free arm and ran her fingers along his healed forehead. “Want to explain this?”
Her touch was soft and her skin smooth. The gentle glide slid right beneath his skin, offering comfort. “I heal easily?” he rumbled.
“Nope. There’s more. And while you’re at it, you can explain what Adare, Mercy, and that loud Benjamin gentleman have in common. What is it about them that attacks my mind?” Her eyes remained sleepy. “It’s time you told me everything.”
There was no doubt the woman had a high IQ, so lying to her would just be silly. From the very moment she’d challenged him so bravely and knocked his ass out of her car, he’d wanted to know her. Wanted her to know him. The real him. “All right. Here it is. There are seven of us in this business, and we make decisions together. I am going to tell you everything, no matter what, but I’d like to wait until everyone agrees. Ronan, Benny, and Adare are fine with it, so I’ve reached out to the two on mission, and I’d like to give them the respect of waiting for their agreement.” It was the least he could do after they’d pulled him out of himself the last three months. Without his brothers, he’d be dead, and he wouldn’t have cared. They’d made him care again. “If that’s okay with you.”
She explored the side of his face, watching her finger as it dipped over his cheekbone. “Since you jumped off a cliff with me, I think it’s time you told me everything. I didn’t see anybody coming for us, so you’re asking for a lot of trust here. Besides, counting you, that’s only six people. You said there were seven business owners.”
“One is unreachable at the moment.” Ivar’s body tightened at her soft exploration. “That’s, ah, part of what I’d like to discuss with you. Tomorrow.” If he didn’t hear from Garrett or Logan by noon, he was telling Promise everything.
She drew back her hand, and her eyes cleared completely. “You know, certain high frequencies can cause piercing headaches. A raging headache can affect the body to the point of convulsions. And when the central nervous system overloads, so to speak, unconsciousness follows.”
Fuck, she was adorable. Look at her trying to find a rational explanation for everything. He levered himself up on his elbow to see her better in the darkness. “What about the cut above my eye?”
“And your broken arm.” She pressed her fingers against his already healed skin.
Pain ticked into him, and he winced.
“Hmm.” She pulled away. “Not broken any longer, but apparently bruised. That’s impossible.”
“Apparently not.” He sent healing cells through his body to take care of the bruises in case she did it again. “What causes that kind of fast healing?” He really wanted to know where her mind would go with the problem. Smart women had always done it for him, and this gorgeous, curvy creature in his bed was beyond brilliant. “What’s your hypothesis, Professor?”
She shook her head, her dark hair catching on the pillow. “I don’t know. My guess is that your brain trust, the one giving millions for grants, has been doing so for a while. I do know that scientists have been working on the MG53 protein, which the human body naturally creates to help repair injuries.” She pursed her lips, obviously thinking. “The study I read about involved using a cytokine protein that also heals wounds but does so too quickly. Combining those into a way that inhibits the cytokine while promoting the MG53 protein could lead to compelling results.”
“Like healing a broken bone in a manner of hours?” He wanted her hands back on him. Now.
“Yes,” she said. “If the science has developed to the point of human trials, which apparently it has, then you owe the world the data. You can’t keep this kind of discovery to yourselves.”
His chest filled with warmth. She’d figured out rational reasons for almost everything by using science and logic. Maybe when she knew all the facts and all the possibilities in the universe, she’d be able to get him back to Quade. He had to save his brother. “Interesting.”
“Even so, none of that makes you the good guys.” Her dark brows drew down, making her look like a grumpy math professor. “All I know is that somebody rang my doorbell last night and then you threw us off a cliff, claiming the enemy had arrived.” She blinked several times and then pinned him with that