Page 34 of Bitter Arrangement

“Doubt that.”

“Tell you what. You can have the left side of the bed if you promise to wear my shirt to sleep in every night.”

I take a sharp breath. Does he know I’ve already been doing that most nights? My cheeks turn red, and I try to come up with a sharp retort, but I only manage to stammer something about him being an asshole, which only makes me feel even more embarrassed because if he didn’t know before, now he definitely does.

“I’m going to put that murder drone between us,” I grumble, getting the heck out of that room. “I’m programming it to shoot if you touch me.”

“That’d be a waste of a good drone,” he says, laughing as I hurry away.

Chapter13

Riley

Idon’t want to leave the bathroom.

It’s safe in here. I can pretend like Alexan isn’t lying in bed right now, shirtless, looking like a tattooed sex god. I tried to tell him to put more clothes on, but he only grumbled about sleeping warm, which is somehow also hot as hell and left me all flustered.

So now I’m hiding.

“Get it together,” I whisper at my reflection. I’m in normal pajamas, cotton shorts and a basic white tee, though he did leave one of his dress shirts out to tease me earlier. I was tempted to smell it, which I know is totally deranged, but still.

I spent most of the day getting unpacked. That was kind of fun, actually. Brenden helped out a little bit, but when he left, Alexan lurked around, grumbling and glaring at every little thing. I put out a few decorative plants, some of my nice pillows on the couch, and my favorite impressionist landscape painting of an old Maryland fishing boat. Each new item made my husband grimace and wince like I was stabbing him with rusty forks.

All things considered, a very successful first day in my new home.

At least until night came. He disappeared into his office to work and slammed the door, which left me to wander aroundourroom. I hung clothes in the closet, put stuff in the drawers he cleared out for me, and kept flinching whenever I thought I heard the murder drone floating around. And all the while, I kept thinking about the bed, the shirt, and his voice urging me to get myself off.

“Don’t be a coward,” I say and force myself away from the mirror. I adjust my messy red bun and nod to myself. “He’s just some guy.”

I open the door and step out into the bedroom.

But he’s notjust some guy.

Alexan looks over. He’s got glasses perched on his nose and a book in his hands, some history thing about the Roman Empire. I stare at him, heart hammering in my chest, as I look at all his tattoos: vicious wolves, bloody roses, dozens of gang symbols, and more than a few tears down his biceps.

“I didn’t know you could read,” I blurt out, which isn’t what I meant to say at all. “I mean, crap, I mean I didn’t know you needed glasses to read.”

His smirk suggests he knows how uncomfortable I am right now. “They’re just cheaters. I’m getting old.”

“You look good in them.” I don’t know why I say it, but it’s true. The contrast between his hard, scary, muscular tattooed body and the intelligence dancing behind his eyes is intoxicating. I know this man is deadly, but he’s obviously smart, too.

“You look good too.” He closes the book. “You’d look better in my shirt, though.”

“Get over it,” I mutter and throw myself into bed. I pull the sheets over my head. “Lights out whenever you want.”

“Lights out,” he says, and the lights turn off.

“Now you’re just showing off.”

“A little bit.” I can hear the smile in his voice. He adjusts himself, rocking the whole bed. My body rings, and my heart judders as he gets into position. I swear, I can feel heat rolling from him, even though we’re on opposite sides with plenty of room between us.

“Right. Goodnight.” I close my eyes and try to think sleepy thoughts.Trees in a breeze. A babbling brook. Alexan bathing naked in a lake.Shit, that’s not helping.

“I thought we should talk a little bit,” he says, shifting closer to me.

“Easy there.” I roll onto my back and frown. My vision hasn’t adjusted yet, and he’s just a blur in the dark. “Don’t cross into my territory.”

“All this is mine, if you’ll recall. And maybe you forgot, but you and I have business.”

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