Casanova(102)

He shook his head. “No. It’ll hurt you guys.”

“I don’t care,” Camille added quietly. “If it means you can’t be hurt by this in the future, I don’t care.”

Judging by the nodding of the family, they all agreed with her.

“Okay,” Brett said, albeit somewhat begrudgingly. “We tell him to print it. Then what?”

I swung my legs and grinned. “Leave that to me.”





I was pretty much typing in a blur. My fingers were moving faster than my brain for once, and I had no idea if the little black letters appearing on my screen made any sense whatsoever. At this point, I was simply hoping that the words in my brain were translating to the words on my screen.

“What’s that word?” Brett leaned over my shoulder and pointed at the screen.

I paused in my typing and looked at it. “This might need a proofread. I have no idea.”

“You done? You’ve been in here almost two hours.”

“Shit.” I looked around at him. “I told Connie I’d be back to the hospital soon. I haven’t got her room done yet.”

“Camille’s already gone up to be with her,” he answered with a smile. “She said she’ll stay until she’s either discharged or you get there.”

“What if she’s discharged first?”

“Then she’ll take her to her house and stay with her until you get there. Don’t worry. We’ve got it covered.”

“She needs to be at my house.”

“Lani.” Brett sat next to me. He moved my laptop off my knees and onto the coffee table and turned my face toward his. “We have movers to handle it. You have your grandma’s stuff to get rid of, so they’ll deal with that and move Connie in.”

I blinked at him. “Movers.”

“And she rents her house from us, so she can go whenever. Dad isn’t going to hold her to the thirty-days’ notice.”

“You own her house.”

“We own her house.”

I blinked some more. I was in an exhausted haze, and the only thing that was keeping me running right now was the barest fizzle of adrenaline from some deep, dark vein somewhere in my toe or something.

“Right,” I said slowly.

His lips tugged to one side. “The movers will start tonight at your house if you’re good with that.”

“Tonight. My house.”

“For someone so good at writing words, you aren’t doing too hot on the speaking them, are you?”

I shook my head and slapped his thigh. “Stop it. I’m tired.”

“Just how much sleep did you get last night?”

I scratched my nose. “I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that I’m running on not a whole lot right now.”

He stroked my hair back from my face. I’d come over with my hair still wet from my shower, so it was a little on the puffy side of smooth right now. “Why don’t you go to bed for an hour? Take a deep breath, have a glass of water, and sleep for a while.”

“I have to finish this and—”

Brett stood up. He bent over and yanked me right up with them, and then he picked me up. It wasn’t quite over his shoulder, but it was close enough. Regardless, he had one hand clamped around my upper thighs, literally right below my ass, and the other was splayed across my lower back.

“Put me down!” I squealed, wiggling in his hold.

“Nope. You’re going to sleep.”

“Put. Me. Down!”

He ignored my protests and carried me right through the house. By the time he reached the stairs, I gave up. He wasn’t going to listen to me, and all I was doing was making myself even more tired.

Brett carried me into his room where he finally set me down onto my feet. “No more fighting?”

I shrugged. “Were you gonna put me down?”

“No.” He grinned playfully. “Now take off your shoes and get into bed.”

“You want me to sleep in my clothes?”

“I don’t want you to do anything in clothes. Ever.”

“That isn’t what I was asking.”

“Yes,” he answered, contradicting what he just said. “Because if you sleep in your underwear, I’m not going to be able to leave this room until I’ve fucked you and you need to sleep.”

“Or you could exercise a little thing called self-control.”

“I could, but I don’t want to.”

“So I have to do it for you?”

“Lani?”

“Yes?”

He stared at me, but he was smiling. “Stop arguing and get into bed.”

I shoved his covers to the side. “Yes, sir.”

He laughed and came over when I tucked myself in. His hand slid across my face, and he touched his lips to mine softly. “Sleep,” he murmured against my mouth.

I yawned and saluted him.

He didn’t need to tell me again.





CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO


BRETT



I sat in front of Lani’s laptop at the desk in the library. I’d tried to pass some of the time while she slept by doing some work, but it was almost impossible.