“I don’t know where you get thisusfrom. I’m her beloved; it’s your ass she’s trying to take out.”
“Fuck off,” Stormy muttered, watching shadows shift in the bedroom. “But for real, Lucas…”
He laughed.
“We’re good, darlin’, see that device on the table?” She’d seen the matte black cylinder in the jumble of electronics he’d pulled from his backpack earlier. “That there is a Big Luc customization. It scans, monitors, and records heat signatures as well as atmospheric changes in a specified area. If someone would’ve entered the cottage without this on them—” he held up his cell phone. “—a few things would have happened. One, my phone would’ve alerted me. I could have hit this button and the cylinder would’ve released a gas that knocked our uninvited guest unconscious. With this button I could have sent an alert to the nearest police station. I don’t usually include the police in my business, though,” he said, winking at her.
“You think you’re pretty smart, huh?”
“Darlin’, I’m a damn genius, and that’s the truth.”
“All right, Mr. Modest, if you’re so smart, why didn’t you know Delilah was tracking you?”
“Real talk? Arrogance…and distraction. If I hadn’t been distracted I’d have checked my truck’s data systems and known it was there, but honestly, I’m of a mind that if a motherfucker wants to find me, all they got to do is come get me. And if their asses end up dead or in traction, well that ain’t my problem, is it?”
“Well, it kind of is—”
“Not. My. Problem.”
“Whatever, man, I don’t know if I completely buy into your southern menace persona.”
“Have youseenme, darlin’? I destroy shit without even trying, and that’s notincluding when I’m in a berserker rage.”
She patted his thigh indulgently and walked toward the bedroom. If he wanted to describe his dissociative episodes in mythological terms, it wasn’t her place to tell him different, until he asked.
“Oh, and just so you know…” She paused in the act of closing the bedroom doors. “I know you’re incredibly intelligent, but the next time you plant a camera in my office to spy on me, I suggest you don’t allow Lynx to come snooping around afterward. He’s very curious and way too obvious when he sees something of interest.”
Lucas groaned and ran his hands over his head. “Lynx is my brother and I’d surrender my life for him, I would, but he’s got to learn how to keep his shit together around beautiful women or he’s gonna find himself caught up in something he can’t get out of.”
“Says the man who’s so adept at handling women he doesn’t have one chasing him down, huh,beloved.”
“All right now, don’t make me come over there and put that smart mouth of yours to better use.”
“Yeah, yeah, call Merlee and afterward I’ll show you just how useful my mouth can be.”
“Aw hell,” he said, nearly dropping his phone in his rush to make the call. “You’re gonna mess around with Bubba and lose a tonsil tonight.”
Stormy laughed and closed the door to give him some privacy.
After Stormy took her shower, she was sat on the bed lotioning her feet and ankles when Lucas walked out of the bathroom naked, toweling his head dry. Snapping the lid of the lotion closed, she reached over and placed it on the nightstand intentionally giving Lucas a glimpse of her ass in the sheer peach bikini panties.
“Brick shit house,” Lucas marveled.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw Bubba pointing at her as if to sayright there, I want to go right there.
“Lucas, you okay?”
“Hell, no, I ain’t. Matter of fact, I’m in a whole heap of pain, and it’s your job to ease it.”
“Is that right?”
“I’m thinking it ain’t wrong.”
“Well, if you’re laying this responsibility at my feet, you’ll have to follow my course of treatment without question. Are you willing to do that?”
He grinned. “I don’t know, am I going to need a safe word or something?”
She shook her head. “Nope, I’ll keep you safe. All you have to do is give me complete control. You tell me to stop and I’ll stop but…your pain won’t go away. And stopping mid-treatment will be torture, so be sure before you accept my help.”
