He exhales deeply and pulls me against him, holding me tightly. “I was scared.”

“I’m sorry.” I hold on tight. “I’ll be more careful.”

He tips my chin up to look him in the eye. “If something happened to you, it would kill me, Lauren.”

“Nothing happened. I’m fine.”

“Oh, hi, Lo.” Michael the pool guy saunters in through the mudroom, startling both of us.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Ty demands.

“Ty, this is Michael, the person who maintains my pool.” I pull away from Ty and prop my hands on my hips. “I thought you were coming tomorrow?”

“Didn’t you get my message? I had time today, so I came by. I got the glass out of the pool and you’re ready to go. It’s all clean. I did cover it, though, until you get that glass replaced so it doesn’t get leaves and crap in it.”

“How did you get in?” I ask.

“The front door was open. I’ve cleaned the pool when you were gone before. I just assumed you left the door open for me, so I called to let you know I was here.” He frowns and looks between an angry Ty and me. “Was I not supposed to?”

“I swear I locked the door,” I murmur. “It’s okay, Michael, but in the future, if I’m not home, I’d rather you didn’t come in.”

“No problem.” He holds his hands up like he’s surrendering. “I didn’t mean to scare you. My fault.”

“Was the door standing wide-open when you got here, or was it just unlocked?” Ty asks.

“It was unlocked.”

“Did you close it behind you when you carried your supplies through?” Ty crosses his arms over his chest and looks every inch like the lawyer he is.

“I thought so, but I could be wrong. Hey, I didn’t mean to scare anyone. I’m sorry, Lo.”

“It’s okay.” I offer him a smile. “Thanks for cleaning up the pool.”

“It was a bitch.” He shakes his head and lifts his toolbox from the floor, then looks Ty up and down before turning his smile to me. “He’s hot.”

“I know.”

“The hot ones are always straight,” Michael grumbles, and walks to the front door. “Call me if you need me!”

“You’re hot.” I grin as I turn to Ty, but he’s not amused.

“He comes and goes as he pleases?”

“He’s come to service the pool when I’ve been gone before, yes.” I scowl and cross my own arms, mirroring Ty’s stance. “What’s your problem?”

He shakes his head and curses under his breath before muttering, “Nothing.”

“I don’t have time to deal with your weird mood, Ty. I have to work. Stay if you want to stay, go if you want to go. I’ll be in the office.”

I march away, but before I reach the door to the office, Ty spins me around and kisses me hard, then pulls away. “I have work to do too. I’ll be in the living room.”

With that he stomps away.

And men say women are moody.

Chapter Twelve

TY

She’s gorgeous when she’s asleep. For the first time since I’ve begun staying with her all night, she’s still asleep when I wake up, and it is a sight to behold. She’s curled on her side, facing me, her hands tucked under her chin. She’s breathing deeply as I gently brush her hair off her cheek and kiss her forehead.

I want nothing more than to pull her under me and wake her up with my cock inside her, but unfortunately, that’s not in the cards for this morning.

I have a surprise.

I move gently, careful not to wake Lo, pull on my jeans and T-shirt, and pad down to my car to pull the poster-size prints along with my tools out of the back of my Jeep.

I hope she likes this. It could go either way.

As carefully as possible, I hang the three pictures on her office wall and stand back to admire my handiwork. Whoever did these covers is an amazing artist.

Now to go get her.

She’s still curled up on her side when I walk back into her bedroom and crawl onto the bed. I wrap my arm around her, lining my body up with hers, and kiss her cheek, breathing her in.

“Wake up, sweetness.”

“Mmm.” She wiggles closer to me, snuggling against me.

She’s so fucking sweet. “Hey.” I push my hand into her soft auburn hair and gently caress her scalp. “You need to wake up.”

“Okay.” She sighs and wraps her arm around my waist and goes right back to sleep.

“I know you’re sleepy, but I have something for you, baby.”

“Sounds good.” She grabs on to my back and then frowns and opens those amazing blue eyes. “Why are you dressed?”

“Because I have something for you.” I grin.

“Do I have to get out of bed?”

“Yes.” I chuckle and kiss her forehead. “Come on.”

“Why don’t you get undressed and we’ll try out that whole morning-sex thing you’ve been talking about?”

“Very tempting, sweetheart.” So fucking tempting.

“Okay.” She rolls to her back and stretches, yawns, and flutters her heavy eyes. The blankets fall, revealing her pink-tipped breasts, and I can’t resist leaning over and kissing one hard nub. “Keep that up and we’ll stay here.” She sinks her fingers in my hair.

“Fair enough.” I pull away. “Let’s go.”

She takes my hand as I help her from the bed, and I wrap my white shirt around her, buttoning just the middle two buttons.

“No naked today?”

I laugh as I guide her down the stairs to her office. “I get distracted when you’re naked.” When we get to the doorway, I hold my hands over her eyes and guide her inside.

“Surprise,” I whisper in her ear, and pull my hands away. Her hands cover her mouth as she turns a half circle, gazing at all three of her covers blown up and framed, hanging on her wall.

“When did you do this?” She turns to me and watches me with wide blue eyes.

“I had them made yesterday after you left my office, but I hung them this morning.”

“I can’t leave them up.”

I step to her and tip her head back to look up at me. “Yes, you can. This is your home, Lauren, and you should have these on your wall. No one but you and me comes in here anyway.”

“Why did you do this?” she whispers.

“Because I saw you looking at my diplomas on my office wall. You need to have these on display. It’s a big deal, Lauren. Be proud of yourself. God knows I’m so fucking proud of you I’m bursting.”