“Not this specifically,” he said, waving his arm over the two of them to indicate their bodies. “But the design project. They’re going to have to know eventually.”
“Oh, do they?” She tapped her chin. “I was figuring I could engage in some kind of elaborate money-laundering situation and hide it from them forever.”
“Well, that will impact on my ability to do a magazine spread with my new house. My new life as a nonconvict. As a free man.”
“Right. I forgot.”
“The best revenge is living well. Mostly because any other kind of revenge is probably going to land me back in prison.”
“Isn’t that like...double jeopardy at this point?”
“Are you encouraging me to commit murder?”
“Not encouraging you. I just... On a technicality...”
“I’m not going to do anything that results in a body count,” he said drily. “Don’t worry. But I would really like my ex to see everything I’m buying with the money that she can’t have. If she can’t end up in prison, then she’s going to end up sad and alone, and with nothing. That might sound harsh to you...”
“It doesn’t,” Faith said, her voice small. “I can’t imagine caring about someone like that and being betrayed. I can’t imagine being in prison for five days, much less five years. She deserves...” She looked down, at his beautiful body, at the scar that marred his skin. “She deserves to think about it. What she could have had. What she gave away. Endlessly. She deserves that. I am so...sorry.”
“I don’t need your pity,” he said.
“Just my body?” She wiggled closer to him, experimenting with the idea that she, too, could maybe be a vixen.
“I do like your body,” he said slowly. “When are you going to tell your brothers about the job?”
“You know what? I’ll do it tonight.”
“Sounds pretty good. Do it when you have your parents to act as a buffer.”
She grinned. “Basically.”
She didn’t want to leave him. Didn’t want to leave this. She hesitated, holding the words in until her heart was pounding in her ears. Until she felt light-headed.
“Levi... We have a limited amount of time together. It will only be until the design project is finished. And I don’t want to go all clingy on you, but I would like to... Can I come back tonight?”
He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, his bare back facing her. Without thinking, she reached out, tracing the border of the bird’s wing that stretched around to his spine.
“Sure,” he said. “If you really want to.”
“For sex,” she said. “But it might be late when we’re finished. So maybe I’ll sleep here?”
“If you want to sleep here, Faith, that’s fine. Just don’t get any ideas about it.”
“I won’t. I’ll bring an overnight bag and I won’t unpack it. My toothbrush will stay in my bag. It won’t touch your sink.”
“Why the hell would I care about that?”
He looked almost comically confused. On that hard, sculpted face, confusion was a strange sight.
“I don’t know. There were some girls in college who used to talk about how guys got weird about toothbrushes. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I mean... Not that you’re my boyfriend. But... I’m sorry. I’m speaking figuratively.”
“Calm down,” he said, gripping her chin and staring her right in the eyes. He dropped a kiss on her mouth, and instantly, she settled. “You don’t need to work this hard with me. What we have is simple. We both know the rules, right?”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“Then I don’t want you to overthink it. Because I definitely don’t want you overthinking things when we’re in bed together.”
She felt a weight roll off her shoulders, and her entire body sagged. “Sometimes I think I don’t know how to...not overthink.”
