Page 72 of When He Plays

Seriously, he had? He’d stayed that entire time? With her? His clothes were rumpled, and the five o’clock shadow on his jaw seemed so very dark.

“We’ll tell the world that you woke up, and I confessed that I loved you. That I couldn’t live without you. I insisted we marry right away. Bam. Perfect reason for you to always be with me. Perfect reason for you to get an intro and fast pass into every aspect of my life.” His voice roughened as he said, “I’m offering you the dream role for this case, giving it to you on a silver platter.”

“I don’t…” Charlotte shook her head. “Why would you want to even do that? We can just tell everyone we’re lovers. You don’t have to take a real, legal step with me.” That was going way too far.

“But what happens if you have another emergency?” She could not read the expression on his face. “What if only family can make the decision about what happens to you? Who will make that call?”

She didn’t have family.

“The case is dangerous,” Logan rasped.

Like she needed the reminder. But, generally, all of her cases were dangerous. Not like working for the CIA was some kind of casual stroll in the park.

“You’ve got this psycho’s attention. Clearly.” A huff. “My money is on our perp being Ares, so I don’t know why the hell I can’t just destroy the bastard right now.”

Ares was the prime suspect for her, too. “We’ll get the tox screen results back. If there were drugs in the champagne bottle, we’ll have proof that we can use against him. We can’t go on hunches. We need real, physical evidence to convict the man.”

“Other option, I can just beat the shit out of him and get him to talk.”

“That’s…not how the CIA works.” She seemed to tell him that a lot.

His head cocked. His hand rose, slid under her chin, and tipped her head back. “You sure, baby? Because I’ve watched plenty of spy movies that say otherwise.”

“This isn’t a movie.” Soft.

She thought he’d argue. She braced herself for an argument but⁠—

“Marry me.”

Was he really back to that?

“You can always get a quickie divorce later.” Breezy words.

“Or an annulment,” she mumbled. Not that she was considering marrying him. She wasn’t. Was she?

No, he’s not serious. This is some bluff. A game. You know the man excels at his games.

One strong hand stroked her back, a careful caress, and the other still curled under her chin.

Logan’s brows climbed as he seemed to absorb what she’d just said. “An annulment?” A shake of his head. “Hold up. Don’t you get one of those when you don’t actually consummate the marriage?”

“That’s one of the reasons you can get one, yes.”

“Oh, sweetheart, no.” He seemed horrified. “We will fuck. We will fuck long and hard, and you will be begging for more.”

She might have let out a little squeak. Her bad. But his voice had just sounded so sexy when he made that dark promise.

“When you’re fully recovered, of course,” he amended. Still deep, dark, and sounding all sensual.

“Of course.” A weak echo.

“By the way, we left the hospital so quickly that you didn’t get a final checkout. No worries. I’ll have a doctor waiting at the hotel for you. He’ll examine you and make sure all is well.”

“What? You just snap your fingers and make a doctor appear?”

“Takes a little more work than that. I had to pull some strings and snap my fingers.”

He was never serious⁠—