Dungeon Games (Masters and Mercenaries #6.5)(31)

She shook her head. “You did everything you could.”

“Sometimes I wonder about that. Karina, I should go and sleep on the couch, but I don’t want to.”

Dangerous. If she thought he was dangerous before, this Derek just might kill her. She’d expected him to get up and stretch and walk out. She’d thought he might kiss her and thank her for the lay. Not once in any scenario that played through her head had he put his head to her breast and asked for her comfort.

“Please stay with me.” She was in too deep, but she couldn’t get out. Not now.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

She was pretty sure he wasn’t talking just about the physical. She was rapidly discovering that Derek wanted to play fair. He wanted to be honest. “Just stay with me for a while.”

“I don’t sleep with other people, Karina. I can’t. So I’ll just lay here until you fall asleep. If you wake up and I’m not here, don’t take it bad. I’m just not built that way anymore, okay?”

She could handle honesty. “All right.”

She let her fingers rub his scalp and despite all of his protests, his chest rose and fell in an even rhythm and he was asleep within moments.

Karina smiled as she managed to turn off the light.

She held him and couldn’t help but think that no matter what happened, they wouldn’t be the same. A new life. She’d just started over.

Though it made her ache inside, she didn’t even regret it. She kissed the top of Derek’s head and let herself drift off to sleep.





Early morning light filtered in through the slats and Karina sighed a little as she turned.

And then remembered what had happened the night before.

She let her eyes fly open, but she was alone in bed. The pillow next to her still had an indention where his head had rested. She’d woken up once in the night to find him wrapped around her, his arm anchored around her middle, his body spooning hers.

Who would have guessed that big bad Derek Brighton was a teddy bear?

Okay. So she’d slept with him. That didn’t really change anything between them. It didn’t make them best buddies. It didn’t even really mean they were friends. It meant they had needed each other in the middle of the night and they were consenting adults without significant others.

She could handle this. Sure she hadn’t actually dated in over fifteen years, but then they weren’t dating. They were…what were they? Intimate strangers? Fuck buddies? When this case was over would he call her up when he needed a lay? Would she shove the phone up his ass? Or would she get used to casual sex?

It hadn’t felt casual.

It had felt real. It felt oddly pure to be with Brighton, like something she’d been missing for a long time had finally fallen into place.

She was acting like a kid. He would likely run if he knew that thought was going through her head.

“You need a maid.”

She nearly jumped and pulled the sheet up, covering her breasts. Where had she put the shirt she’d been wearing the night before? Derek stood in her doorway wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his lean hips. His hair was slightly wet, and even from where she was she could smell the fresh scent of soap clinging to his every muscle. And there were so many of them. So many gorgeous muscles. She hadn’t taken the time to properly look at him last night. She’d seen him without his shirt before, but somehow it was different without the encasement of his leathers. From the golden tan of his skin to the way his abs flowed into sexy notches on his hips, he was sin on two legs. Even his scars seemed beautiful to her.

And she was supposed to be an adult female who had merely had a fun night with an equally adult male.

“I’ve been busy lately. I’ll try to clean up this morning.” Casual. Cool. She wasn’t bothered at all by the fact that she was lying around naked. Nope. Not at all.

He chuckled a little and leaned against the doorjamb. “Come on, Mills. You got to be able to take a joke.”

“It’s not really a joke. I think I saw something growing in the fridge. I haven’t been very attentive to housekeeping lately.” She bet any girlfriend of Derek’s likely was. He seemed to be an organized guy. His desk was always neat as a pin. She was lucky if she could find anything on hers.

“Yeah, pretty sure that was going to rise up and take us all down one of these days. Luckily I think I tossed it out before it gained intelligence and led a fungal revolution.”

She felt her cheeks flare. “God, Brighton, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I did if I’m going to keep my sanity. I’m the slightest bit OCD about some things, including being able to open the fridge with little to no fear that I’ll be attacked. The good news is now it’s clean and I’m going to show you something amazing. It’s called food. You see, we buy these things like eggs and milk and then they’re waiting there when we want to cook.”

She couldn’t help but send him her middle finger. Something about the man brought out the worst in her. “I cooked last night.”

“And you only bought the stuff for dinner.”

“Which you ate all of. Normally that would last me a week.”

“Now you have to feed me,” he said, his voice dropping. “And I like to eat, Karina. I’m a big guy and I need a lot to satisfy me. How about we make a deal? We’re stuck together for a while. I’ll clean. You cook. If you do breakfast anything like you did dinner, I will happily dust this whole place.”