I took my shower, washed my hair and surveyed my new cuts and newest bruises while I let the water run over me.

When I’d stepped out of the shower, I noticed that, unfortunately, when I went into the bathroom, I didn’t take any clothes with me. I had to grab Lee’s light blue, cotton robe from the hook on the back of the door. I wrapped it tight around me and tied it secure.

I went into the bedroom and Lee was lying in bed, his chest bare and the sheet pulled up to his waist. He was reading. Believe it or not, casually lying in bed reading.

Grr.

If I’d had something, I would have thrown it at him. Instead, I went straight to my bag, rooting through it to find underwear. I found it, straightened and glanced at Lee. He’d put the book down and was lying on his side, his head in his hand, watching me.

“It’ll be a wasted effort, puttin’ those on.”

I sent him my best Polar Freeze Glare, turned my back on him and pulled up the panties.

“Talk to me, Indy,” he said on a sigh.

I turned and put my hands on my hips.

He wanted me to talk? Then, I’d talk.

“I’ve had some time to think, what with being kidnapped, cuffed and tied to a chair for part of my evening and then spending the rest of it sitting in a hospital waiting room.” I was lying about thinking while I was kidnapped, but he didn’t need to know that. Anyway, it made my introduction more dramatic. “This morning, you told Hank you had a client. I thought you meant me, but I was wrong, wasn’t I?”

Lee continued to watch me.

I went on. “The thing is, when this all started, you were in DC and Ally said you weren’t due back. Then, all of a sudden, you were back and you knew about the diamonds. You knew about everything.”

He kept watching me.

I went into accusatory mode. “You came back to look for the diamonds. You have another client. You’re working for someone else.”

Lee came up on his elbow.

“Smart girl,” he murmured then patted the bed in front of him. “Come here, let me explain.”

Ha! Not even.

“You walked into your own condo and I practically delivered the diamonds to you by bringing Rosie here. Then, you tried to extort sex from me in payment for a job you were already getting paid to do with diamond man lying on the couch for all you knew!”

“Indy –”

I cut him off.

“No explanation necessary, Lee, I’m sleeping on the couch and tomorrow I’m going home. We’re through. The end.”

On that I huffed out of the room, put on the lights in the living room and grabbed the remotes. It took me ten minutes to figure out how to use them, five more minutes to set the sleeper timer on the TV and ten minutes to find something to watch. I turned off the lights and settled in.

Throughout this time, the light came through the open bedroom door but not a sound from Lee. This ticked me off more. Five minutes into my program, the light went off in the bedroom. My anger hit uncharted levels. Five minutes after that, I realized that was it, when I’d said “the end”, Lee didn’t have a problem with it.

Okay, great, wonderful, that was fine by me.

Luckily, I’d had a pretty traumatic day, what with being kidnapped and shot at, twice.

Not to mention two emotional dramas with Lee.

Even though my mind was racing, my body was crashing from adrenalin withdrawal. Before the sleep setting turned off the TV, I was already in snooze land. When the TV switched itself off, it woke me up. This wasn’t too annoying seeing as I didn’t fully wake me up, I was three-quarters asleep and one-quarter dozing.

The next thing I knew, I was being lifted in the air.

Lee was carrying me to the bedroom.

“What are you doing?” I asked, half-sleepy, half-angry.

“Takin’ you to bed,” he answered, fully awake.

“I’m sleeping on the couch,” I told him as he dropped my legs and stood me at the side of the bed. His hands went to the belt of the robe and he didn’t respond.

“What are you doing?” I asked again.

“Gettin’ you ready for bed.”

“Stop that!” I slapped at his hands and he ignored me so I grabbed the lapels of the robe and held them shut. “I’m nearly na**d under this.”

The belt came loose and he leaned into me. I reared back, nearly toppling on the bed. He straightened and held in front of me what I had, until a few hours previously, considered my confiscated Night Stalkers tee.

Since the likelihood of me winning a physical tussle was in the negative percentile and I was tired down to the bone, I snatched the tee from him and whirled around to give him my back.

I could sleep with him, I told myself as I pushed my head through the neckline of the tee. I’d slept with him the last however-many nights and I’d survived. One more night wouldn’t kill me.

I slid the robe off my shoulders and let it drop to the ground and, as fast as I could, I pushed my arms through the holes of the tee.

I wasn’t fast enough.

Lee’s hands settled on the skin at my hips, just above my panties, as the t-shirt dropped into place, its hem came to rest on his hands.

His chin rested on my shoulder.

“How long are you gonna be mad at me?”

His voice was deep and kind of husky and I felt a quiver in my nether regions.

“Forever,” I answered.

His hands slid from h*ps to belly and he pulled me into his body.

“I can’t discuss clients with you, Indy. I offer confidentiality with my services. I won’t be able to talk about my work, it’s something you’re gonna have to get used to.”

That was hardly the point.

Okay, it was a point, just not the point.

It was my longstanding theory that men missed the point on purpose.

His chin moved to pull the hair away from my neck and his mouth went to my ear.

Then he got to the point.

“You’d been dodgin’ me for a decade and then you presented me with an opportunity to get your attention. I’m not big on missin’ an opportunity, so I took it. It worked. I got your attention. I don’t regret it and I’d do it again, even considerin’ in the process I lost ‘diamond man’.”

Hmm, it was annoying but it was honest and it was annoying because it was honest.

I pushed forward and broke free of his hands, putting a knee on the bed.