Page 52 of Playing with Fire

“Do we need to rescue you? Because honestly, the thought of you two sharing the same house has us worried. The same hotel room…”

“If I kill Chief Quinn, I promise you’ll be the first person I call.”

Quinn grinned at me. When someone knocked at the door, he headed across the room, buttoning his shirt back up and making himself as presentable as he could with pink handprints all over him.

Maybe it would have been a little awkward if I’d already gotten him to bed. Had calling in advance for room service really been necessary? I scowled.

Perky chuckled. “That’s considerate of you.”

“Not to be rude, Perky, but a gorgon wanted to use me as breeding stock, and he didn’t want to take no for an answer. Reverse cowgirl bitch is at Chief Quinn’s house and came between me, a bath, and some sleep.”

With Quinn. While that part was extremely important, Perky didn’t need to know my plans for the rest of the night. “If anyone else delays me, I will make what I did to the gorgon look polite in comparison.”

I learned a very important lesson: men could laugh so hard they cried. “I’m so sorry that happened, Gardener. You were magnificent. The ladies at the station adore you. The asshole deserved the pummeling. That said, you need to take self-defense courses. Amanda teaches one on Monday and Thursday nights. I may have enrolled you. Get some sleep and have a good night.” Perky hung up. I stared at Quinn’s phone for a long moment before setting it aside.

Quinn set two covered dishes on the room’s table. “Now that dinner has arrived, I think you should pick up where you left off. I seem to have undone your hard work. Unless you want to eat dinner first?”

“Screw dinner.” I pounced. If he wanted a shirt with all of its buttons intact, he shouldn’t have put it back on.

“Excellent.”

At some point, Quinn got out of bed long enough to call housekeeping and hand over our abused and battered clothes so they could be saved or replaced. His request amused the hotel employee, who promised to take care of everything.

I wanted him to come back to bed and feed me more morsels of steak and potatoes. “Come back to bed, Quinn.”

“Are you sure you’re not part succubus?”

“No, but I’m thinking you’re possibly an incubus in disguise. Come back to bed. Please?”

He laughed. “It’s seven in the morning, Bailey. Aren’t you tired yet?”

“No.” I patted the pillow beside me. “You still have to feed me the rest of my dinner.”

“It’s seven in the morning.”

“Breakfast, then. Feed me. I’m hungry.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Yours, obviously.”

Quinn slid under the covers, pulled me close, and held me. “And you thought I was crazy for reserving two nights. It’s ten minutes to work if traffic cooperates. That means we have extra time together. It was careful planning. I think I’ll have a cruiser pick us up when it’s time to go in. That’ll save at least five minutes.”

“What time do you need to be at work?”

“If we go to sleep now, we’ll get a few hours.”

I wrinkled my nose, wiggled free, and sat up so I could finish my dinner. “So I guess we really should get some sleep, then.”

“Probably wise. Feeling better now?”

“Yes. I’m not sure if I should hunt down those angels and that incubus and hit them or thank them.”

“I’m feeling pretty thankful right now.”

Quinn’s phone rang, and I grabbed it first. If they wanted him, they needed to go through me. The police chief frowned at me, and I flipped him my middle finger before I answered, “Chief Quinn is asleep right now. Do I need to wake him?”

Some lies were so worth telling. Quinn shook his head and rolled his eyes.