When the three of them collapsed on the bed, their labored breaths were the only sounds in the still room. Then Heath began to chuckle, shaking his head. “What do you do when your back aches after a wild session like this one?”
“Pray?”Toni ventured.
Grey’s lips twitched as he disappeared into the luxurious marble bathroom, washed
his hands, cleaned up. He returned to tenderly wipe Toni’s red bee-stung lips with a tissue, then guided it between her legs, the flesh coated with him.
She propped herself up on her elbows, raised a hand, and slid her fingers up his stubbled jaw as he dabbed the moisture between her thighs. “Grey?” She sounded uncertain.
Halting the hand massaging his jaw, he turned it around to press his lips to the tender blue vein running up the inside of her wrist. He couldn’t seem to meet her probing green eyes.
Grey stalked back to the restroom to dispose of the tissue, and on his return, he narrowed his eyes. Heath was spooning her—on his bed—bending over to whisper something to her ear. Grey couldn’t remember if Heath usually did that with his women, but then he realized it wouldn’t have mattered. The sight had his gut twisting. Her hands were tucked under her cheeks as she lay on her side. Her lashes rested, crescent- shaped and long, against her cheekbones. A half smile stretched her lips, and Grey gave them a perfunctory kiss. “You all right?”
She burrowed her cheek into the back of her hand.“Fabulous,” she purred, then slid that hand out to sift her fingers through his hair. “You?”
Without answering, he met Heath’s prying gaze as he tucked Toni under the covers.“We’d better catch some sleep.”And with an edge he couldn’t quite suppress, “See you in the morning, Heath?”
“Yeah.” Heath snatched up his clothes, ignoring the tone, smiling in amusement at it, in fact. “Watch for the monster under the bed, Grey.”
“Just get out of here.”
When the door closed with a faint click behind him, a tense silence fell.Toni studied him with tight white lips and daggers in her eyes as he climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to his waist.
“You didn’t have to treat him like a male prostitute, Grey.”
He wasn’t expecting anger. For a moment, he glanced disinterestedly at the blank plasma TV screen across the bed, coldly silent. Finally he reached for his cell on the nightstand, clicked it off, and calmly explained as he set it down, “We have a deal. Heath understands that.”
“You don’t have to be so heartless. You might have tried not using that dismissive tone, but I guess that’s impossible for you, isn’t it?”
He could take the entire world calling him an android and more, but from Toni . . .
He felt his face go wooden, a pressure gathering at his temples. Holding a teeth-breaking clamp of his jaw, he waited for her to come to him, create that little nest for herself in his arms like always. When she didn’t, he said in a flat voice, “What do you want Heath here for? We’re going to sleep.”
“I’m not saying he should sleep here, only that—”
“I’m heartless,” he finished for her.
He reached over and flicked off the lamp, a move that said firmly, I’m not having this conversation.
At that, she rolled to her side and pulled at the sheets, and when they didn’t give, she wrenched harder. “Give me the sheet, you insufferable—”
“Jesus!” He let go.
She gathered it around her with a rustle and punched her pillow. Punched it again. After the third punch, she cried out in misery, “Poor guy!”
“Poor guy? Heath?” Disbelief warred with annoyance, and he rubbed his nose between his thumbs and sighed. “Toni, Heath is anything but a poor guy, and he doesn’t need you to defend him.”
“He’s too nice to say anything.”
“Nice.That’s the first time I’ve heard Heath and nice in the same sentence.You should see him when he’s pissed—that’ll rid you of the fantasy. I’ve seen him beat a guy to a pulp. Maybe you should, too.”
“Do you think that’s funny? Maybe the guy’s family thinks it’s funny, too!”
“Do you hear me laughing?”
She gave a haughty sniff.The mattress squeaked as she squirmed farther away. “Good night, Grey.”
Grey dropped back on his pillow. Heath was a tough bastard, but Toni was a woman. No doubt she thought Heath shared her sensibilities. How come she didn’t care for Grey’s?