Joke’s on You by Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,12

sleep I’d been getting lately.

“Sure,” I said, even though I was going to regret it. “I’ll take one cup.”

He looked at me. “Are you sure?”

Who needed sleep, anyway?

“Yes, I’m sure,” I replied softly. “I take whatever sort of cream or milk you have until it’s no longer resembling coffee in any way, and two spoonfuls of sugar.”

He looked at me with amusement, but did as I said.

I leaned over and inspected the cup.

“More.” He added more. “More.” He continued pouring. “Almost,” I said, then announced, “Perfect!”

He looked at me with amusement, stirred my cup, and then handed it to me.

“Do you have a straw?” I asked.

He didn’t say a word, only looked at me with amusement as he fished out one of Asa’s straws—it was a twisty one that the drink had to travel through all of the hoops—and it was magnificent.

“Thanks.” I grinned.

He gestured me out toward the back porch.

“Come on,” he said softly.

Booth moved much more slowly than I’d ever seen him move before, and I realized only then that it was due to the shots he’d taken to the chest.

Eight shots in total.

To the chest.

Thank God he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

That could’ve been horrific.

He gestured to the glider big enough for two, and I gracefully—yeah, I was surprised, too—slid into it without once spilling any of my coffee.

But I did spill it when Booth sat down, rather roughly.

Luckily it didn’t get on me. Thankfully when I saw how hard he was coming down, I held the coffee cup over the side, allowing it to spill on the concrete.

“Sorry, hurts,” he muttered, gritting his teeth. “Felt like I was kicked by a fuckin’ mule.”

I could imagine.

“I’ve never been shot before,” I admitted. “Or kicked by a mule, but I imagine that it doesn’t feel too great.”

He chuckled, then righted himself in the chair. “I’m gonna be doing absolutely nothing tomorrow after what happened today. Jesus Christ.” He hissed through clenched teeth when he sat up. “It hurts for my shirt to touch it.”

I leaned over and sucked down some of my coffee so it wouldn’t be too full, then let my mouth run wild.

“Then take it back off,” I suggested.

He hesitated for a few seconds, then said, “I honestly don’t think I can. It hurts to raise my arms over my head.”

I licked my lips. Then again, let my mouth have free rein.

“I can help,” I told him, leaning forward and setting my coffee on the small table in front of us.

He held out his coffee, too. Then I stood up and maneuvered myself between the table and Booth’s legs.

He breathed through clenched teeth as I helped him lift one arm and bunched the shirt up underneath of it.

He pulled his arm through, took a deep breath, and then ducked his head so that I could pull it over his head.

I rolled my eyes.

So that was where Asa got it!

“You know,” I said with amusement. “You’re supposed to take off the shirt from both arms before you take your head out. It’s ten times easier. Which I explain to Asa on an almost daily basis,” I teased.

He chuckled weakly. “Guilty.”

He was guilty.

But I also found it endearing.

I loved that Asa looked up to his dad.

I was especially happy that Asa loved him as much as he did, even though Booth hadn’t been a constant part of his life up until the last ten months or so since he’d gotten out of the military.

At first, it’d been rocky. Asa wasn’t too sure about him, and it broke my heart.

He’d be willing to spend all day long with me, Bourne, or Delanie. Hell, even Booth’s parents. But Asa was wary of Booth. For good reason. Booth was an intimidating guy and had to work at toning down his scariness.

Though, I didn’t think that Booth could help it, per se.

That was just the nature of the beast when you spent that much time in a war zone.

I licked my lips, not wanting to think about those days where Booth’s eyes would look so hurt.

“So what happened?” I asked.

He sighed.

“Long story short, some chick and her husband were having a marital spat. He said she could sleep with other men. She didn’t want to. He thought since he said she could, that it meant that he could. So he sexes up some random chick in the lingerie department while the wife is trying on some bras. Fast forward to her walking in on hearing him have sex, and she just goes