next to my bed, I was meeting him for the first time after his daughter had saved my life and it was worth the repeat—I was in a thin gown. Especially noteworthy—I was meeting him while wearing a fucking dress and when I shifted my legs to push myself farther up the bed, I felt something tug my cock.
Fucking perfect.
I either had a tube up my cockhead or a plastic sleeve taped to my dick. I couldn’t tell which as I was thankfully a little numb down there. What I did know was there was a piss sack hanging from the side of the bed.
And I was meeting my woman’s father for the first time.
In a dress with my cock caged.
Goddamn wonderful.
Fuck it.
I lifted my arm with the annoying-as-fuck cuff and went for it.
“Gabe Harris,” I introduced myself and offered my hand.
Evette’s dad hesitated a moment before he stepped forward and clasped my hand. Surprisingly—that was, a pleasant surprise—he didn’t shake my hand weakly like I was some invalid. Nor did he crush my hand in an ill-attempt to show his dominance.
“Joe London,” he returned.
“I’d get up but…I’m afraid I’d fall on my ass, hit my head, and slip back into a semi-state of awareness that would cause Evette to lose her mind.”
“You have no idea,” Zane mumbled. “The woman is scary with a gun. Not once but twice she threatened to shoot me. In the future, do not under any circumstances give her a weapon.”
I dropped Joe’s hand and slowly slid my gaze to Zane. Thankfully, the trails of stars and flashes of light dissipated quickly and he came into focus.
“Come again?”
“Brother, the woman was holding me at gunpoint. Wouldn’t let me close to you even after I spoke to her. She made me prove my identity by shining my flashlight…on my face. No one was getting near you without going through her. And make no mistake, she would’ve shot me. Then we get you here and no one but no one gets near your bed without her okay. So my suggestion, you better keep your ass in that bed, follow your doctor’s orders to the letter, and do not piss her off. She will not lose her mind, she will lose her fucking mind and probably cuff you. Luckily for you, she loves you, so she won’t shoot you. But I’m warning the team not to go against her wishes.”
Zane was being his normal sarcastic self. He was joking, even if I heard more than a hint of pride in his voice. When we were in the woods she’d promised not to leave me. I knew she wouldn’t, but hearing her state of mind was concerning—very.
“What. The. Hell.”
All humor fled Zane’s features when he said, “You were out. It was my call. Nothing I was going to say was going to make her leave your side. I gave her that play because that’s what she needed. You’re awake now and once she sees you’re okay, she’ll be okay. Don’t push her on this, Gabe. You give her time—as much as she needs. I found her in the woods, essentially alone in the dark, with her shirt ripped into shreds tied around your head. She was running on instinct and adrenaline. I wasn’t going to have a coming to Jesus with her after what she’d gone through.”
“What the fuck? You think I’d push her away?”
“No. But I’m sensing you think her not leaving your bedside is unhealthy. That we left her to it to deal. We didn’t. I didn’t. But I did make the call not to force her to do something she didn’t want. The same way that if it was her lying in that bed and not you, nothing would’ve taken you from her side. So what I’m telling you is, her reaction was healthy, it was normal, but more—it was goddamn beautiful. I’m pleased you found a woman that’s not only capable but loves you so damn much she’d use her body to shield yours.”
Fucking, fucking, hell.
Use her body to shield yours.
Flowery words from Zane Lewis. Perhaps I was still unconscious or my concussion had caused delusions. I was thinking it was the first until Joe coughed then cleared his throat.
“Anaya told Jenn and me that Evette found trouble when she was investigating what happened to their friend, Kalee and she went to you for help.”
“That’s correct,” Zane answered.
“And what trouble did she find?”
“She uncovered a defense contractor’s bid to lease land in Timor-Leste,” I told