Page 41 of Bad Boy in Her Bed

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Birch rolled hisstool in closer and continued to shade in the tiger gracing his client’s shoulder blade.“You still good?”

“You bet,” the guy replied, switching the music to a new industrial metal band.“How’s it looking?”

“Probably the best cat I’ve done,” he stated honestly, glancing over at the sketch he taped to the counter.“Crank up the tunes.”

The music level went sonic, and he adjusted his angle to reach the eyes of the beast.

He was five hours into the piece, the time having flown by thanks to an amicable client, a sketch he was excited to bring to life, and the thought of seeing Jocelyn again when he was done his shift.

The euphoria he was riding all weekend was still holding.It was a situation his subconscious knew would come to an end soon, but his mind refused to acknowledge it.Logically he knew it was reckless to allow himself to relax into the relationship they were falling into, to become accustomed to seeing her sitting in his shop and sleeping in his bed.But everything about it, about her, felt good.

He liked it.

Liked it enough to block the survival instincts screaming in the depths of his mind to throw on the brakes before he fell too far.

Making breakfast together Saturday morning after she rode him hard all night was a first for him.They simply hung out in the kitchen and talked about inconsequential things while Grey stumbled down the stairs to join them.His brother had grinned like a Cheshire cat the whole time, giving him a thumbs-up behind her back when she started cracking eggs.

They went their separate ways for an hour here and there.While he worked on a particularly detailed cover-up, she returned to her hotel to pack a bag.When he sat down for a consultation with a new client, she went for a run.But every time she walked away from him, she left him with a searing kiss and a promise to be back soon.

And then she kept her word.

Her presence at Serpent’s Tongue kept the stress of Ryder and his drug dealing at bay while Birch worked, giving his mind a break from obsessively dissecting every call he received, each new package he signed for.Even when she sat silently at his side, book in hand and steel eyes concentrating on the page while he sketched out a new piece, she centered him.Her free arm would reach to him when his pencil stopped moving, offering her skin as a canvas for him to work out the image.

Temporary as his ink pens were, seeing his designs on her body when he woke beside her satisfied something inside him that he hadn’t known existed, the need to claim her as his and his alone.

It scared the hell out of him.But not enough to stop him from fantasizing about tattooing her skin permanently, knowing it would be his art on her body forever.

The fact that he considered teaching her how to use the gun herself so she could mark him too only served as a reminder to his logical side that he was already a goner.After all, there was a time limit on them, and it was approaching.Fast.

Finishing off the final strokes of the tiger, he sat back to admire his work, snapping a picture on his phone to show Jocelyn when he saw her in a few hours.

*

Jocelyn opened thespreadsheet she’d designed to track Serpent’s Tongue’s payroll, placed the stack of papers she needed to examine on the table, and smiled when she caught sight of the intricate floral design encircling her wrist and trailing up to her elbow.

Birch quickened her heart in a way no man had done before.He could make her laugh one moment, share a companionable silence the next, and set her on fire with a single heated gaze.She feigned reading on his sofa Sunday evening while he helped Grey study for his midterm exams, listening in while he drilled, praised, and encouraged his younger brother.She sat back and giggled when the two of them entered into a creative insult war, both grinning throughout until Grey admitted defeat and pulled out his phone to turn everyone’s teasing on to the latest photos of River.

It was so…idyllic.Homey and warm and sweet, it was the opposite of everything she’d steeled her heart against.Trial by fire had made her an expert at snubbing grand romantic gestures and broad declarations of love made publicly.She became skilled in seeing the tarnish under the dazzle, no longer blinded by stars and shiny toys.

But she had no defenses against a guy like Birch.And no matter how many times she told herself that her investment in their relationship started and ended with sex, her mind and heart continued to scoff at her from the bench.

Checking the dates of the bank statements, she organized them and began cross-referencing the payroll slips with the transfers into Birch and Ryder’s personal accounts.

Her morning conference call with Angelo and his partners had planted a seed in the back on her mind, a small idea taking root as she provided a vague overview of her current findings in the Serpent’s Tongue account.What she was uncovering was consistent across the other clients Trevor Drayson served, patterns of similar red flags rising high.The pieces of information Angelo received provided a worrisome picture, one she hoped the facts and numbers would shelter Birch from.

Because although she continued to approach her work objectively and the paperwork was unbiased in its mapping of her findings, her feelings for Birch were beginning to hit a dangerously high level.In a few weeks, her time in Epson would be ending and she would be returning to New Jersey.

Yet as she listened to Angelo review the upcoming assignments and his face filled the center of her computer screen, she started to wonder if leaving Epson was a must when her career required no office, no physical base.But if it wasn’t a guarantee she had to leave, did Birch even want her to stay?Or was the knowledge that they were together on a deadline more appealing to a man who didn’t do relationships than she hoped?

Or maybe it isn’t the deadline he finds so appealing.Maybe it’s your influence on where that deadline will lead.

The thought shot into her mind, and she took a deep breath, forcing herself to remember Birch wasn’t one of them.He wasn’t a bad guy.

He said so himself.

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