Page 60 of Rogue Protector
“Are necessary. But as good as Wren and Royce are—and they’re the best—no piece of technology is completely tamper-proof. Let me clear the house, and then we can relax. I can draw you another bath?” With a quick wink, I open her door and pull the Beretta from the holster. Now that I know the layout, it only takes me two minutes to verify we’re alone, and once I send Ronan back to his hotel, I flip the deadbolt and scoop Mik into my arms.
“Austin!” she protests with a weak laugh. “Put me down.”
“Nope. You’re going to relax if I have to take you to bed and worship your body until you don’t know your own name.”
Her mouth opens and shuts so quickly, her teeth snap together. “Oh.”
Carrying her into the bedroom, I lay her down on the bed and straddle her, sealing my lips to hers and offering her everything I am. Watching her handle deadly poison was almost more than I could handle, but it was also sexy as hell. Her confidence. Poise. The way she took control of her space and her work and just expected me to listen.
“Mikayla, I need you,” I manage as my dick strains against my zipper. “But—“
“But you also need to know what’s on that drive,” she says, reading my thoughts so easily, I wonder if I’ve lost my edge. The tight control I’ve always kept over my thoughts, fears, emotions.
“Is it that obvious?” I ask, sliding off her and getting to my feet.
“Yep.” She reaches out and cups my hard length with one hand and my cheek with the other. “Both parts.”
I’m shocked at her new-found confidence—even more than I was last night. “One day, Mik, things will be…normal.”
She catches my mistake before I do and offers me a weak smile. “But then, Austin, we’d have to move to Alabama. Or Kentucky. And my work is here.”
We. She said “we.”
The idea that she’s decided there’s a “we” staggers me, and I rub my hand over my chin, the day and a half of stubble rasping against my palm. “No, ma’am. There’s no need to move to Alabama or Kentucky. Maryland’s just fine by me.”
Neither of us move or speak for a full minute. Maybe two. Even though we haven’t said the words, I feel them. And from the sparkle in Mik’s eyes, she does too.
“Did we just…?” she asks.
“I…” Before I can figure out the right words to say, my phone beeps with an incoming text message. “It’s Wren. She wants us to call her.”
“She found something.” Mik swings her legs over the side of the bed, but before she gets up, she flexes her left foot a couple of times. Dammit. I should have known she was still in pain.
She protests when I pick her up again, but I shake my head. “We’re calling Wren from the couch. After I get you an ice pack and a pillow so you can elevate that ankle. I’m being a piss-poor boyfriend at the moment.”
With her cheek against mine, the heat of her blush seeps into my skin. “I didn’t know we’d picked a…label.”
“Honestly,” I say when we reach the bottom of the stairs. “I never really liked the word ‘boyfriend.’”
“You, Austin Pritchard, are definitelynota boy.” Mik’s smile and teasing tone reassure me, despite the exhaustion rimming her eyes. “And ‘manfriend’ makes you sound like a male escort.”
“Partner’s getting pretty popular these days.” I can’t see her face anymore. Not while I’m rummaging in her freezer for an ice pack or bag of peas orsomethingI can use to help with the swelling.
“Partner. You realize what that means, though. Right?”
I toss a bag of frozen corn kernels into the air on my way back to the couch and shake my head. “Besides the obvious? That we’re…together?”
She lets me pull off her shoe, check her range of motion, and lay the bag over the swelling. Before I turn my tablet on, she rests her fingers over my wrist. “It means we’re equals. That you respect my skills. My passions. And I respect your instincts. Those gut feelings that have been so on point the past week.”
“Mik.” I cup her cheeks, staring into her warm brown eyes and finding an emotion neither of us is willing to name, but we agree on, nonetheless. “Seeing you today, in your element? It was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. You know your shit, and if I ever make you feel like you don’t, if Ieverstep over you, talk over you, ignore your expertise, I expect you to give me hell for it. And put me in my fucking place.”
“So, partners?” she whispers, her eyes glistening.
“Partners.” If I could tell her right now, I would. If Wren weren’t waiting for us to call. If worry over what’s on that USB drive wasn’t eating a hole inside of me. If I didn’tneedto know how safe we are more than I need to breathe. I’d tell her I love her. That I’ve fallen so hard and so fast for her, even looking at her takes my breath away. That she sees all the broken parts of me and somehow…she’s starting to put them back together.
“Call her,” Mik says with a light kiss to my cheek. “Maybe she’ll have good news, and we’ll be able to enjoy the rest of our night. In bed.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
