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I loved the things he said.
I closed my eyes, a silly smile probably stretching my lips.
There was the kind of sleep that drew you under and didn’t let you up. That was what happened then. I told him my secrets, had the best sex of my life, and fell asleep in his arms. I wasn’t sure I could ever remember being as relaxed as I was then.
I woke up knowing I was alone.
Where had he gone?
The deep sound of his voice told me he wasn’t in the bedroom but talking to someone elsewhere. I rose from the bed, and on quiet feet, snuck to the hallway to see what he was doing.
Michael stared at something on his computer screen—a video feed of some people I didn’t know. A woman in a bathing suit and a man shirtless by a pool starred in the video.
“Yes, I see them,” he spoke again. “I’m running recognition software, Your Honor, but I don’t see anything that screams an immediate threat. If you want me to send someone to trail them,I can, but all I’m getting on the feed are two rich people who have befriended your son and his wife, nothing more.” He paused. “Sure. I’ll do that. Two weeks of a tail, and we’ll know. You got it. Goodbye.”
He set down his phone and sighed before he turned around to see me in the doorway. “Sorry, work called, so to speak.”
“I never heard your phone ring.”
“You wouldn’t.” He lifted his watch. “It buzzes me quietly. I have to work for a while and watch these people swimming to see if they’re going to extort someone.”
I almost asked him which Your Honor he’d been talking to but decided against it. I didn’t want to know, and his job had to be private. He probably shouldn’t even let me see the screen. The thought made me wonder if anyone else ever sat and watched a screen starring me and what I might have been doing at the time? I quickly decided it might be another one of those questions where I would be better off never finding out the answer.
Michael extended his arms, and I walked into them. I slid onto his lap, resting my head against his chest. “If you want to sleep right here, Bridget, I’d love it. Just stay with me tonight. Don’t leave me to do this alone. I hate it sometimes. Even as much as I love it, I hate it.”
I got that. Work felt that way frequently to me, too. “I think I prefer you doing this than being there watching where they could shoot at you.”
“I never think about that. I knew my parents would mourn me, but there’s never been anyone in my life who would have cared if I died. I took risks I shouldn’t have taken because it didn’t matter.”
I kissed his arm. “I would have cared, Michael.”
“I know that now. And I won’t be a jackass about things. As much as I can, I’ll stay put behind a computer and payothers to take the risks. I’m just a little type A and not great at micromanaging.”
I put my head back against his chest and closed my eyes. “I like to hear your heartbeat.”
“That’s sweet. Just stay with me in the dark tonight, okay? Sometimes I get funny in the dark. The three years between leaving the Army and coming home, I made a lot of money working for private contractors. I can’t tell you what I did oversea s, not ever. All I can tell you is I used the money to start my business, and that’s how your father found me. I’m glad it enabled me to do what I did, but I want you to know that I know what it is to be sorry for things and wonder if things are worse because I was there.”
He really did understand me. That was lovely. “Am I hurting you, sitting here like this?”
“No.” He nuzzled my head. “Close your eyes. Don’t look at these people whose privacy we are invading because they don’t know we’re watching.”
“Well, I imagine you got permission from the homeowner to install cameras?”
He nodded. “I did.”
I shrugged easily. “In that case, it’s not really on you to tell the people swimming, is it? But I’m not watching.” I really did close my eyes. “Move me when your arm falls asleep.”
He didn’t answer me, so I smiled again. “We can make the dark friendlier for each other. How’s that, Michael?”
“Sounds like a plan, Bridget Radford.” He stroked my arm. “Do you like movies? Tomorrow night we could watch a movie. You like comedies, right?”
I did. And I particularly wanted to watch one with him. “That would be nice.”
“Will you ice my arm when it hurts after PT tomorrow?”
The man had been breaking every rule when it came to his shoulder and arm, so I snorted out a small laugh. “Sure.”
I grinned. This was the best night of my life.
