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"Oh, fantastic. And then of course he's going to need to talk to Gwen about it."
He laughed. "I see you're getting used to him."
"I’ll admit he's come in handy."
My brother smirked at me. "Right. Handy. You like him."
"I do not."
"If you say so,” he teased.
"I do say so."
"Look, just think about what I said and figure out the best way to ease up on Gwen, okay? Because I know you're scared. I've seen this look on your face before when you were desperate to protect your mom. And obviously, I understand it. I am desperate to protect her too, but not like this. You have to talk to her. And keep talking to her. Listen to her. Because she may have an idea about all this that you're not willing to listen to."
I narrowed my eyes at my brother. "Oh, for fuck’s sake. She brought up the using-her-as-bait thing to you too?"
Micah shrugged. "It’s not the worst idea we've ever heard, and it expedites this bullshit. At least we’d draw whoever it is out in the open."
"We are not putting her at risk. I’m not going to have it."
"That's what I told her. I'm just saying that discussing it might be a good idea."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Mate,” he said impatiently, “she just really needs you to love her. That's all. She doesn't need a protector. You've got hired men for that. You need to give her what she needs, not what you need."
"Is that what all your books say?"
"Well, most of my books just say to growl at her a lot and say filthy things. But somewhere there is always a revelation of feelings, and listening, and communication, and all that shit."
"Right, maybe I'll start with the growling thing."
"Oh of course, that's where you'll start. Just growl that you love her then start listening."
I watched her laugh at something Lakewood said, and then she dropped an arm around her sister's shoulders, tugging her in tight. Then suddenly, Morgan charged back inside, and she looked pissed.
As I watched my wife, I wondered how much of what Micah said was true. All I wanted to do was protect her, but maybe I needed to let her fight.
33
Gwen
Someone must have said something to Atticus. If I had to guess, it was either Micah or Lance. Because that morning, he woke up, kissed me on the lips, and told me he was giving me a day to myself. It had been almost two weeks of him hovering. Sweetly hovering. Making the kind of love to me that I was pretty sure only happened in Micah's romance novels, often three times a day. It was how I woke up. It was how I went to bed, and when we worked from home, lunch consisted of me first. I was not complaining. But it was nice to finally have silence in the house. It was hard to feel like he wasn't constantly worrying or looking over my shoulder.
Before he left though, he left me specific instructions for the panic room and told me that Sven and Rowan were just down the hall in the other penthouse.
He'd rented it out just for my safety. The old flat that I'd been using while we were hiding our marriage from his father was too far away. I made a face about the cost, but Atticus did not care. "What good is money if I can't use it for what we need?"
Anyway, when I finally woke up for good around seven-thirty, I took my bodyguards with me for a workout in the gym. Sven used the time for more self-defense training.
"So unnecessary, Sven."
"No, it's not. You've already needed it once." He said it with a grim face lined with worry, like an older brother. I had no idea how old Sven was. With his short hair and his naturally craggy face, it was hard to tell. Sven did not take it easy on me at all. He showed me how to escape from a choke hold, how to escape an attacker trying to grab me from behind, and how to slip from an attacker trying to grab my arms. Quick lessons on how to breathe, so I didn't panic and I could think.
When I got back to the penthouse, I heard bustling in the kitchen, and I called out before I headed down the hall to grab a shower. "Magda, don't bother with a smoothie. There's this new scone place down the block, and I think I'm going to grab one from there. Do you want me to get you one after I shower?"
She didn't respond, so I rounded the corner. I could hear humming in the kitchen, figuring she probably had her earbuds in.
