Page 74 of The Kingpin's Call Girl

“The internet.” I touch the ice pack to his forehead.

He pushes it off. “Get out,” he growls. He’s tired. A tired bear. Google said he would be. He rolls over, away from me.

“You need this on your head for five minutes every three hours.”

He makes a growly sound, and it tugs at my heart.

“Hey.”

I stroke his cheek, and he takes a deep breath like his nervous system might be calming. He’d never let me touch him like that during the day—he’d probably chop off my hand—but he’s allowing it now.

I rest my hand on his cheek, cupping his cheek, while I press the ice to the injured spot on his head. You can feel the bump. You can see it.

Yet my touch seems to be settling him.

It’s so strange having this man, this killer, so vulnerable by my side. And I’m calming him.

It’s a kind of intimacy I’m not used to.

And he really, really is a killer. There’s no way he’s not. It’s possible he even killed people within the past twenty-four hours.

But this is where I want to be.

After a few minutes, his breath evens like he might be falling back asleep.

“You can’t fall asleep for three more minutes. Doctor Google’s orders.”

He protests sleepily.

“If you don’t like it, maybe you shouldn’t have gone around fighting.”

Grumble.

“Three more minutes.” I do the cheek-stroking thing again, and it works again.

Did somebody try to kill him? Will they try again?

A bullet in his head would solve a lot of my problems, but as Islide my hand over his hard, velvety beard stubble, it hurts my heart to think of it.

“Two more minutes, and you can sleep again.”

I shift the ice pack and stroke his cheek.

He’s a brute, yes.

But right now, he’s my brute.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

LUKA

She’s sleeping when I wake up, phone near her hand as if she was clutching it until the last moment of drifting off. Her delicate features are serene, her hair in a messy halo around the pillow.

Memories of her caring for me flood back. The way she felt. Her hand on my cheek.

What the fuck.

Apparently, the bullet that grazed my skull took out a chunk of my senses because what was I thinking, letting her stay?

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