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His expression softens. “Seriously, it’s not a big deal. I only put my leg on at night if I need to go downstairs to the garage. You’d be surprised how often tourists and their broken-down vans show up here in the middle of the night.”

He smirks at me while I sit there, watching him lumber across the room to the chest of drawers. In only a pair of gym shorts, I get the full Sylvester Sterling show—ropey and corded muscles as far as the eye can see. He turns back to face me when I let out a girlish giggle that even surprises me.

“You know we both have to get back at your dad for that, right? What could we do? Drain the pool or—oh—I know. Why don’t we swap the inputs again on his TV so he can’t watch the evening news?”

He chuckles and comes back to bed with a thick, plaid comforter tucked under his arm.

“First off, he’s already closing the pool this week, so that won’t have quite the impact it did when we drained it back in high school. Also, I finally learned how much water costs out here in the desert.”

I huff. “Damn. Yeah, Grace and her eco-warrior ways would probably kill me for wasting that much water. What about the TV inputs?”

He shakes his head. “I’m afraid he finally upgraded to a smart TV, and everything’s on the same remote now. Plus, he’s gotten pretty tech savvy. He even knows how to use the app for the security system in the garage now.”

My eyes widen in mortification. I swear to god if he saw that video, I will never set foot in this town again, or at least not for another ten years. “Wait, did he—please, no.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “No, thank fucking god. I already wiped the video from the system.”

I let out a sigh of relief but notice he’s still wearing a shy smile. “Okay, out with it,” I say sternly, tapping him on his forehead as he crawls into bed with me again, this time with us draped in a heavy comforter that feels much better.

“I did make myself a copy of that video from the garage that I wanted to keep if that was okay with you.”

I curl up closer to him, running the backs of my fingers over his stubbled cheek. My mind drifts back to that night, and my curiosity begins to grow. He grabs my wrist and presses a kiss to the back of my hand.

“You can keep it, under two conditions.”

“Name them.”

I wrap my calf over his, trying in vain to pull his hulking frame closer. He chuckles, pulling me tighter to him. “Let me edit it, because god only knows how terrible the lighting was in the garage.”

“Done,” he says without hesitation. “The second?”

I drag a fingertip down his chest, stopping when I reach the waistband of his shorts. Driving my knee forward, I can feel his hard length press against me. “Watch it with me.”

“Fuck, Bunny,” he hisses. “You don’t even have to ask.”

“Well, thank you anyway for asking if you could keep it.”

“Of course,” he says, sounding surprised like I said the silliest thing in the world to him. “Why wouldn’t I ask?”

I smile at yet another reminder that despite him being every bit as filthy as me, he’s still a gentleman and values consent.

“Let me at least try to improve what I’m sure is terrible security camera footage first.”

“Actually, we sprung for a 4K video system, so it might not be as bad as you think.”

I arch a brow at him and roll my eyes. “Whatever, you know what I mean. I was already planning on doing some work tomorrow morning with the shower video, so you’ll get a better version soon enough.”

He nods. “You do your own editing too?”

“Mm-hmm. I do everything myself, honestly. Outside of a lawyer I used to set up my company and finances to keep me anonymous, no one helps with my business.” One of his big bear paw mitts dips under the hoodie and splays across my back before he pulls me even closer. The heat of his touch crawls up my spine, reminding my body of exactly what we did in his shower. “Unless you count my favorite coworker. I think you two got pretty well acquainted today.”

He laughs through his nose. “You’ve got me beat on the usefulness of your coworkers.”

I giggle again, knowing that I’m the one who brings out the best sides in this big grump. From his dry—drifting into morbid—sense of humor to his playfully kinky side, to the sweeter side that was about ready to tie me to the bed if I didn’t let him get a heavier blanket for me. Yes, there’s something special and so impossibly cozy about this familiarity with him. That’s why I don’t bat an eye when I realize this is the closest we’ve gotten to truly talking about some of the more mundane, real details about my work. Part of me wants to talk to him about so much right now, but my heart wants to enjoy this rare moment where it feels like my life has slowed down and my world is steady under my feet.

I nuzzle into his chest and let out a contented hum. “Sly, can we finish this conversation tomorrow? Right now, I want to go to sleep.”

He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Sounds good.”