Page 43 of With A Little Luck
“Fine, I guess, why?”
He keeps right on laughing. “It appears I left a couple marks. Personally, I like the idea of everyone knowing you’re taken, but I figured you might want to cover them up before your next shift.”
“Hartley!” I snort, spinning in his hold. My hands come to rest on his T-shirt over his muscular stomach. “Did you do that on purpose?”
“Maybe subconsciously.” He grins, dipping his mouth to mine. His beard pokes into my skin, but I don’t mind. I’ll wear beard burn with pride to feel him kiss me the way he does.
I lean into him, stretching onto my tiptoes to deepen the kiss as his hand digs into my ass. And I’m as heartbroken as I always am when he pulls back.
A wicked smirk takes the place of his playful grin. “See, the goal is sinking my teeth in. That way, there won’t be any doubts about who you belong to.”
Man, he knows how to make me feel special. I just hope he really does understand how different life will be when the baby gets here.
The day passes lazily, and I soak up every bit of affection Hart so freely gives. It’s icy and cold outside, which makes for a perfect excuse to skip grocery shopping and order in for an early dinner instead.
I lean with my back against Hart’s chest as we watch the new season of a TV show about an FBI profiling team.
I keep waiting for him to mention heading home, but it clicks all over again that he wants to stay here. It will be nice having an extra set of hands to put together the furniture and baby stuff that I’ve got stacked in the room that will be hers. And more than that, it’s unreal to actually experience human connection again.
“Do you have a lot of stuff to move?” I ask, looking at Hart over my shoulder. “I can help a little, but I’m probably more of a hindrance these days.”
“I only brought clothes and shoes with me. I’ve got a whole house full of shit in Charleston, but that’ll hold for now.” He keeps one hand on my stomach, tenderly caressing, while the other moves to rest on my thigh.
It’s hard not to let myself be distracted by the way his veins pop out on his hands as he moves. It’s such a weird thing to be attracted to, but veiny arms and hands have always been my personal weakness. Not to mention, being wrapped up in his snowy, woodsy scent is giving me a feeling of calm euphoria that I could get addicted to if I’m not careful.
“I’m off again tomorrow if you want to handle it then,” I say around a yawn.
He chuckles. “It won’t take me more than an hour to get it all moved. I’ll miss my mattress, though. It’s the one thing I replaced in Harrison’s guest room. The one that was in there when I got here was like sleeping on bricks.”
I laugh.
My bed honestly isn’t much better than that, but I haven’t had the money to replace it. Hopefully he’s adaptable because staying here will be like roughing it.
Chapter Fourteen
Ridge
Knox and I work well together. He’s decent company when I want conversation, and he knows how to read the room and keep his mouth shut when I’m not feeling chatty.
Trigg is another story completely.
That fucker creeps me out almost on the same level Easton does, which is an accomplishment.
Hell, at least East knows how to fake being human.
I’m pretty sure Trigg must have stuck out like a sore thumb in school. I bet he peered up at his teacher and blinked those cold, dead eyes, and asked something likehave you ever touched a dead body?The next thing the school board knew, they had a rash of retiring educators.
It takes all damn day for him to pack up his hotel room. He’s got almost as many computers and screens as Calder has in his tech cave at the office. And he’s so fucking picky about how to pack them that it takes the three of us and multiple trips to get everything settled at my house.
Our final trip is mostly his suitcases and arsenal of weapons. If nothing else, I can appreciate a man who travels with enough firepower to bring down a small country.
Trigg somehow takes over the passenger seat before I can climb into Knox’s SUV. We’ve taken multiple vehicles during previous trips, but since there was so little left to grab, we decided on riding together for this last round.
My head tilts, and I glare at Trigg through the passenger window. I’m going to let King piss in his shoes for that little stunt. Maybe I’ll let him into Trigg’s room and help him up on the bed so he can piss on that expensive comforter Trigg brought with him.
I stomp to the back door and squeeze myself into the back seat. My legs are spread in a V, and I’m sitting as far back as I can get, but my knees still dig into the leather of the seats in front of me. This is how it goes anytime I’m forced to try to fit in the back seat of any vehicle. Hell, maybe I should climb around and sit in the very back row. Then I could stow the middle row of seats, and maybe my knees wouldn’t be about to leave a permanent indentation in the back of Knox’s seats.
I already gave Trigg the talk about checking all his shit for bed bugs. He better throw that expensive-ass blanket into the washer on the sanitize cycle as soon as we get in, or I will toss it in the dumpster.
