She gave him a whiplash smile. “Good. Wolf, what do you and Caroline need from me?”
Wolf’s eyebrows rose. “Need?”
Gina stopped pacing. “Yes. Your vacation has been anything but. My friends will compensate you financially of course, but I thought if there was anything specific you needed on top of that which I could provide, then I would.”
“Well.” He rubbed his chin. “We did miss some relaxation time. And Caroline was curious about Denver, and Arden said The Brown Palace was not to be missed—”
“Three nights with a full day at their spa and high tea. Will the suite that The Beatles stayed in work for you?”
“Jealous, brother,” Jake murmured.
Wolf grinned. “Sold.”
Gina smiled for real. “You’ll both love it.” She stopped moving and looked at every man one by one. “Thank you, gentlemen.” Her gaze stopped at Alex. “Now, let’s get the hell out of here and go see how Sylvie’s doing, shall we?”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR
A cool, morning breeze blew in through the window in Alex’s bedroom, heavy with the smell of clean mountain air. Sylvie stirred in Alex’s arms and he pulled her closer to his chest, big spoon to her little spoon. She felt his chest rise and fall, his breaths heavy and even. Peaceful. And she was grateful. Since she’d come home—yes,home—to his house, he’d tried to treat her like she was made of spun crystal. He wouldn’t let her lift a finger to cook or clean or even bathe herself—not that she was complaining about the baths that somehow always ended in toe-curling orgasms.
She was still on leave from the department which gave her time to think about her next move. Robert had apologized to her and offered to reinstate Sylvie and Chewie to the K9 Unit training. Actually, he just assumed that she wanted that, but instead of jumping at the offer, she left him hanging while she mulled over an offer from Watchdog to become a bodyguard. As crazy as it seemed, she’d made enemies on the force by ‘turning on one of their own’ when it came out that she’d been following Tom, which really made her wonder. So it was tempting to move on.
But then again, she didn’t want to leave Carla. Though her partner might be tempted away to join Watchdog as well.
I don’t have to decide today. There’s still time.
Sylvie turned over and snuggled into Alex. Her shoulder was healing nicely, though it still barked at her first thing in the morning. Speaking of barking, she needed to get up and make sure the dogs were fed and let out. Alex had insisted on doing that chore every morning, but he was sleeping so deeply for once that she didn’t want to wake him up. So, she took a nice, deep breath and inhaled his good scent before she slipped out of bed. She scooped the dogs’ food into their bowls and chuckled as they inhaled their food, then she let them out into the backyard.
She didn’t hear him, but she could feel Alex come into the kitchen behind her. She turned and got a good long look at him—his mussed hair, his bare torso from broad shoulders to the inviting V-shape that disappeared into the sweats he’d thrown on. Gorgeous and all hers. And the best part was that they didn’t need to hide anymore.
“Mornin’, baby.” He yawned and stretched, showing off every last muscle.
“Sorry I woke you up,” Sylvie said as she crossed the kitchen and rolled up onto her toes to kiss him good morning. He held her carefully—too carefully. That was another issue she needed to fix before she decided on anything else. Alex was so afraid of hurting her that they hadn’t resumed any cord play since she left the hospital. He didn’t say anything about it, but whenever she hinted that she’d like to play a little harder, he found other ways to distract her.
Well, that was going to end this morning.
“You didn’t wake me up,” Alex said. “I was half-awake before you got out of bed.” He gazed down into her eyes and smiled. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re especially beautiful first thing in the morning?”
Sylvie laughed. “Before coffee? Impossible. I’m barely human.”
He ran his hands down her body. “You feel plenty human to me. Like a sweet, warm, perfect woman.”
“Yup! Even my shoulder’s perfect.”
Alex frowned and then quickly covered it up.
“Really, Alex. It’s fine. It feels good.” She kissed him, making a point of holding him tightly until he squeezed her harder. She broke the kiss to add, “It’s time we got back to where we were.”
Now he looked worried. “Where we were?”
Sylvie nodded and grinned. “You were going to try a new design. With the knots.”
Alex closed his eyes and exhaled hard through his nose. “Sylvie. You don’t have to humor me with that.”
She jerked back in surprise. “Humor you?”
Alex opened his eyes. “I can’t imagine that you want to have anything to do with bindings after what just happened.”
Sylvie stepped backwards out of Alex’s arms and put her hands on her hips. “Listen here, Chief. I don’t humoranyone. I do what I want to do when I want to do it. And I would really love to feel those cords against my skin this morning.”
