Page 12 of Tangling Hearts

“Oh good, because there’s something very sexy about a man building a fire.” I slip out of my dress and crawl into bed to watch him stoke the fire, but I can’t stop staring at his shirt. With him bent over throwing in the two logs, I note every time he winces and adjusts his body, squatting down on one knee. He’s definitely favoring his left shoulder, so why did he lie and say it’s both?

“What about you staying another night in town?” He stands up, the flames rising behind him in growing red and orange flicks of heat. “Do you have to be back?”

I smile, pulling my hair to the side and out of my way. “I have a lot of people waiting on me, for my charity work. But I could stay another day. Why not?” My smile spreads into a grin as he climbs in bed. “Don’t you want to take that off?”

“I get cold at night,” he says, pulling the blankets up.

“I’ll keep you warm, you sexy beast.”

He grins at me, and wraps his legs around mine. “It’s a thing I have. I like to sleep with my shirt on. Just forget about it, okay?”

“Okay. That’s fine.” His eyes are weighted down and I glance quickly to the wine to see the bottle still a quarter full. There’s no way he’s drunk. “You look really tired.”

“I’ve been sick, remember? I’m still getting better, so maybe we should just sleep a little. I’ll ravage your body in the morning, if that’s okay. Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” He leans over and kisses me, sensually licking my tongue with his before collapsing back on the pillow, a frown piercing his forehead as he lands.

“Of course. Rest up.” As I watch him close his eyes, I add, “Maybe we could go to Golden Gate Park tomorrow. You don’t have to go back to work yet, right?”

He smiles, but his eyes stay shut and he turns his head away. “That’s true. I’ll probably go back to work in a couple days. The park sounds great. We’ll do a picnic.”

I smile and close my eyes, letting the weight of the past days fall off me as exhaustion takes me into a wonderful, dreamless sleep.

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