He didn’t have to think about it before he nodded.
I clapped him on the shoulder. “One of my guys will be here in a bit. It will be installed before you open tonight,” I said as I headed back inside.
“Thank you,” he called. The gratitude in his voice forced me to freeze and look over my shoulder. I gave him a chin lift, and then he was gone, trotting down the steps, heading to his Rachel.
I closed the door and shot a text to the group chat, giving them information.
Dom: I’ll be there shortly.
“Superman?”
My head snapped up and my dick hardened.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Margo stood at the mouth of the hall, her lilac sheet wrapped around her naked body, her hair hanging around her face, eyes shining with hope. Before I could get a word out, she rubbed her left eye, yawned, and then stretched. I watched in awe as she leaned back, groaning and lifting herself onto her toes, deepening the stretch. “What are you doing?” she asked, sleep coating her voice.
“Working,” I answered, swallowing the lump in my throat as the hand at her breast shifted, the sheet dropping slightly. “Joey just stopped by.”
My mouth watered, my cock twitching in my jeans. She hummed and gave me her eyes. “Did he stop by to fire me?”
“No.”
A smile stretched across her face. “Sounds like you wouldn’t let him do that even if he wanted to.”
“You’d be correct,” I replied gruffly.
We’d been in bed all day, fucking and making love until we were both spent and passed out. I woke up an hour ago, showered, and got to work. When Joey knocked on the door, I had half a mind to shoot him in the foot, afraid he’d wake her up. She needed her fucking rest, especially after the week she’d had.
“I missed another shift at the bookstore,” she grumbled and moved to the window, the afternoon sun drenching her. “I wonder if the town is surviving without my coffee.”
“You can go there anytime,” I reminded her. “The day isn’t over yet.”
She turned to me. “And leave you here so you can fold all my towels again?” she teased, referring to the morning I’d disappeared.
“No, I’d be going with you,” I told her. “Until we get the security systems in place, I don’t like the idea of you being alone, without the Red Snake boys or me watching you.”
Shifting her weight, she nodded. “Normally, I’d argue with you, but after being kidnapped at gunpoint once…I’m not in the mood to have that happen again.”
My jaw tightened. “Do me a favor.”
She blinked.
“Try to not bring that shit up when you’re standing across the room from me wrapped up in a sheet with my cum dripping down your thighs,” I suggested coldly. Her cheeks heated, my favorite shade of pink covering them. My eyes went to the bruise, anger simmering under my skin, driving my pulse. “I can’t stand those memories, Margo. They haunt me.”
Her brows came together as she moved toward me, not stopping until her chest was against mine, her arms at my waist. She tipped her head back, scanning my face. “They haunt you?”she whispered, searching for more parts of me, the parts I hadn’t given her yet.
My hand cupped her face, my thumb gently grazing over the bruise. The cut was scabbed over, nearly healed, and the bruise was lightening. It was no longer a deep purple, almost black, but blue now. The outer edges were beginning to yellow. Hopefully, by the time her birthday came around, she would be fully healed.
“How’s it feeling?” I whispered, ignoring her question.
She let me.
“I don’t feel anything. At first it was just a throbbing and then an ache, but now it’s gone.”
I nodded. “You wanna hit up Rossy’s?”
Her sage green eyes sparkled. “I’m ready to get my fucking life back on track.” She sighed, letting go of me and turning. As she rounded the couch, I felt the need to remind her she hadn’t lost anything.