His mind flipped through several other reasons she shouldn’t follow him down this path but he was getting tired again. And she felt too cozy here on his chest, he didn’t want to start a fight.
“There’s one more thing . . .”
“What?” he asked as mildly as he could, even though his adrenaline was buzzing to the surface. His mind immediately and inexplicably went to his Norwegian tattoo artist buddies. Maybe he was too tired to be jealous right now, but he could feel it trying to make an appearance. If she’d done something crazy like let them have her, he’d probably forgive her anyway. They hadn’t formally broken up, but they’d both known they weren’t together either.
“It’s just that . . .” She winced. “There’s no job to finish.”
He frowned. “What do you mean? Did we lose the contract? They didn’t give us a couple of days because of Marcel?”
“It’s finished. While Dr. Lewis was working on you, we went out and finished the job.” She looked up at him, her expression tentative. Then she smiled apologetically. “But hey, that means you have all the time you need to relax and heal.”
He wanted to be pissed, but he was so damned relieved that her confession wasn’t about Loke, Rune, and Geir that he couldn’t even be mad. The job was done, she was safe. Maybe he’d be talking to the guys later about putting her in harm’s way like that, but if he was going to let her work with them, their good name was her good name too. That they’d finished the job even though he’d been shot was only going to improve their reputation.
“Okay.” He sighed and leaned his head back against the pillows. “But until I feel you’re up to speed on the skill set the rest of us have, you’re going to be answering to me.”
“What? That’s it?” She frowned. “You’re not mad? No threats of locking me in your dungeon?”
“No. I’d imagined something so much worse that the truth was a relief.” He chuckled. “But we’ll be talking about the dungeon part as soon as I’m stronger.” He winked at her.
“What could be worse than me replacing you on the job?” she asked incredulously.
“Honestly? Maybe it’s just because I’m still out of it, but I thought you were going to tell me you went to get another tattoo.” He let the implication hang in the air, but she didn’t catch on to what he meant right away.
Her brow furrowed, then her eyes widened. “You didn’t really think I’d do three guys at once? Seriously, Fox? Not even if it was three of you.”
“No?”
She scooted up and kissed him carefully, like he might fall apart from the pressure of her lips. Maybe he would.
When she pulled back, she smirked. “You let me fuck you with a strap-on and I’ll consider a three way with you and your clones.”
“Hmm. I’ll consider that very carefully.”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“Is it bad that I don’t want my clones touching you even if I’m there?”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, you’re ridiculous.”
For a few minutes they lay on his bed in contented silence, their hands interlaced. He could feel himself drifting off again. “You don’t even want to know if I slept with someone else after you left me?”
“No. I know you didn’t.”
“So cocky, my girl.” He smiled. They suited each other so damn well. Knowing she loved him back, and relieved he was giving up the stupid idea of splitting up made him feel like it was safe to sleep for another week.
His eyelids wouldn’t open wider than slits, but he could focus enough to rub his thumb over her bottom lip. She nipped it, and even in his condition, it sent a flash of heat through him. Today would be pretty damn close to perfect if only he had the energy to roll her beneath him and reclaim her. Exhaustion was making it hard to breathe, and his eyes were shutting.
“Sleep,” she coaxed.
“Stay.”
“Okay, Fox.” Her lips brushed his forehead. “
When you wake up I’ll be waiting.”
Sleep overtook him, but when it did he was smiling like an idiot.
Chapter 19