Page 345 of The Maxwell Brothers
I sat next to her, and she leaned her head on my shoulder.
“Declan, do you want to talk about today?” she asked.
I kissed her forehead. “We'll talk later, Liz. You're tired now.”
“Yes, I am. Help me take off my clothes?” She smiled wickedly.
“Come on, hold your hands up.”
I took off her shirt and her bra, then removed her jeans and her panties. The sight of her naked tested all my self-restraint,but I knew she was completely tired. I could see it in how she crawled on the mattress, pulling the covers over her.
“I can't even keep my eyes open.”
“I know. Sleep. I'll be here when you wake up.”
She nodded, sighed, and then immediately fell asleep. She and I were going to have a serious conversation, but it was going to wait. Right now, my woman needed to rest.
CHAPTER 28
LIZ
The next morning,I woke up with a jolt. For a few seconds, I didn't make sense of the strange room or the soft mattress, or the smell of sage in the air, but then it all came back to me. We were at a B&B.
I glanced sideways. Declan was right next to me, lying on his side looking at me.
I couldn't help sliding just a bit closer to him to feel the side of his body against mine.
"Hey, you," I whispered. "How long have you been up?"
"Not long. Your mom called, and I answered before it woke you."
I blinked rapidly, fear gripping my chest. "Something happened? She has news?"
"Yeah, good news. Amy’s feeling great, and she’s been discharged. Mark took her and Rose home. We can visit them later.”
"Oh, thank God."
"She asked me not to wake you because you were in a state yesterday."
"That's true, I was. I slept since yesterday afternoon."
"And she also asked me to tell you that your sister is sleeping soundly, and she'll let you know when you can go visit."
"I can't believe you're here," I murmured, tracing his arm with my fingers, turning on one side so I was facing him. I moved my fingers farther down to his chest.
“Liz, why didn’t you even ask me for help?”
“I knew you were in a meeting.”
“One of my brothers, then. You have Travis’s number.” His voice had turned hard.
I winced. "It was a tough morning, and I was in a frenzy to get on that bus. It only runs once a day."
"Liz, is that really why you didn’t reach out to anyone?"
I bit my lip, not sure how to bring this up. Even though we were completely naked, I felt like there was a wall between us.
"I don't know. I got wrapped up in everything else. And yesterday, things seemed strange between us. You seemed strange."
