Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Cormac didn’t want to leave Lucy. He woke before dawn and watched her slow, easy breaths, knowing that all he wanted was her.
It was like a switch flipped in Cormac at some point over the past couple of weeks. Before, there was work, and duty, and family. Now, there was all that—and Lucy.
Her softness, her strength, her stubbornness. He wanted to protect her from all that was bad in the world, which included Aaron Phillips and his ilk.
Now, more than ever, Cormac wanted to grind that man beneath his heel. He wanted to make sure that no one threatened Lucy and got away with it. She was his, and he was hers. Forever. She’d said it herself.
Lucy huffed in her sleep, and a hank of hair fell across her face. Cormac reached over and tucked the strands behind her ear, then leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She let out a sleepy mewl, shifting her head closer to Cormac’s shoulder, her hand sliding over his bare chest.
It took him a few long minutes to tear himself away from her. She’d anchored him to the spot with nothing more than a palm over his heart.
But as the light in the room turned from black to gray, Cormac knew he had to get up. He slithered out of bed and jumped in the shower, then dressed for combat and got some breakfast. By the time he went back to the bedroom, Lucy was rubbing her eyes.
The cup of coffee in his hand made a soft clunking sound as he set it down on the nightstand on Lucy’s side of the bed. She saw it, sighed, and gave her luminous smile. “You’re my hero.”
“It’s only coffee.”
“Cormac,” she said, lifting herself so she could lean against the headboard, “it’s coffee in bed .”
He grinned, setting one hand on her blanket-covered thigh.
She met his gaze and let out a heavy sigh. “Time to go?”
He nodded. “Sam will come by to take you to your meeting. He’ll wait outside the building and take you home afterward. You’ll wear the blazer.”
She gave him an insolent little salute. “Yes, sir.”
His fingers squeezed around her thigh. “Lucy, I’m serious.”
Her own hand slid to cover his, thumb stroking the top of his wrist. “I know. I’ll wear it. I just have the urge to give you crap when you order me around.”
“Sometimes you like it when I order you around,” Cormac answered, brow arched.
Lucy’s cheeks went pink, and she gave him a flat look. “What I do or do not like inside the bedroom isn’t the topic of this conversation, Cormac.”
He laughed, then leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Be careful.”
“You too.”
Three words were on the tip of his tongue, but he held them back—barely. Now wasn’t the time to blurt out his feelings. Not when he had to leave her here on her own, when he had to make sure Aaron Phillips and his cronies ended up behind bars. “I’ll see you this afternoon,” he said instead.
She nodded and reached for her coffee, and Cormac left her in the bedroom to go do what he had to do.
By the end of the day, anyone who wanted to do Lucy harm would be imprisoned or incapacitated or dead. That was a promise Cormac intended to keep.
Cormac protected the people he loved. That was written into his DNA. It was inked into the fabric of his soul the moment those burglars robbed him of his childhood. He would never change, and today was simply one of the times that he had to rise to the occasion and do what needed to be done.
Because he loved Lucy. He fell in love with her the moment she let out that outraged gasp when he ate her donuts. Or maybe it was the moment she’d called him an animal and told him to leave her apartment, then smiled at him, cherubic. Maybe he’d fallen for her over the course of the day at the Wedding Expo, when he’d watched her glow at every new customer who stopped at her booth.
He’d protect her, even if it cost him his health, his safety, his life. She was worth it, because she was Lucy.
Lucy drank her coffee and listened to the clack of the locks sliding into place behind Cormac. She leaned her head back against the headboard and watched the light brighten as the minutes went by. The light was still silvery, not yet pierced by the sun’s golden rays.
She thought she’d be more nervous today, but her mind was calm.
Last time she’d choked, she was giving a presentation in a conference room for a product she didn’t care about. She was faking it until she made it—and then she failed.
Now, things were different. She’d pitch her own designs, and she believed in her own talents. She’d stand in front of the corporate team for Juniper and Sage and sell herself. For once, she felt worthy.
Cormac had made her coffee milky and sweet, just the way she liked it. As she took another sip, she thought of the man who’d changed her life in such a short amount of time.
He hadn’t actually changed her , Lucy realized. He’d only made it possible for Lucy to unearth the confidence that had been buried under shame and embarrassment. He’d treated her like she was competent from the moment he met her, and Lucy had had no choice but to go along with it.
And, she’d discovered, Cormac was right. Lucy was competent. She ran her own business, which she’d built from a blank page. She could put on her sales face, even when she’d rather be alone. She could stand up against a bully and stand guard while Cormac installed a covert camera in a tree.
Lucy wasn’t a quivering baby deer, ready to dart away at the first sign of danger. She was smart, and resourceful, and determined.
Whether or not the pitch today was successful didn’t matter. Lucy would persevere. She’d make her own success.
As she swung out of bed and let her toes wiggle against the thick pile of the bedroom rug, Lucy straightened her spine and smiled. Then she got up and prepared for her big meeting.
This time, she wouldn’t crack under pressure. She would fight her own monsters, and she’d win.