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I've helped them make it as restful and rewarding as possible while still maintaining the degree of top quality such perfectionists require to feel proud of their work as artists and to make their fans happy. However, the entire touring experience is always a fast-tracked, jet-lag-riddled event and still remains harrowing for them, not two ways about it.
This time they have been away for about two months and played at thirty-two venues. They’ve been back in D.C. only once, and just for a day at that, when Carson surprised the hell out of me by unexpectedly dropping in with Rick and Sly in tow at Gallaudet to attend my thesis discussion.
So saying that my man’s totally knackered would be a euphemism of the worst kind.
I haven’t seen the other guys yet, but I can only imagine the state they are in.
I stepinto the room as quietly as I think it’s possible, almost holding my breath as I look down at him and feel my heart squeeze, both with love and happiness at having him back home and at the excitement of the news I’m about to share with him, and with worry at how pale and drawn his handsome face looks even in repose.
I sigh. As soon as I took a look at him and saw how exhausted and jet-lagged he was, I should have resisted his advances and forced him to take a nap. Alone. But as usual, we were both too weak and too gone over each other to even think of such things.
Our little steamy reunion has undoubtedly worsened things, but we couldn't help it. We never can. Especially if we've been apart for any amount of time.
Forty-eight hours missing each other are already too much for us, so being without each other all this time was unbearable. We had to make up for it. And we did. The buzz still humming in my veins, the pleasant soreness in my lower back, and the slight sting between my thighs all attest to that, alongside the red scratch marks over his inked back and the chains of love bites running up and down his body.
Carson wasn’t completely inside the door when he pulled me to him for a bear hug and a searing kiss that left me reeling. After that, my memory is one hell of a sexy blur. We stopped to make love so many times all over our apartment that I can’t even remember how or when did we finally make it to the bedroom.
This time I’m going to make sure he gets plenty of rest for at least two weeks, no matter how much crap he gives me about having to go back to work. My man would never stop if left to his own devices.
I’ve been done with my masters for a while now, and just three weeks ago, I started my internship with Homeland Security. So, I couldn’t exactly take an extended leave of absence to tour the States with my hubby and his pals.
Carson knew I was going to be pretty busy on this project for the next six months or so, and since his overprotective ass can give my older brother’s a run for its money any day and he didn’t feel comfortable being on the other side of the globe from me, he made sure thatBurning 21would be touring only nationally to promote their new album at least until the new year when I’ll be all done with the internship.
Jared, the traitor, didn’t help matters when he told Carson he should have persuaded me to accept the position with the FBI in his own department so he could watch over me –aka babysit me– while my hubby was gone with the band rather than encouraging me to go around vetting possible terrorists for the DHS. He made Carson’s anxiety over me skyrocket, and he’s still on my shit list for that.
My poor baby is proud of me, and he’s super supportive of my choices. He was one-hundred percent backing me up from the start, and he kept his word that he would let me do what I felt was right, but I could see that it cost him.
My hubby's peace of mind is invaluable to me. I hate adding to his stress in such a way, which is one of the reasons why I won't be accepting the DHS's offer of making my position permanent any time soon.
The other reason being what I read on a certain tiny screen two days ago.
I haven’t told my brother yet, but he will really have me on his team next year and sooner than I thought. I’msogoing to annoy his ass like any little sister should when the time comes. I’ll make sure he regrets that crack about babysitting me every single day.
The other two overgrown louts I've been saddled with weren't too happy with my choice either and even came up with a job offer of their own. They claimedBurning 21needed me to vet all the personnel that comes in contact with them for potential threats —and potential assholes. A thing I already do for free and more than happily at that. But they said they would need me full-time. Yeah. As can be imagined, they were no help at all when it came down to making my hubby see reason. Nope, they went all-in on the crazy-making train and sided with him when he put the ban on them going abroad. No way were they leaving the States for such a long period of time as an international tour would require when I wasrisking my life.
Trying to explain that I don’t risk anything other than strained eyes looking at stills, videos, and freeze-frames of potential bad guys through a computer screen from the safety of my own office and simply point out to my superiors who are the ones I think are lying, hiding something or could be trouble, was, of course, pointless.
That’s what I have to deal with. Not one overprotective bear but four. Yippee.
I check my pocket again and let go of a shaky breath when I feel the thin rectangular shape trapped against the jean fabric, and I clutch the bottle of cold Evian in my other hand a little harder.
I was tempted to let him sleep through the night, but then I remembered how he tends to forgo eating and even drinking water when he's on his jet and feeling this tired, and that's something I need to fix immediately. I need to get some water into him and then some food ASAP.
Also, I’m practically buzzing all over in nervous excitement, and I don’t think I could resist another hour without telling him.
i I slowly make my way to the bed and then sit on the edge, on my side of it. I put the bottle on the nightstand and reach out to gently caress the side of his face with the tips of my fingers. God, I might be diving into co-dependent territory without a parachute here, but damn… I’ve missed him so much that part of me kind of feels like I’m missing him still. Like I’ll wake up in this very bed tomorrow alone, and this will have all been just a dream, and it will still be days before my husband comes back to me. It’s always like this when he returns from a tour I had to miss. I feel so happy, so relieved, but there’s a sadness in my heart like I just got back a piece of my soul but haven’t quite found a way to fit it back into place yet.
It doesn’t last long, this feeling. I just need his beautiful aqua-green eyes to open and crinkle at the corners when he smiles at me, and that jagged puzzle piece will seamlessly merge with the rest of my soul.
I trace the little crease that the pillow left on his temple with a heart full to bursting.
God, I’m so emotional right now.
I guess it's understandable, but I feel a little crazy and like I'm about to crack any second now.
I feel his forehead and sigh in relief when it registers that it’s cool to the touch.
Despite his protests in between bouts of sex when I mentioned that he looked a little bit under the weather to me, I was worried he would develop a fever like he sometimes does when he’s jet-lagged, but it looks like he’s just passed out from exhaustion and nothing else.
