I did trust him, I realized.
We fell silent for a moment and then I said, “Joni invited me to her housewarming.”
“Of course she did,” Boxer muttered.
“What? You don’t want me to go to the party?” I looked at him.
“Oh, I want you to go to the party, but you better be prepared for them to ask questions.”
“Questions? What kind of questions?”
He rolled me so that I was flat on my back. He quickly draped his muscled, inked body on top of mine and stared into my eyes. “For starters, how good I am in bed. Be generous with your praise. I’ve got a reputation to protect.”
I laughed and threw a leg over his hip, nestling myself against him. “If you want praise, you have to do something worthy of the praise.”
His hand slid to my hip and then wandered between our bodies. “I better get to work, then.”
* * *
I woke up on my belly, Boxer’s heavy leg strewn across mine. I lifted my head ever so slightly, looking for an alarm clock to tell me the time. I didn’t see one. Music no longer played outside. The party had gone on for hours without us while we’d been holed up in his room. Now, everything was quiet.
A hand stole across my back.
“You’re awake,” I whispered.
“So are you.” He scooted closer, dragging me against him. “Your breathing changed, and it woke me up.”
“You’re a light sleeper,” I said in surprise. “I would’ve expected you to be a hard sleeper.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Just seems like you’d crash hard.” I wriggled in his embrace, and he let me go. I rolled over onto my back. He placed his cheek on my chest, and I felt his warm breath on my naked skin. My fingers sank into his hair, and I stroked his head.
“So, are you ready for a weird coincidence?” I asked him.
“Go for it.”
“It seems your buddy who runs The Rex is also the owner of the condo building I live in.”
“No shit. Ramsey owns your building? How’d you find that out?”
“I called the management company wanting to speak to the owner so I could report Jerry. Ramsey was the one who called me back.”
“Small fucking world.”
“Right?” My fingers drifted lower to trace swirls on his back. “Ramsey was on the cover of a magazine. ‘Most Eligible Bachelors of Dallas.’ I read the article, Boxer.”
“Yeah. So?”
“So, I know you spend a lot of time in Dallas doingbusiness—whatever that means.”
“Don’t fish, Linden. If you want to ask a question, ask it.”
“Would you even tell me the truth?”
“Try it and see.”
I sighed. “Does the name Quinn O’Malley ring a bell?”