I took another sip and absently heard a clink of metal but was still not awake enough to process the noise.
The mug was swept away, my wrist was seized and halfway up to the bed stand when I realized he had cuffs.
Too late, he slapped it on my wrist and I heard the ratchet of the bracelet. I twisted but I heard the second ratchet and I was stuck.
I twisted back to him, pissed off.
“You’re kidding,” I snapped.
He slid in bed alongside me, pulling the sheet down.
“Nope.”
His hands were on me and his mouth came to my neck.
“Un-unh. No way.” I pushed at him with my free hand. “You aren’t gonna cuff me to the bed and have your wicked way with me.”
He grabbed my free hand by the wrist and twisted it behind me.
“Wanna bet?”
His other hand pushed the sheet over my hip and I was fully exposed.
“Are you gonna leave me here all day?”
“After… yeah,” he said into my ear.
Grr.
“Uncuff me!”
“No.”
“Lee, this is not funny. And anyway, morning sex isn’t working for us. You start this and someone is gonna buzz the door and tell you that The Alamo has been attacked and you’re gonna take off.”
His hand had wandered to my ass, his mouth came to mine.
“You’ll survive.”
“No I won’t!”
His mouth slid passed mine to my ear.
“You’ve done it before.”
“That was before I knew what I was missing!”
His head came up and he grinned at me.
Fucking Lee.
“I’ll uncuff you if you promise me you won’t go off looking for Rosie with Tex.” I opened my mouth but before I could say anything he said, “Promise me and mean it.”
I closed my mouth.
If I could have crossed my arms on my chest, I would have. Instead, I explained.
“Stevie’s mad at me because Tod was in the line of fire. Ally’s chasing down bad guys, totaling her Mustang. My life’s completely out of control and taking others with it. I can’t sit around and wait, I have to do something. I’m tired of being scared.”
I was trying to twist away. He threw a thigh over mine and pinned me, let go of my wrist, got up on an elbow and traced the line of my jaw with his finger, looking in my eyes.
He was deciding something.
“Then you work with me.”
My body stilled. Was he serious? Work with the Mysterious Badass Liam Nightingale?
“What?” I asked.
“We’ll look for Rosie together.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Seriously?” I breathed.
He nodded.
I started to smile but then he said, “There are conditions.”
The smile went away and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What conditions?”
His eyes softened and crinkled at the corners.
“You’re very cute,” he said.
Excuse me? Cute?
“Conditions?” I snapped, deciding to deal with the “cute” comment later.
“You do what I say when I tell you to do it and you keep your mouth shut. If we get into something and I get a bad vibe and feel you shouldn’t be there, you don’t argue, you just go.”
I thought about it and decided I could do that.
“Uncuff me,” I said again.
“You agree?”
“I agree.”
He uncuffed me, I started to roll away but he hooked me and rolled me back.
“Where you goin’?” he asked.
“Just ‘cause I agreed to work together with you doesn’t mean I’m not angry with you for cuffing me. You want honesty, I’ll give you honesty, you’ve pissed me off.”
He nuzzled my neck, apparently unaffected by my announcement.
“I can help you work through that.”
“You’re way too cocky,” I told him.
“I know, but you still love me.”
I froze.
“Excuse me?”
His arms came around me, holding me tight as if he knew I was about ready to bolt and he was preparing early. He lifted his head and looked at me. His eyes were dark and warm.
“You love me.”
I stared at him and lied through my teeth (glad to know I could still do it), “I do not love you.”
He pulled me even deeper into him.
“Liar,” he whispered. “You’ve loved me since I held your hand at your mother’s memorial service when you were five years old.”
It was then, my head exploded.
Chapter Sixteen
Must… Stop… Brain
“What?” I shouted.
He was watching me closely.
I bucked, pushed and tried to get away but he held on tight.
“Let me go,” I demanded.
He didn’t say anything, just effortlessly held me to him.
I stilled and looked at him.
There was no denying it. His intelligence about when my infatuation started was too detailed to lie about.
“How did you know about that? Was it Ally?” I asked.
“I read your diary.”
Oh… my… God.
“What? When?”
“I don’t know, when you were fifteen, sixteen. You were schemin’ and throwin’ yourself at me pretty steady, recruitin’ your friends to help, some of it was ingenious. I was lookin’ for ways to…” he hesitated then found the words, “diffuse your eagerness.”
Holy shit.