“Especially because you’re a mess.”
She swats my chest. It’s playful. Fun. How mornings should be. “Rude.”
“True.” Climbing over her, I wrap both arms under her shoulder blades and hold her close. “Can I ask you something?”
She nods as her entire face is swallowed by a yawn.
“Why do you sleep with one foot on the floor?”
Her body locks up beneath me, and her fingers tap against my arm. A solid count of five, and then she does it again.
“When I was thirteen, you told me to always be prepared to run, even in sleep. Now it’s a habit I can’t break.”
“Fucking hell, Clover.” The rage boils up in my veins. I want to punch something, destroy everything that ever touched her, but I can’t because I can’t fucking remember any of it.
“You’ve always been my protector, Valen. Even when you weren’t around, I always kept you in my heart.”
A knock on the door makes me nearly swallow my damn tongue before I realize I recognize that annoying freaking lyricalknock, but Clover’s face pales so quickly I fear she might actually faint.
“You’re all right,” I whisper, pressing my lips to her ear. “It’s just Chief.”
“Y’all decent?” Chief chuckles. “We need to get movin’.”
Clover groans before burying her face in the crook of my neck. “There’s nothing like a reality check from Chief.”
“I can think of a few things that are much better than his reality check.”
Her lips part, and I feel the damp heat when she exhales against my skin.
I might kill the old guy myself.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“I hear y’all talking. Get up.”
“Coming,” I bark—just not the kind my body is aching for, and the twinkle in Clover’s eye tells me she likely understands the direction of my thoughts.
Then she raises a single brow, and I know we’re on the same page.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
VALEN
“So,” Clover says after an hour of nonstop police procedure trivia from Chief. “We’re still like six hours from New Hampshire, right?”
“About that.”
“And we’re just…driving? No plan?”
I peek in the rearview to find Chief, finally asleep in his recliner. The man does not know when to stop talking.
“Roman secured the property and is doing a second pass now, so we can get there when we get there. No one knows where you are, so for now, you can try to relax.”
“Okay.” She fidgets. “I’m supposed to check in with the girls. Is it okay if I FaceTime them?”
“You don’t have to ask my permission, Clover. Unless we’re in an active threat situation, you are a grown woman who can make her own choices.” And sexy. So, fucking sexy, but yes, her own person.
“They’re going to interrogate you though.” Ah, that’s what she’s worried about.
