Hard to tell with lots of people,I nearly said. Not because I doubted Roux, but because of all the times I’d been fooled or had fooled myself.
I wove my fingers through his. Was I fooling myself now?
Roux ran a hand over my hip, and I rolled in his arms.
“Enough about Henrik. Definitely kills the mood,” I said.
A bit of a fib, because even that subject couldn’t delay my second wind. I ran my hands over Roux’s chest, then lower…lower…
Roux sucked in a breath as I touched him. “No risk of that, I think.”
In no time, we were tangled together again. I lay back with my arms over my head, panting and bucking in time with Roux’s moves.Total surrenderwasn’t usually my style, but hell. The guy was a tiger shifter, and it showed. Besides, I was too deep in ecstasyland to think about things like image or pride.
Some time later, we sank back into the sheets. Well, I sank into the sheets. Roux sank into me. I locked my arms around his back and kept him there.
Out in the hallway, a cuckoo clock sounded — ten p.m. Not all that late, but we were both wiped out. Roux snoozed off first, and I ran a finger gently over his shoulder, tracing where his tiger stripes would be.
I sucked in a long, contemplative breath. A short time ago, I would have laughed at the idea of myself with Roux. Now, I was painting images of forever in my head.
Be very, very careful,I ordered myself.Don’t get hurt again, and don’t hurt him.
The latter seemed laughable, but I had a feeling tough tigers weren’t half as tough inside.
I swallowed hard, knowing full well I had a long history of judging men through rose-tinted glasses. I’d done that with Brandon, Nate, and all my other exes. I’d done the same with Gordon in a way too.
The moral of the story? I needed to look at people for who they were, not for what I wanted them to be.
I traced Roux’s eyebrow, then his jaw, replaying every interaction of the past hour, day, and week. But no matter how I hard I looked, I saw the same, good man. No cracks in the facade. No facade at all — just genuine Roux.
I rested my hand over his heart and closed my eyes, hoping I had finally gotten it right.
Chapter Twenty-Two
ROUX
I woke early, nuzzling Gen. But for all the sunshine and butterflies in my soul, an ominous gloom crept into the corners of my mind.
Hell of a way to focus on a mission,I’d complained to Marius when he and Mina had kicked off our heist in Mallorca with a night of sex.
Now, I was the guilty one.
“Mm.” Gen opened her eyes with a sleepy smile.
God, she was beautiful. And damn, did this feel so right.
She ran a hand along my ribs and her leg up mine.
“If you’re thinking about work, stop,” she ordered. “We have another hour before getting ready for breakfast, and I intend to use it well.”
I turned for a look at the bedside clock, but she caught my chin and steered it back.
“I have a riddle for you. What starts with a P and ends with -ion?” she asked.
I waited.
“Procrastination. The most effective productivity tool known to man,” she declared.
I chuckled. “Not sure that’s the way it works.”
