t think it would be long before he started getting nosy, demanded answers, and then made her feel like a fool.

Or she could just start out on the couch and sneak into Jake’s bed. She hated sleeping with Jake, especially now that he was married. Tia had given her permission, understanding the need, and that made her feel weak, too. But Jake didn’t soothe her enough.

She only had the nightmares when she had a certain feeling before she went to bed. She’d learned over the years to heed that gnawing feeling of despair and unease that triggered them. Chase commanding her to teach spy camp must have been enough to set the trigger off because she definitely felt uneasy. She didn’t want to stay up all night. God knew she’d done that enough. She didn’t have sleeping pills because she was working.

She left the bathroom, grabbed her pillow and gun from the living room, and shuffled into Aaron’s bedroom. He was in bed already, bare-chested, a book he’d borrowed from Jake in hand, surprised as hell to see her bedside.

She decided just to ask. “Can I sleep with you?”

“Sure.” He patted the spot next to him.

Well, that was easy. She set her gun on the table next to the bed, put her pillow down, and climbed in, under his covers.

“Why?”

Ugh, of course, he couldn’t leave it alone. “Because. Just shut up and let me sleep.”

He frowned. “You said this was sex only, and sleeping in my bed feels over the line.”

“The couch hurts my back.”

The book slammed shut, the noise ringing in her ears. “Liar. I know for a fact the couch is way comfortable. If you want to sleep here, you have to tell the truth.”

She scooted out of the bed and gathered her pillow against her chest. “Then I’ll go sleep with Jake.”

Aaron sighed and set the book on his bedside table. “Just tell me why. I’m not going to think you’re anything but truthful if you do. Your gun is on my bedside table, after all.”

She hated him, hated living, and despised the truth. “You washed my shirt.”

“And I’m sorry.” He snorted and shuffled his feet in the bed. “You can wear one of mine if you’re in need.”

Damn him. “I have nightmares if I don’t wear the shirt, okay? Not all the time. Just sometimes.”

“Oh.” He sounded surprised, his brows arched over his inquisitive blue eyes. “I’m sorry.”

She hugged the pillow closer. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had one, and I don’t wake up. The shirts keep them away. But before I realized about the shirts, I had to sleep with one of them—Jake or Chase.”

“That explains a lot.” He studied her for a moment. “Are you afraid you’ll have one tonight?”

She swallowed, feeling weak again because she couldn’t hide the fear. So stupid to be afraid of a bad dream. “Yes.”

He pulled the covers back on her side and patted the bed again. “Get in.”

She set her pillow down, took off her shorts, and slid into bed, curling onto her side. “This doesn’t mean I’m weak, you know.”

“Your gun is reminding me of that.” He tugged the covers over her shoulders. “If you don’t wake up, how do you know if you have one?”

She squirmed. Jake and Chase already knew the answers and it was so much easier. “I’m depressed the next morning and usually the bed is a mess. Sometimes I’ve found somewhere else to sleep in the night. Like a closet. Or under the bed. I…hide.” The hiding scared her as much as the anxious feelings the next day. She thanked her lucky stars she didn’t remember the dreams, because she knew they had to do with doomsday and all the things she’d blocked.

“If you have one, should I do something?”

“Just hold me. I’ll cry and thrash and try to hide. If you’re scared, you can get Jake. He knows what to do.”

“I’m sorry,” Aaron whispered and shut off his light. He curled around her and wrapped his arms protectively, tugging her to his bare chest. “How’s this? Feel safe?”

“Yes.” Too safe, actually. But she snuggled against his naked body, relishing his heat, the scent of his skin.

He smoothed her hair from her cheek. “How much did it hurt your ego to come to me with this?”

“Shut up and let me sleep.” But her ego hurt more than she’d ever admit.

“Tomorrow, I’ll reward you for telling me the truth, okay? Just like you rewarded me.” He kissed her nape. “Good night, Ma’am.”

The idea of him rewarding her triggered a shiver of the good kind. She turned her head to kiss his hand under her cheek. “Thank you for not being a punk.”

Chapter Twelve

The night Charlotte asked to sleep with him, she didn’t have any nightmares. Aaron had been extremely pleased and proud of his ability to keep her safe from nocturnal demons. He’d held her all night, barely getting any sleep. He didn’t want to miss a minute of her. Her soft breathing, a sigh here or there, her cheek snuggled against his bare chest as the sun came up. Sure, she’d been in his bed the night before, but they’d maybe slept an hour. Not a whole night of her tucked in his arms, her hand clutching his at times. His first adult sleepover.

If he didn’t think love couldn’t happen in that short amount of time, he’d swear he loved her. Maybe it was the idea he loved, a woman to hold and watch over. The idea that Danger Girl could protect herself from villains, yet she needed him to keep the nightmares at bay was headier than a power shift during sex. Maybe that’s what he confused with love.

Whatever it was, if anyone but Charlotte asked if he loved her, he’d be tempted to say yes. If Charlotte asked, he’d run like hell for Mexico, because she’d kill him.

He must have fallen asleep at dawn because when he woke a few hours later she was gone, but her pillow was still next to his, her scent on his sheets, proof it wasn’t a dream.

He rose, dressed, and lumbered out. She sat alone in the kitchen, on the phone and speaking French. She waved to coffee and some coffee cake thing Jake must have baked from a box. She must not have liked it. Only one piece was gone and it was one of those nine by nine sized pans. She could have easily eaten the whole thing.