Vigilant by Angel Lawson Page A

edge. Davis stripped off his shirt and pulled hers over her head. His hot mouth covered her body in kisses until he settled down, perhaps realizing she wasn’t going to disappear—that this was happening.
    Davis barely had the condom on before Ari felt him inside. Pushing his hips against her own. This was undoubtedly the dumbest thing she’d ever done. But possibly the only thing that could pull her out of the continuous funk that threatened to pull her under. The trade-off was worth it. At least momentarily.
    Seeing Davis resting his head on her pillow made her head hurt. Surely he wasn’t the guy that should be there. But he was. He’d come for her. He knew what she needed and as she rolled her hips and reached that place where she was unable to catch her breath, unable to see straight—she forgot about everyone else. He sat up to kiss her, pushing her on her back where she could see all eight of his magnificent ab muscles, shaded perfectly in the dark room. He kept his eyes closed when he reached his own climax. Ari watched as his nose wrinkled and she ran her hand down his chest. Moments later he fell into a crumpled, gasping heap on top of her body.
    Under Davis’s heavy weight, every inch of her body felt alive for the first time in months. The word she searched for was satiated. He lay there for a moment before rolling off, kissing her neck gently. Barely awake, she curled toward him, drifting off into sleep.
    * * *
    “So you finally talked Nick into staying over, huh?” Oliver said the next morning.
    Ari choked on her coffee. “What?”
    “Not to sound like a perv but you guys were going at it pretty hard when I got up to go to the bathroom. You kick him out or something?”
    Taking her cup to the sink, Ari poured the remaining contents down the drain. She used a napkin to wipe the dripping coffee off her pajamas. “Yeah, he got up early and went home.”
    “Tell him he doesn’t have to sneak in next time. I’m not your dad or some crazy older brother with a shotgun.” He made a pretend shotgun motion. What a dork. “But then again, maybe he and I should have a talk. Man to man.”
    “Please don’t say anything to him, okay? He’s skittish due to our working relationship and potential problems with all that. We agreed not to talk to anyone about it, okay?”
    “That wasn’t some kind of booty call was it?”
    How could someone so self-absorbed and ridiculous also be so perceptive? Ari wondered. “Just be cool, okay?”
    “I can be cool,” he agreed. “Won’t say a word—swear.”
    “Thanks,” Ari said in relief. Nick. That was a problem she didn’t give much thought to last night. She’d had an itch and Davis scratched it. She and Nick weren’t exclusive, he wouldn’t even come in the house. There was no doubt Ari wanted to justify her decision, and she was justified. It didn’t matter anyway. One-time thing, she assured herself, as she walked out of the kitchen to get ready for work. No big deal.
    * * *
    Much to Ari’s relief, her interaction with Davis was limited after that night. She suspected it was a one-time thing for him, too, the kind of thing that built up from their first meeting at the club and had escalated from there. He’d sent her a package including two tickets to the fighting event at the GYC on Friday night. A small note inside listed Curtis’s time and event. Apparently he’d decided to let him participate after all. She double-checked the envelope, but there were no other messages inside. Maybe this was one of those one-night stands that worked.
    Glad her hookup with Davis could be compartmentalized, Ari found herself obsessing over different things during the following days. Nick occupied a segment of her mind that normally remained rusty and forgotten. She liked him. A lot. His texts and phone calls had become the highlight of her day, other than the real treat of meeting him for lunch in her office or with a group for dinner. The lunch date was fairly