“Get gross, and I’ll hug you again,” Giselle says to Cash.
Sloane keeps looking from me to my friends to Levi’s bodyguard.
“You’re awake,” I tell her, sensing the question that’s most likely about to come out of her mouth. “They’re always like this.”
She starts to nod, then sucks in a breath. “Oh my god, what time is it? I have to go to work.”
She turns back toward the bedroom, then freezes.
You can just feel what’s coming next.
I don’t have clean clothes.
They’re all in my house, which is a crime scene.
My fingers curl into fists, not because my temper’s been lit once more, but because that’s what it takes to keep from touching her again.
To keep from hugging her.
To keep from shielding her from the bad in the world.
She’s strong. She’s got this. She doesn’t need me.
And that fucking sucks.
Even though it shouldn’t.
“Tillie Jean sent a care package with clothes that should fit you, and a fresh pair of scrubs on top of it,” Giselle says. “She also said she’ll never speak to you again if you don’t come use her very large bathroom instead of a shithole the size of a grape to get ready today, but in case you want to use a shithole the size of a grape, I do have what you need. Tillie Jean can’t tell you what to do.”
Sloane turns very, very slowly, straightening and pulling her shoulders back as she does.
Summoning her strength, if I had to guess.
Pisses me off that she needs it today.
Wherever Patrick Dixon is hiding, I will make sure he has the day he deserves.
When I’m not battling the boner from hell over how fucking attractive it is to watch Sloane put on herI’ve got thisface.
“Tillie Jean is the best,” Sloane says to Giselle. “Are you driving me today? Let me get Peggy and figure out who’s watching her today. And thank you. I don’t usually—thank you.”
“The cat can stay,” I say.
Cash smiles out loud.
Aspen does too.
Sloane squints at me. “Are you sure?”
“You calling your family back today and telling them to fuck off so you don’t have to fake-marry me on Saturday?”
She grimaces. “That’s a little too much for this morning.”
Good. “Won’t be able to keep pulling this off when the god-complex fucker drops by again if your pet doesn’t know me.”
Those blue eyes hold my gaze, and they’re saying far more than I want them to.
You are my lifeline right now.
