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“This is your estate. Where your family now lives. This goes beyond what we did—what we said—in New York.”
“You know, I’d never take you as one to cling to avoidance, Doc. You’re very much a grab the bull by the horns kind of woman. And you sure as hell don’t cower in any corners when faced with adversity. So, why does this unnerve you?”
She waited for the driver to slip behind the wheel and pull away before she asked, “Whose bed am I going to be sleeping in tonight, Damen?”
He felt a surge of testosterone over that query. “Mine, naturally.” He couldn’t stop himself from saying those words. Even though he sensed that was the wrong answer.
Sure enough, she told him, “I haven’t slept in another man’s bed. Only one man’s bed.”
“And you feel as though you’re betraying that one man, yes?”
“Yes. Sort of,” she added. Then sighed. “Rationally, no, of course I’m not.”
“Emotionally, though?”
She gazed up at him again, this time with a more imploring look in her gorgeous green eyes. “When you’ve spent so long not feeling anything toward any other man, romantically, you wonder when it’s okay to allow yourself to start feeling something.”
“Romantically,” he carefully added.
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Well. Why don’t we just call this a slumber party, and you and Mads can have a pillow fight in the morning over pancakes?”
She smirked at him for trying to alleviate the tension with a dose of humor. But the smirk quickly faded. “We’d both know better.”
“Of course we would,” he said.
“Fine.” She inhaled deeply. Exhaled slowly. Then added, “I’m too exhausted to continue arguing. And I’m not letting my laptop out of my sight. And… I’d actually be able to sleep if you were next to me. Your intuition and reflexes are astounding. You didn’t waste a second when that tracking device went off—or when you saw Garcia.”
“Those are my notables?” he quipped.
She stared up at him again and fluttered her long, sooty lashes. “One heart palpitation at a time, big guy.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her up the steps. The doors swept open at their approach and Damen introduced her to Lamont, the night butler.
“Please have Dr. Kane’s luggage delivered to my room,” Damen instructed. Then asked, “Everyone’s asleep?”
“Yes, sir. It’s been quiet.”
&
nbsp; “Very good.” Damen led her up the curving staircase to the second floor mezzanine. “I’ll give you the grand tour tomorrow. In the meantime, my suite is at the end of this hallway. Madelena’s and my mother’s rooms are in the opposite wing. The breakfast buffet will be set at seven and pancake service beings at nine, since Mads is on winter break and likes to sleep in.”
“Joke all you want, but those pancakes are sounding divine right now. I can’t remember the last time I ate. It certainly wasn’t on the plane.”
“I can have the chef prep an entire platter and send it up.”
Nikki whistled under her breath. “Why would you ever stay at a hotel?”
“Occupational requirement,” he merely said.
“Right. So true.”
They reached his suite and he opened one of the mammoth doors for her to pass through. She drew up short, taking in the vast, opulent space, with two fireplaces that had low blazes in the hearth, because Damen had alerted Lamont to their impending arrival when they’d changed vehicles in New Jersey.
“Wow,” Nikki said. “A family of eight could live quite comfortably in here.”
He chuckled.
