"Weird?" He hadn't expected that. "In what way?"

"I went in there with every intention of telling him how grateful I was that he had allowed me to be a part of the House all these years and for all the opportunities my position had afforded me. But in all the two hours that I was there, I never got a chance to get those words out."

He ran the tip of his tongue along her upper lip, and smiled when she shivered. "Two hours? d.a.m.n, now that's a long chat."

"He had a lot of issues to hammer out."

"He did?" As he spoke, he hauled her up onto the table, pleased she'd worn a cute little ruffled denim skirt that allowed easy access to so much skin. He was even more pleased when those slender legs of hers wound around him and pulled him in close. He f.u.c.king loved when she did that. "What kind of issues?"

"First, I have to say that I always knew Payne was a great artist and a talented tattooist, but now I totally get why House Of Payne is so far above all other tattoo studios in the world. He's got a brilliant business mind when it comes to getting what he wants."

"You don't say." Half of his brain was trying to pay attention to what she was saying. But the other half was wondering how quickly he could get her panties off. Since that half was far more interesting, it was winning the battle for his attention. "So that's what you talked about for two hours? What Payne wanted?"

"Pretty much. Basically we were negotiating the terms for my next contract."

That had his gaze snapping to hers. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." She shook her head as if she couldn't quite believe it herself. "Apparently Payne is willing to reach deep into his pockets to keep me on and get those new designs and coloring technique I made up. Something you blabbed about, I might add."

"Blabbed?" He lifted a brow while watching her warily for any signs that she was about to scalp him. "That's pretty harsh, little girl. If you'd wanted me to keep them a secret, all you had to do was ask."

"Well, I guess I can't be too angry with you, since the raise he's giving me as incentive to come back-just so he can make sure my new stuff stays exclusive to House Of Payne-is almost obscene."

That had him relaxing enough to smile. "You're worth every penny, and then some."

"Amazingly enough, it seems that Payne would agree with you." She smiled too, letting her hands drift under the hem of his henley shirt to drift caressingly up his back. "Oh, and there's something else. On top of the raise, he's also giving me a small percentage of the concierge service earnings for as long as it exists."

"Holy s.h.i.t." A huff of incredulous laughter burst out of him before he caught her lips with his. After a thoroughly satisfying exploration of her mouth, he looked into her eyes, still laughing under his breath. "d.a.m.n, I'm proud of you, baby. You took Payne to the cleaners."

"We did." Her palms rested against his shoulder blades a second before they flipped and lifted the shirt up and over his head. "We both know how I came up with the concierge idea-I was ticked off at you. If anyone should get credit, you should. I just put the finer points on the concierge thing to be a smarta.s.s."

If his shirt had to go, then so did hers, he thought, and wasted no time in doing so. Then he decided those panties she wore weren't necessary, either. "Being a smarta.s.s is your default setting whenever I'm around."

"Pretty much. So, since the idea wouldn't have come about without you p.i.s.sing me off so much, it seems only fair that I share whatever I make out of the concierge business with you, fifty-fifty."

His hands that were busy sliding under her skirt stilled. "No."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"I'm not going to touch your hard-earned money, baby." His breath grew shallow as he yanked the tiny strip of cotton and lace off the swell of her bottom, and he stepped back just far enough to pull the panties down her legs. "But I am going to touch you. And while I'm going to love every second of that, it'll be nothing compared to how much you'll love it."

"But Twist-" A jagged breath interrupted her as he unerringly found her c.l.i.t hidden between her slick folds. Then he made her gasp again and clutch at his shoulders when he entered her with his finger that pushed up and into her.

"I don't want this to be a problem between us," he said, his voice turning ragged as he kept at her. He felt like roaring in victory when she seemed to dissolve against him. "If it means that much to you, you can put that money into some kind of trust for future kids, or whatever. I'd like that, actually."

"T-Twist... oh. Oh. Oh, G.o.d."

"But I don't want a cent of it. All I want is you." His thumb stroked her without mercy on the outside while his finger worked her on the inside. A tremor of ferocious excitement shook him when her hips began to ride his hand like her life depended on it. Her knees came up, a shift that deepened the angle of penetration, and a long moan of blissed-out abandonment whispered from her.

That thread of sound shattered him.

"I need you." One-handed, he dug into his back pocket, got a condom out of his wallet and ripped the foil open with his teeth. "I need you, I need you... baby, hold it back, I love being inside you when you come."

"Hurry." She was panting now, her voice distracted, lost.

Delirious.

Despite his urging to hold back, he couldn't stop himself from making it almost impossible for her to do so, stroking her with a rhythm building into a frenzy. Her slick interior began to convulse around his finger, and he pulled out only to fill her once more, this time with his throbbing c.o.c.k. The tight walls of her s.e.x expanded to welcome him inside, only to immediately contract on him in a convulsion that racked her whole body. A helpless cry escaped her before he m.u.f.fled her with his mouth. The sounds she made stole whatever sanity he still had, and he plunged into her hard and fast in a blind effort to catch up. He got there so fast it took his breath away, and he gripped her a.s.s with gentle violence to pull her more fiercely to him as he pounded into her. The ecstasy of release blew his world apart, his nerves alive with it, his whole body straining to reach for every last drop of pleasure that he could get. Only after it was done and things came back into focus did he begin to laugh.

"Twist?" Carefully, because it was clear she wanted to keep him inside her for as long as possible, she hooked her feet together at the small of his back. "What?"

"Rocket's going to have to find another lunch buddy." Thoroughly exhausted and more satisfied than he could ever remember being, he nuzzled his face against hers and tightened his arms around her. "From now on, we're spending our breaks together just like this."

Chapter Nineteen.

As fun as it was, Angel was fairly certain they couldn't exist on s.e.x alone.

With forty minutes of Twist's lunch break left, she dragged him across the street for a quick bite at a twenty-four hour diner that saw a lot of business from House Of Payne employees. Then, because she had serious doubts about her car's hybrid battery after being ignored for a week, she took the time to turn it over while Twist kept watch over her despite the new security guard in clear view of them just inside the building.

Discussion about her car led to the inevitable disagreement over whether or not she was going to head on home without him. Things had been so harmonious between them up to that point that Angel half-feared it would all fall apart at this, their first real difference of opinion. But Twist didn't yell or call her an idiot, and she forced herself to avoid being defensive and actually listened when he explained he was on edge now that that letter had popped up. When he pointed out that whoever wrote it had walked right up to her front door to put it in her mailbox, she had to admit she suddenly had no desire to go back to an empty condo just to prove the point that she could take care of herself.

When she told him her decision to stay so they could leave together, he hugged her hard and he pressed his mouth to her ear so he could whisper, "Thank you for helping me keep you safe, baby."

Now she was sorry she couldn't agree with him again, just to get that kind of reaction out of him.

With nothing left to do until closing time, Angel wandered into her own booth to work out a new design that had been in her head for a while now. The design was a simple undulating rainbow, no outline or black of any sort, using the pastel watercolor technique she'd been perfecting on a synthetic skin that the House always had on hand for its tattooists. She was so engrossed in her work, she didn't notice the pa.s.sage of time, so when Scout knocked and came in with tablet in hand, Angel was shocked to see it was close to closing time.

"d.a.m.n, it's good to see you back where you belong." Looking genuinely happy and more than a little relieved, Scout swooped in for a quick hug as Angel turned off the tattoo machine. "I haven't had a chance to ask you, how are you feeling? Any more concussion symptoms?"

"Nope, thank goodness." She smiled as Scout settled a hip comfortably on the padded tattooing table. "I'll admit it was pretty weird for a while, especially the dizziness and nausea, and the whole talking without being aware I was going to say anything issue. It's very strange listening to yourself talk without having had any conscious memory of deciding to speak."

"Yikes, that is a little weird."

"Thankfully all that weirdness has faded, but Twist is still convinced I need to be watched like a hawk twenty-four seven."

Scout pursed her lips. "Who knew our rough and tough Twist could be such a softie?"

"I'm as pleasantly surprised as anyone." She paused. "Emphasis on pleasantly."

"Awwwww. Twist and Angel, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"How old are you, five?" Angel kept talking over the singsong teasing until Scout gave in with a laugh. "At the very least I'm proud of us for getting back into this environment and not falling into old habits. I think things are going to be better here at the House between me and Twist from this point on."

"Thank G.o.d. The two of you getting along better makes my life so much easier."

"We're definitely getting along better. A lot better."

"Ooh. Gimme details." Scout leaned forward, clutching her tablet to her chest. "Start with measurements and go from there."

Angel snorted. "All I can say on that score is not only is he impressive, he's impressively talented. The man is an artist on several different levels, and his imagination is unending."

"Wow, talk about getting the official stamp of approval." Scout grinned then pointed upward. "Though I kind of guessed things had progressed to the hot-and-heavy level with you two when I came up here during break and, uh... heard some stuff. Do me a favor and remember that while these cubicles are made up of thick, frosted gla.s.s for privacy, they don't actually have a roof to enclose any sounds you might, er, make."

"Oh, my G.o.d," Angel groaned, her face going up in flames.

"If you can manage to keep quiet, these tattoo booths are an awesome place to get a little something-something during working hours," Scout confided, happily ignoring Angel's embarra.s.sment. "Ivar dragged me into one of them when he wanted to have me all to himself, something he wasn't getting when we were in my office. So he hauled me into Payne's booth, shut the door, turned on the 'Occupied' light outside and..." She sighed, her eyes going hazy with memories that clearly held more than a little delight. "Come to think of it, I didn't keep quiet, either. But when you're in the moment, who really gives a s.h.i.t? It is what it is, and what it is, is f.u.c.king spectacular."

"I think Twist and Ivar have a lot in common." Angel shook her head and had to laugh in a self-deprecating way. "Part of me still can't believe it. I'm so used to seeing him as an enemy who's constantly out to get me that there are times when it's hard to wrap my mind around what's going on between us now."

"And what is going on? Besides great s.e.x, I mean."

"For one thing, I'm going to dinner at his parents' house tomorrow," she said, and knew Scout understood the significance when the other woman's eyes widened. "Apparently the Sunday family dinner is a huge tradition with the Santiago clan, and not to be missed."

"He invited you to a family dinner? That is big."

"I wouldn't call it an invitation, exactly. More like he told me I was going and didn't give any other options. Typical Twist," she added on another half-laugh. "A week ago I would have been screeching over his control-freak issues. Now I'm finding it strangely adorable. Maybe I'm still concussed."

"Either that, or you're falling for him."

"Oh, I've fallen," she said, and shrugged when Scout's jaw did a slow downward descent. "I've fallen, my defenses have fallen, my panties have fallen. You name it, it's fallen. Kaboom."

"You seem relatively okay with this huge evolution in your relationship."

"More like I'm in shock, but in a good way, if that makes any sense." Angel sighed and dropped her gaze to the practice skin she'd been working on. "I always felt everything more sharply when it came to Twist. Now I get why. There was always this crazy kind of pa.s.sion simmering there just beneath the surface, and it p.i.s.sed me off that he didn't seem to feel it the way I did."

"So, now that the pa.s.sion's being worked out the natural way, can I a.s.sume the hostilities are officially over?"

"I want them to be. Just like I want him to understand that he doesn't have to try to control every last little thing I do in order for him to feel like everything's in control. I'm still working on that last bit of trust, for both of us."

"You're also working on the coolest tat I think I've ever seen," Scout muttered, craning her neck to see the synthetic practice skin Angel was fiddling with. "Oh my G.o.d, Angel, that's amazing. I've never seen anything like those colors fading into one another. Kind of ombre-like and subtle, with no outlines. What's this for?"

"It's just a technique I've perfected and now want to put into more designs. This one is going to be a rainbow ribbon that waves in a freeform pattern."

"Could that be done as an ankle cuff?"

Angel looked down at it. "I don't see why not."

"Awesome. Practice on me." Without hesitation, Scout hopped up onto the table and kicked her high heels off. "While you're working on me, we can go over the new contract Payne had me get ready for you. Oh, and by the way, next time we go out, you're buying. The way I figure it, you're going to be rolling in the dough, baby."

Half an hour later, Twist and Payne found them that way, with Angel completing a quarter of the wraparound design while Scout ignored her tablet in favor of laughing over the story of why Twist had been so cranky during the press conference earlier in the week. The grim expressions on the men's faces, however, killed the hilarity in its tracks.

"There was another note, this time left on your car," Twist told Angel without preamble, and held out a piece of paper to Angel. Still wearing the latex gloves she'd had on to tattoo Scout, she lost no time in reaching for it.

You're still with that rabid dog, Oliver Santiago. Why? What do I have to do to make you understand that you're in danger.

"Our new security guard spotted a tall guy in a ball cap putting it on your windshield," Payne said when she looked up, shocked and suddenly cold all over. "At the time he thought it was just someone putting out fliers on cars, but then he thought that this was an odd time of night to be doing that sort of thing. So he went out into the parking lot and yelled at the dude to stay there so he could be questioned, which is pretty much a sure-fire way to make someone bolt."

Scout made a sound of disgust. "No kidding. I think I need to review our new security guard's references in more detail. Moves like that tell me he's got the street smarts of a kindergartener." Then her eyes sharpened. "Wait, did you say another note?"

But Angel had more pressing matters. "That's all the security guard saw? A tall guy?"

"We're still having problems with the lighting outside," Payne muttered, looking disgusted. "I've already decided to cancel the House's contract with that piece of s.h.i.t security company we're currently with, and find one that knows that the f.u.c.k they're doing."

"So the guard couldn't see who it was?"

Payne shook his head. "The best he could do was describe the guy as a tall white man in a windbreaker and ball cap. He also said the dude had a funny way of running, like his feet were made of gla.s.s and he was afraid of breaking them."

"Great," Twist muttered, folding his arms across his chest. "A guy with sore feet. That really narrows it down."

"What the h.e.l.l is going on?" Scout scooted to the edge of the table, looking from one to the other in growing concern.

"Angel's picked up a so-called guardian angel." Twist's face was more somber than she'd ever seen it, while his eyes were unreadable when he looked back to her. "We've called the police. This s.h.i.t stops now."

It was almost three in the morning when Angel followed Twist into his darkened, quiet house. Throughout the questioning by the police, she sensed Twist's mood spiraling ever downward, to the point where he was almost mute. But he didn't have to be a fountain of words for her to know that he was displeased. An ominous aura hovered around him like a black shroud, so much so she could practically see it.

It was a relief when the police finally went on their way with the note in a clear plastic evidence bag. She had high hopes that once the problem of her letter writer was left in the hands of the professionals, Twist would begin to enjoy the same sense of relief that she did.

If anything, he only grew more somber.

"I wish you had been okay with me driving my car tonight," she said, as he locked the door, then went about the living room turning on lights. "I know you're only looking out for me, and I appreciate that. But following you home in my car doesn't seem like that big of a risk."

"You don't know that." With a dark scowl shadowing his expression, he stared hard out the front window as if trying to remember all the neighborhood cars and looking for the one that was out of place. Then he reached over and snapped the blinds shut so hard it made her blink. "We don't even know who this guy is or what he wants, except for you to be as far away from me as possible."

"Twist, all he's doing is making you so edgy and paranoid that you're not going to be any more than an arm's length away, and that's something I'm happy to live with." Tentatively she came up behind him to slip her arms around his waist, her cheek coming to rest against the hard, warm wall of his back. "Maybe I should thank him for that."

"Thank him?" Instead of breaking the ice that she could feel forming around him, his body tensed until it was as though she had her arms wrapped around a boulder. "Your pen pal has noticed you because of me. He's trying to get to you through me. And you want to thank him?"

"It was a joke, Twist." She rubbed her cheek against his back, trying to ma.s.sage some give into those hard muscles. She'd have better luck working softness into granite. "Just a joke, and a lame one at that. Sorry about that."

"No." A sigh heaved out of him before he moved to lace his hands through hers. "I'm the one who's sorry. I just can't see anything funny about this since I'm the one who's let this b.a.s.t.a.r.d into your life."

"What?" That shocked her enough to loosen her hold so she could move around to face him. "How did you manage to come to that conclusion? You didn't do anything to cause this."

"He calls me Oliver Santiago," he gritted out as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth. "He hasn't called you by name, but he knows me well enough to call me Oliver Santiago."

So he'd taken note of that as well. "That doesn't prove that this has anything to do with you."

"That proves I'm his main focus, and you're this unnamed person he sees me with-a person he feels compelled to protect. From me."

The memory of Joey and Novak explaining how the good guys have an instinct to protect women like her floated through her mind. "Well, he's certainly going about it the wrong way, because all his stupid notes are doing is pushing me to be closer to you. Which is right where I want to be," she added, once again sliding her arms around his middle.

His hands landed on her shoulders, and a vague note of disquiet chimed through her when it seemed he couldn't decide whether to pull her closer, or push her away. "For now, that's where I want you, too."