Her mama had strict rules about eating while lying down. A wise woman, I had replied loyally.
I’d seen the look the little girl gave me. I had definitely gone up in her estimation. I could see that she appreciated that I came with perks.
“We never get to eat in bed,” Angie had said. I’d started calling her that. Angie loved it. Frankie hated it.
“Special occasion for our special guest.”
Now that I was a ‘special guest’, I had every intention of using my privileges to my advantage.
I had missed reading Angelique a bedtime story. But I planned to resume our new tradition tomorrow. Or as soon as Doc gave me the go ahead. If I tried to do too much, Frankie had threatened to tie me down.
That sounded like a lot of fun, truth be told. I would gladly let the woman tie me up and do whatever she wanted to with me. It didn’t even have to be sex. I’d even let her read me poetry, like that scene in one of my brother’s favorite movies, Bull Durham.
Speaking of which . . .
“Take your clothes off. I want dessert.”
“I will not!”
She gave me a look of pure outrage. You would think she was a virgin. Not even just a virgin. She was acting like a virgin who also happened to be a nun.
A very, very sexy nun.
“The pants then. I want what you have down there in my mouth. All of it.”
“Vincent!”
Her cheeks were utterly pink. She had agreed to the wager. I had a feeling no one had ever done what I was offering to do. Demanding to do, actually. I knew she wasn’t the sort to back out of a bet.
I hoped not, anyway.
“I believe I won this in a game of five card stud a few short hours ago.”
“You are going to have to wait to collect, stud muffin,” she said, stifling a yawn despite the blush still lighting up her beautiful face. She was tired, I reminded myself. I had woken her up early that morning to have my way with her.
And then you bled all over her sheets, I reminded myself. Way to go.
Round one, Francesca. Or round one to my wound, anyway. Either way, I lost. I hated losing. I wasn’t very good at it. I certainly wasn’t gracious in defeat.
That was probably because losing was something that never happened to me. I won at everything. Cards, most of the time. Pool, against everyone but my cousin from time to time. In business? Never.
And it had been years since I even looked at woman with passing interest, but I was laughably successful with the opposite sex. It was to the point that I didn’t even notice when a woman threw herself at me anymore.
“Fine. But if I die anyway, I am going to be very angry that I didn’t get to collect.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed her pillow.
“Where are you going?” I nearly shouted as she stood and grabbed a spare blanket from a tall, carved wood cabinet across the room.
“I will sleep on the floor. I don’t want to jostle you in my sleep.”
“Get your cute little ass back in this bed right now, woman,” I shouted. I was pissed. First she denies me my prize, and now this travesty? It was completely unacceptable.
“Vincent, calm down! You need to rest.”
I looked at her straight in the face and forced myself to speak calmly, even though the thought of not sleeping beside her was giving me crazy awful feelings. The kind of feelings I didn’t even want to think about or examine too closely. Feelings I hadn’t felt since I was a little boy.
Simply put, I was freaking the fuck out.
“I have never slept deeper, or better, than I do with you beside me. I need my rest, don’t you think?”
Her pretty little mouth dropped open. Her eyes got wide. She swallowed. And she climbed right the fuck back into the bed.
Round two, Vincent.
I pulled her close despite her protests and promptly fell asleep with a huge smile on my face.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Francesca
“Pay up. You lost fair and square.”
I stared at the crazy man in my bed. It had been a week since he’d pulled his stitches. Just a week since he’d nearly faded away from us. He had behaved himself for the most part. But I had seen him slip what looked like a couple of thousand dollars to Doc earlier that day.
So Doc’s saying he had the go ahead to resume so-called ‘normal activity’ was dubious, to say the least.
“It’s too soon,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I wanted him, but I needed to be strong. For both of us. “You need to rest.”
“Fuck rest. I want you to lie on your stomach so I can lick every inch of you. Every. Single. Inch.”