Page 71 of One Night With You

I opened my eyes and a smile slid over my face. “It’s true. I would listen to her too. She’s scary.”

“You’re very lucky I’m no longer on the phone with her. Because she would’ve heard that.”

I winced, and then did so again when I accidentally shifted on the couch. Claire rushed over as quickly as she could with two hot cups of tea.

“What’s wrong? You really need to be on the bed.”

Ignoring the pain, I raised a brow. “Look at you trying to get me into bed.”

“There is no way you and I are having sex,” she said with a laugh. “I mean, you’re amazing in bed and all, but I’m not about to break you.”

“You’re so sweet. Worrying about breaking me. Which I’m pretty sure we could make a case for the counterpoint.”

“So full of yourself, and you won’t even sit on your own bed that will adjust to your pain levels.”

“I don’t work well in bed. I never did my homework in my bedroom either. It’s a thing. I want that to be aspace for just relaxing.” I raised a brow. “And fucking. You know, all the cardio I need.”

“Are you still on pain meds? You’re a little loopy.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m just itchy or something. Need to get out. See the world. Maybe go ice skating again.”

The laugh that escaped her mouth should have hurt, but she looked too damn cute. “There’s no way we’re going ice skating right now. You need to heal. Rest. You’ve done two donations this year. And your body was amazing enough to replace what you had the first time. Give it some space to do it again. For yourself.”

“I know. I’m just a little claustrophobic.”

“I can open a window.” She ran her hand through my hair, and I nearly leaned into her palm like a cat.

This was so weird, having her here and making it feel normal. But it was normal. It wasn’t like Claire was new in my life. But I’d never had a serious girlfriend to the point that she would be here while I was sick. Or practically have a drawer since she was taking care of me.

Claire had a drawer in my house. When the hell had that happened?

Then again, I had one over at her place, because it was just easier. Suddenly my chest started to tighten up, and it had nothing to do with recovering.

“You don’t have to work, you know. You can just liein bed, watch a movie, do anything other than sit on this couch where you’re clearly uncomfortable.”

“I’m fine. I want to get these things done for Noah. We have more cases than usual on the docket, and I want to do my part. I’m co-owner and all.”

“You are. And you do a lot. And you’re allowed to take a break.”

“I did the first time. And I took a couple of days off for this. Now I’m just going to work on paperwork. Since I can’t get out in the field. Or get on a ladder.”

“You’re not going to get on the field anytime soon, are you?” she asked, a slight panic in her voice.

“No, but I will, you know.” I paused and reached out for her hand. “You know sometimes that I have to go out and play bodyguard, right? That is my job to keep my client safe? You’re okay with that, right?”

For some reason, we had never talked about that. Despite how many hours a day we spent together, or the fact that she had been someone I had protected in the past, we didn’t talk about my job.

“Of course,” she said softly. “I know what you do. You’ve taught me self-defense. You’restillteaching me self-defense, for that matter. I’m okay with you being in danger, as long as it’s not every day. Plus, it’s not my place, I don’t have a right to tell you what your job is. You do the work of your heart. At least I think so. I’m not saying this right.”

“I do like what I do. I like making sure people are safe. Whether it’s setting up a security system or being the one that’s out in the field. My cousins do a little more of the technical work, the cyber security things, but that’s not me. I just don’t want you to worry that I’m out there.”

“I do realize that you’re in a position where you’ve literally been blown up before, just like your cousin, but I’m going to worry. You can’t make me hold back from that. Just like your family worries.”

“I was only blown up once.” I paused. “Okay twice, but I wasn’t technically in the room for the second one.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“What?” I said again, and she ran her hand over her face.

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