“I did not, you did. He was kicking my ass.”
He talked over me. “Monday night, you brought down two dealers single-handedly.”
“Well, I did do that,” I allowed.
He kept talking. “Tuesday night, you had to take a break from keeping the streets safe for the citizens of Denver to go out with me.”
“Crowe –”
“Tonight, you began the healing process of three brothers who’d been torn apart by tragedy. They’re not blood, but brothers all the same.”
“Stop talking.”
“What’re you gonna do tomorrow? Cure world hunger?”
“Crowe, I said, stop talking.”
He started to laugh again, let go of my hair, curled his arms around me and rolled to his back, taking me with him. I lifted my head, planted my forearms in his chest and frowned down at him but he ignored my frown and kept talking, or I should say, teasing.
“Discover the cure for cancer?”
“Crowe. I’ll say it again, this is not funny.”
His face changed, went soft, his tractor beam switched on and he finished quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself. “Motherhood won’t be a challenge for you.”
“Crowe.”
“Stop worrying about it Jules. We’ll deal with it if it happens.”
“No we won’t. We’re over. Done. I’m breaking up with you,” I announced.
There. I did it.
His hand twisted in my hair again and he brought my face to his. “You can break up with me on Friday. I wanna take you to your birthday party tomorrow.”
Well, I guessed I didn’t do it and he was still not taking me seriously.
“Stop joking, I’m being serious,” I informed him.
He brought my face the rest of the way to his and kissed me. Not softly this time, there was meaning to his kiss.
I was a little breathless and my head was slightly muddled when his lips detached from mine but I kept at it even when his lips went to my neck.
“We need to talk about this,” I told him.
“We’ll talk about it on Friday,” he murmured against my neck and I knew the way he said it that he had absolutely no intention of talking about it Friday.
Then his tongue slid from my jaw to my shoulder and I shivered.
“We need to talk about it now,” I tried to speak in my word-is-law voice but it came out breathy.
“Friday,” he rolled me to my back again and came over me.
“Vance –”
His mouth against mine, he said softly, “Shut up Jules.”
“Stop telling me to shut up.”