Page 65 of Protected from Reprisal
Sinking into the chair beside her, I release a heavy sigh before saying, “You’re right. That was shitty of me.”
“And bossy,” Yara adds. “And a little paternalistic.”
Eeesh.
Shitty, bossy,andpaternalistic. That’s definitely not how I want her to see me.
But she’s right.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, meaning it. “I guess… I was worried about you already. And then when I came in and saw you working, I just…”
The corner of Yara’s mouth twitches. “Freaked out?”
“I didn’t freak out. I just… overreacted.”
One eyebrow arches up. “I’d say so.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeat. “Really. I didn’t have the right to do that. It was rude and bossy. And you have every right to be mad at me.”
Yara’s quiet for a moment as she looks at me. Then she moves her chair closer to mine. “I’m not mad. Annoyed, yes. But you’d have to be bossier than that to really make me mad.”
“Okay.” I nod. “Well, I’ll try really hard not to do that again. So you won’t have to be annoyedormad at me.”
She regards me thoughtfully before replying, “I get it, Ace. Why you worry. If the positions were flipped, I’d worry about you, too.”
Relief floods through me. “You’d worry about me?”
Her elbow nudges my side. “Of course, Ace. I care about you.” A beat passes, and then, “I’d probably get a little bossy if I thought you were pushing yourself too hard. Not thatIwas, just sitting here, typing on my laptop, but if you were doing something stupid?—”
“Hey.” I give her a mock-hurt look. “I wouldn’t do something stupid.”
“No, you probably wouldn’t,” she concedes. “But if you went off on some job while you were all injured, I’d worry. And I’d probably try to stop you.”
“You’d stop me? How?”
“I don’t know.” Yara purses her lips. “Convince you at first. If that didn’t work, I’d try to distract you.”
“Oh?” This time when I reach for her hand, she doesn’t pull it away. “How would you distract me?”
Her fingers lace between mine. “Kissing you, to start. Do you think that would work?”
My dick, who knows damn well he’s not getting lucky anytime soon, not when Yara’s hurt, jumps to attention. I silently command him to stand down while saying, “It might. What else would you try if it didn’t?”
A smile curves her lips. “I might try touching you. Or taking off my clothes. Maybe both.”
“I think thatwouldbe distracting,” I agree. “In fact, it kind of makes me want to try something stupid and dangerous, just to see how convincing you can be.”
“Ace.” She squeezes my hand. “You don’t have to do that to get me to kiss you.”
“No?”
“No.” Leaning close, her lips brush lightly against mine. “I’m always willing to kiss my slightly bossy and overprotective boyfriend.”
Boyfriend?
Meeting my gaze, her cheeks go pink as she asks, “Is that okay? To call you that?”
“Your boyfriend?”
