Page 50 of Queen of Diamonds
You really are okay with having children?
“With you, yes. I’ll probably worry over everything, maybe even keep them isolated in a germ-free room.” He grinned when she widened her eyes. “Just kidding. I think. Seriously, I probably will be overprotective. One sneeze and we’ll be off to the doctor, but I have faith that you can talk me off the ledge.”
She wrote again.
Anytime you’re about to walk off the ledge, I’ll just take you to bed.
He was pretty sure his grin stretched from ear to ear. “That’ll work. But listen. Let’s not talk marriage and babies right now. You need to rest. After you’re well, we’ll take some time to just enjoy each other. I might have told you I love you in a hospital room, but the hell if I’m going to ask you to marry me in one.”
“Oh,” she rasped. Her eyes widened, and a beautiful smile appeared on her face. She tapped her finger against her lips, then puckered them.
“Are you asking for a kiss?” At her vigorous nod, he moved to the edge of the bed. “Whatever my lady wants,” he said in a bad British accent, smiling when she rolled her eyes.
They’d kissed before, but as their mouths connected, he knew this one would be different. New. He rested his hand on her neck and gently caressed her cheek with his thumb. Their breaths mingled when their lips touched, and Jesus God, this woman. His sunshine. His salvation.
“Kinsey,” he breathed. The kiss was their promise of a new beginning, of a life together. Passion sizzled between them as his tongue delved into her mouth, and when he heard her soft sigh, he reminded himself that they were in a hospital room, that she was hurt.
He reluctantly pulled away. “You need to get some rest. I’ll be right here if you need me.”
You don’t have to stay,she wrote.
“Yes, I do. I need to be here.” What if she had a nightmare? Or needed to talk about what had happened at three in the morning? “Now close your eyes, Sunshine.” He dimmed the lights, then settled in his chair. She was asleep before a minute passed, which didn’t surprise him. It had been a long night, and she had to be tired.
As he sat in the darkened room, watching her sleep, he marveled at how much his life had changed since the moment she’d walked into Aces & Eights. If he’d known she was the Gentrys’ sister, he wouldn’t have gone near her. Thank God he hadn’t. After he was sure she was sleeping soundly, he eased out of the room to tell Alex and Madison he was staying and they could go home.
Alex was on his phone, and from his expression, Rand could tell something was wrong. “You should have killed him,” were the first words out of his mouth after he disconnected.
“Summer?”
“What happened?” Madison asked.
“While Taylor was gathering a few things to bring Kinsey, Nate was looking around and noticed a reflection of the overhead light coming from an artificial tree in the corner of Kinsey’s bedroom.”
“A fucking camera?” Most people didn’t realize that a spy camera lens, even a small one, reflected light. And most people weren’t observant enough to notice they were being spied on.
“Yeah. So he and Taylor started searching for more. They’ve found three so far. The one in the bedroom, aimed at her bed, one in the bathroom, and one in the living room.”
Madison gasped. “My God.”
Rage blew through Rand’s bloodstream with the speed of an EF5 tornado. How long had they been there? He remembered the night she’d finally decided she’d left her back door cracked open. Had that been when he’d put them in her apartment? Had the bastard been watching her all this time?
“He’s a dead man,” he growled.
Anger shimmered in Alex’s eyes. “We can’t be sure yet it was him, but who else would it be? Court’s on his way to her place. He’ll be able to trace the cameras back to their source.”
“We both know it will go straight to Summer.”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, and that just gives us more to charge him with. Before Court left for Kinsey’s, he was able to confirm what your dad already told you. He’s confident there’s more to be found, but with his attack on Kinsey and the spying on her, he’s going down. We’re also going to charge him with assault on a federal agent.” Alex narrowed his eyes. “You did identify yourself, right?”
Eff him. He could easily say he had. It would be his word against a man who preyed on women, so a justified lie? But he couldn’t look Alex in the eyes and lie to the man. “I told him I was FBI after I had him subdued.”
Alex put his hands over Madison’s ears. “Semantics, dude. Things happened so fast, it’s hard to remember the timeline. But you do remember that you left him no doubt you were a federal agent?”
“What he said,” Madison said, pushing her husband’s hands away.
“I absolutely remember leaving him in no doubt as to who I was when I was arresting him.” He got where Alex was coming from, and who was to say at what point he’d tried to put the man under arrest? If he had a hair’s breadth of doubt that Sebastian Summer was innocent, he would have no choice but to tell the truth. He wasn’t exactly lying; he was only fudging a little on the timeline. To make sure Kinsey was protected from ever having Sebastian Summer hurt her again, he would fudge his fucking life away with no regrets.
So that was what real love felt like.
