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“I am a lucky girl for that.” I gave him a quick hug.
“Feeling any better?” he asked.
“A little calmer, thank you.”
“Great. Why don’t you take a bath, have some hot tea, and relax? We’ll move in the morning.”
I didn’t love the plan. But the upheaval could wait until tomorrow, I surmised. Amano was doing Amano things, anyway. No need to disrupt his business, especially since he was helping Dane and the rest of us. I didn’t want to hinder their progress. The quicker my bodyguard got to the bottom of the snake visit, in addition to the indictments being wrapped up, the sooner Dane could come home. For good.
I took Kyle’s advice and felt a little less tense as, later on, I curled on the couch and flipped through magazines. I retired early and crawled under the covers—after I had Kyle double-check all the locks on the windows and patio doors in my room. Take a peek beneath the bed and inside the closet for critters of the reptilian variety.
My nerves were still jangled, but I was exhausted, so it wasn’t too difficult to drift off.
I woke some time later, a warm body spooning me from behind, muscles surrounding me. Or maybe I was dreaming of the intimate cocoon, because Dane couldn’t possibly have returned so soon. He’d just been here with the FBI when they were in hot pursuit of Vale.
“Am I imagining this hard, hunky body pressed against me?” I whispered.
“Nope.” His soft lips grazed my neck. I’d pulled my long, dark-brown hair up in a messy ponytail before falling asleep.
“Who called you?”
“Kyle.”
“You’re kidding?”
“He was worried about you. Said you had a meltdown earlier.” Dane’s voice was a low rumble against my skin. Sensuous, though also tinged with concern. “That’s not like you, baby. At all. And it’s not like Kyle to think he can’t handle on his own anything that spins you up.”
My eyes squeezed shut for a moment. “I suppose he mentioned the rattlesnakes?”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“Dane.” I sighed. Wiggling in his loose embrace, I rolled onto my other side to face him. A devilishly handsome man with strong, sculpted features and a commanding, reassuring presence.
I whisked my fingertips over his cheek, then tried to smooth away the furrow between his brows. Not much luck there.
I told him, “You can’t keep running back every time something happens to me. That’s why Kyle and Amano stick around. To talk me off the ledges and protect me.”
“That should be my job, right?” I heard the anguish in his voice and it broke my heart.
“You have another job to do. A very important one. And they know it—they understand how risky this is for you, too. How painful, really.” I thought of Kyle’s words when I’d had my panic attack. He wasn’t hip on admitting Dane was living the proverbial rock and a hard place existence for a valiant cause but clearly couldn’t dismiss it.
“Nothing’s more important than you,” Dane said, his emerald eyes glowing with an intense longing that mirrored my own, deep in my soul. The slivers of moonlight filtering in through the shutters made his dark-green irises shimmer, captivating me.
“And our baby,” he added as he rubbed my stomach in the slow, circular motion that always made me want to purr. No matter how wound up I was. He had a very soothing effect on me.
“I’m not arguing the fact that you’re here, or complaining about it,” I told him. His priorities had shifted from 10,000 Lux to me when we married. Now to include our child. Dane wasn’t the type to shy away from his responsibilities, but his focus really needed to be on his work with the FBI. “I don’t want to distract you.”
“Too late,” he murmured against my lips, sending a shiver of delight down my spine. “It’s impossible to stay away from you. Impossible to get you out of my mind.”
His hand slid under the oatmeal-colored Henley I wore—his shirt. Unfortunately, it smelled of fabric softener, not Dane. Though it would after tonight, and tomorrow I’d be thrilled about that when I put it on again.
He palmed my breast and gently massaged.
“You don’t have to be so careful with me,” I reminded him. Ever since he’d found out I was pregnant, he’d considered me fragile. I wasn’t.
He caressed a little rougher and excitement shot through me.
“Better,” I said on a heavy sigh.
