“I’m making up for lost time.”
Pima jumped on the bed, stopped short, and glared at Stryker.
“He’s gonna attack me, isn’t he?” Stryker asked.
Emerson laughed. “He’s never seen anyone in bed with me before.”
“How long have you had him?”
“Five months. He was my brother’s cat.” She didn’t want to talk about Doug, but she didn’t want to push Stryker away, either. Unsure which direction to take, she hesitated.
“We can change the subject,” he offered. “Whatever you want.”
She appreciated that he didn’t push. “Doug didn’t like cats, either.”
“How’d he end up with one?”
Rolling off him, Emerson leaned up on one elbow. “The cat showed up out of nowhere. Doug figured he’d move on, but he didn’t. He felt badly for it, so he fed it, and that was it. From that day on, Pima owned him.”
“Sounds like a good man.”
She smiled. “Hewasa good man and a great cop. I became a cop because of him.” She swallowed down the sadness and cleared her throat. “When Doug died, my parents took Pima, but my mom’s allergic. I couldn’t let them take him to a shelter, so I kept him.”
“Danielle said this was his place.”
She nodded. “I loved living with Danielle, but I wasn’t ready to let him go, so I moved in.” Her throat tightened.
As if sensing her struggles, Stryker tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her. “Where’d the name Pima come from?”
“It stands for Pain In My Ass.”
He laughed. “I would have liked your brother.”
Her eyes brightened a little. “You two would have gotten along great, but he was way too protective of me. Worse than my dad. I’m not sure you would have passed the Doug test.”
“Woulda passed, no prob.”
She ran her fingertip over his lips. “I don’t want things to get weird between us because of this.”
He peered into her eyes. “They won’t.”
“Plus, now that I got you out of my system, I’m moving on to my next conquest.”
That elicited a chuckle from him. “Are you working today?”
“Yeah, you?”
“I’ve got an early meeting this morning,” he said while checking his watch. “It’s almost five. How ‘bout a power nap?”
“Sleep together?” she asked. “This is a spite fuck, not sex and a snooze.”
She could become addicted to making him smile. “How ‘bout this?” he continued. “We sleep for an hour, then I get my revenge fuck before we head out.”
“Deal.”
After dropping a kiss on her lips, he pushed out of bed. As he retreated into the bathroom, she glimpsed a beautiful tat on his back. A large cross and sword etched in black ink lay between his muscular shoulder blades and trailed down his spine.
A moment later, he crawled in beside her. “Lay on me.”
