Codename Charming by Lucy Parker

Author:Lucy Parker [Parker, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

It was unavoidable, when he lived at his job, that work/life boundaries would sometimes tangle.

By Saturday night, the boundaries were a fucking Gordian knot.

Matthias found it impossible to relax his guard as he sat in an unmarked palace car, for once a short distance behind the cavalcade transporting Johnny and Rosie to the West End, instead of having them in his direct line of sight. Surrounded by the usual trappings of an official outing, it was muscle-memory to scan the vicinity for threats—and his protective instincts were in hyperdrive, focused not only forward but on the woman at his side.

Who was technically his job tonight. And vice versa.

A fact that sat in his stomach like sour milk, no longer just a form of singularly unique self-flagellation but fundamentally wrong. As if, even though this whole thing was primarily to salvage her reputation, he couldn’t mentally reduce her to the status of a professional pawn, a task to be ticked off, that it was somehow betraying her even to think that way.

He was losing his mind. And he was going to be ticked off with himself in an entirely different way if he fucked this and she suffered the consequences.

He shot her a sideways glance. He was obviously losing sight of the big picture here—but it was hard to keep it clear when they were crossing more lines than a scribbling toddler. When he’d been dressing tonight, he’d tried to salvage a few tattered shreds of self-preservation, drag this back into the realms of something remotely appropriate.

Slim fucking chance, when he couldn’t even keep his eyes off her, let alone his hands.

He felt as if he were balancing on a tightrope, trying to be convincing enough to persuade outside eyes, while still protecting them both.

She shifted on the leather seat. Her skirts were fluffed around her, the layered black netting of her evening dress sparkling with an odd, scattered sequin, feet neatly crossed in her lethally high heels.

It was asking for trouble, balancing a precious human body on a pair of expensive toothpicks, and he was constantly worried about her ankles.

They’d be safe propped on his lap. Or digging into his back. He crushed that taunting inner voice.

And curled his hand against the impulse to touch his thigh, where another of her high heels had left a faint mark when her legs had hugged his waist, her hips seeking and rubbing against him, that husky little cry in her throat . . .

He’d tried to suppress the memories from the lane last night, although he’d eventually given up and allowed himself relief, removing an affronted Miriam from his room because he couldn’t fuck even his own fist with his cat watching disapprovingly. It had been disturbingly hollow, unsatisfying pleasure.

Desire-hazed moments flooded back, rushing into his mind and blood.

Tingling electricity coiling around his spine. Instead of jarring him back to reality—to sanity—a growl rose low in his chest, breath broken, his body hardening.

Pet’s mouth opening eagerly against his, her tongue a playful, satiny rub, electrifying every nerve ending.

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