Page 133 of Entangled

Beau’s hand comes up to rub against his jaw as he blinks hard, and I realize he’s getting emotional. Kneeling up, I touch his hand against his face.

“I’m okay, Beau.” I kiss his cheek. “I really am.”

“I thought—” His voice is choked. “I thought there was no way. I thought for sure...”

“I was very, very lucky,” I murmur. “Mostly thanks to some men in the camp who were against the idea. Also thanks to Madison.”

Beau stiffens a little. “Heather?”

“She drew their attention a lot. I thought at the time that she was just being reckless, angry. But I can’t help but wonder if she was trying to keep the attention on her.”

The thought has niggled at me for days. I know she couldn’t control her anger around them, but there were times it felt too pointed. Too well timed.

“She is brave—I’ll give her that much,” he says grudgingly.

It shouldn’t sting, but it does. One more example of Heather’s strength, where I skulked in the shadows and ran when it counted.

“Do you—?” I bite my lip. “I know with Dom it was complicated, but are you and Heather...? Do you still have feelings for her?”

Startled, Beau snorts. “No. I’d sooner put my dick in a bear trap before I let it anywhere near her again.” His mouth forms an unhappy line. “And Dom is stupider and more careless than I ever thought to go back to her.”

My throat sticks. “He loves her.”

“He was meant to loveus,” Beau snaps, then he stops, wincing. “I’m sorry, Eden. I don’t want to talk about those two right now.”

He runs his eyes over me, and a slow release of tension rolls through his shoulders.

“Not when I have the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen naked and in my bed.” Beau brushes a kiss against my lips, then pulls back. “Do you want to sleep, Eden?”

He’s serious, but I see the dark mischief behind his eyes—the maleneed. My body responds quickly, almost violently, to that look.

“No, Beau. I don’t want to sleep.”

After a beat, as if to make sure I’m serious, that slow, devastating smile sprawls across his face. “What’s your safeword, Eden?” he asks.

I swallow. “Bristlebrook.”

It’s more true now than it ever has been. My haven. My sanctuary. The safest place I know.

Maybe it shouldn’t be, considering what happened here—except that they didn’t win.

There’s warm approval in his budding smile. “We can work on traffic lights here too, okay? If I ask, and you’re feeling good, you say green. You need me to slow down, say yellow. Red works in place of your safeword too. These are used all the time in the kink community, Eden, so you can say them with any of the guys and they’ll know what it means too.”

Traffic lights. I smile at him too. I like the idea of being able to slow things down without stopping.

Ireallylike that he thinks I still have a chance with any of the others.

Beau pulls a chair over to the side of the low bed and sits in front of me, then reaches for his medical bag.

“Darlin’, as your doctor, I feel it is my duty to give you averythorough check-up.”

Chapter32

Eden

Survival tip #60

Doctor’s orders must be obeyed.

---