I get naked and cuddle up to her. “I’m really tired,” she murmurs.
“Which is code for ‘I’m not down to fuck.’”
“Hmm.”
My fingers stroke her hair, then trail down to her shoulder. “I’m gonna sleep naked anyway,” I whisper.
“How was the party?”
“Lots of people. Drinks. Food. The usual.” I smirk, then wince as my lip stings. “Tell me about your day before you go to sleep,” I murmur, and she sinks deeper into my embrace.
“The new hires are great. Angela from the Times practically orgasmed over the window. There’s not another bookstore in New York with the same concept. The fiftieth anniversary of those books just makes it all the more relevant. You, Mr. Cream, have great ideas. How about your day?”
I caress the line of her shoulder, my fingers gliding down her arm to lace our fingers together. “Practice was good. Our first preseason game is coming up, with Kansas City. You’ll need to come.”
She stiffens in my arms.
“Don’t worry, darling. I’ll be fine.”
She doesn’t say anything, but I can hear the wheels in her head spinning.
A long exhale comes from my chest. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about football.”
“Okay. Wanna talk about the blood on your lip, then?”
I sit up and click on the lamp on the nightstand as she props her head on her arm and watches me. “You saw it? I thought I cleaned it up pretty good at the club.”
“You don’t think I inspect you from head to toe after you’ve been to a bachelor party? I was checking for hickeys and lipstick, and what I get is a busted lip.”
I arch a brow. “Sorry?”
She moves and straddles me, her lace underwear rubbing against my hard cock, making me hiss. My hands land on her hips as she scowls down at me.
“Jane goes to a party, and you don’t think she told me what happened immediately? In graphic detail. Then she admitted that Kian’s been walking past the bookstore and leaving flowers again.”
I narrow my eyes. “Minx. Were you really asleep when I came in?”
“Hell no. I was waiting to see your lip, you jerk! You could have hurt yourself or hit your head, messing with Kian. I was worried about you! Did you really plan the entire thing, for him to be there during your party?”
I grin.
“You are diabolical,” she calls out.
I cup her face and brush our noses together. “You like me just the way I am.”
She pouts. “Did you put some bacterial cream on it?”
“Yes, Ma. Jane had some in her purse.”
She rears back. “Absolutely not. You do not get to call me Ma. That is wrong on so many levels.”
“I was just kidding—come back here,” I say when she tries to crawl away. I tug her back into my lap while she pouts. It makes me chuckle.
“Seriously. Are you mad at me for giving Kian a little taste of his own medicine? Eye for an eye—he deserved a hell of a lot more. I could have really hurt him, but I didn’t. I merely let him know that you have family. And friends. And a badass husband who will protect you until the end.”
Our eyes cling, her green to my gray, as the silence builds between us. “‘Until the end’？”
I reach over and click off the light. I do not want to talk about that.
“Can we just cuddle?” I ask as I ease her back down to the bed.
“Anytime.” She runs her fingers through my hair, then carefully inspects my split lip. Her eyes hold mine for a long time as she studies each of my features as if cataloging them for later.
“What?” I ask softly.
Her throat moves delicately as she swallows before she speaks. “No one’s ever protected me before. No one has ever been this good to me.”
“Darling, I’m yours. You never have to worry.”
She dips her face so I can’t read her eyes and snuggles into my neck. “You know my greatest fear?”
“Yeah,” I say as my fingers idly drift down her shoulder to her arm.
“I’m not afraid anymore,” she whispers. “Of this.”
Silence fills the room as I digest her words. I get what she’s telling me, and it makes my heart do somersaults in my chest. Her hand rests there as if she senses my own fear.
My throat tightens with words I can’t say. My own fear still clings to me. My armor is still intact. Right?
“That’s great,” I say before kissing the top of her head. Eventually she slides away and turns over with her back to me. A long breath comes from my lips as I curl around her, my hand encircling her waist.