Page 66 of Bad Enough

“I’ll call him. Just take care of her. Leave the phone on, but turn the ringer off. I’ll have Midas start working on it. Conference room at oh-eight-hundred. Bring the phone.”

“Roger that.”

TB disconnected. He crossed over to the pieces of her phone, picked them up, and reassembled them. Making sure all the pieces were present and the ringer was turned off, he set it on the edge of her desk.

Returning to the edge of the bed, he could see she wasn’t shaking as violently, but she was still shivering. Without thinking about what he was doing, he pulled off his boots, then propped himself against the headboard. He gathered her to him so they were face-to-face, pulling her legs up over his, and tucked her close to his side. She was still in her robe and nightgown, so he didn’t need to loosen anything, but he did use his free hand to undo her hair, gently combing through it with his fingers. Pulling the quilt up to her neck, he cocooned her in the blanket as he had during aftercare. He held her close, brushing his chin back and forth across her forehead until she fell into a restless sleep. He thought about getting out of the bed then, but he stayed and stared out the window into the night.

I’m coming for you, asshole, whoever you are. She may not be able to be mine, but I will protect her like she is. With my last breath.

He felt it as she drifted up from the depths of sleep and knew the exact moment her body registered that something was off. Groggily, she tilted her head to the bookcase above her to check the clock. It was just after five a.m. “Go back to sleep, princess. You don’t need to be awake yet.”

She turned in the direction of the voice to see TB holding her close, one arm around her shoulders, the other around her waist. Their legs were tangled together under the comforter. Within seconds, the events of the previous night must have slammed into her memory, causing her to gasp and lock in place.

“Shhh,” he comforted her, his arms pulling her tighter to him. “You’re safe.”

“I’ll never be safe,” she whimpered.

“You saying I can’t protect you?” he rumbled.

“I know you think you can. But he threatened you, and he meant it.”

There was a pause as he processed her words. “Breathe, Flame. No one’s getting to me. The house is alarmed. Nemo was outside all night. Midas is already working on tracing the call.” Lightly, he brushed his chin against the top of her head. “We’ve got a lot to talk about today, so I need you to rest while you can.”

“I don’t think I can go back to sleep.”

“You don’t have to. Just rest.”

They lay together in the bed, not talking, not looking at each other, just tangled up in each other, warm and comfortable. He felt one hand slide up his stomach to rest on his chest, the other between their bodies, gripping his T-shirt tightly.

He absently pressed his lips against her head.

She burrowed down further into the mattress and bedding, and TB pulled her closer again.

At six-thirty, he roused her out of bed. “We have to be at Tribe by eight. I’m sorry to drag you with, but after last night, I can’t leave you here alone, and the team needs to meet. Bring your laptop. You can work in my office after the meeting.”

“You have an office?”

“This surprises you?”

“Difficult to see you behind a desk.”

“I didn’t say that I used it, just that I have it. My workspace tends to be the armory bench table.”

“Now that I can see.”

She floated downstairs to her room, and shortly thereafter, he heard the shower start up. Today was going to be a rough one for her. She was going to get asked a lot of questions, most of which she wasn’t going to want to answer, and all of them were going to make her uncomfortable.

He jumped in the shower, dressed, then headed downstairs to clean up his mess from before he ran upstairs in the early morning hours. Luckily, she was still upstairs getting ready, or he would have had a lot of explaining to do. In reality, she was the one who had a lot of explaining to do, but he’d rather be on the offensive for the conversation than try to backpedal with her like he would have been if she’d seen he was aware she had secrets.

Files pocketed into his laptop sleeve, security files neatly piled on the dining room table, he began to poke around in her kitchen. “Who doesn’t have coffee?” he mumbled.

“Me,” the soft voice came from behind him. “I never acquired the coffee craving other human beings seem to have been born with.”

“What do you do for caffeine?” he grouched.

She shrugged. “Don’t really need it. I live by myself and keep to my own schedule, so when my body wants to sleep, I go to sleep. When it wants to wake up, I get up. Caffeine isn’t necessary for that lifestyle.”

“How does your body develop a normal sleep rhythm?”

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