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I couldn’t say how long we stayed like that, with his arms wrapping me up, with our heartbeats trying to return to normal. But by the time I felt fully recovered from it, my whole back felt cold.
“You gotta let me up for a minute, babe,” Rowe said, fingers brushing my hair off to one side, and turning his head to press a kiss to my temple.
“Nope.”
“One minute,” he promised.
“Fine,” I grumbled, rolling off to the side. “You need help?” I asked as his arm shot out to grab the headboard so he could swing his legs off the bed.
“No.”
“You’re being stubborn,” I said when he hissed and grumbled until he managed to get himself into a seated position.
“Yep,” he agreed. “One of my many negative traits,” he added, letting out a string of curses as he stood up.
“It’s okay. I have a lot of those myself.”
“Babe, you’re practically a fucking angel,” he said, shooting me a look over his shoulder.
“You won’t be saying that when I drag you to naked potlucks,” I called as he hobbled into the bathroom. “Or when I am testing new teas and salves on you,” I added, hearing a snort from him through the door he left open. “Or when I drag you out into the middle of the woods to make love with me under a full moon.”
“Baby,” he said, appearing in the doorway of the bathroom with pants he’d somehow managed to tug up his legs, “if I ever complain about fucking you outside under a full moon, the fucked up one is me, not you,” he said, shooting me a soft, sexy little smile.
“Are you leaning in the doorway to look at me, or is it helping hold you up?” I asked, moving my legs up and down on the mattress.
“Honestly? A bit of both,” he admitted, and the pain and exhaustion was clear on his face.
“Okay. Enough of the tough-guy bullshit,” I said, hopping up, and going over to help him into bed, then pulling the blanket up over the two of us. “Fair warning, I’m a snuggler,” I told him as I rested my head on his shoulder.
“Wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Neither would I.
I fell asleep in the arms of a man I’d felt an instant connection with from the first time I’d seen him, a man I thought I would never get to be with.
All was right in the world.
—
“I’m going to need to have words with him about this,” my father said as I made my way out of Rowe’s room early the next morning, wearing my pants from the night before, but one of Rowe’s sweatshirts that fit me more like a dress.
“I figured you would,” I agreed, following him into the kitchen to turn on the kettle and get Rowe a cup of coffee. He hadn’t been able to move yet. “But let him get some pain medicine in him first. He can barely move today. He went way overboard last night.”
“Saving you,” my father said.
“Yeah,” I agreed, a smile tugging at my lips.
“Can’t hate a man too much who risked fucking up his back for life to get my girl back,” my dad admitted, sighing.
“That’s what I told him,” I agreed. “He’s worried about what you think.”
“He should be. You were off-limits.”
“Oh, please, Dad,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Would you rather me be with Rowe, who you like and trust and respect, or Briar? Do you remember Briar?”
“The pot dealer with a pin-cushion face?”
“Yep, him. Or there was Marcello,” I added, watching my father’s face darken.
“The drug dealer,” he grumbled.
“Yep. Oh, and there was River,” I said, getting an actual growl from my dad. “Who once splattered your leather jacket with red paint, if I remember correctly. He was the animal rights activist,” I added.
“Okay. Fine. Rowe is fine. But I still want to have words with him.”
“About not hurting me,” I said, grabbing the teabags one of my aunts kept stashed in the cabinet. It wasn’t the herbal stuff I preferred, but since I’d been avoiding the clubhouse for a while, someone probably already tossed my stash.
“Exactly.”
“He’s a good man, Daddy.”
“I know he is.”
“If, for some reason, something didn’t work out with us, he’s still a good man. And even if I got hurt, it wouldn’t be his fault.”
“Babygirl, it is my right as the father of a daughter to put the fear of God in any man who thinks he’s worthy of you. Let me have this.”
“Okay,” I agreed, shrugging. “He knows it’s coming. Don’t make him wait too long. The suspense is going to give him an ulcer.”
“You really like him, don’t you?”
“I do,” I agreed.
“Heard the rumors about you moon-eyeing him for ages.”
“I did.”
“But he didn’t make a move?”
“No. He said he knew I was off-limits. He even tried to reject me. He did reject me. But then his back got messed up, and Malc brought him to me to help…”
