Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sami

I woke up warm, snuggled against Eric’s side, his arms around me. Cozy. Safe. Loved. In the blurry moments between sleep and coming fully awake, I thought, I could get used to this.

He smelled like soap, like he’d gotten up and taken a shower at some point after I fell asleep, and he snored softly.

Or, no, wait.

That was purring.

I cautiously cracked one eye open and saw the ugliest gray cat ever sitting on the edge of the mattress, watching us like it expected something. The cat reached out a paw and batted at Eric’s face. He swatted it away and grumbled, but the cat was not deterred. It pounced and startled Eric out of a sound sleep.

“Wha—what?”

I smiled into his shoulder. “Your cat wants something.”

He lifted his head to squint at the beast, then dropped it back to the pillow. “Ugh. That’s just Lunchmeat.”

I snorted a laugh. “Lunchmeat?”

“Jesse and Lanie’s cat. He lives with them but occasionally finds his way over here for a visit.”

“How’d he get in?”

Yawning, he reached out and stroked a hand along the cat’s back. “Previous owner installed a cat door. I keep meaning to close it up.”

“Liar. You’d have done it by now if you really didn’t want Lunchmeat visiting.”

He laughed softly as the cat bumped his face with its head. “Yeah, you’re right. I was afraid you’d think I was less manly for wanting him here. I actually bribe him with tuna. I never had a pet growing up.”

Given his mother, I wasn’t surprised. I propped myself up on one arm, and his T-shirt slid off my shoulder. “I don’t care how manly you are.” I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. “I like you for you, Eric.” I wasn’t ready to go to love yet, but I also wasn’t as freaked out by the idea as I had been last night. He’d taken care of me when I was at my most vulnerable. Nobody had done that for me in a very long time. If ever. “Thank you for last night. I know I was a mess.”

He trailed his fingers up my arm, over the curve of my shoulder to my collarbone. “No need to thank me. I’m here for you, Sami. Always.”

I smiled as his hand snaked around to the back of my neck and he pulled me down for a kiss. I loved when he kissed me like this, soft and reverent, like he valued me more than I valued myself.

Oh, who was I kidding?

I loved it when he kissed me—period, full stop.

I wanted more and slid my hands up under the hem of his T-shirt. His abs contracted at my touch, and he laughed against my mouth as if it tickled. I took my time, exploring by touch. The ripple of muscle, the flat disk of his nipple. I wondered what he’d do if I nibbled on it and gave it a testing little pinch. He made a sound deep in the back of his throat and threaded his hands into my hair, plunging his tongue into my mouth. Taking. Devouring.

Yes. Yes, this was what I wanted. The space between my legs grew damp with desire, an ache blooming low in my belly that only he could ease. I wanted him inside me again, wanted to explore more of the new sensations he awoke in me.

I sat up beside him and tugged his shirt up to drag my lips across his oh-so-sexy abs. He was into it—I could tell by the growing bulge right there by my cheek—but when I tried to tug down his sweatpants, a chime sounded from the living room. He cursed and lightly caught my wrist, stopping me from unveiling that beautiful length of his.

He sat up. “Fuck, I’m going to regret this, but I have to get back to work. I already took too much time for that nap.” He dragged me to him for another kiss, then pressed his forehead to mine. “Later, Sami. I promise we’ll continue this later.”

I blinked as he got out of bed, stung by the abrupt exit. But then my fuzzy, lust-addled brain finally focused on his words. I sat up. “Back to work?”

He gave a tight smile from the doorway. “I couldn’t sleep earlier, so I went for a run, then started looking for Nomad.”

The sting of rejection didn’t instantly disappear but eased slowly away. I got it. He was on a mission to stop more death and destruction, and that cheery bing had signaled a possible lead. He hadn’t stopped me because he didn’t want to have sex with me. He’d stopped me because we had something more important to do right now.

I sprang from bed. The floor was cold on my feet as I followed him out to his desk. “Anything interesting?”

“Possibly. I need to dig more first.”

Would he find me if he dug deep enough?

I should just come clean now. Beg forgiveness. Maybe, if I did, there was still a shot our relationship wouldn’t end in a fiery ball of destruction. “Eric, there’s something—”

Another bing from his computer cut me off. He looked at the screen and held up a finger. “Hold that thought.”

Tell him about me, and I’ll hurt him next.

I snapped my mouth shut and rubbed at the ache in my shoulder from the seat belt last night. Nomad could do it. Would do it.

Eric typed furiously for several seconds, then pumped his fist in the air. “Got a lead on the Cricket. Nomad just posted about it coming up for auction later this week. Sorry,” he added, still tapping away at his keyboard. “Didn’t mean to interrupt you. What were you saying?”

Nomad had the Noisy Cricket. He could do so much damage with that weapon. He could take out Harvard, my Alpha teammates, and all of HORNET from miles away with the push of a button.

“Uh, nothing important,” I answered. “How can I help?”

Eric looked up from his computer and opened his mouth like he was going to say something stupid along the lines of, “I got it. Go back to bed, little missy, and let the man handle it.” I was ready to tear him down for that, but he surprised me. He shut his mouth and rubbed a hand over his face, then picked up his glasses from the desk. He slid them on, and I was not ashamed to say my body took full notice of how sexy that movement was. It made me go tingly in all the best places.

My Clark Kent—except he didn’t turn into a superhero when he took the glasses off. He put them on and became Nerd Boy, hacker extraordinaire, my own personal kryptonite.

He sighed. “Why don’t you start with figuring out how the malware got on Blaze’s computer?”

I shook off the fantasy of him sweeping me off my feet like Lois Lane. “Sure, but I’ll need my computer.”

He looked down at his messy desk, then nodded. “Yeah, we’ll get more done in the lab.”