“Uh-huh.” His mocking tone made it difficult not to smile.
“It did. And if you would’ve heard how he spouted off at Patrick, you’d understand. I’m sorry if it bothered you, but I did what I had to do to make sure we got what we needed. That’s who I am. Plus Patrick is joining our team as Cole’s bodyguard.”
John went quiet until my stomach growled. “I guess we should find you something else to eat.”
He sat up and looked around at the offerings in the terminal. “How about I grab some snacks and a soda?”
“It’s okay. I can wait until we get back. And I’m getting a burger.”
John shook his head at me, then sat back. “Whatever. But I’m not staying up all night with you again. So eat at your own risk.”
I grinned, then threw his words back at him. “But you said…”
“I know what I said. And if I’m staying up all night, it's because we’re fucking. No praying to the porcelain god.”
“You could sleep in your room and you’d never hear it.”
“Nope. We have an agreement. Ninety-days.”
I wasn’t going to tell him three days had already passed. If he wanted to start over, far be it from me to mess with the schedule. That meant three more days for him to rail me. Or for me to rail him.
Shifting I looked at him. “Sorry about that. We could have had a good time.”
John bumped his shoulder into mine. “Stop. We had a good time. I didn’t hate it. Any of it.”
Thinking back on our time together the last three days, the only terrible part was when I was in the bathroom. John was there to help me through it. And I wasn’t sure I’d ever told him how much I appreciated it. I never wanted him to think I wasn’t grateful for him being there.
“I don’t remember if I ever thanked you for taking care of me. I’m just not used to it, that’s all. I’ve kinda been on my own since my brother died, and I don’t want you to think I’m an asshole.”
John tilted his head closer to me. “Here’s the thing, sweetheart. You’ll never be an asshole to me. I see who you are, and I’m always going to be on your side. I’m your protector, whether you want me or not. No matter how many people you piss off, or how much you run that sweet mouth when you should shut the fuck up, I’m going to stand right there beside you come hell or high water. So get used to it.”
As much as I wanted to tell him to fuck off, and to stop calling me sweetheart, I knew he wouldn’t. And somewhere deep inside of me, I hoped he never did.
On the flight home, we opted to order pizza. John thought it would be easier on my gut than a greasy burger, so I decided to humor him.
When we walked up to the door of the condo, John stopped and ran his finger over the wood. “What happened to the door?”
I leaned in and ran my fingers over the deep gouge. “I don’t know,” I lied. “Weird.”
He unlocked the door and pushed it open for me to walk in. Placing the pizza on the coffee table in front of the TV, I went to my room to drop my bag while John turned on the lamp and locked the door.
When I returned, he stood going through the guide until he found a baseball game.“This okay?”
“Yeah, that’s good,” I said, walking into the kitchen to grab a couple of beers and some plates.
I settled onto the sofa next to him and sat back as the energy drained out of me. My head hurt from the lack of food, but I wasn’t sure I was hungry anymore.
As he opened the beers, I leaned my head back on the sofa, stretching my neck from side to side to loosen the muscles.When that didn’t relieve the pain, I ran my left hand over my head and squeezed the back of my neck.
“Tired?” he asked, handing me a plate with a small slice of pizza.
I smiled at the portion size and sat up. “Yeah. It just kinda hit me all of a sudden.”
“You need some food. And you’re still recovering from the other night. It might take you a few days to get back to normal.”
When I didn’t reply, John looked over at me. As our eyes met in the dim light, what I saw made my stomach quiver. It made me want to crawl into his lap and forget about eating.
“Let’s eat dinner, then I’ll help you relax.”
