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“I’m coming on too strong, aren’t I?”
“It’s okay.” Not really. I tugged my hands free of Mr. Touchy Feely. Yes, I might have climbed him like a tree before, but today, I wasn’t feeling it. Blame my rough night.
“Can you also forgive me for forgetting to bring food?” he sheepishly apologized.
“Don’t feel bad. I forgot about dinner entirely.” The brutal truth. Blame my don’t-give-a -fuck forties. I’d come into mine later than most. Now, I made up for lost time by being brutally honest. I no longer wanted to waste time playing word games.
He didn’t take offense. “Understandable. Given the trauma you endured, I can totally get how it slipped your mind.”
Now I felt like an asshole. “Don’t apologize. I’m being bitchy because I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well.”
“Nightmares?” he asked, his expression pinched with concern.
Given I had no intention of explaining how I’d gone to check out an intruder on my own and then accidentally zapped myself, I shrugged and said, “Yup. I might need to look into something to help me sleep.”
“I can recommend a good CBD oil blend.”
I blinked at the incongruity of a detective offering to tell me about some good weed. I’d still not quite adjusted my mind to the fact that Canada had legalized marijuana. “I think I’ll stick to warm milk and honey for now.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “If you change your mind, let me know. I keep some in my nightstand for the rough nights.”
The admission cocked my head in query. “What makes you sleepless?”
“Everything. The world is a crime-riddled place, and it’s hard not to feel as if I’m not making a dent.” He’d moved away from me, and his shoulders slumped.
It felt remarkably raw for him to admit this. “I think you are doing your damnedest to make a difference.”
He snorted. “I haven’t even found the guys who attacked you.”
“But you’re trying. And I appreciate it.” I flirted with him in all my slobbish glory.
Rather than eye my grungy ensemble, he stared at my lips. “I really shouldn’t. I’m in the middle of an active investigation.”
“We don’t need long,” I teased before nipping his chin.
His arms came around me. “I’ll seem like a huge jerk when I have to leave right after.”
“Would you feel better if I kicked you out?”
That quirked his lips. “No.”
I kissed him and felt the struggle in his frame. I sighed and stepped away. “Fine. Go.But keep in mind that I’m going to start getting a complex if this keeps happening.”
“Maybe I should—?” He might have stayed if his phone hadn’t buzzed. He muttered a string of expletives that spanned both the English and French languages.Way to be bilingual. He offered me a brief, hard kiss before leaving with a promise. “Tomorrow. I don’t know what time. But tomorrow for sure.”
He left, and I touched my lips. The tingle in them pleased me. The arousal also left me restless. I leashed the cowardly Blade to walk over to my shop despite it being after dark. My big scaredy pup might not defend, but he’d try to escape something fierce if he sensed anything. I had him tethered around my waist and double-fisted my pepper spray.
I encountered nothing on my way to the garage, where I spent the evening and a bit of the night cleaning parts. I didn’t even realize I’d closed my eyes until I woke in a hospital.
CHAPTER14
“What the fuck?”I shoved my way to a sitting position, noticing the IV in my arm but no bandages this time. Yay? Seemed premature to celebrate the lack of physical wounds. I shouldn’t be here.
Before I could start slamming the button to call the nurse, the door to my room opened, and Brayden peeked in. “You’re awake. Finally. I was getting worried.”
That made two of us. I’d hate to make waking up in the hospital my thing.
“What happened? What am I doing here?”
