“Can’t we just rent a cabin for a week and screw like rabbits?”
I roll my eyes, though the idea is not without appeal. “I mean, in addition to that.”
“Oh.”
“We could renew our vows, but I think that’s a little clichéd.”
“Mmm.”
“Maybe we could get matching tattoos,” I suggest.
“Of what? A ball and chain?”
“Dean!” I smack him with a pillow.
He laughs and pushes the pillow aside, then grabs my ass and hauls me on top of him.
“Give me a kiss, beauty.”
“No way,” I huff, even though the sensation of his lean, muscular body beneath mine is getting me all tingly again. “You’re mocking a meaningful declaration of our love. Why should I kiss you?”
“Because I make you hot.”
Damn. He slides his hands underneath my robe and rubs my ass in circles, the heat of his palms burning through my cotton panties. It takes a superhuman effort to give him a quick peck on the lips and move off the bed.
“Hey.” He frowns at me.
“Try a little harder next time, professor.” I head for the closet. “Besides, it’s almost time for work, and I need to change.”
“You don’t need to change. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
I toss him a smile over my shoulder, unsurprised to find him looking pleased with himself for that remark. Warm inside, I dress in a skirt and blouse, then rummage around for a pair of shoes. Dean’s cell phone rings. He groans, but reaches to pick it up.
“Dean West.” After a pause, he pushes up to one elbow. “Paige?”
The sudden tension radiating from him arcs into me. The only Paige I know of is his younger sister, but she still lives out in California and they rarely speak anymore.
“Yeah… what?” Dean swings his legs to the floor and sits on the edge of the bed. “When?”
I hurry to sit beside him, suddenly alarmed. I press my hand to his back.
“Okay… hold on.” He grabs a pen from his nightstand and scribbles something on a piece of paper. “Thanks for calling. Be there as soon as I can.”
He puts the phone down and curses, his shoulders rigid.
“Dean?”
“Shit, Liv.” He scrubs his hands over his face. “I have to go to California. My father had a heart attack.”
“You’re staying here,” Dean orders.
He’s spent the last hour making phone calls to his sister and mother while trying to book a flight to California. He paces the bedroom like a caged tiger.
“You’re pregnant, for God’s sake,” he says.
“I know that.” I fold a blue skirt and put it in my suitcase. “But Dr. Nolan said it’s perfectly safe to travel. And if you think I’m letting you go to California alone, you’re wrong.”
“Dammit, Liv, I have to stay at my parents’ house, and you know what a—”
“Dean, I can handle it.”
“I don’t want you to!” He stops in the middle of the room to glare at me, his fists clenching at his sides. “Why do you think I’ve gone to California alone since we got married? So you won’t have to deal with my fucked-up family.”
My chest constricts. It’s true that I haven’t protested before. He’s visited his family alone because he wanted to protect me, just like he does now, and I was happy to let him. For a long time, it felt good to let Dean shield me whenever he could and soothe me on the rare occasions when he couldn’t.
Except now, our lives have changed so much. I’ve changed. So has he, even if he doesn’t quite know it yet. There’s still a long path ahead of us, and I need to start on it by not being afraid.
“Dean, when things happen, we need to deal with them together.”
“When things happen with us, yeah.” His features tighten. “Not with my family.”
“Your family is part of you.” I put a pair of jeans in my suitcase. “It’s about time I accept that too.”
“Do you even remember what happened the last time you saw them?”
Oh, I remember.
I straighten to look at him. “You can’t protect me from everything. Least of all our marriage.”
I smother the urge to remind him that his need to protect me is what made him lie about his previous marriage. And then that became one of the things that broke us apart.
The phone rings. Dean swears and grabs the receiver. “Yeah, Paige.”
He stalks from the bedroom, his voice a tense rumble as he speaks to his sister again. I hurry to finish packing my things, then take some of Dean’s shirts from the closet and start to fold them.
“All the flights for the day are booked, so I’m going to have to fly standby,” he says into the phone as he returns to the bedroom. “Otherwise earliest is tomorrow morning. I’ll let you know. Call me if anything changes.”
He tosses the phone onto the bed. Tension stiffens his jaw.
I pause in the motion of putting his jeans into his suitcase. “What?”
“She says Archer is coming back.”
My stomach twists sharply at the mention of his younger brother. “Is he there yet?”
“He’s driving up from LA.” Bitterness cuts his voice. “Supposed to get in soon.”
“Any news about your father?”