His soft, flat tone immediately alarms me. I sit up and snap on one of the bedside lamps.
Dark circles shadow his red eyes, his nose is puffy from crying, and his usually perfect hair is a disheveled mess.
Now I feel even shittier for wallowing in my misery. I pat the mattress next to me and without hesitation he toes off his shoes and joins me, not even stripping first, clinging to me as I tightly envelop him in my arms and hold him.
He doesn’t need a Sir or a pet right now—he just needs me.
I keep my tone gentle. “Do I need to spank Leo? I told him to keep you until tomorrow.”
“I know,” he mumbles against my chest. “I didn’t want you to be alone tonight.”
I nuzzle his hair. “How’d you get out of there? I can’t believe he’d just let you walk out.” Especially seeing the way he looks.
“He was asleep.”
“Ah. He’s going to beat your ass for that,” I tease.
“I know.” But there’s no playful or snarky notes in his voice.
There’s nothing there but quiet grief and exhaustion. My guy’s hurting.
I sigh. “Things sure went sideways today, didn’t they?”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, Jor.” I rub the back of his neck. “Maybe that was a sign?”
“A sign that you need to quit dicking around and do it? Yes. A sign that you’re ‘cursed’ and shouldn’t do it? No.”
I chuckle. “Stop reading my mind.”
“Then stop being as opaque as a glass of spring water.”
That pulls a snort from me. “Love you, Jor.”
He sighs, snuggling even tighter against me. “Love you, too, El.”
“I might have screamed at my agents in the Beast when they hauled me out of there and didn’t grab you and Leo.”
“Sir Stalksalot defaulted to special agent mode before I even realized they were gunshots. Leo tackled and then sort of dragged and carried me to a car and threw me in before he jumped in and landed on top of me. I didn’t have any say in the matter.” Finally a little bit of humor tinges his tone.
“Ooh, being abducted by a hunky Secret Service agent. That soundshawt. Did you get the full body cavity search boyfriend experience, or was that extra?”
He tips his head to look up at me and the faintest hint of a smile curves his lips. “I was worried about you and he said they loaded you and got you clear. Once I knew you were okay, that’s when I…” He swallows, his expression going blank. “I kind of checked out for a little while. Sorry.”
“Hey.” I kiss him. “Nothing to be sorry about. I know it had to be scary.”
“They said a woman was shot. Is she going to be okay?”
“Yeah. She had surgery. I spoke to her and her children after she was out of recovery. Through and through. She should be okay. Will probably be discharged from the hospital Monday.”
“Okay. Good.” He nuzzles his head under my chin again, sighing. “Sorry I’m not in a Sir kind of mood.”
“Hey, no.” I squeeze him. “This is just us tonight. And—”
The phone on the nightstand rings, which concerns me. They don’t usually call late like this unless there’s an emergency. I keep one arm around Jordan and instead of letting him answer it for me I reach over and grab it, forcing myself into POTUS mode.
“President Woodley.”
