Her Guardians: Her Guardians Trilogy Book 1 (37 page)

Seeing him in pain made me feel terrible.
“Sorry.”

Michael offered me his smile.
“That’s fine.” He touched my hand, making me stop. He obviously had something on his mind.

“Step
hen always had a mean left hook.” He paused for a moment, laughing. “I hadn’t seen him use it for a long time, though. I guess I just pushed him too far this time. I was frantic with worry over you. I wasn’t thinking straight. What happened today?”

I sighed
, placing the used piece of cotton wool on the table. “It’s been very long, but very productive. Simon got what he was looking for and that’s the main thing.”

“Simon?”
He raised his eyebrow.

“Yes.
” I chuckled. “The Super insisted on it. He wants to make me his PA.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“He’s given me until Friday to make my decision. He wants to see how we work together this week first. So far, I can see us working well. All things considered, I think it went as well as could be expected.”

“I take it you found his sister?
”

I realised then that Michael must know everything.
“Yes, but she’s bonded with her captor. It’s going to take quite a lot of therapy for the family before they can even begin to live a normal life. I feel bad for them all, especially Molly and Caroline.”

“Who’s Caroline?”

“Her daughter. I assume the father is the one that took her.”

Michael shook his head.
“That sounds really messed up.”

“Yes, it does.
As I said, it’s going to be hard for all of them.”

I went back to cleaning Michael’s eye and he let me without interruption this time.
“I think you may need stitches.”

“I’ll be fine
.”

“But he’s cut you quite badly.”

“I’ll be fine.” He gently grabbed my arm. “Honestly. Just stick a plaster on me and it will be gone by morning.”

I shook my head
, but got up and did as I was told.

Thinking about it
, I remembered the fight Stephen and Michael had before. Stephen was bruised, but when I saw him later that day, there wasn’t a mark on him.

S
hrugging, I shook my head as I grabbed a plaster on the way out of the bathroom.

I put the plaster over his eye and he
instantly rewarded me with a smile. “You know, I didn’t even need that, but thought it was best to appease you.”

“Appease me?”
I was suddenly astonished. “You cheeky bugger. That’s what I get for playing nurse with you.”

“And
, I must say, you play the role very well. Not that I deserve it. I behaved like a bull out there and I’m sorry.”

“Well, I must admit
, I did think you were a bit bullish. However, under the circumstances, you can be forgiven. I’m not sure if Stephen will feel that way, though.”

“He’ll come
around. He’s never mad for very long. We were always getting into fights when we were little.”

My laughter erupted
, causing Michael to frown. “What’s so funny?”

“It just sounds a little insane that two angel brothers were constantly fighting.
That’s not what you should be doing. Aren’t you supposed to be all about love and peace?”

Michael’s frown instantly eased as he realised why I found it all so funny.
“Well, that
is
the ultimate goal, but you can never go through life, no matter who or what you are, without disagreements or squabbles. Not everyone has the same opinions.”

“
I guess so.” I had to guess because I had nothing else to go on. I had been brought up without any brothers or sisters so I didn’t know any better. Everyone had disagreements at some point in their lives. I guess with Michael and Stephen being so opposite, it can happen more often than not.

“So tell me what’s been happening since yesterday.
It would seem I have a lot to catch up on.”

I look
ed at Michael, smiling, and told him what had been happening since I tossed him out of the flat yesterday. It seemed like weeks ago rather than a few hours since that happened.

I finish off by
telling him about the conversation Simon and I had, the phone call we later had that evening, then the day I had today. Michael was just sitting there, taking it all in.

I
did notice a few times that he was staring at my lips. It was a bit distracting, but I managed to get on with the details despite that.

Once I was
finished with it all, Michael picked me up and placed me on his lap, cradling me in his arms.

“You know
, I’m not happy about what happened. I want you to be safe. I can’t help feeling immensely proud of you though, Cassie. You did a really good thing today.”

T
hanking him, I nestled in his arms. He started stroking my hair, which made me really sleepy. I had sudden exhaustion wash over me as if the pressure of today was rapidly winding down.

The more he was stroking me
, the more I felt I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Eventually, I drifted off into a wonderful sleep.

**********

I woke up many hours later to find Michael curled around me in the bed. It felt nice, but I always felt incredibly guilty about doing that to Stephen. I was with him all day yesterday, then he got rewarded by me spending the night with Michael.

The alarm bells
sounded in my head. I was trying to keep my distance from them both, but all that did was lead me straight back to them. I was a walking disaster of mass proportions.

With a wiggle of my hips, I tried getting
out of his grip, but all this did was cause a moan to escape his lips—then his hand was on my breast. I wasn’t sure if he was still awake or feeling me up in his sleep. It felt good, though. Way too good.

Squeezing
my breast a little harder, I couldn’t help but moan a little. His hand seemed to wander down my chest, then to my waist, grabbing my hip and pulling me to him. I immediately gasped, feeling how hard he was.

“Cassie,” he whispered, his voice sounding breathless and wanton.

My eyes closed, rolling into the back of my head. I was feeling dizzy with a pure lust that was completely illogical for me to ignore.

His hands
just seemed to have a mind of their own as he explored every inch of my body. I thought I was either going to pass out or catch fire with the intensity of it.

All too soon
, though, the thought of Stephen crept into my head and that was enough for me to suddenly jump out of the bed.

“Cassie, what’s happened?”
Michael rubbed his eyes sleepily.

I was gasping so much from the wonderful torture Michael unleashed on me that I thought I was going to hyperventilate.

“Cassie, what’s wrong? Has something happened?”

I
n my stupor, I soon realised Michael didn’t have a clue as to what just happened. He must have been doing it in his sleep.

Desperately,
I tried to catch my breath. “It’s nothing. I just woke up suddenly and didn’t know where I was. That’s all.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s just a little after five.”

“Shit!” he shouted.
“I’ve got to start at six! I’m glad I have a spare uniform at the station.”

Watching him g
etting up from the bed, I immediately look at where I shouldn’t. Michael catches me and looks down himself. “Sorry.” He immediately covered himself with his hands. “Do you mind if I jump in your shower? I must have dosed off after I put you to bed. I don’t even remember getting undressed. Sorry.”

“That’s ok
ay.” I was still in shock. “Go right ahead.”

“I’ll be as quick as I can and you can go right back to sleep.
You obviously need it.”

With a quick turn
, he walked into the bathroom and closed the door. I fell back onto the bed and sighed heavily into my pillow. How am I ever going to get back to sleep after
that
? My stomach was still in knots from the feel of his hands on me.

The
next thing I knew, I was squeezing my breast and cupping myself. I moaned a little, making the feel of it ten times worse.

I
thought the wrong person was in that shower right now because I needed an ice cold one. I was diving in the depths of despair and needed a quick fix to help me shake off this feeling.

In the end
, I thought the best course of action was to get up and put the kettle on. I came up with this ludicrous idea that exercise might help, so I decided to do some lunges. Who in their right mind does lunges at five-fifteen in the frickin’ morning? God, I’m going crazy.

For some reason
, though, they helped. I was still in the middle of doing them when Michael opened the door, revealing only a towel wrapped around him.

Without meaning to
, my lunges started gearing up a notch as I stared over at this God of a man.

Michael looked
at me comically. He must have thought I’d lost my mind. “Are you feeling okay?” His smile was wide with amusement, but that didn’t help my situation.

“Me?” I asked stupidly.
“I’m fine. Just spent too long in a car yesterday without any exercise, that’s all.”

I thought that was a
s good an explanation as any.

Smiling at me again
, he made his way back into the bathroom before shutting the door.

I quickly stop
ped what it is I was doing because I knew I looked like an idiot. I made my way back to the kitchen and poured myself and Michael a cup of tea to start our day.

Getting the tea ready and putting some toast on helped.
By the time I had everything ready and Michael was dressed, I was feeling a lot calmer.

“Feeling more energised no
w?”

“Yes, thanks.
I think I was just a little stir crazy from yesterday. Toast?” I picked a slice up and offered it to him.

“Yes, thank you.”
He took it from my hand and winked.

I placed
the tea on the coffee table for him and we sat in silence for a moment, relishing what I’d made. I was absolutely famished, considering I didn’t have any dinner last night.

At about five-forty,
Michael finally stood up. “I’m going to really have to get going now. Are you going to be okay?”

I laugh
ed. “I’m always okay, Michael. I’ll be seeing you at work soon, no doubt.”

With a grin
, he walked over and kissed me lightly on the cheek. “Try and get some sleep for a couple of hours. It might refresh you better than lunges.”

I start
ed chuckling, thinking that I’d need some more now after that peck on the cheek.

L
ooking up at him, a smile spread across my face. The plaster on his forehead was off, and you would have to squint to see that there was even a mark now. All this angel stuff still never ceased to amaze me. It was still hard to even wrap my head around it all.

All too quickly
, he released me and was out the door, leaving me feeling worse than ever. I knew something had to give soon. I could feel it before and could feel it again now. Something was coming and it was coming soon—and I didn’t know whether it would be welcome or not.

Chapter 18

I got to work a little earlier than normal considering what had transpired this morning. The minute I walked in, Rosina came up to me and asked me to follow her. I dutifully did and, eventually, we reached Ruth’s desk. The problem was that Ruth wasn’t sitting there.