She curled around one of the pillows and looked at him.
“I’ve never felt better in my life.”
He walked around the bed and got in behind her. She stiffened, but stayed where she was. He laid a kiss on her shoulder and started tracing the ridges of her scars.
“Do they hurt?”
“Sometimes they do,” she said quietly, “not recently.” His breath shuddered in. He’d known what to expect. He’d asked Darius. But knowing and seeing were two different things. She rolled over, exposing the entire expanse of her back to him.
“Baby, you should have told me, you should never have been lying on your back when we made love.”
“Clint, I only felt your touch.” He brushed kisses and traced the network of marks that marred her skin. He wasn’t surprised when he tasted the salt of his tears.
Lydia fell asleep and he pulled her close covering them up with the comforter.
“I love you, baby. You’re mine.”
Chapter Eight
They made it to the safe house a couple of hours ago. Finn arranged for a three bedroom, two story house a mile from the beach. Clint thought it was perfect because it was at the end of a cul-de-sac.
Lydia pressed end on the phone and turned to Clint.
“Beth learned how to ride a horse!”
Clint looked at Lydia’s beaming face, momentarily diverted from his computer screen. Score one for Jack Preston.
“So Mama Bear is feeling a little bit better?” Clint teased.
“Yes I am.”
Lydia got up from the dining room table as the buzzer rang in the kitchen. She took out the casserole she put in for dinner.
“So that takes care of Beth, but you didn’t tell me how your conversation with your parents went.”
Clint closed his laptop. He wanted to show Lydia what he found on Guzman, but he could tell she needed to talk.
“I honestly don’t know what to think.” She looked at him, and then touched the glass dish without using the oven mitt.
“Ow.”
In seconds he had her hand under the faucet, running cold water on the burn.
“It’s no big deal. Really.” He kissed the top of her head.
“Let me take care of you. I like doing it, okay?”
She leaned into him. “Don’t tell anyone, but I kind of like it when you take care of me too.” Now didn’t that deserve another kiss? He continued to keep her hand under the water, but he used his other to tangle in her mass of black curls and tip her head for a fierce kiss that left them both breathless.
Reluctantly he let her go.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?”
“Not really. They’re just them. In five more weeks, this will all be over.”
She straightened. “Help me find where the plates are.”
They scrounged in the cupboards and found the dishes they needed to set the table. “This is a really nice house. Do you know who it belongs to?” Lydia asked as they sat down.
“Nope. Finn arranged it. The man is amazing. He has contacts everywhere. You mention you need something, and voila, it just shows up.”
“Does he use computers too?”
“I’m sure he does but it’s not like we do. It’s more just e-mailing a bunch of friends and calling in favors.” Clint laughed.
He waited for her to pick up her fork. Then he did the same, anxious to try the food that had been tantalizing him for the last half hour while it cooked. He took a bite of the succulent corn and chicken dish and sighed with delight.
“I love this.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“How’s your hand?” She seemed to be holding her fork okay.
“Fine. So what did you find out while I was talking to Beth?” she asked as she took another delicate bite of her food. Damn, she was sexy when she ate. Okay, he admitted to himself, she was sexy when she did anything as far as he was concerned.
“I’ve been accessing the dark web.”
“Makes sense. That’s where most of the information about drug trafficking goes on.”
“Something weird is going on. I wanted you to take a look at it. Guzman seems to be dumping his product at a fast rate. Almost like he is having a fire sale. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“Hmmm.” Lydia put down her fork after only a few small bites.
“Nope, you have to finish a hell of a lot more before you get to play with my computer.” She gave him a dark look.
“I have my own damn computer.”
“Yeah, but it would take you an hour to get to the site I found. If you’re a good girl and eat all your food, you could be looking at the fun stuff in under twenty minutes.” She stuck out her tongue at him.
He choked out a laugh and her eyes twinkled.