Tomboy (The Hartigans #3)(63)

Yeah, being seen as the most-hated man in Harbor City hadn’t bothered him before—at least, not that he’d ever shown—why would it now? “Thanks for the heads-up, though. I appreciate it.”

After hanging up with Lucy, he laid his phone down carefully on the nightstand because all he wanted to do was throw it across the room. That, however, wasn’t going to do anything but possibly put a hole in Fallon’s drywall. Her arm snaked across his chest, and she snuggled closer, her warm, naked body fitting perfectly against his. He dropped his arm so it curved around her back as if that were the way he’d been doing it forever.

“You okay?” she asked, her breath soft against his shoulder.

“Fine.” Always. No matter what. He refused to give in to the dread pooling in his gut. “I can take the lumps.”

She planted a hand on his chest and pushed upward so she was staring down at him, a righteous fury hardening her features. “But you shouldn’t have to. Your parents are lying.”

“Nothing new there.” In fact, it was all too familiar.

“But you shouldn’t have to pay for it.” An angry flush bloomed at the base of her throat. “Why are you protecting them?”

“I’m not.” Because she’d grown up like she did, in a family where the rules of play were defined by love and support, he could understand her confusion. “I don’t feel like having the entire world know that my parents stole millions from me before I caught on.” Dumb athlete, trusting the wrong people. “That the people who were supposed to raise me and take care of me saw me as a paycheck.” Because that was the only value they thought he brought to the table. “That I was too trusting and too stupid to realize how the world worked.”

“Really?” Fallon rolled back into a sitting position, narrowing her gaze at him as she pulled her teal comforter up over her tits. “Everyone just uses everyone else—that’s how it works?”

“Yeah.”

She scooted farther away on the bed as she laughed. It wasn’t a nice sound. “Is that what this is?”

“No.” He reached out, taking her hand in his and bringing it to his mouth for a kiss as he drew her close again. “It’s different.”

“Exactly.” She jabbed him in the chest with a finger. “Your parents’ way isn’t right, and you have to fight against it. Don’t let them do this to you. Don’t let them win.”

Wouldn’t that be nice if the world worked like that, but it didn’t. “They can’t do a damn thing to me anymore, because I won’t engage with them.”

Letting her head fall back, she let out a frustrated growl. “You are the most frustrating man I know, and my last name is Hartigan, so that is really saying something.” Then she let the comforter drop and straddled him, still giving him the stink eye. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Okay, he didn’t understand where this was going, but any time she sat on him naked, he was in a better place than when she wasn’t. “Why’s that?”

“Because otherwise I’d want to keep arguing instead of this.” She leaned down and kissed him as she brought his hands up so they covered her tits.

Zach wasn’t fooled that Fallon had given up on the argument, but he wasn’t about to turn down this momentary truce with the woman who seemed determined to prove to him that there was something better out there in the world—even for someone like him.

…

Hours and orgasms later, Fallon was in the shower and he was still in bed wondering if he had it in him for one more round before she had to leave for work. The quick answer to that was hell yes. The real answer, though, was that while he did, he wanted to make sure his girl was fed and ready to go before she had to deal with a long shift in the hospital emergency room helping others.

He got out of the bed and walked over to the bathroom door that was open enough for him to get a good look at her naked and soaped-up body through the steamed-up glass shower door. The view made his brain stop for a second as he contemplated his options. For once, though, he wasn’t going to be a selfish bastard.

“You hungry?” he asked as he grabbed his jeans from the chair where he’d tossed them last night.

“Starving,” she said. “But I’ll grab a protein bar or something to eat in the car on the way to work.”

Sure, he was spoiled by a team nutritionist, but she was a nurse and should know better. “That’s not good.”

“It’s better than me having to cook. Anyway, it’s my week to grocery shop, and I haven’t gone yet. Our fridge is probably filled with odds and ends but nothing yummy.”

Yeah. No. That wasn’t going to happen. He pulled on his jeans. “I’ll take care of it.”

“You cook?” she asked as she turned under the showerhead, giving him a delicious view of her from the back.

“I am a man of many talents.”

“I can testify to that, but I don’t want to put you out.”

He’d noticed that about her, that while she was always ready to help others, she rarely took time for herself and hardly ever asked for help. It was past time she experienced something different, and he got to show her how he felt, even if the words weren’t something he was ready for yet.

“I got this for you,” he said, meaning far more than just about the food. “Meet me in the kitchen when you’re ready.”