Page 34 of Protected from Malice (Blade and Arrow Shadow Team #1)

EDEN

“Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?”

Rafe slows to a stop at the red light and glances over at me, his brows furrowing into a worried V. “I know you said you feel fine,” he continues, “but it’s only been a week. You know what the recommendation for concussions is. At least?—”

“Rafe.” I put my hand on his forearm and rub his sun-warmed skin with my thumb. “I know what the recommendations are. A week is plenty if I’m not having any symptoms.”

“You had a headache yesterday,” he retorts. “And two days ago, you flinched at the kitchen light. I saw it.”

I can’t help but smile at his concern. Tough, I can face anything Rafe, who I know for a fact has suffered more than one concussion himself, all worried about me going back to work for a few hours.

“Eden.” It’s gently scolding. “I’m just looking out for your health.” The light turns, and he accelerates—at approximately the speed of a turtle, I note—through it. His lips quirk. “You have an important brain. I don’t want anything else to happen to it.”

A giggle slips out. “An important brain?”

“Yes. A genius brain.” He laces his fingers between mine and gives my hand a little squeeze. “A brain that does important things.”

“So is that all I am to you?” I tease. “Just a big brain?”

“No.” Rafe looks away from the road for a second, catching my gaze. His expression is solemn. Emotion works in his eyes. “You’re everything to me, Eden.”

Oh.

I think my heart just melted into a puddle of goo.

Leaning over, I press a kiss to his cheek. “You’re everything to me, too.”

If I didn’t think he was already, the past week solidified it—a week spent pretty much twenty-four-seven with Rafe as I recovered from my mild concussion. Mild. Not a terrible injury that required me to be bedridden for days, if Rafe and my brother had their way.

It didn’t help that I had to go back to the hotel for a few days while the police processed the crime scene. Which meant spending those days under the watchful eyes of three extremely protective men who were determined not to let me lift a finger.

“Traumatic brain injuries are nothing to mess with,” insisted Tyler, who’s still sticking around Portland while he figures things out. “You can think it’s nothing, and then it turns out to be a lot more serious than it originally appeared.”

Since one of his teammates, Erik, who works for the Texas B and A branch, actually suffered permanent brain damage from a TBI, I can understand Tyler’s concern.

But I’m a scientist. I studied anatomy. For a little while, I even considered med school instead of getting my PhD.

If I thought my concussion were anything serious, I’d be the first to address it.

Indy’s been in full protective big brother mode, not hesitating to pull out the big guns for leverage if he thinks I’m doing too much.

Like threatening to call our mother and tell her everything, which I definitely don’t want.

Yes, I know she’s my mom. But I don’t need to lay everything on her when I have other people—like Indy, Rafe, and Zada, who I finally told everything—to rely on, as well.

“If I catch you working on your laptop one more time,” Indy warned the day after my concussion, “I’m calling Mom. And I’m telling her you were almost kidnapped. Twice. So—” He flashed me a triumphant smile. “What would you prefer? Working on your laptop? Or relaxing on the couch?”

I could say I was mad about it, but I wasn’t. Not when it feels so good to have the old Indy back.

And Rafe. He’s been the most protective of all. He cooked me meals using all anti-inflammatory foods, scoured Portland for special hand-pressed juices that were supposed to speed recovery, and did pretty much everything for me apart from literally carrying me places.

Which he would have done, had I not put my foot down. And I showed him research that said light activity is actually good when you’re recovering.

We’re back at my house now that the police have cleared it, and Rafe, Indy, and Tyler have all been hard at work turning it into a veritable fortress.

They’ve doubled the number of alarms and sensors, installed a reinforced steel front door, and replaced my regular sliding patio doors with bulletproof ones.

Now they’re discussing adding a panic room, which seems like a bit much, even to me.

I mean, it’s not like it would’ve helped with the whole Gayla thing. Although during the first break-in, maybe…

Honestly, I’ll probably just agree to it, mainly to make Rafe and Indy happy.

Because seeing them happy? It’s really great.

Seeing Indy smiling again? Laughing? Teasing me, which I used to hate, but now welcome? It’s such a relief. And now that he’s planning to stay in Portland for good, I couldn’t be happier.

Actually, that’s not true. I could be happier.

If Rafe stays, I’ll be unbelievably happy.

I haven’t brought up the idea of him moving here yet, and neither has he. But he’s already talking about extending his visit. And there’s this mysterious thing in the works that he keeps talking to Indy and Tyler about.

“It’s not settled,” he told me the other day, “and I don’t want to say something and have it fall through. But I promise, Eden, I’ll tell you the second I know for sure.”

I keep thinking about Rafe living here. Hopefully, with me. Is it premature, considering we’ve only been officially dating for a few weeks?

Maybe.

Then again, I’ve known Rafe for years. And the way I feel about him… it’s so much more than friendship or desire or affection, although it’s all of those things.

It’s love. A big, warm, fizzy ball of joy that fills my chest whenever I’m with him. Whenever I even think about him, really. It’s a feeling stronger than anything I’ve felt for a man before. It’s this bone-deep certainty that he’s the one .

“So you’re only working for a few hours today, right?” Rafe signals to turn into the parking lot of my building, then turns to me. “I was thinking we could have lunch at that new microbrewery a few blocks from here. See if it’s worth checking out one of their trivia nights.”

“Oh!” I bounce in my seat. “Trivia?”

“Yeah.” He flashes me a quick grin. “Since you’re feeling better. Tyler and Indy said they’d be up for going, too. Unless you’d rather it just be the two of us on the Sneaky Cheeseburgers team.”

As he pulls into a visitor spot in front of the entrance, I ask with a smile, “Not the Mighty Mitochondria? Or the Devilish Double Helixes?”

Rafe laughs. He gets these cute laugh lines around his eyes, and his face lights up with it. “I think I’d prefer the Sneaky Cheeseburgers to those.”

“Sneaky Cheeseburgers it is, then.” Now that we’re stopped, I twist in my seat to face him. Then I palm the back of his neck and pull him forward to kiss me.

His arms come around me as he deepens the kiss, teasing my mouth open and plunging inside. He tastes like brown sugar and cinnamon from the breakfast rolls we had earlier—baked by Rafe, which was quite something to watch.

I can’t think of many things better than walking into the kitchen, still bleary-eyed and rumpled from sleep, to find a very sexy man standing at the counter, his glorious arm muscles flexing as he whisks the batter he made. From scratch , no less.

Unfortunately, Indy was there, too. And Tyler. Which kind of put a damper on my initial idea, which was to inform Rafe that I’m absolutely okay to have sex again.

But I still ogled Rafe. He’s my boyfriend now, after all. I think I have the right to.

As Rafe breaks our kiss, I suck in a greedy gulp of air. Something about kissing him makes me forget everything else, apparently including breathing. He gives me a soft smile and strokes my cheek. “I’d keep kissing you. But I have a feeling you’d rather not give all your coworkers a show.”

Guiltily, I jerk my head away from him to scan the parking lot around us. And yes. There are several of my coworkers headed into the building right now. In fact, there’s Adam, who turns bright red when he sees me looking, but still gives me a quick but friendly wave.

I wonder if he’s still with Wendy. If they’ve been to any more LARPing events. I’ll have to ask when I see him.

It’s a little thing that makes me feel happy to be back at work again, albeit only half time to start.

Just like seeing my coworkers again and being part of the scientific community.

I’m not interested in the whole sales part of the pharmaceutical industry, but working with other scientists to make medical advances? That’s pretty cool.

“Who’s that?” Rafe asks, gesturing with his chin towards a departing Adam. He doesn’t sound jealous—not that he’d have any reason—but simply curious.

“That’s Adam,” I reply. “He works in the same department as me, but on a different project. He’s nice. He does LARPing with his girlfriend. And he’s walked me out to my car a few times when I left work late.”

Rafe is silent for a few seconds. Then his expression sobers. “You won’t have to walk back to your car alone again. Ever.”

My heart jumps. Does that mean what I think it does? That he’s going to stay?

I’m tempted to ask. But we’re in his rental car. Right outside the building. I’m supposed to be meeting with my team in—oops, the kiss threw me off—ten minutes. Maybe not the best time for another future of our relationship talk.

But.

The way he’s looking at me. Like there’s an epic of words he’d like to say.

Then he blinks, and the moment passes. He turns away to open the driver’s side door and says, “Wait there, Brain. I’ll be around to get you. And I’m walking you inside.”

His tone brooks no argument, and I really don’t want to. I’m fine with Rafe walking me in, especially on my first day back.

Less than a minute later, we’re at the glass door, and as I swipe my key card to unlock it, a bittersweet pang hits me.

I want to go back to work. But I don’t want to leave Rafe.

Rafe pulls me in for a hug and presses his lips to the top of my head. “Eden.” His voice is rougher than normal. “Shit.”