Make Me: Twelve Tales Of Dark Desire - Make Me: Twelve Tales of Dark Desire Part 121
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Make Me: Twelve Tales of Dark Desire Part 121

Her heart thumped as she looked at him. His beautiful talented lips turned down at the corners. The canvas of his body called to her artist's fingers. And within all that tanned skin contained an artist too, a brilliant musician and singer. "I'm feeling a little clingy. It's embarrassing. I don't want you to go yet."

He grinned, popping a dimple through the shadow of his whiskers, and turned toward the door. "Clingy is perfect because you're coming home with me."

So he meant what he said. She ran to catch up with him. "I can't just-"

"I'll work out the details with Nathan and Tony." He opened the door and hollered, "Where's the butler? Charlee needs her clothes." He looked back at her. "Where are your tattoo supplies?"

"At our apartment in the Village." Could she just pack up and go with him? She and Nathan moved every few months, and he hated New York. But L.A. was so very close to San Francisco- "Anything else you need to bring with you?"

How dangerous it was to consider going with him. "I can't just leave. I'll have to discuss this with Nathan."

"He's coming with us."

"He has a business here. If he wants to go, he'll have to close it and I'm not leaving without him." Her excitement to stay with Jay battled with her fear of being so close to the penthouse.

"Trust me." He was still smiling, but his eyes were quiet and sober.

"I don't know."

The smile vanished. "You will."

Tony knocked on the open door, holding a stack of folded clothes. "Looks like he got the vomit out." Not a smile cracked.

"I'm going to ignore that comment. Who's on duty right now?"

"Colson and Vanderschoot."

"Send Colson to Charlee's apartment. Tell him to pack what he can."

Was he nuts? Even if she agreed to go, she'd do her own packing. Besides, he didn't have her address. "Jay-"

A finger slanted across her lips and pressed. His hand at the back of her head reinforced the gesture. Then his eyes twinkled. Oh, fine, but shushing her like a child? Seriously?

Tony narrowed her eyes. "Are you extending your stay at the Plaza Hotel?"

"No, she and Nathan are accompanying us to L.A."

She wanted to smack his hand away. Since touching him was off limits, she darted out her tongue and licked the finger at her lips. When his head swung around, his eyes wide on her, she bit down.

"Ow." He yanked his hands back, holding his finger, his expression wounded. "I'm beginning to grow wary of that mouth."

"Now that I have your attention, you big baby, here's my terms, my...constitution."

His jaw hardened.

"I am going to go pack up my tattoo kit and bring it back here. We can discuss next steps over tattoos and crumpets." She accepted her clothes from Tony. "And I'm using your shower."

"Can I pass two amendments to the Charlee Constitution?" His face molded into starchy formality despite the teasing in his voice.

"I'll hear them."

"First Amendment. I join you to collect your supplies."

Could they get in and out without a celebrity circus? He did have a top-notch protective team on his payroll. "The fourth clause in the ninth section of the first article states that at no time will paparazzi or screaming women waving camera phones accompany me in on this mission."

"Done. Second Amendment. Can we have pizza instead of crumpets?"

A snort escaped before she could catch it. "Approved."

He called after her as she shut herself inside the bathroom. "What the hell is a crumpet anyway?"

"A tasty little muffin."

Silence. Then his voice muffled through the door. "Does it have red hair and blue eyes?"

Her cheeks puffed with contained laughter. The cheesy bastard didn't need encouragement.

Something thumped the door. Was that his head?

"I've changed my mind." His voice vibrated the wood between them. "I want a crumpet."

Her laugh escaped, echoing around her, and for the first time in a long time, she felt free.

Chapter Thirty.

A survival skill Jay picked up early in his stardom was his efficiency in quick disguises. He adjusted the long blond wig over his short brown hair until the fake bangs brushed the top of his big plastic framed sunglasses. A frayed Alice Cooper ball cap completed the concealment.

The bathroom door opened with an exhale of steam. Charlee padded out, straightening her black top over the waistband of her jeans. "I'm keeping your Dead Milkmen tee-" She tripped, staring at him with a slack jaw. "Shit. Garth Algar?"

"Who?"

"Never mind." She inspected his body from hat to Chucks with an amused cant to her eyebrows. Then she circled him, wrapping him in a sweet natural scent that was uniquely Charlee.

When she came back around, she was grinning and chewing a fingernail. "Jay Mayard's sexy ass is still back there, but the rest of him is incognito."

Just thinking about her noticing his ass made his dick jerk against his zipper. "This disguise hasn't failed me yet."

"Then you haven't tried to pick up women wearing that wig."

A laugh erupted from deep inside him. Dear God, it was so easy to want her. The way her cheeks glowed. The challenge in her eyes. The catch in her breath when he returned her stare. All the countless fucking reasons he never stopped craving her after she was gone. He dipped his head and brushed his lips over hers. "I've only tried to pick up one woman."

A wall of silence descended between them. He searched her eyes, unsure how to interpret her mute response. "Has it failed me?"

"Not yet." The level of resistance in her voice only fortified his resolve to scale her walls. He suspected she wanted to fight it, but maybe she was as drawn to him as he was to her.

A fist rapped on the door. "Charlee?"

"You can come in, Nathan." She didn't unlock her eyes from his glasses.

Nope, he was certain she couldn't ignore the pull. That's right, baby. Don't fight it.

Nathan strode in and dismissed the disguise with a brief smirk. "Tony and I worked out the drop-off and pick-up points and the best evacuation routes at the apartment. We're ready when you are."

The absence of bulges in Nathan's nondescript pants and button-up shirt meant his weapons were hidden. That kind of unobtrusiveness combined with his constant awareness of Charlee and her surroundings made him an ideal bodyguard. No doubt he'd piss in a store trash bin before he'd leave her unattended.

However, it was the instinctual way he placed himself between her and everything else that made him the only man Jay wanted leading the team he would hire to protect her. "I want to offer you a job."

Nathan glanced at her and back at him. There was no surprise in that gaze. "I have a job."

"This one would be the same. Just better paid."

Nathan's current income from odd PI assignments couldn't possibly be enough to fund his crusade in revenge.

The tic in Nathan's cheek confirmed it.

A toe poked the back of Jay's knee, her nudge teetering his balance. "I know what you're up to, Jay Mayard. The three of us will discuss this later."

Small, sexy, with her honeyed lips pouting, she refused to be managed. He tried not to think about the events that made her so defiant, but he respected the hell out of her for standing against him if he slipped in his efforts to not control her.

"Mr. Mayard." Tony poked her head in. "I summoned the car. It's waiting at the elevator in underground parking."

A ripple of panic bit along his spine. Time to leave his safe environment. His disguise hid his face, so there wouldn't be any grabbing and touching.

What if a gusty wind disheveled it and someone saw through? The mobs would rain down upon them and endanger her.

Would it be safer for her if he stayed behind? Too many things could happen to her. What if she didn't return?

Nope, she wasn't going anywhere without him. Still, the urge to sneak a couple snuffs off the inhaler in his pocket consumed him. Could he face the clutch of the crowds and the lurking unknowns without the numbing lift of coke?

Charlee clapped her hands and sashayed her heart-shaped ass to the door. "Let's go get some ink."

Yeah, he could do it...for her.

Chapter Thirty-One.

The SUV stopped at the entrance of Charlee's building and sent Jay's heart hammering into the red zone. He squeezed the warm anchor in his hand.

Charlee curled her fingers around his, returning the squeeze. "You okay?"

A woman on the sidewalk slowed her gait to look at their car. He stopped breathing. Could she see through the windows?

Moments later, she turned her head and strode into a boutique two doors down.

Gah. The windows were blacked-out, for fuck's sake. He needed to calm down. "Everything will be fine."

"Is that response for me or you?"

"For you." His worries, his hopes, his fears were all for her. "Always, Charlee."

She opened her mouth and he muffled it with a quick kiss, surprising a smile from her.

Nathan twisted in the front seat to face them. He glanced at Tony, who perched on Jay's other side then rolled his gaze to Charlee. "Just like we discussed, okay?"

The protective team's extensive security precautions would be implemented first. Nathan would sweep the flat for intruders, tampering, and bugs. Once he deemed it sterile, he would radio to Tony to escort Jay and Charlee to the residence.

Charlee tapped the heel of her Doc Martens on the floorboard. "We should go in together. We always go in together." Her nerves pulsed through Jay, echoing his own.

Jay settled his hand on her knee and quieted the bobbing. "You have three times the bodyguards right now. After your exposure with the paparazzi last night, the danger is heightened. We'll follow protocol. They know what they're doing."

Nathan smiled his thanks and stepped onto the cracked pavement with Tony on his trail. She split off and traversed in the opposite direction to clear the rear and side entrances. Her jeans were meant to help her blend in, but they did nothing to conceal her alert and professional air.

Storied buildings lined the veritable Greenwich Village thoroughfare. Commercialization occupied the street level flats and residents inhabited the floors above. Jay had never visited this end of the city and his unfamiliarity with the area didn't help his anxiety.

Her building was four stories, veneered with laddered scaffolding, and surrounded by enormous old trees. Without much traffic, it should be a seamless in and out. Yeah, he'd keep telling himself that.

Colson, his secondary driver and bodyguard, parked in the side lot and stepped out to stand by Charlee's door.

She turned to Jay. "Is this how life is for you? Bodyguard formations and perimeter sweeping every time you want to go somewhere?"

One of the many reasons he never wanted to leave his safe zone. "I should ask you the same question."

"Point made." She looked out the window, her eyes darting between Colson's post and Tony's movements around the building. "Though my excursions are a bit more economical."

Not anymore. She would have everything needed to stay safe.

He patted his wig, hat and sunglasses. Everything was where it should be. The street was calm. The security team was thorough. Then why was his pulse racing?

"You have a look about you."