Page 135 of Beyond the Badge: Crew

The Wolfhound’s lumbering gait as he followed her out to the backyard kind of reminded her of Bulldog’s. Though, she was pretty damn sure that Bulldog was a thousand times meaner than her Murphy.

She stood on the back deck, yawning three times in a row. After Murphy went and did his business in the dark yard, he came back and leaned against her for a few head scratches. She willingly obliged before going back inside.

She wasn’t sure she could muster up the energy to have sex, so Crew might have been waiting for nothing.

It would serve him right.

On the way through the kitchen to her bedroom, she kicked off her wedge sandals, yanked the tank over her head and unzipped her denim skirt with a worn-out sigh.

She found the bedroom door closed, most likely so Murphy didn’t crawl into bed to cuddle with him. Cracking the door open, she peeked in to see the room dark but not quiet.

Steady snoring greeted her.

She headed into the bathroom to rinse off the bar’s stink, brush her teeth and toss her smelly clothes into the hamper. She decided she’d have to leave her hair unwashed because she didn’t want to use a dryer, waking the man asleep in her bed.

She returned to the bedroom, naked and clean, and in the dark, she could barely make out Crew sprawled out and hogging the whole damn bed.

Of course.

He “claimed” her earlier with a kiss at the bar. Now he was claiming her bed, too.

With a shake of her head, she carefully made her way in the dark to the side of the bed, lifted the bedding and crawled in beside him.

The bed was like a damn oven. His body was not only hot to look at, it could put out some heat.

Within seconds of her head hitting the pillow, she was out.

* * *

Crew jerked awake,unsure of where he was.

Blinking a few times, it took him a good minute to clear the cobwebs from his brain and realize the woman he was spooning wasn’t some chick he’d brought home after a late night at some hookup bar.

Not that he’d ever done that before.

Too often, anyway.

But it wasn’t some random woman tucked in his arms, it was Cami. Completely fucking naked.

Did he actually just “sleep” with a woman without having sex? He hadn’t done that since he was married.

His intention when he climbed into her bed was to rest his eyes only for a few moments while he waited for her. That ended up being a complete failure. It also proved he was well past his “go all night” partying days back in his twenties.

She even managed to sneak in without waking him. He must have been sleeping like the dead.

He wasn’t the only one.

Her steady breathing and her relaxed state proved she was out cold.

He had come over here to fuck her. But he wasn’t going to be a selfish shit and wake her up for that.

She had to be exhausted. So, he did what any decent human would do, let her sleep.

He disengaged and rolled out of bed, careful not to wake her. As he headed over to his pile of neatly folded clothes, he stopped midway, turned around and went back to the bed. He stared down at her for a few seconds, then leaned over and brushed his lips over the smooth, warm skin of her bare shoulder.

Before he could think too much of it, he quietly gathered his clothes in his arms and tip-toed from the room, pulling the door shut behind him, only to come face to face with her canine companion.

“I guess you need to go out?”

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