Fox made a soft, sympatheticnoise and held me a little tighter.
I let my eyes fall closedand leaned against him. He was so goddamncomforting.
For the first time in a longtime, I didn’tfeel like I was alone anymore.
“What about you? Do you misshome?”
“You know how they sayhome is where theheart is?That’s…very true, for me. When I first left to join the army, I missed it like youwouldn’t believe. But then I made friends, and I was good at what I did, andthat was rewarding enough to distract me from the homesickness. And then theylumped me in with two Americans and a Canadian, and I had a new home. And I’llalways have those people. Always. So. I just… take home with me wherever I go.”
“Like a turtle?” I smiled,picturing Fox with a big armored shell on his back.
I was I got to see him outof his shell. I didn’t think his casual hookups got to experience that.
“Like a turtle,” Fox agreed,resting his chin on top of my head. “You know, I’ve never reallytoldanyone any ofthis before.”
A lump formed in my throat.Fox was opening up tome, and I’d suspected he didn’t do that, but now I hadconfirmation.
I wanted to be worthy of histrust. To be someone worth opening up to. And I wanted to hear more. I wantedall of Fox’ssecrets and I wanted to promise to keep them safe for him, since he was keepingall of mine safe for me.
“Have you been to lots ofcool places?” I asked, the urge to know more about Fox overwhelming. “You musthave. I guess you can’t tell me for national security reasons, huh?”
“Mostly, no,” he said,rocking me side to side. “But the pyramids are as incredible in person as youcould possibly imagine, especially when you can see them all on the horizon,and Jerusalem is really a beautiful place that I wish wasn’t like it is. Notthat I told you either of those things.”
“Secret’s safe with me,” Ipromised.
“I might be convinced totell you a less-classified story or two later, but I think we’d better think aboutmoving. Unless you’re going out in your underwear?”
I stepped back, looking downat my bright purple boxer-briefs. The only thing I was wearing.
Being mostly naked aroundFox didn’tbother me anymore. He’d seen meentirelynaked.
“Do I not look cute likethis?”
“Very, but I’m not sure youwant the public to know, love,” Fox said, stepping around me to rinse out thefrying pan. “They’d tear you apart.”
“I have a trained bodyguardto protect me,” I said. “You would protect me, right?”
“With my life,” Fox saidseriously. “That’s the deal.”
The lump was back again.Because thatwasn’tthe deal—I hadn’t hired Fox as a bodyguard.No one had.
But I still believed him. Ibelieved Fox would protect me with his life if he had to, because he was goodall the way down to his core, and he liked me.
Helikedme.
I grinned at the thought.Foxlikedme. And he was hot.
I’d hit the jackpot.
“I’ll get dressed,” I said,beaming at him by now. “Thank you for breakfast. No one’s ever done that for mebefore.”
“Happy to burn you somepancakes anytime,” Fox called as I walked away, making sure he got a good lookat my butt.
It was one of my bestfeatures, no sense in wasting the opportunity to show it off.
Unable to resist, I turnedback to catch him looking. Fox didn’t even flinch. He licked his lips like hewas thinking about…
Well, whatIwasthinking about. If I hadn’t been absolutely obligated to finish recordingtoday, I wouldn’t have. Fox would already be naked, and I’d be spread out onthe kitchen counter with my legs in the air, begging him to fuck me.
