Page 65 of Love Without Control

She leaned forward, pressing a series of kisses across the area, and I had to remind myself to breathe. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, tilting her head up until I got lost in her beautiful face.

“It doesn’t hurt,” I assured her, though perhaps I should have lied and told her the pain was unbearable. Then maybe she would have kissed my chest some more.

Dude, you’re such a fucking prick.

After finishing Eden’s hair with conditioner, I handed her the bottle of body wash. “I think I’ll let you take over the, um, the rest.”

I’d never thought of myself as a saint by any stretch of the imagination, but not looking down at my beautiful wife’s bare body probably qualified me to at least make it through the first round of the application process.

“What are you smiling about?” she asked suspiciously.

I chuckled and stared at a spot high on the shower wall where the caulk was peeling away. “I was just thinkingSaint Danehas a pretty nice ring to it.”

She giggled when she got my drift, and I wished I could bottle that sound and carry it around with me so I could take it out and listen to it when I was feeling the darkness. As I stepped out onto the bathmat, the scent of honey and vanilla filled the air, and I was glad I’d gotten out before she started rubbing down her body. I was obsessed with the smell of her body wash.

After drying off, I retreated to my bedroom, stripped off my wet underwear, and donned a pair of lightweight black sleep pants. When I returned to Eden’s room, I heard the hairdryer running and decided to change her sheets, which were damp with her sweat.

She walked out just as I was tucking the top sheet in at the bottom of her bed. Her feet stalled, and she dipped her chin, looking at me from beneath her lashes. “Thank you, Dane. For… everything.”

I pulled back the covers and nodded for her to slide in. “Hop in and try to get some sleep.”

“I need to shut this,” she said, heading toward the glass door leading to the veranda, but I stopped her with a hand on her elbow.

“Leave it. You’ll sleep better with it open.”

Her eyebrows inched together. “But you said I need to keep it locked with the security bar every night.”

“Not if I’m in here,” I informed her, pulling the white wicker chair from the corner and placing it beside the bed. “I promise you’ll be safe.” I gestured once again for her to get in bed as I turned on the lamp on her nightstand.

She finally did, but now her eyebrows were cinched so tightly together they resembled a unibrow. “But you need to sleep.”

“I’ll take a nap tomorrow.”

“So you’re just going to watch me sleep?”

“Yep, just like Dracula would do,” I told her wryly, turning off the overhead light.

Settling my butt onto the purple cushion of the wicker chair, I watched as Eden turned onto her side facing me and snuggled down into her pillow, an amused smile playing over her lips.

“Night, Dracula.”

I chuckled. “Goodnight, Wildcat.”

When she closed her eyes and stretched one hand out toward me, I took it.

And didn’t let go until morning.

A woman wearing a red vest approached me as I wandered into the plumbing section of the hardware store. “Can I help you find anything, sir?”

“Yes, I need some caulk,” I told her, and I was sure I’d never tried so hard to enunciate the L-sound.

“Of course. Right this way.” After I found what I needed, she asked, “Anything else?”

“Where’s your lighting section?”

Forty minutes later, I exited the store into the Florida sunshine with several heavy bags. I hadn’t gotten any sleep last night after Eden’s nightmare, and I was looking forward to getting home and crashing for a few hours.

After putting the bags in the SUV, my gaze snagged on a neon sign in a storefront beside the hardware store. Forgetting about my lack of sleep, I walked across the parking lot toward it, stopping beside the plate glass window and staring inside for several moments.

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