Page 66 of Barristers & Bones

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not an idiot, it means more than that. You guys seem a little… Neanderthal sometimes.” The medication he gave me started kicking in, and as drowsiness hit me, I laid my head on his shoulder. “She told me they’ve met before, but there’s more to it than that.”

“What makes you think so?” He settled me into him and softly ran his fingers along my thigh. I could feel his hard length beneath my butt cheeks, but I was too tired and comfortable to get worked up about it.

I let out a big yawn and snuggled into his warmth. “She dislikes him too much, and he’s extremely focused on her.”

He continued to run his palm up and down my leg, sending tingles through me. “Hm,” he murmured noncommittally. Roman knew something he wasn’t telling me.

The pain in my body quieted to a dull throbbing, and my eyes drifted closed. “Knowing Sylvie, it was something traumatic–that’s what bonded us. She hates her father as much as I hate mine, and they’ve both tried to kill us. Funny thing to have in common, isn’t it?” I mumbled.

A quiet breath dragged out of him as I drifted off to sleep in his lap. A little while later, he carried me to his bedroom. I was too tired to argue as he laid me down in the bed, and I rolled over and fell asleep again seconds later.

In the middle of the night, I woke up with a gasp after bumping my injured elbow. Roman forced two more pills down me as I grumbled at him, but I quickly fell back to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up on my uninjured side with my good arm curled in front of me and my face burrowed into Roman’s chest. Our legs were tangled together. My phone buzzed on the nightstand, and I groaned softly.

It stopped, and I started drifting off. But the buzzing started up again, jerking me back to consciousness. I slowly rolled onto my back and thought about the best way to get vertical without hurting myself too much. Roman sat up and leaned over me, picking my phone up off the nightstand. He looked at my screen, then answered.

“Whoever the fuck you are, why are you calling her at six in the goddamned morning? She was fast asleep and getting some much-needed rest.”

When I heard Jared Gardner’s loud voice asking who the fuck Roman was, I sat up and groaned as aches and pains rolled through me.

Roman cut him off. “She’s not in the hospital anymore. She’s here at my house, sleeping in my bed.” His eyes slid to me, then trailed down my body where my robe had parted, giving him a front-row view of my breasts.

I awkwardly gathered my robe and sat in a tired daze. Roman paused, then let out a mean chuckle. “You don’t want to go there, little boy. Luna’s mywifenow and if you insinuate something like that again, I’ll make sure they never find your body.”

For once, Jared didn’t seem to have anything to say. Roman turned and stared at me. “Lose her number and don’t call her again.” He turned my phone off and threw it on the bed beside me.

“Why is that snot-nosed kid calling you?” he growled.

I didn’t let his irritation bother me because Jared probably annoyed his own mother. Moaning softly, I lay back in the warm bed, then turned and snuggled into the covers. “I don’t know. He’s like a nasty rash that won’t go away no matter what I try. I’m cold.”

He sighed and gathered me close, giving me his body heat.

Chapter 21

Luna

We slept for another hour, and my bladder finally woke me again. Gingerly, I tried to roll out of his arms, but they tightened around me. “I need to pee,” I mumbled into his chest. He slowly let me go, and I shuffled into the bathroom. After my brain started working a little, my face flushed when I thought about how easily I’d fallen into his bed and slept in his arms.

It took a while to shower and clean up, but on the bright side, I did feel a little better. Roman sat on the bed looking at his phone when I came out of the bathroom in my robe. Suddenly, awkward tension bloomed in my stomach and I pointed to the closet.

“I’m, uh, just going to get dressed.”

He set his phone down and watched me. “Gideon is coming over. Do you need anything?”

“If he’s coming from the office, I left a textbook on my desk. Can he pick it up?”

“Yes. Do you need anything else? Any clothes, toiletries, feminine hygiene products?”

My face flamed red. “Mm. No, thank you.” I hurried to his large walk-in closet and shut the door.

After wrestling on a thong and a pair of drawstring shorts with one hand, I tried to put on a bra. After several frustrating minutes, I gave up and tried a shirt next. By the time I gave that up too, I was tired, frustrated, and a little sweaty. If I extended my arm too much, my elbow barked in pain. I stood with my head hanging down when Roman walked in, freshly showered with a towel wrapped around his waist.

I held the shirt up in front of my breasts, and he paused when he saw me. “Do you need some help? All you have to do is ask.”

My eyes snagged on his lean, cut torso. Roman had delicious, defined abdominals that led down to a perfect V. A tattoo curved around his side and twisted up to just below his nipple. The tattoo readveritas odium parit,and a snake wound around the words. I wondered what the Latin saying meant.

His cock bulged under the towel, but he stood, uncaring, as his gaze traveled over my exposed skin. I realized I stood in front of him partially naked too.

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