He lets out a strangled, choking noise. “It’s not my right to check if you’re wearing panties at work, Jordan.”
He’s too easy to rile up. But at least now I’m not stressing about us sleeping in the same bed.
“And I would never do that,” he adds, taking the spot beside me in the bed. “It’s completely inappropriate.”
“What’s more inappropriate, though,” I ask, “checking my panties or not wearing them at all?”
“Jordan.”
“I could ask someone else to check. Luca probably would.”
His tortured noise of frustration makes me smile ear to ear. He starts laughing. “God, you’re trouble. You know that?”
“Sorry.” I’m still smiling as my eyes close and I settle against the pillows. “Holy hell, your bed is comfortable.”
“Great. I’m glad.” He doesn’t sound it. “Can you go to sleep now?”
The fizzy, fun feelings dissolve, and I sober. He sounds tired, like I’ve reached the end of his patience. I woke him up in the middle of the night and now I’m in his bed. In his space. Of course he’s annoyed.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Jordan.”
It’s so quiet in here, with only the sounds of us breathing and my heartbeat in my ears. Outside, an owl hoots.
“That cat is bullying me,” I add.
I hear the quiet huff of his laugh in the dark. “She’s testing you.”
I turn to look at him, his profile visible in the moonlight.
He takes a deep breath, letting it out slow like he’s thinking. “We don’t know her history. We don’t know what happened to her before you took her in. Terrible things, probably. She had to fight for her life.”
My heart twists. Phoebe is a mean little bitch, but maybe she’s that way for a reason.
“Be patient with her and maybe she’ll surprise you.”
It’s the same thing he said a couple weeks ago, when I bought her the toy.
And with that, I close my eyes and fall asleep.
CHAPTER 46
TATE
The next morning,I wake from a deep sleep, wrapped around a warm, soft body. The sweetest scent of hair products and something light and floral is in my nose. It’s early, and still dark outside, but I’m distracted by the way Jordan’s ass nestles against my hips, making me hard.
My heart stops. Jordan. In my bed.
The noise in the middle of the night, the mouse, her trying to sleep on the floor of my office. Her teasing me about the panties.
I slept, though. I slept like the dead, the deep, restorative kind of sleep I’ve been chasing for what feels like my whole life.
She lets out a low, sleepy moan, like she’s comfortable in my bed, tucked against my chest, and something inside me snags on that.
In a split second, I’m painfully hard. I roll away, pulling my arm out from beneath her. This is so far from appropriate.
She rolls to face me, opens her eyes, meets my gaze, and something spears right through the center of my chest.
