Page 5 of The Arrangement

“This will work great,” JD said as he came into the room holding a pillow from the bed, his bag casually thrown over one broad shoulder. “My feet might not even hang off if I sleep sideways.”

I frowned and glanced behind him toward the bedroom. “What are you talking about? The bed is plenty long enough, even for giants like you.”

He laughed, and for one tiny,tinymoment, I wasn’t stressed the fuck out about this horrible turn of events. Shame it couldn’t last. “You’re not exactly short, Marc.”

I shrugged and, after floundering with what to do with my hands, settled on shoving them into the pockets of my exercise shorts. A move that did not escape Gallagher. “Maybe not, but I’m not exceptionally tall either. I’m average.”

“Average is not a word I would use to describe you.” His gaze never left mine, but it didn’t diminish the sensation of being catalogued from head to toe.

I cleared my throat, though it did nothing for my mounting embarrassment. “Anyway, the bed is more than big enough. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” I turned to grab the extra blanket I’d taken out, only to whip back around at the squeak of old springs and find JD sitting on the pullout, plumping the pillow he’d grabbed. “Um, what are you doing?”

He glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. “Going to sleep.”

“Okay, but you’re sleeping in there.” I pointed to the bedroom as if he needed instructions.

He set the pillow aside and leaned back on his arms to look at me. My heart lurched into my throat, and breathing suddenly became a chore. “Was Jones going to sleep on the couch?”

“Yeah,” I replied by rote. The rest of my brain was too absorbed in the way he’d watched me with half-lidded eyes while he thrust his hips and asked me if I liked how that felt.

“Then unless I’m not sleeping in that bed alone, if the couch is good enough for Jones, it’s good enough for me.”

I finally latched onto what he was saying and shook my head. “No, I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because you… you’re…”A higher rank than me and saved my life. “Look, I can’t just let you sleep on the couch. Jones is another matter.”

“Well, Jones isn’t here. I am.”

I huffed. I was one hundred percent going to be ripping Jones a new one for this stunt. “But your feet are going to hang off.”

“Not if I sleep diagonally.” He winked and continued to get comfortable as if I wasn’t still standing right there, which included removing his worn Army shirt before pulling back the covers.

NOPE.

I all but scurried into the bedroom, not even sure if I’d offered some kind of “goodnight” or “sleep well”. By the time I’d gotten under the covers and as comfortable as I was going to get, I had several choice things I planned to say to Jones first thing in the morning. As it was, it’d be a miracle if I could fall asleep at all with the man I was absolutely never supposed to see again lying in the other room barely wearing more than he had been the last time I’d seen him. Then I realized he hadn’t taken justapillow. He’d taken mine.

Fuck.

Chapter 4

James

Iwondered how long it would take to stop waking up at the crack ass of dawn and if it would even be worth it if I’d just be re-upping again. A sigh of defeat preceded me as I rolled off‌ the pull-out mattress. It wasn’t the best thing I’d ever slept on, but it was also a far cry from the worst.

I stretched and scratched at my chest as I made my way into the kitchen. I was relieved to see that despite only being here a day, Marc had prioritized getting it stocked with the essentials—most importantly, the coffee. Midway through getting the pot ready, my bladder reminded me none too politely that it was not a fan of the only bathroom being in the main bedroom.

I was debating whether to let myself in, awkwardness be damned, or simply pissing in the sink when the sound of a raised voice caught my attention. Not that Marc was shouting. He was actually doing a damn good job of keeping the argument relatively quiet. Probably wouldn’t have heard it at all if I’d been asleep. And I wasn’t a nosy fucker. On the upside, at least Iwasn’t the only one awake at this god-awful hour for no apparent reason.

“God damn it, Jones,” Marc said forcefully on the other side of the closed bedroom door.

I paused in pulling out coffee cups to listen more closely. It hadn’t escaped my notice that Marc had not been expecting me, nor was he too happy about it. I was kind of hoping that was more of a Jones-thing and less of a me-thing, and eavesdropping was the fastest way to find out.

“You couldn’t even fucking call? Why didn’t you tell me something came up?” Marc asked. “No. You said you’d have to follow behind,notthat you’d be sending a replacement in your stead.”

I shook my head and finished setting down the cups, then went in search of silverware. Jones was a good guy and could be a great friend, but when he wasn’t on active duty, I swore he had a memory like a goldfish. It wasn’t that he didn’t care. I knew that, just like I was pretty sure Marc knew that. Otherwise he’d have flaked with barely more than a “sorry”.

“I do appreciate you still finding a way to help. I do. But did it have to be fucking Gallagher?”