Pyramids and Promises (Omega Mu Alpha Brothers Book 2) (13 page)

Memories from last night came rushing back to her. The pyramid. Kissing Conner. Finally.

“Octo.” She smiled and scratched between his ears. Her pillows had been flung all over the place, her blankets too. Octo had made himself quite the comfy nest in the night. He’d taken up most of the bed too. If nothing else he slept well.

She frowned. One thing she didn’t remember from last night, coming home. Or going to bed. She kicked off her sheets. She was still fully dressed and covered in sand. So he just plopped her in bed all dirty and dusty without at least waking her up to take a shower. Or worse yet, he had Ahmed do it.

She sucked in a deep breath. Maybe not. Best to check before she blew up at him. She grabbed for her phone that he must have tossed on her bedside table. It was well past noon and not a single message.

“Your daddy better be asleep on the couch.” She set down her phone and kicked completely free of both the dog and the bed.

She was halfway across the room before she heard him.

“No, but he was sleeping very well right here.”

Jessica stopped in her tracks and spun around. Conner stretched out on the far side of her bed, on his back, one well-chiseled arm thrown across his eyes. He’d obviously made sure he showered and changed before he crashed in her bed!

“What are you doing?” she sputtered.

He peeked out from under his arm. His green eyes heavy with sleep.

“Don’t tell me you’re mad?” He grinned. “Octo was like a wall protecting you from unwanted advances all night. You were very safe.”

“But…but…” Words were failing her completely. He’d actually slept in her bed. “But you showered.”

He flopped over on his stomach. His hair stuck out in a million different directions.

“Yes, did you want me to wake you?”

Octo stood in the middle of the bed and stretched. He let out a loud yawn. It was all pretty innocent, and, obviously, not a greasy hair on her head had been disturbed, so she couldn’t say he’d taken advantage of the situation.

“Well, I guess not.” She sighed. “But I need to get one now.”

“By all means. But would you put on some coffee first?” Conner mumbled.

Speechless, Jessica did as he asked. She checked her email while waiting for the coffee to brew. A shower called her name, but she hoped the smell of fresh brew would lure him out of her room. There was no way she could shower in peace knowing he was in bed not far from her.

There were only two new messages. The first was from the Housing Authority. They wouldn’t be able to change the locks until next week. She frowned. She’d told them her boab was getting into her apartment. They took her safety so seriously. Very efficient. She rolled her eyes. Melinda had explained to her that boabs came in two types. Some were good at keeping away unwanted guests and maintaining the buildings, and others were worse than those they were trying to keep out. So far she hadn’t had much interaction with hers, but Marcy had said he was decent. It didn’t matter anyway. The lie to the Housing Authority was necessary to avoid mentioning Rick.

The second message was from the asshole himself. Jessica stared at it hard for a long time before clicking open. She should have just deleted the message and gone on about her life. This wasn’t the first. Nor would this one be the last, but it was time to stop torturing herself by reading his emails. She knew these things and still clicked open anyway. She read a rambling tirade about the Facebook pictures.

Jessica was seething by the time she finished. Rick had no right to say who she could and couldn’t post pictures with, let alone take pictures with. She forwarded it on to her lawyer and deleted it.

Octo and Conner shuffled into the kitchen. Jessica jumped at her chance to shower.

“You know where the mugs are.”

She ran off to her room.

The hot water washed away the grime and relaxed all of her sore muscles from climbing the pyramid. The longer she was in there, though, the more doubt set in. In the last couple of days, she’d told Conner everything about her. The mess with Rick. He must think she was a needy, helpless little girl who did whatever she was told. She’d done exactly what he’d told her to do with getting the locks changed and allowing Ahmed to follow her around everywhere. And worse yet, he knew that Rick was the only man she’d ever been with.

She turned off the water and wrapped herself in a fluffy towel. Why had she opened her big mouth and told him so much? If she could have pulled herself together the night she got the picture and the flowers, and not involved Conner at all, then he’d never have seen all the crazy in her life.

No. Conner had cared enough to be concerned, and he went to all of that trouble to take her to the very top of the pyramid.

Suddenly eager to see him again, she threw on a pair of shorts and a V-neck tee. She let her hair hang loose down her back. The heat would dry it naturally.

Conner thrust a mug of coffee at her without looking up from his phone as soon as she walked back into the kitchen.

“I don’t know about you,” he said. “But I’m kinda wiped today. How about we go back to my place and…”

He looked up and stopped mid-sentence.

“What?” she asked and sipped her coffee to hide her smile. She knew she looked good. Her shorts showed off her legs, and her shirt was a bit tight.

He whistled.

“What were you going to say?” she asked innocently.

He turned to her with a wicked grin. “I was going to suggest we have a chill day. Go to my place, watch a movie or two, maybe swim. Now though, I’m thinking that might not be a good idea.”

“Why not?” She was playing with fire here. The way he was looking at her, the heat in his gaze told her what he’d rather be doing today, and it had nothing to do with watching a movie.

“You know, I’ve always hated shirts like that,” he said instead of answering her question.

“Really? Why?” She frowned down at her shirt. It was sunny yellow and made her skin glow. She thought it looked great.

He hooked his finger at the edge of the V and leaned down to kiss her just above his knuckle. His warm lips elicited a surprised gasp from her.

“Yeah, they are so very unfair to guys.”

He kissed her neck, her jaw, and then he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her tight against him for a proper good morning kiss.

Jessica yelped and jumped as something cold and wet ran along the back of her legs. Conner held her close and laughed.

“I don’t suppose you have any dog food.” His beautiful eyes sparkled at her.

“No, but I have some sandwich ham.” She giggled.

“That’ll work. He’s not picky.” He gave her a quick kiss and let her go. “So what do you say, movies at my place? You, me, and Rover, here?”

Octo ate the ham Jessica offered him in two bites.

“Sure.” She smiled. It would be nice to finally see his place. So far he’d always come to hers. Maybe this was the beginning of him opening up a little, showing her what made him tick. She was quite excited.

“Perfect.”

He grabbed a beat up old gym bag while she put on her sandals. Not even five minutes later he was pulling her out the door. Ahmed waited downstairs to drive them across town. He handed Jessica a bag with bagels and bananas. She smiled and thanked him.

Conner lived on the top floor of a small building. His apartment was immaculate and modern. All clean lines and glass. It looked like something you’d see in Manhattan, not the middle of Cairo. Jessica knew he had money, but this screamed it in every possible way.

Conner dropped his bag on the counter, and Octo ran off to presumably find his bowl.

“Do you mind if I shower first? Somehow I still feel grimy. Then we can eat upstairs.”

“Upstairs?”

“The roof. I have a table and things up there.”

Jessica nodded. “Okay.”

“Feel free to look around. Snoop into anything.” He kissed her on the cheek and disappeared into a bedroom. What would he do if she snuck in there with him? She flushed. Surprised that thought even went through her head. Instead, she explored the apartment, curious about him, hopeful to learn a little more.

C
onner had more than one reason for escaping into the shower. He turned the water to cold to help himself calm down. She drove him crazy, and he knew he had to take things slow with her.

He scrubbed all the dust off him and washed his hair. There was still grit in his hair and sand under his fingernails from the pyramid.

After stepping out of the shower he tugged on a pair of boxers and basketball shorts then grabbed a t-shirt and caught sight of himself in the mirror before he put it on. He worked out on a regular basis and swam quite often, so his upper body was nicely built. He decided to take a chance and see if he could elicit the same response out of her that she got out of him this morning.

He flung the t-shirt over his shoulder and sauntered out into the kitchen and living room, but she wasn’t there. Damn. He’d told her to explore, but he hadn’t expected her to. She wasn’t in any of the other bedrooms. He climbed up the stairs to the roof. She was sitting next to the pool with her feet hanging in.

She twisted around when he opened the door and looked like she was about to say something, but then she dropped her eyes and turned back to the pool.

He sat next to her. Her face was flushed crimson.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting you to be shirtless.”

“Now you know how I felt this morning.”

“That is not even close, and you know it. I was fully dressed. I didn’t even show cleavage.”

“The effect is the same, my dear.”

“No, it’s not. Now if you expect me to eat breakfast with you, you need to go put a shirt on.”

He’d left his shirt down in the kitchen. He wanted to watch her squirm.

“Nope. I’m going shirtless today.”

She met his eyes, but she wouldn’t look down. “Why?”

“Because you like it.”

“That’s why I told you to go put a shirt on.”

“You know it’s okay for you to look.”

She sighed and stared off into the distance. “Rick never worked out or anything. He wasn’t overweight, but he was soft. I’ve never been this close to anyone who has a body like yours.”

He couldn’t help himself. He laughed and grabbed her hand and wove their fingers together. “I can’t have you not able to look at me. Come on.”

He pulled her up, and her eyes darted everywhere but him.

“Permission to ogle, seriously.”

She met his eye and took a deep breath. Then she let her gaze wander downward. He watched her face for a reaction. There was none. Her eyes were studying him, but he couldn’t see anything else there.

Finally he couldn’t stand it anymore. “What do you think?”

“It’s nice.”

“Seriously. That’s all you got?”

“Okay, it’s more than nice. I still don’t know how I’m supposed to not stare.”

He kissed her lightly on the lips. “You have permission to stare as much as you want.”

She shifted back and forth on her feet and looked up at him. She seemed to be debating something. He had no idea what.

“You want to ask me something. Whatever it is, just spit it out already.”

She held his gaze for several seconds before she finally asked, “Can I touch?”

He grinned. “Oh, yeah, of course.” He took a step back and took both of her hands in his and placed them on his chest. She gasped and pulled her hands away.

“You’re adorable, you know that, right? Seriously, touch all you want.”

She tentatively ran her fingers along his lower abdomen, and he hissed. That area was particularly sensitive, and her touch was just light enough that he might have to go take another cold shower.

She trailed her fingers up his abdomen and across his chest. She moved around to his back and lightly stroked his shoulders. Then she came back around, wrapped her arms around his waist, and pressed her body up against his. She had to know what she had done to him. He was almost embarrassed about how much she turned him on, but before he could think much of it, she slid up on her tiptoes and kissed him long and deep.

When she pulled away, she said, “You have a very nice body.”

“Thanks,” he replied, a little breathless.

“I hope to see it quite frequently.”

She then untangled herself from him and danced to the table.

He took a couple of deep breaths and followed her. She put the bagels and bananas on a couple of plates.

“I see you found the plates. Did you have trouble finding anything you needed?”

She shook her head.

“How come you swim at the Maadi House when you have a private pool here?”

“Because it’s too damned cold in the winter. I had a heater put in last year, but it fried a month ago. I paid for a new one, but it hasn’t arrived yet. I’m glad it broke though.”

“Why?” she asked, taking a bite of her bagel.

“Because then I never would’ve met you.”

“True. That was fortunate.”

Octo bounded up the stairs. He came looking for a treat from the table. Conner scratched him behind the ears. Realizing that there was no food for him, Octo lay down under Conner’s chair.