Page 60 of Princess

“How are our people?” he asks in a different tone. “Any problems in the bunker?”

“No. They stayed safe down here. They’re relieved to be out, of course. There were a number of injuries in the attack, but nothing serious except for you. No one got killed.”

He closes his eyes, and I can see his response to this news on his face, although he doesn’t say a word.

After a minute, I go on, “The New Haven folks are helping us put the fence back up right now.”

“Shit. I should be up there helping them.”

“They don’t need your help. They’re doing just fine without you bossing them around.”

His mouth softens again. “But you’re down here. I guess that meansyouwant some of my bossing.”

I can’t help but giggle. “I can tolerate it better than most.”

My hand is still on his arm, and he reaches over with his other hand to cover mine, giving it a little squeeze. “So everyone is still here?”

“Cal and Rachel left.”

“We needed to pay them.”

“Dave took care of it. He put a bunch of stuff together for them, and Rachel took one of the Wolf Pack’s motorcycles. She said hers was on its last legs, so she was glad to get another.”

“That’s a good idea. Any of the volunteers should take whichever of the extra vehicles they want. We don’t need them, so see if Mack or Travis or any of the others could use them.”

“I will. But Travis has already left too. He was in a hurry to get back to his wife. But he said he might bring her back here since we’ve got such good medical facilities. They could stay here until she gives birth. It would be a lot safer than trying to do it by themselves at home.”

“Yeah. Good plan. Glad we can offer some help since they’ve done so much for us.”

“That’s what I thought too. Our medication isn’t going to hold out forever, but at least we’ve got equipment and some expertise. So we can act as a kind of hospital for the folks around here for a while.”

Grant nods, clearly agreeing but also appearing to have mentally moved on to something else. “We’re going to need something stronger than the fence pretty soon. Maybe more like the wall they built at New Haven. I need to—”

“You need to wait. It doesn’t have to be done today. They’re getting the fence back up for now, and we’ll work on everything else as soon as we can. What did I just tell you about your bossing?”

He relaxes back on the bed and scowls at me without any heat. “I’ve got to boss someone.”

“Then you can boss me.”

“Okay.” He breathes deeply, and I’m pretty sure he’s purposefully relaxing himself and clearing his mind. It doesn’t come easy for him, so he has to work at it. Then he shifts his eyes to me. “Come here, princess.”

“What?”

“Come here.”

I get up and step toward the bed. “Why? Did you just desperately need to get a little bossing out?”

He chuckles and reaches out his left arm. “No. Come and lie down with me. You’re too far away over there.”

“But your bad leg—”

“My bad leg is all the way on the other side of my body. You can lie down right here, and you won’t bother it at all.”

I’m a little nervous since I really don’t want to hurt him, but I also desperately need to be close to him. So I climb into the bed and settle myself at his left side. He wraps his arm around me and pulls me even closer so I’m snug against him.

“Just in case the idea of bossing me around got you feeling certain ways,” I say, burrowing against him and inhaling the familiar warm scent of him, “I’m not in a sexy mood right now.”

His body shakes with silent amusement. “Me either.” He pauses. When he speaks again, his tone is sober. “I know things aren’t right between us. We had that fight, and you were so mad at me, and there’s a lot of stuff to deal with. But can we put all that on pause for a while? I need to hold you right now.”

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