Page 93 of Unexpected Heroine

“I love it.”

I love you.

“Anyway, if I’m passed out on the couch when you get home, please wake me up and bring me to bed.”

A morose thought fills me. From what she told the detectives this morning, they weren’t subtle about how they woke her at that fucking house. I’d hate to trigger her into a panic attack.

“How do you want me to wake you up, sugar bear?”

Her mouth rounds with a tiny gasp, and a lascivious expression dances up her face. “You mean like with your tongue or your fingers?” She brings her face close to mine and simpers, “Or your cock?”

It takes a solid four seconds to close my jaw and force my eyes back into their sockets. “Damn, woman. That’s not what I meant at all.”

Rolling her lower lip into a pout, she huffs, “Then what did you mean?” Her face perks up. “Are you bringing home food? Late-night pig-out?”

“Your meds wore off, I think.” I chuckle. “I’ll bring you home food if you want, but that’s not what I was asking.”

“We’ll take the back side of the menu from Waffle House.”

“Horrifying, but okay. I’ll do that for you.”

If she doesn’t already know I love her, then certainly going into a Waffle House should prove it, right?

She scoots her body in tight again, pressing against me from head to toe. “What did you mean about waking me up?”

As I look at her face, serene with well-earned happiness, I decide to let it be for now.

“Nothing, sweetness. Go have fun with your friends. You’re in safe hands. See you in a few hours.”

“With the?—”

I nod animatedly and finish her sentence. “With the back side of the Awful House menu. Got it.”

“Awful House. Ha. I like that.”

Before I rush out of her arms, I kiss her again, letting her warmth fill me. I hope it can drive away the icy claws of vengeance a bit longer.

Because I don’t want to lie to her ever again.

And I fiercely want to be the man she thinks I am.

“Now, get going, but be careful,” she warns, easing out of our embrace. “Come back to me the same man I fell in love with.”

In a million years, I’ll never comprehend how a woman like her could ever love a man like me.

On the way out the door, I wave Kri over to the front porch and instruct her to do her best to keep Lettie awake so I don’t have to move her when I get home.

When I start to explain, she cuts me off with a crisp slash of her hand through the air. “Say no more, buddy. It’s no fun to wake someone with PTSD.”

I tip my head in a grateful gesture, then double-time it to the car, hopping into the front seat.

Shep looks over at me, one brow arched. “You good?”

“Nope. We’re going anyway.”

“Rock and roll.”

I anticipated it would be the B-team bodyguard Scotty Winters who would need convincing to let us through the door to interrogate Savin. I had a speech prepared for when he called Boss and handed his phone to me. Hell, it was another possibility that Savin would be resistant to talking to Shep and me or might not let us in the hotel room where they’re hiding out.

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