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He shifted his body down the bed, sat up, and put his hands on my waistband. “I’m going to do this slowly.”
I nodded and rested my hand on his. He worked his fingers between my pants and my skin, and as promised, he slowly pulled the fabric over my ass. They were as far down as my bikini line when he stopped.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes,” I breathed, wondering if the pain medicine had an aphrodisiac in it. I’d never wanted to feel a man’s touch more than Cope’s.
He gently pulled the stretchy fabric farther down until he could easily slip my pants off my legs.
“What about my panties?”
With heated eyes, he looked up at me. “I’m human, Ali. You can only tempt me so much before I lose my restraint.”
He ran his hands over my legs, gently pushing my thighs apart and kissing the inside of my knee. It was all I could do not to arch my back and push my pussy toward his face. I was a quick learner, though, and knew the pleasure would not be worth the pain.
“Tell me where else it hurts,” he murmured.
“Right now? Nowhere.”
“Feeling no pain, eh? I hope you don’t regret this tomorrow.” He leaned forward again, kissed my kneecap, and then straightened out next to me.
“Sleep, Ali. The quicker you heal, the sooner I can explore the rest of your body.”
I clenched my fist in frustration, not knowing how in the hell he could turn his desire off that quickly.
“Just in case you’re wondering, there are parts of my body that hurt worse than any parts of yours do right now.”
“Why did you stop?”
It took him so long to answer that I thought maybe he’d fallen asleep, but his eyes were open.
He took a deep breath and turned on his side. “I want you, Ali. All of you. I think I have since you called me a muscle-bound asshole, which seems like weeks ago, but in reality, it’s only been a couple of days. The point is, I want all of you. I don’t want to hold back when we’re together—and just in case you’re questioning whether we will be—I promise you that, as soon as I know I won’t hurt you, I’ll have as much of my body touching yours as is physically possible.”
When I woke the next morning, I was alone in bed, but I could hear Cope’s voice from the other room. I tried not to listen to what I assumed was a private conversation, but when he raised his voice in anger, there was no way not to hear him.
“Not good enough. Get a subpoena if you have to, but I want to see the security footage no later than nine.” He paused. “Yes, I do realize that is less than an hour from now. Do your fucking job and get it.”
I heard his footsteps coming in my direction, and then the door opened. “You’re awake.”
“You’re angry.”
He sat next to me on the bed. “Frustrated.”
“I know the feeling.” I was teasing and hoped he took it that way. He smiled.
“Your bag arrived earlier, but I have to warn you, your laptop didn’t.”
I bit my bottom lip. “Why not?”
“We couldn’t find it in the apartment.” He studied me. “You don’t seem very upset by that news.”
“Apart from needing to get a replacement, it doesn’t matter much.” There was nothing on it that would give away who I really was to Cope or anyone else.
“What about your…work?”
“I don’t keep anything on my laptop. I would think a CIA agent would understand why not.” I winked, and that seemed to finally disarm him.
“I do. It’s just that most people aren’t as practical…or smart.”