Page 56 of Tempting Tessa

She knocked his hands away. “I don’t need your permission, and I could care less about the doctor’s orders.”

“You are so stubborn,” he said, exasperation and affection blending seamlessly into his voice. Without warning, he shifted her farther back on the bed and climbed in beside her. He settled his weight enough to pin her in place without hurting her.

“Tommy! What the hell?”

He smirked in her face, his lips close enough to kiss. “If you think I’m letting you out of this bed in your condition, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Now, who’s being stubborn?” she challenged, trying to keep the anger stirred up enough inside her to fight him. Looking into his eyes, seeing that smirk, she couldn’t. “You’re insufferable.”

“True,” he said, his gaze dropping to her swollen lip. He touched it with one of his knuckles, brushing it gently. “But you need me, and I’m not going anywhere.”

That stubborn part of her bristled at the thought of needing anyone. Of leaning on him. He’d already gotten past her defenses more than once, and now he was doing it again. She tried rebuilding the walls she’d kept so carefully constructed until he’d shown up on her doorstep, but as fast as she slammed the bricks into place, they crumbled.

Maybe she could blame it on the drugs pumping through her system or the trauma she’d just survived, but she had the urge to kiss him.

Shedidneed him, dammit.

And wasn’t that a fine pickle to be in?

“I don’t need you,” she told him, lying through her teeth, “but I want you. There’s a difference.”

He chuckled. “Not to me.”

Oh, this man! He frustrated her at every turn. “You’re ridiculous,” she murmured.

And then she tugged on his wrinkled and bloody shirt, remembering all he’d done for her, and forced his mouth to meet hers.

He stilled, then kissed her back gently, running his tongue over her swollen bottom lip. She nipped at his, laughing at her own recklessness.

Maybe on one count, Harris was right—riskwasthe price of progress. Could she allow those crumbling walls to stay down? Could she, perhaps, eradicate them completely?

Definitely, the drugs talking. She’d evaluate that another time.

For now, she relaxed into the warm male body lying next to her. Tommy brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I love you, Tessa.”

Love. Her heart danced around, the old panic trying to find something inside her to cling to. It failed, a warm sensation blooming there instead. Blinking, she smiled, allowing it to fill her up. “Good thing I love you, too, then.”

He kissed her, this time slowly and deliberately.

When they broke apart, she poked him in the side. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going after the swan position.”

His deep chuckle made her smile. He tipped his forehead against hers. “You deserve it.”

As she laid her head on his chest, he tucked her against him. A realization hit her, clear and undeniable.

She wasn’t alone. She had Spence. Meg and Declan. Even Jessie.

She had a reason to live. A purpose. An odd but loyal family like she’d never had before.

And, for the first time ever, she realized as the warmth of Tommy’s nearness began to lull her back to sleep, she had the right guy in her bed.