"I think you don't beat around the bush," I finally settled on. "Just tell her. She's a smart girl. I think she'll understand … when the time comes. Until then, keep doing what you're doing."
He went up onto his arms and stared into my eyes, his mouth so close to mine that I couldn't avoid the temptation and moved until my lips brushed his.
He grinned down at me, then slowly slid his length out from inside of me.
I gasped at the empty feeling first, and then when I felt the warm liquid that started running down my cleft.
I didn't worry, though. Now that we were at least thinking more clearly, we were a lot savvier with the fact that we needed something to catch the mess. Meaning we'd stocked up on towels and had placed them on top of the nightstand.
Before it could fully fall to the bed, he'd reached for the towel, and plastered it to my body.
I rolled with the towel as he got up and stood awkwardly by the side of the bed. He walked to the bathroom to clean up.
He came back out moments later and I traded him places, using the time in the bathroom to clean myself with some baby wipes that I'd gotten at the store earlier for just this reason.
Once I was done, I headed back out into the bedroom.
I reached for my panties that were lying next to the bedroom door and pulled them on even though I knew the second I got into that bed, he'd be ripping them right back off of me.
But as I watched him slip his socks on, and then his boots, my brows furrowed in confusion.
"What are you doing?" I asked him, tripping over my underwear and falling back on the bed.
He watched me with amusement.
"I'm getting my clothes on so I can go," he said evenly. "Why?"
"You're not leaving. If you leave, I'll have to kill you."
His eyes shone with laughter. "That's an awful lot of smack you're talking when you can't even put your underwear on while on standing up."
I flipped him off, then sat down on the bed to put my underwear on. He had a point. I was very clumsy, and I likely couldn't even take my man with a gun … if I had one.
///
Once I had the panties at my knees, I stood up and slipped them the rest of the way on.
"That's irrelevant," I said. "There's no reason you can't stay here."
He looked at the door.
"Our daughter might see, and you just said that you thought I should wait, agreeing with my earlier thoughts," he countered. "I can't do both. If I stay here, she might see me, and that's not the best course of action. We agreed on that."
I sighed.
"I have a lock on my door."
He frowned.
"I don't like that," he said.
"Then you'll just have to be vigilant," I said. "You've been gone for a long time. If you leave me tonight, when I just got you back less than twelve hours ago, I will cry. Plus, you can slip out the window and head over to the trailer if you hear her coming. It's just right there."
I pointed at the trailer in question.
Speaking of …
"Did you watch me get out of the shower last night?" I questioned him.
His mouth twitched.
"Yeah."
I just shook my head.
My man had no shame.
"You know, you're quite smug for a man that has spent the last six years hiding himself from me," I told him.
He didn't offer an apology.
Instead, he slipped off his socks and gestured to the bed.
"Let me do one more round for the night, and I'll be back."
Then I watched him slip into the darkness of the house, never once turning on a light to illuminate his way, and make a perimeter check of the house.
Like he said, he was back moments later, and I was in the bed waiting for him.
He slipped in behind me, assumed our favorite sleeping position, and I finally felt like I was home.
And I slept better that night than I had any other night since the last time I slept beside Tunnel.
Chapter 20
I'm a train wreck full of pizza, fireworks and glitter.
-Text from Ghost to his wife.
Ghost
"Shit, shit, shit, shit," I grumbled to myself as I hauled myself out of Mina's bedroom window.
The moment that I was out, I turned around and gestured to her.
She followed me to where I was standing and placed her hands on the window sill.
"Make sure you lock this after I'm gone," I ordered her.
Her mouth twitched.
"Yes, sir."
I pulled her down by the collar of her shirt and tugged her mouth to mine.
"Be good," I ordered. "And make sure you don't give any of my tamales away to the boys. They'll eat them all."
She grinned mischievously. "I'll see what I can do."