Seth enters the bedroom, a glass of water in his hand, his eyes on Lacey sunk deep into the pillows, looking as golden as the sunlight streaming through the blinds.
His gut twists. She looks soft and fragile in the morning light. But her color’s better. Her green eyes clear, not clouded by fever.
“You need anything else?” he asks, setting her antibiotics and water on the nightstand.
“A new career,” she says, waving her phone. She’s just texted Prentiss that she’s taking a week off work, no question.
Seth chuckles.
After a night in the hospital, the drugs out of her system, she’s back to being her haughty, feisty pain-in-the-ass self. And he couldn’t love it more.
“Ugh, it’s so embarrassing.” She bites her lower lip, frustration etched across her pretty face. “Everyone’s going to talk about it.”
He grins. “What? The dashin’ cowboy, carrying you out in his arms?”
“Seth, stop,” Lacey groan-laughs. She clutches her stomach. “It hurts.”
Seth sits beside her on the bed. “I don’t want you worryin’ about Prentiss.” He reaches for her hand, giving it a firm squeeze. “Or Colin. I don’t want you worryin’ about anything. You’re restin’.”
A pang of guilt lands like a dart. What she should have been doing in the first place.
“Prentiss won’t understand,” she huffs, tossing her phone into the pile of blankets as if she can block out his response.
Seth’s eyes follow the phone. That guy so much as hassles Lacey about time off, Seth will hunt him down and gladly introduce his face to Seth’s fist.
“I don’t give a shit about Prentiss. I give a shit about you. And gettin’ you better.” Seth’s smile falls away. “Besides, he don’t deserve you. All you been doin’—he don’t give two shits.”
She frowns and cocks her head. “What’re you talkin’ about?”
He grimaces, not wanting to upset her, but knowing she has to know. He takes a deep breath. “That’s what I was talkin’ to Autumn about at the party. You ain’t gonna get that promotion, Lace. I’m so damn sorry, princess. He’s givin’ it to someone else.”
Her mouth falls open. Hot tears fill her eyes. “Asshole,” she hisses. Blinking back tears, she looks at Seth. “Who is it? I bet it’s Tatum. She never could—”
“Uh-uh, you ain’t doin’ this.” He gives her a look that means business. “I know you’re gonna hate it. I know it’s gonna drive you crazy, but this time, no work. No anything unless you’re relaxin’. I mean it,” he says when Lacey flattens her lips. “Do it for me. For Sal. For that baby you gotta see.”
Her expression softens.
He smiles and thumbs a lock of hair out of her eyes. “You’re on house arrest, twenty-four-hour scheduled surveillance for the next week.”
Lacey angles her head, a faint smile tugging at her lips. “You’re staying?”
He is. He called Luke and Sal early this morning to tell them what had happened. It left him feeling like the biggest asshole around. Every time he calls home, he only makes Sal cry.
“Yeah.” He drags a hand through his hair. “Luke’s got Beau for three more weeks, so one more week don’t matter.”
“Are you sure?”
Something primal clenches at him. “I ain’t leavin’ you.” He can’t. And he damn well knows it. “You’re stuck with me.”
“Good.” Lacey links her fingers through this. Her green eyes sparkle in the sunlight. “I like you around, Seth. I like you always around.”
Christ. He closes his eyes, his heart twisting. Her sweet words are enough to have him coming unhinged.
“Seth ...” He glances up at Lacey, who’s staring down at her blanketed lap. “About last night—”
“We don’t have to do this right now.”
“No, I want to.” She tilts her chin. “If we don’t do it now, then when?”