You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(44)

He wasn’t sure he could hurt her. She would have to really care about him to be vulnerable, and she’d made it plain that she couldn’t really care about him.

She looked at him across the bed. “Jesse, I can handle your bad dreams. And I think we could both use some sleep. It’s been a horrible day.”

It had and yet he wanted to hold her. The day might not be so bad if he could hold her. He really was stupid. “All right.”

“According to Chelsea, she’s a genius, so she will find our bad guy with very little trouble. This shouldn’t take too long.”

It probably wouldn’t. He kicked off his shoes and tossed his body on his side of the bed. He wasn’t going to argue with her anymore. He would likely never have taken the chance with her before, but she’d proven herself to be far tougher than he could have imagined. Hell, if someone had told him Phoebe knew how to handle a gun, he would have laughed.

She’d really looked competent with that SIG. Kinda hot. Really hot.

Damn it. New super spy Phoebe was sexier than sweet, needed protecting Phoebe.

He closed his eyes, wondering how much time he had left with her and what the hell he was going to do when she was gone. She’d been his goal for months and months. He’d believed if he could get someone as gentle and sweet as Phoebe to love him, maybe he would be able to think of himself as worthy. Love had been his goal. He’d wanted what Li had with Avery. What Sean had with Grace. A soft, gentle woman to take care of and protect and prove that he wasn’t some animal.

New Phoebe didn’t need protection. New Phoebe likely didn’t need him at all. So why did new Phoebe get his dick hard so damn fast? He turned to his side, away from her because he had a freaking hard-on. Yep, he was the fidiot who got an erection for the woman who’d lied to him.

He heard her moving around, heard her snap the blinds shut and close the bathroom door. The door to the bedroom snicked into place and then everything went dark as she turned off the light.

The bed shifted as she slid under the covers.

“Do you hate me?”

He rolled on his back again. Did he hate her? He should. He should despise her for what she’d done, but hate seemed to be one thing he wasn’t capable of. “I’m mad at you, but I don’t hate you.”

A long moment passed between them, and he thought she might have dropped off to sleep.

“I’m glad because you’re the best friend I’ve made in years.” She sniffled and turned to her side. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I didn’t mean to. I really do…I just hope after all this is over that you find someone. I can’t think of anyone else in the world who deserves it more than you. You’re going to make someone an amazing husband, Jesse Murdoch.”

The room went quiet again. Jesse stared at the ceiling and hoped Chelsea and Adam did their jobs as slowly as possible because no matter what Phoebe said, he intended to get inside her soon. He would let her go on to her happy Agency job afterward, but he was going to have her.





CHAPTER EIGHT





“So you get to sit around and watch the telly, and Sean brings you food and Big Tag’s still paying you?” Li asked with a shake of his head. “Damn me. I need to get a couple of assassins after me, too. Sounds like heaven.”

“I’d switch places with you,” Jesse admitted. He sighed and looked out over the club. It was still early in the evening. Not even ten o’clock, so the scenes hadn’t really started, but most of the team had shown up. “Who’s got the baby? Or are you here strictly to give me shit?”

Li’s lips curled up in a grin. “Nah, although I do live fer dat. We turned the conference room into a nursery for the night. I know we won’t be able to do it once the kiddos are older, but fer now, they’re perfectly happy pooping in there for the evening. We’re paying a couple of the subs to watch over them, but they’re mostly asleep.”

He wondered if Phoebe knew the babies were downstairs. It might get her to come down. “I’m glad you came up with a solution, and my house arrest hasn’t been all fun. Tag won’t even let me go out into the courtyard.”

There was a small courtyard with a basketball goal and a couple of benches, but Tag had yelled at him for going out and shooting some hoops. Apparently snipers were f*cking everywhere and they loved to murder dudes getting some exercise.

“Is she making you crazy then?”

That was part of the problem. He’d spent so much time with her over the last couple of days that he should be totally sick of her. He’d eaten every meal with her. Sean brought them dinner, but the morning after they’d been locked inside, Grace and Serena had shown up with groceries for breakfast and lunch. He’d expected to eat cereal and sandwiches, but he’d woken up the morning before and found her making pancakes and bacon. She’d smiled at him and handed him a cup of coffee. He’d cut up fruit at her direction and they’d had a good morning. Quiet. Peaceful.

It felt right to be with her.

“No. We’re all right. She just didn’t want to come downstairs.”

“Is she worried we’re going to attack her? Verbally, that is. Big Tag told us we couldn’t attack her physically.” His hands went up when Jesse growled his way. “I wasn’t the one who suggested it. My very lovely lady pit bull partner did. I had a talk with Erin. She’s going to play it cool, though I think we should just put them in a ring full of Jell-O and see how things go.”