Free Ripped by V. J. Chambers

gestured back and forth and him and then me. And then he gave me his lopsided grin. “We should, uh, do something about it, don’t you think?”
    I smiled back. I reached up to touch his cheek.
    His voice went lower, gravelly. “I’m sorry about what happened between us earlier. I was just so wound up—”
    The light in the hallway suddenly came on.
    Cade and I turned to see that Celia was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
    “Oh,” I said. “Did we wake you?”
    She grimaced a little—an expression that said we had woken her, but she felt bad for pointing it out, but was doing it anyway. “Kind of.” She was wearing her robe over her nightgown and her hair was up in a severe ponytail. I’d never actually seen her pajamas. That was how not close we were. We each had our own bathrooms, and she was always dressed by the time she got to the kitchen in the morning. Maybe not on the weekends, but I was always working on the weekends, pulling double shifts at the restaurant. Celia looked Cade over. “Who’s this?”
    “Uh…” I didn’t know how to respond to that.
    “I get that you’re going through stuff with your ex and your sister and being kidnapped and everything, and maybe that makes you want to go pick up random guys at the bar—”
    “No, it’s not like that,” I said. “Cade’s helping me find Starling. He’s, um, a private detective.”
    He raised his eyebrows at me, but he couldn’t contradict me without making it seem weird.
    “A private detective? Really?” Celia gave him an appraising glance.
    “He’s staying here to protect me,” I said. “On the couch.”
    Cade gave me a vaguely annoyed look. “The couch, hmm?”
    “I’ll just go get you some blankets,” I said.
    Celia smiled at Cade. “Well, it is nice to have someone here in case either of us is in danger…”
    Oh holy hell, she was flirting with him. I clenched my hands into fists.
    Cade just smirked at me. He leaned back onto the kitchen island, grinning at Celia. “You aren’t afraid, are you?”
    “Are you from… England?” She twisted the end of her ponytail around one of her fingers.
    I was going to strangle her.
    She looked at me. “Shell, I thought you were going to get blankets.”
    I stomped off to do just that. Well, this was my own fault. Why hadn’t I simply claimed Cade was a drunken hookup? Then, maybe we’d be in my bed right now, and we could be—
    But, you know what, maybe it was better this way.
    Cade was dangerous. I was attracted to him, but there was no way in hell that he was actually good for me. Honestly, I was behaving a lot more like Starling than like myself, being so forward. Kissing him, making out with him, giving him hand jobs. Letting him get me off… I stopped at the thought of it, all the breath rushing from my lungs. Fuck, that orgasm he’d given me…
    But everything was crazy, wasn’t it? Because he was hot and cold. He’d be all over me and then all business. Maybe there was some crazy animal attraction between us, but that wasn’t what I wanted out of life.
    When Austin came into my life, I think I was so quick to overlook the things about him that made him seem… less than perfect because I wanted to settle down. I had sowed my wild oats in college. I was in my mid twenties—soon to be my late twenties—and it was time. I was looking for a real relationship, not another series of one night stands.
    And a real relationship with a hitman?
    I snorted.
    No, I needed to steer clear of Cade. He was only going to use me and leave me. And that was the last thing I needed.
    * * *
     
    Cade
    I shifted on the couch, which was about five inches too short for me, meaning that I had to sleep with my legs bunched up. Not comfortable at all.
    Tomorrow, we were going to have to find someplace else to stay, and her apartment was not the most optimal place.
    Honestly, I didn’t even understand how I had gotten into this mess.
    This girl was not my problem. I had a code and all, and