in their “shenanigans” he didn’t do any further damage.
All he saw was white, so he switched off the lights and rejoined Evie in bed.
She cuddled into him and he took her in with his hands, noting she’d put her cami and panties back on, not the shorts.
“You need your sling,” she whispered into his throat.
“Yeah,” he agreed reluctantly.
“Do you need a painkiller?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he told her even more reluctantly.
She didn’t say dick.
She kissed his jaw, slid away, left the room and he found the sling and was putting it on when she came back with a glass of water.
He clicked the thing in place. She handed him the water then reached beyond him, her body brushing his, to nab the bottle of pills.
She shook one out, handed that to him too, then did the reaching thing again to put the bottle back.
All of this even though that bottle was closer to him and he could do it.
But he sensed he shouldn’t.
This was Evie.
Like him, she needed to be taking care of somebody.
He slugged down the pill and she grabbed the covers to pull over them when he was setting the glass aside.
They settled back in, just as they had been when he woke, except with the covers on, and Mag found nothing uncomfortable about it anymore.
“That was really…wow,” she whispered to his chest.
He smiled into the dark and tightened his hold on her.
“Danny?” she called.
“Right here,” he answered.
He couldn’t see it.
But he could feel it.
His brief answer was another Toothpaste Moment. He knew it with the way she stiffened, then settled, offering him more weight.
So he was shocked as shit when she shared, “You’re really so not my type.”
He took a beat.
Then busted out laughing.
She lifted her head and he felt her watching him through the dark.
He stopped laughing when she laid her hand on his cheek, he felt the new vibe of the room and stared at her shadowed face.
“Words obviously don’t suffice. But thank you for getting shot for me.”
“Baby, it shouldn’t have gotten—”
She interrupted him to say, “You see it as a failure. What you need to see is, I’m a woman who spent her whole life twisting myself into knots trying to make people I loved love me. And now I find myself with a man who’s not only willing to take a bullet for me, he does that and ends the day throwing a shot glass across the room, angry at himself because someone harmed me.” She moved her hand to stroke his jaw and continued, “I see it from your perspective, honey. What you need to do is see it from mine, what that means to me, especially with the life I’ve led and then,” she dipped to brush her lips against his before she finished, “just let it go.”
Just let it go.
With a guttural noise, he slid his hand into her hair and held her mouth to his.
The kiss he gave her had depth, it was wet, but there was only a little heat because they’d both just come, she’d gotten him over his fuckup, she’d had a tough day, and he needed to let his girl sleep.
So, he ended it and tucked her face into his neck.
“You good?” she asked.
“So good,” he answered.
“Good,” she whispered and snuggled closer. “’Night, Danny.”
“Goodnight, baby.”
It didn’t take long before the pill started working, but Mag fought it.
Until he felt Evie slide into dreamland.
Only then did he let go and join her.
Chapter Sixteen
Cinnamon Marshmallow Clusters
Evie
I woke up with Mag’s mouth on my neck and his hand gliding over my belly.
When I opened my eyes, I saw dark and I didn’t know if it was because it was still night or it was early morning.
I didn’t care what it was, not with Mag touching me the way he was.
“Honey?” I called sleepily, reaching for him.
“You were snoring,” he murmured against my neck.
Oh my God.
Oh no.
Snoring was bad.
I knew people who broke up with a partner who snored.
And there I was, snoring during our first sleep-together!
“Fuckin’ cute,” he kept murmuring as his fingertips slid under the elastic of my panties and skated across skin.
Oo.
That felt nice.
Apparently, my snoring wasn’t a turnoff.
My hands encountered skin too (which almost felt better, but not quite) as I whispered, “Only you would think snoring is cute.”
“Mm,” he hummed.
Okay.
He was in a mood.
And I was totally in that same mood.
Oh yeah.
My hips shifted to give nonverbal instructions to his hand.
But it only served to make Mag give verbal instructions.