curved her lips. “I need to—”
“What you need is to be resting.” He nudged their bedroom door open with his foot. “You know you work better at night anyway. The computer awaits. Later.” Laying Lyse gently on her side of the bed—when had it become her side and his side?—he settled the pillow beneath her head.
Lyse stared up at him for a long time, eyes unreadable, then eased onto her side with a sigh. “Could you—”
“Already on it,” he murmured. Her shoes came off first, then socks. He closed the bedroom door before dragging her jeans down her legs, knowing she’d sleep better without the constricting material. Either the medicine was mellowing her out or his comment about getting into his arms had struck true, because she didn’t protest, even when he eased onto the bed behind her and fished under her shirt to undo her bra.
Wiggling carefully, Lyse managed to slide the straps down her arms, then tugged the bra from beneath her shirt. Lying like this, her ponytail exposing the vulnerable curve of her neck, her small form tucked to shield her belly, she made that protectiveness surge even harder inside him, till he couldn’t quite catch his breath. He wanted to lie down and curve his body around her. Keep her safe while she slept. But he wouldn’t. She’d asked him not to touch her if he didn’t mean it, and right now…well, he didn’t know what he was meaning.
He knew his cock was hard, but then it tended to be that way around Lyse. That didn’t mean he was ready for anything besides taking her, though if he was honest, it wasn’t sex on his mind. The need crawling through his body wasn’t like anything he’d felt for another woman, ever. He didn’t know what to do with that realization. He didn’t know what to be doing, period, when it came to her.
His fists clenched, fighting the raging desire to touch her—until, suddenly, he couldn’t fight it anymore. His hand came up, settled on her hair while he watched, almost mesmerized. The feel of warm silk registered against his calloused palm, drew a heavy sigh from him that ruffled the loose tendrils escaping her ponytail. Trying his best not to pull, Fionn slid the band away, allowing the heavy fall to settle on the pillow.
“Thank you.”
He didn’t respond, simply dug his fingers into her hair. Lyse moaned as he began a slow massage across her scalp. He assumed after a while that she’d drifted off, but quiet words startled him back to awareness.
“What are we doing, Fionn?”
His fingers went still, buried deep in the thick mass of her hair. She’d asked him that question before, and just like last time, he dodged the true answer. “Protecting my mam.”
Prick.
But just like last time, Lyse wasn’t giving him an out. “Not with them,” she whispered. Her voice had that drowsy roughness that he felt all the way to his groin. “With us. What are we doing? Just answer me, okay? Just this once.”
Was she as confused as he was? Did she wonder why in hell she couldn’t seem to walk away from a man who wanted to hate her? He wanted to walk away—or he had. Past tense. Now he didn’t know what he wanted except to sink into the quiet and absorb the feel of her against his skin. Where did that leave them tomorrow?
He couldn’t give her much more than honesty. Couldn’t give answers he didn’t know himself. “I don’t know, Lyse. How about we just go with it right now, and we can be charging back into battle in the morn?”
Her head tilted, giving him her profile. The slightest grin played around her lips. “A truce?”
“A truce.”
Lyse rested her head back against the pillow. Instinct had Fionn shifting closer, cuddling her back to his front. The softness of her body, the scent of her filling his nose, sent awareness tingling inside him, but he ignored it. He tucked a pillow beneath his head, slid a hand under the hem of Lyse’s T-shirt, and, palm flat on her belly, eased her back until she rested her weight against him.
Her breath went deep, even. The strangest calm filled him.
“I can find it,” she whispered, barely audible. “I know I can, Fionn.”
The money. And he realized, lying there with her in his arms, that he believed her. If anyone could find it, it was Lyse.
“I know.” He nuzzled her neck gently. “Go to sleep now, love.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Avoiding me?”
The