Page 29 of Mile High Baby

This morning, I woke with a hard-on and dealt with it in the shower, fantasizing about Victoria’s luscious lips around my dick. I did the morning check of the house, contacted everyone on the team, and then headed back to the kitchen where Henry's cook served me the most delicious scrambled eggs I’d ever had, along with toast made from sourdough bread and a dark brew of fancy coffee. I was thinking about the possibility of hiring a cook for myself when Knightly stepped into the kitchen.

"Ms. Banion would like to talk with you."

"About what?" My tone was harsher than it should have been, but I was finally beginning to think I'd manage this case if Victoria stayed away from me. For the first time in three days, she was summoning me.

Knightly arched a brow. "I'm sure I don't know. She's in the dining room with her father."

It was safe for me to see her with Henry around unless there was something about the way I looked at her that gave away all the dirty dreams I was having about her.

I rose from my chair and began to pick up my plate.

"I'll take care of that, Mr. Sterling." Carolyn rushed over and picked up my plate and cup.

"Thank you." I headed out of the kitchen and into the dining room. I entered, keeping my eyes on Henry. "You needed me?"

"Not me. Tori. I've tried to talk her out of it, but she's insistent."

And so now it began. Now that she'd been homebound for three days and was going stir crazy, she was going to become the difficult spoiled child I’d worried about.

"I want to go visit my friend Samantha. And on the way, I would like to get some flowers, maybe some take-out that can be frozen for dinners, and a toy for her little boy."

I wanted to say no and leave it at that, but if Victoria was anything like Henry, it would be a waste of my breath. "Give me a list with the flowers, food, and toy that you want, and I'll have somebody pick them up and—”

"It’s not a very good gift if I don't pick it myself."

"It's also not a very good gift if your blood is all over it because Pitney’s guy got to you," I snapped. Both Henry and Victoria flinched.

Henry frowned. "It's a little rough, don't you think?"

I turned my attention to Henry. "You're paying me to keep her safe. I have assessed the situation and determined that the two of you are neck-deep in trouble. You're asking me and my men to put their necks on the line for you. If we're going to do it, we're going to do it in a way that minimizes the risk, not just to you, but to us as well."

The expression on both their faces told me that they had never considered the risk to me and my men.

Henry turned to Victoria. "Do it his way, Tori. I'm sorry it has to be like this, and I will find a way to make it up to you, but for now, we should abide by what Alex tells us."

She didn't like it, but she nodded. "I'll make a list and have Knightly deliver it to you. I'd like to leave by ten." I checked my watch. It gave me just under two hours to collect all the items she wanted. The fact that we were in New York, and Henry was a prominent man, meant that we could probably arrange to get everything we needed, ordered and delivered to us within the timeframe.

Two hours later, I escorted Victoria down the elevator to the basement garage and into the car I’d arranged through Saint Security.

Victoria sat beside me, her hands in her lap and her eyes facing forward. She was beautiful and stoic, and I had this urge to break through the cool aloofness she was showing by kissing her. But of course, that would be stupid.

"What time is your friend expecting us?" I asked.

Victoria shrugged.

I arched a brow. "She is expecting us, isn't she?"

Victoria looked at me. "I think your only job is to make sure I get there safely. You don't need to know all the little details."

This oppositional, defiant attitude of hers shouldn't have been such a turn-on. I turned my upper body to face her. "Except it is. I sent men down to her place right after you told me where we were going to check the location because it is my job to know the details. How can I keep you safe if I don't know the details?”

She attempted to glare at me, but I could see that she recognized that she'd been wrong.

I settled back in the seat, clasping my hands together in my lap. "Luckily for you, no one knowing that we’re coming is a good thing. "

"How's that?"

"They won’t have told anybody that you're coming. You only told me and your father and the house staff, and unless they are in cahoots with George, they're not going to tell him we're going."