Landyn
I’m lulledinto a blissful state of veg.
This is what happens when trash TV and Boz team up on me.
Shockingly, after last night, I had the best night’s sleep since I got here. I picked at my breakfast, Boz made me take more pain meds, and forced me to use an ice pack on my face.
But then we came straight back to bed.
Lunch has come and gone. Dirty dishes litter the bedside tables, and I have subjected my husband to the most mind-numbing shows on cable TV.
And he’s sat through it all.
Aside from working on one of his phones now and then, he’s been content and hasn’t complained once. I had no idea what today would bring.
The answer to that is positively nothing and absolutely everything.
Boz sits shoulders to the headboard, leaning against a mountain of pillows. His abs are the only cushion I need as he drags his fingers through my hair with one hand and the other plastered so low on my hip, it teases my ass from time to time.
We’ve gone from watching the drama of teens being moms, to house flipping, and now employees on a yacht hooking up. It’s mindless and shallow and a beautiful thing to focus on something so gratuitous after what happened last night.
“Baby, this is the most stupid shit I’ve ever watched.”
This is the first time he’s complained since he turned on the TV and handed me the remote.
I roll to find him gazing down at me, rumpled and delicious, with a different look on his face that I’ve never seen. “I haven’t watched this stuff in forever, but it reminds me of a time when I had nothing to worry about.”
He brushes the hair from my face. “I haven’t complained because I know you need the distraction. But watching the hired help on a boat hooking up might be my limit, chica.”
I lick the cut at my lip so I can smile. “What do you like to watch?”
“I can’t remember the last time I watched anything on my own. My job is…” He shakes his head and sighs. “A lot.”
“Then why did you have a TV moved in here?”
“To distract me from you.”
I lace my fingers with his. “But that was before.”
He hikes a brow. “Before?”
I hike mine right back and widen my eyes. “Before yesterday.”
“Do you mean before the orgasmic event or before Nic?”
“Either,” I say before correcting myself. “Both.”
“I can’t lie, baby, I had myself talked into ignoring you again after one and before the other.”
I let go of his hand and twist to my hip. My tone goes hard and demanding. “Why?”
His tone, on the other hand, is equally steady and unapologetic. “It was my way of protecting you.”
“What about yesterday when we were together before you left? You were going to come back after that and ignore me all over again? I don’t understand you.” I put some space between us and tell him the truth. “I don’t know what I expected when Damian’s people took us other than dread. Maybe it was my brain’s way of protecting me. I just knew my life wouldn’t be the same, but I didn’t expect this.” I motion between him and me. “I never expected a connection or trust or … whatever this is.”
He pushes to his ass and reaches for my hips. He drags me over his lap in no time and holds me close. “You are the last thing I expected, baby. The timing could not be worse. I wish I could make you understand. I just have to hope that someday, when you look back on this moment, you will.”
I give my head a tiny shake. “I never dreamed that your way of protecting me would be so maddening.”