JOSS: A Standalone Romance (Gray Wolf Security) by Glenna Sinclair

between the cameras in the sitting room and the entryway downstairs. However, I was still sporting a deep blush, still wondering who was watching and what they thought about what they’d seen. The thought that Ash might be aware of what I’d just done was mortifying.
    I started to turn into my room when we reached the top of the stairs, but Carrington grabbed my hand.
    “I’m not ready to be alone,” he said quietly near my ear.
    I turned into him and realized I wasn’t ready either. I knew that the moment I was alone with my thoughts there would be a lot of things I wasn’t quite ready to face. Already there was a lump in my throat, a memory that wanted to destroy me with guilt. I wasn’t ready for that.
    I followed Carrington across the wide hallway and into his bedroom. I pulled away from him and dragged a chair across the room to a far corner. I climbed up and grabbed the camera that was partially hidden against the pale ceiling, flipping the switch on the back of it that would stop the wireless feed to David’s computer back at the compound.
    “There was a camera in here, too?”
    I nodded.
    “And McKelty’s room?”
    I nodded again.
    He turned, but I rushed across the room and grabbed his arm. The camera was a necessity, a way to watch McKelty when everyone else was asleep. There was no gesture to relay that to him, but I think he understood without a gesture. He studied my face, the anger and fatherly concern slowly turning into something else.
    My phone vibrated in the back pocket of my skimpy shorts. I was surprised it hadn’t fallen out downstairs after everything…I pulled it out and read the text I’d been expecting.
    Camera 21 just went dark. Is everything okay?
    It was David, our ever-vigilant watchdog.
    It was intentional. No worries.
    I waited for the questions, the jokes. Kirkland had done this same thing a dozen times over the past two years and the jokes were always the same. But David didn’t do that tonight.
    Ok. Keep me updated.
    I think it might have been better if he had made a joke.
    “Everything okay?” Carrington asked.
    I nodded.
    I stepped back and set the phone on the bedside table as I took a seat on the edge of the bed. I grasped the ends of my t-shirt and lifted it over my head, tossing it onto the floor before taking the zipper tab of my sports bra between my thumb and forefinger.
    “No,” Carrington said, making me look up in surprise.
    He hesitated a second, his eyes moving slowly over the length of me. He glanced over his shoulder, as though concerned that McKelty might suddenly burst through the door. Then he came to me, taking my hand to pull me to my feet.
    “I want to do it.”
    He kissed my neck gently before stepping back enough so that he could see the length of me. He grasped the zipper on my sports bra and tugged gently, pulling it down so slowly that we could hear each and every tooth letting go. There was almost childlike anticipation in his eyes, like a child on Christmas trying to figure out what might be inside a carefully wrapped gift. I was almost afraid he’d be disappointed with the reality.
    When the zipper fell open, I crossed my arms over my chest even as he took one end and tugged it away from my body. I dropped one arm, then the other, as he pulled the bra from my body, his eyes never leaving my covered chest. Then he gently encouraged me to drop both arms so that he could see what he had so excitedly anticipated.
    I shook my head.
    “You’re beautiful,” he said. “Why are you hiding?”
    I shook my head because I didn’t know how else to express my thoughts.
    He moved close and kissed my neck. Then he dropped to his knees, pressing his lips to my bare belly even as his fingers slid down my sides, hooking themselves just under the waistband of my shorts. I watched as he slid them down my thighs, letting them fall in a circle at my ankles. He kissed my bare belly again, just below my navel, then he kissed me again—right against the center