Page 95 of Half Baked

“If you’ve already forgotten about feeding me dinner, wine, and dessert, and then seducing me, then maybe you and Aunt Deidre can share a room at St. Vincent’s.”

He laughed and rolled onto his side to face me. “I tried to make light of it when you called, but I don’t like the implications of that guy showing up.”

“If getting me a police escort home is making light of it, then I’d hate to see outright concern.”

He stroked my cheek with the backs of his fingers while staring at me intently. “I mean it, Maddie. I’m worried.”

“Good thing I have a handsome bodyguard,” I teased. “One who can spend all weekend with me, locked up in my house.”

“You’re supposed to work on Sunday.”

“I’ll be fine. He probably wasn’t there for me. I mean, I don’t usually work nights. There’s a good chance he just walked in for coffee.”

“I wish Petra would take my advice and put damn cameras in the place,” he half-growled. “Then I could at least see what he looked like.”

I kissed him and grinned. “I’m okay.”

“But you very easily couldnothave been.”

I placed my palm on his cheek, our faces inches apart. He’d lost people he loved to violence, but then again, so had I. Maybe that was one of the reasons we understood each other’s flaws and fears. Because we shared the same darkness too.

I gave him a mock serious look. “There are no guarantees in life, Noah, but I vow to live as long as I possibly can so I can see if you’re capable of topping what you did in here tonight.”

He grinned, and warmth flooded my body. He brought happiness into my life, and I loved that I did the same for him. It felt like a gift that he’d let me in when he was so stingy about allowing people to see the real him.

“I’m going to warn you right now, Maddie. I’m going to be a worrier. I’ve seen too much, lost too much to be anything else.”

“That’s okay,” I assured him. “I’ll do my best to make sure I do everything I can to relieve your worries as long as you do the same for me.”

His face froze. “Do you want me to quit the force?”

I jutted my head back in surprise. “What? Why would you ask me that?”

“Because it’s dangerous.”

“So is driving a car, but I’m not going to ask you to stop doing that.”

“Don’t be flippant, Maddie,” he said, but his tone wasn’t harsh. “It’s a very real danger.”

I turned serious. “I know, but I also know that being a detective is part of who you are. You love it, and you’re damn good at it. I would never ask you to quit. Besides,” I placed a kiss on his bare shoulder. “I’ve been in more danger than you have the last few months.”

“Don’t remind me,” he growled, then rolled me onto my back, and leaned over me, his eyes bright with emotion. “Have I told you I love you?”

“You may have mentioned it,” I teased. “But I definitely don’t mind hearing it again.”

His hand slipped between my legs, and I gasped as need washed through me again.

“I love you,” he murmured, kissing my neck and moving down.

“And I love that you’re a firm believer in showing in addition to telling.”

“Always.”

ChapterTwenty-Five

Noah

My ringing phone woke me, and I needed to take a moment to orient myself. I was in Maddie’s bed, with her naked body spooned against me.

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