I raise my eyebrows. “Bossy.”
He laughs and turns over, turning off the light on his nightstand, leaving the room only illuminated by my lamp. “Yes. Something you’ll do well to remember, lovely leannán.”
16
Amy
Arough pounding on the door drags me out of sleep. I sit up to see golden sunlight trying to break in through the black out curtains that Kerry has over the windows. He’s already out of bed, pulling on sweatpants, his shoulder muscles flexing in a way I never thought I’d find sexy. But I do.
Speaking of, sitting up hurts. I’m definitely sore as a result of that man’ssexinesslast night.
Kerry’s grumbling as he tugs on a shirt and stomps over to the door. I pull the silky covers up to my chin to cover my pajama-clad body. “Do you have to knock so fecking loud, Liam? Fecking eejit,” he snaps as soon as he opens the door just a crack.
Liam is blocked by the door, but I can hear his signature huff coming from the other side. “I tried to knock quietly and no one answered! I’ve been trying for three minutes!”
“I was hoping you’d go away,” Kerry grumbles.
Liam scoffs. “And then you yell at me for knocking louder when you heard the whole fecking time?!”
Kerry’s broad shoulders lift in a shrug. “I didn’t want to leave the bed and the beautiful woman next to me.”
There’s a pause at that. “Fair enough, I suppose,” Liam mumbles, sounding slightly perturbed at the thought of usin bed together. It almost makes me giggle. “Wouldn’t have knocked unless it was fecking important. De Matteis just came down fifteen minutes ago and wants to speak to you. He was already supposed to be gone, so this must be important.”
“Fecking hell.” Kerry runs a hand through his hair. “I’ll be right down.”
“He requests that Amy join, too,” Liam says quietly, like he’s scared of Kerry’s reaction.
Kerry pauses, and the two men look at each other for a moment. I can only assume they’re silently communicating in a way that only years of friendship and working together allows. “We’ll be right down. Get him breakfast, coffee, whatever he damn well wants. It’s one thing to rush me, but I’ll not have Amy hurried out of bed just for that man.”
His words make me chuckle and warm my heart. I know how important De Matteis is, especially to Kerry, but he’s still prioritizing me? It’s a new feeling. Not from him, just people in general.
Kerry doesn’t even wait for Liam to respond before he slams the door closed again. He looks so tall from my angle laying in bed, those stormy gray eyes soft as he looks down at me. “I don’t know what this is about, leannán, but it must be important.” He comes and sits on the edge of the bed, and he holds his hand out, palm up, wordlessly asking to hold mine. I pull my arm out from beneath the blankets and intertwine my fingers with his, his lips lifting in a smile. “I’m thankful to have a partner like you in all of this.”
Partner.He’s never used that sort of terminology before with me, and I think he’s being very intentional about it now. He’s trying to tell me that this is more than just me surviving a situation he’s controlling. No, we’re in thistogether.As a team. A united front.
And that’s absolutely freeing.
Emotion clogs my throat, making it hard to swallow. “I’m thankful to have you, too.”
The soft, almost puppy-dog look that crosses his face for a brief moment steals my breath away. He clears his throat and his usual expression of serious smugness slides back onto his face. “The bath last night was nice, but I’m still feeling a bit filthy. How does a quick shower sound?”
I evaluate myself for a moment and realize I feel the same way. While the bath was nice, I’m not sure it got rid of all of the sweat and grime of our multiple rounds of sex. “Sounds delightful.”
His hand feels rough and calloused against my soft palm. I squeeze it, and the edge of his lips twitch with a smile as he squeezes back. I can’t help but notice the sculpting of his body, how broad his shoulders are, the definition of his arms.
He squeezes my hand again. “If you keep looking at me like that, we’re never going to manage to leave this bed. I don’t give a feck if we leave that man waiting forever if it means I get to ravish you again, but…”
I laugh and swat his arm. “No, we’re not going to do that.”
He leans in, that devilish smirk on his face. “Then quit eye fucking me, leannán.”
“I-I wasn’t trying to—” I can feel my cheeks heating up.
Kerry chuckles and squeezes my hand again. “No need to be ashamed, love. I like your eyes on me. And you’re welcome to eye fuck orfuckfuck me anytime.”
I roll my eyes but smile at him. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t trying to. It just happened.”
He throws his head back and laughs. “And I suppose thatthisjust happened.” He leans in and kisses me. It’s soft, but I can tell he’s holding back his enthusiasm. It’s still so new and exciting, feeling his lips against mine, that my heart is already poundingin my chest. He pulls back, eyes searching mine, as intense as ever. “Come, love. We could use that shower.”
