Chapter 28
“Ireally think I should be allowed out of bed, Eli,” she said with exasperation.
“Nope,” Eli told her. “I’m going to order some room service for breakfast. What would you like?”
“Um, I don’t know.” Right now what she really wanted was to get out of bed and pee and shower.
“We’ll go for some eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausages, fruit salad, and oatmeal. Will that be enough?” he asked. “None of that should have peanuts although I will double check.”
“Enough for who? The three of us? I don’t know.”
“No. For you, baby.”
“Eli Jones. I won’t eat that much.”
He eyed her for a long moment. “You missed dinner.”
“So? I’ve missed plenty of meals and I’m fine.”
“You have? Why? Who made you miss meals?”
“No one made me. Sometimes I get deeply involved with a cake and I forget what time it is.”
“That won’t be happening anymore.” He pointed at her. “No skipping meals.”
She sighed. “I wasn’t doing it on purpose, you know.”
“Still not happening. We’re in charge of taking care of you now.”
“I feel like you think that gives you the right to be bossy.”
“Nope,” he said.
Nope? That was surprising.
“Bossier,” he added with a grin.
This guy. She shook her head at him. “I think it’s physically impossible for you to get bossier.”
“Oh, think again,” he said. “I can always be bossier. And wait until Kellan winds up into full-on protective mode. He’s going to make me look like I’m easygoing.”
“What are you talking about? Kellan is protective now.”
He just grinned.
He was teasing her. He had to be, right?
“Will Kellan be back from his run soon?” she asked. “Shall we order him breakfast?”
“Yeah, I’ll order him some food.”
She pushed the covers back and slid her legs over the side of the bed.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Eli said, turning and pointing a finger at her. “Stay.”
To her shock, Horse rose from where he’d been lying beside her and placed himself over her lap.
She stared down at him in shock. Eli looked surprised then smug. “See? Even Horse agrees. Good dog. I’ll order you a bone.”
Lord.
She rolled her eyes so hard she nearly hurt herself. “First, I don’t think they have bone service here. And second, I have to use the facilities.”
“The facilities?” he asked.
“Yes, the toilet. I need the toilet.”
He grinned. “You can say the word ‘toilet’ to me, baby. One day, I’m going to have my tongue over every inch of your body. I think I can handle knowing you have to pee.”
Hmm. He had a point.
“I’m not used to being in a relationship that wasn’t very formal and almost . . . choreographed, I guess you would say. Other than my boyfriend in high school, my only two relationships were arranged.”
“Those weren’t relationships,” he said, frowning. “That was coercion and abuse.”
She shook her head. “I wanted to be engaged to Cole. I thought he was my ticket out of my life.” And it had hurt a lot when he’d ended things.
“And that first asshole . . . that wasn’t a proper relationship either.”
No, it hadn’t been.
“So what you’re saying is that I’ve never had a proper relationship with a man? At twenty-six?”
Wow. She was pathetic.
“Not a relationship where a man cares about you. Where it means something. Where he wants you and puts you first. That’s a proper relationship. Where you’re taken care of and your needs aren’t just met but exceeded.”
She sucked in a breath. “Right. You’re right. I’ve never had that.”
“You do now.”
Arabella swallowed heavily and nodded. She definitely hoped so. “That still doesn’t change the fact that I have to pee.”
“All right, baby. But I’ll take you. Horse, off.”
Horse just stared at him as if to say that he didn’t take orders from this man. Which was funny but a bit too little too late in her opinion.
“Horse, off,” she said.
Horse heaved a sigh and got off.
“Oh, Horse will need to go outside too.” Some dog owner she was. “I’ll take him down first.”
“I’ll take him down in a minute. First, you.” He carried her into the bathroom and set her down in front of the toilet. “Do you need any help?”
“What? No! Sheesh.” What sort of help would she need? “Out!”
“And you think we’re the bossy ones,” he grumbled. “Call for me when you’re done.”
She sighed as she used the toilet and got up to wash her hands. A squeal left her mouth as she took in her appearance.
Holy. Moly. She looked terrible.
“What’s wrong? Are you ready to come out yet?” Eli asked.
“Um, give me a second,” she said as she washed her face and tidied up her hair. She wished there was a toothbrush in here.
What sort of breath must she have? And she desperately needed a shower.
Walking over, she opened the door. Eli stood on the other side, his hands on his hips as he glared at her. “Why are you walking?”
“Eli, nothing happened to my legs! I went into anaphylactic shock. That doesn’t mean that my legs don’t work. I’m fine today. I could have gone for a run with Kellan.”
Although he’d left before she’d woken up.
“Like hell,” he said, picking her up and carrying her back to the bed. He laid her in and pulled the covers over her before sitting and facing her.
Then he cupped her chin, tilting her head back. “You’re precious. And you deserve to be treated as such. Maybe that means we’re a teensy bit overprotective. But I’d rather that than you get hurt.”
Shoot.
Well, that stopped her complaints. Wouldn’t she prefer that they cared too much than not at all?
Definitely yes.
Leaning in, he kissed her lightly. It didn’t take long until she was melting into the kiss and parting her lips.
Then she remembered the fact that she hadn’t brushed her teeth.
Oh no!
She drew her head back so quickly that she smacked into the headboard behind her. A groan of pain escaped her before she could stop it.
“Fuck!” he said. “Are you all right? Did you hurt your head? Oh, baby. Let me see.”
“I’m fine. It was just a small bump.” She rubbed her head, trying to hold back her tears at the sting.
Ouch.
She really was having a rough time.
He leaned her forward and gently pressed on her head. Arabella hissed as he touched a sore patch.
“There’s a small lump. Nothing too bad.” He helped her sit back and then held up three fingers.
“How many fingers can you see?” he asked.
“Eighty-two.”
He eyed her. “Eighty-two? How many people are in here? Twenty?”
She snorted then froze.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing, just my father hated when I snorted. And three fingers.”
“Who had three fingers?” he asked. “And I think you’re cute when you snort.”
“You do. You have them raised. Three fingers. And snorting is not cute.”
“Oh yes, it is. When you do it anyway.” He held her chin again as he studied her eyes. “Pupils look okay.”
“I don’t have a concussion. It was just a small bump.”
“Can never be too cautious. Why did you jerk back like that? If you don’t want me to kiss you, just pull away and tell me no. Or I can give you a safeword if you like.”
There was a strange note in his voice. It almost sounded like he felt unsure? Vulnerable?
Shoot. She hated that she might have made him feel that way.
“It’s not that. I didn’t want to stop.”
“It didn’t look that way to me,” he told her.
“No, it’s just that . . . urgh, I haven’t brushed my teeth!” she blurted before she chickened out.
He blinked as he stared at her. “That’s it?”
“That’s a big deal. My breath is probably rancid. This is so embarrassing.”
“Nothing should be embarrassing between us,” he told her. “You can tell me everything. And your breath isn’t rancid. Next time, just tell me you need to stop. But, just so you know, I don’t care about your breath. All I cared about was the way you kissed me back. Like you wanted me.”
“There shouldn’t be any doubts about that,” she muttered.
He grinned. “That’s good to know. Now, I’ve ordered breakfast, it will be twenty minutes. Kellan said he will be back by then. I’m going to take Horse out and I’ll get you a toothbrush from the hotel shop, all right?”
“Thank you.”
“Then I can kiss you without you giving yourself a concussion.”
Oh yes, please.
“Anything else you need?” he asked.
“Um, maybe a hairbrush if it’s not a problem. Or I can go down.”
“I can see it’s going to be hard to teach you how to let others take care of you, isn’t it? Stay in bed.”
Getting off the bed, he grabbed Horse’s lead. “Come on, Horse.”
Horse just stared at him balefully before sighing and laying his head back on the bed.
“Horse, go with Eli,” she said. “It will only be for a moment.”
Horse climbed off the bed, moving slowly like this was a huge inconvenience for him.
She loved that dog.
“We’ll be five minutes. Don’t open the door to anyone. Kellan has a keycard and so do I. Behave.”
He said that like he thought she wouldn’t behave.
Sheesh.
As soon as they had left, she glanced at the bathroom door. Hmm. Five minutes was plenty of time for a quick shower, right?
Because she was starting to feel gross. And if they kept insisting on getting close to her and touching her, then the last thing she wanted was to be smelly.
Yeah. He’d never know.
Getting out of bed, she headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower before stripping off the large T-shirt of Eli’s that she’d worn to bed.
Hmm.
She might have to keep that.
After all, it wasn’t like she had anything else to wear.
Don’t think about that.
It’s just stuff.
She ran through the list in her head of everything she’d need to get while she climbed into the shower.
It felt . . . overwhelming.
Start small. First, the stuff for her job and the bare necessities in terms of clothing.
She could do this. Even if she had to go to a charity shop for her clothes.
You have this.
Don’t panic.
A small sob escaped her as a shudder ran through her body.
No, no, no.
You have this. Don’t get upset. Whoever did that won’t get to you. The guys will make sure of that.
But what if they were put in danger? She wouldn’t forgive herself if something happened to them.
They’re FBI agents, they’re not helpless.
Why couldn’t life just give her a bit of a break? Instead, it seemed like it was intent on throwing everything it could at her to see if she would break.
“I won’t break. I won’t bend. I will survive.”
“You’re gonna do more than survive.”