“Letting you coddle me.”
Her laugh was throaty and warm and . . . arousing. “Is that what I was doing? And here I thought I was just trying to get you back into fighting form.”
Joe narrowed his eyes. Could her concern really be so mercenary? He didn't think so.
After he'd taken several appreciative sips of the coffee, she asked, “When do you think you'll be able to go?”
Now he felt challenged. “We can leave whenever you want.”
Just please don't let it be right now.
Very gently, Luna leaned closer and stroked the bruises over his ribs. Joe froze. Just as casually, she brushed his still-damp hair back. “I don't think you're in any shape to travel yet, do you?”
Nope, not mercenary at all.
Joe studied her, then caught her hand when she started to move away. “Honestly? I'll be better able to help you in a couple of days.”
Her disappointment showed, but so did her understanding. “I want you to take as much time as you need.”
Maintaining his hold on her hand, Joe admitted, “The thing is, I don't want you to go without me if you think there might be trouble.”
He waited for an explosion. From the first, he'd known that Luna had an independent streak a mile wide. She did and said exactly as she pleased and bristled at any insinuation that she might not be able to handle things on her own.
Joe almost slid out of his chair when she nodded. “I could stay here with you, help you out until you're feeling better. Then we could leave together, in say, two days?”
Shock kept his tongue glued to the roof of his mouth for several seconds. “You'd do that?”
“You're going to help me,” Luna pointed out. “The least I can do is help you.”
From his toes to his ears, Joe detected over a hundred different aches and pains. Just breathing hurt. Sitting in the chair hurt. It didn't matter. One thought leapt to the forefront of his brain and crowded out all other considerations: he had only one bed. He looked at Luna and smiled. “Hell of an idea.”
She couldn't hide her relief. “That's great. I can use the time to help you get packed up.”
So she wanted to pack for him, too? Joe sipped at his coffee while reevaluating his thoughts. Perhaps Luna was more domestic than he'd given her credit for.
“We needed that long for you to pass the background check, anyway.”
He spewed his coffee. “The what?”
“Background check.” Frowning, she grabbed up a paper napkin and handed it to him. “Anyone staying with the kids has to have one. Don't worry about it. I already gave CPS your name, address and phone number last week, when I first decided to go. The check should be done before we take off.”
“I don't want anyone poking around in my background!”
Luna cocked a brow. “Got something to hide?”
“Yeah,
my life.”
Fuming, Joe shoved himself to his feet. It was an awkward show of anger given his level of discomfort and the fact he wore only boxers. Stomping was out of the question; the best he could do was limp.
“Just calm down, Joe.”
He opened his mouth to refuse, and his phone rang. “Damn it.”
Luna raised a brow. “Want me to get that?”
“No. Ignore it.”
“It could be important.”
“It's not.”
Exasperated, she said, “It could be the woman from Children's Protective Services. Maybe you've already been given the stamp of approval.” Luna reached for the phone, and the answering machine picked up.
A feminine voice said, “Hey, Joe. It's Alyx. I want to come visit, but I don't want to walk into anything like I did last time. I swear, that little show stunted my growth.” A husky, amused laugh followed the statement. “Is the coast clear?”
Joe grinned, but before he could explain why this caller didn't irk him, Luna snatched up the phone.
“No, the coast is not clear.” She glared at Joe, her scowl ferocious. She listened, then said, “I'm Joe's wife, that's who I am. No, I'm not joking. Joe's a married man now, so you don't need to bother calling him back. Understand?”
Joe stood there in horrified fascination. Watching Luna at work was like seeing a train wreckâdevastating but unstoppable. “Uh, Luna . . .”
Her mouth curled in a wicked smile. “No, he can't come to the phone. Why? Because I said so. Now be a good girl and get lost, okay?”
She hung up the phone. Then, as if that awful little debacle hadn't just occurred, she said, “The background check is rudimentary. If you don't have any arrests or outstanding warrants or records of drug abuse, you should pass with flying colors.”
A little poleaxed, Joe blinked. It took him a second, then he started to laugh. He wrapped his arms around his middle and chuckled so hard that he had to slump into the wall. It hurt like hell, but he couldn't stop himself.
“What,” Luna demanded, “is so funny?”
“That was Alyx,” he managed to gasp around his hilarity.
One brow shot high. “Are you telling me she's special to you?”
“You could say that, yeah.” He looked at Luna and started chuckling all over again.
Luna went rigid.
“How
special?”
He got the laughter under control, but continued to grin. Luna looked so put out, so disapproving and . . .
jealous
, Joe couldn't help but touch her cheek. “Real special.”
She looked ready to spit. “Well, excuse me for tampering with your love life,” she all but sneered. “I was under the impression you weren't serious about any woman.”
Joe wouldn't admit it, but he knew he'd already gotten very serious about Luna. This was going to be fun. “Alyx,” he informed her, “is my sister.”
She pulled back. “Your . . . ?”
“Sister.”
“Well good God. Why didn't you say so?”
Joe dragged her close and hugged her. “You didn't give me much of a chance.” She was so embarrassed, she didn't fight him. She tucked her face into his chest and groaned. Joe liked holding her, so even though he felt like a steamroller had gone over him, he didn't move to the chair. “Don't sweat it, honey. She'll call back. Trust me. Sometime within the next minute, she'llâ” The phone rang. “There you go.”
To keep her at his side, Joe looped one arm around Luna's shoulders, then lifted the receiver. He glanced at the caller ID, smiled, and said into the phone, “Alyx doesn't waste much time, does she? No, Mom, everything's fine, I promise.”
Luna stared up at him in horror, then mouthed,
Mom?
Joe nodded, but spoke into the phone. “No, I'm not being held hostage.” He laughed. “That was just Luna. Yeah, she's sane, she just goes off on these tangents sometimes.”
Luna started to hit him in the ribs, saw his bruises, and gave him a dirty look instead. Joe squeezed her.
“That's a dumb question.” His brows drew down. “I know what she said, but no, I'm not married. That's just her way of keeping other females away from me. Yeah, possessive. No, I don't mind.” Joe laughed again. “I'm
fine.
”
Obviously peeved, Luna pushed herself away from him, so Joe gave up and gimped his way into the chair. He sat back, stretched out his legs, and scratched his belly.
Wide-eyed, Luna watched him. Or rather she watched his hand on his stomach. Nice.
“Tell Alyx I owe her one, but no, she can't visit. Because I'm going to be going out of town, and before you ask, yes, I'd have told you first.” He glanced at Luna and rolled his eyes. He was thirty-six years old and still his mother fretted. “I'm not sure, but I'll get in touch when I get there and let you know, okay? Yeah, love you, too. Smack Alyx for me.” He grinned. “Bye.”
He laid the phone on the table and turned to Luna. She looked devastated. “Hey, what's wrong?” Had his teasing really bothered her so much? “You okay?”
She turned her back on him and began rinsing cups in the sink. Quietly, her voice strained, she said, “Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?”
He didn't know, but he could hear it in her tone. She was bothered about something. Joe silently left his chair and stepped up close behind her. Her light, feminine fragrance filled his head. He inhaled deeply.
Little by little, he was starting to feel human again. The pain pill had kicked in, dulling his sharper aches and making him mellow. But he didn't feel that awful urge to drop into bed and fade into oblivion the way he had earlier. Luna was here, and he didn't want to waste a single second of his time with her.
He crowded into her, but stayed cautious. With Luna, he never knew when she might let a pointy elbow get the better of him. “You really threw Alyx into a spin. You know what she thought?”
“That I'm a nut?”
He put his hands on her waist and nudged closer still until he was pressed up against her behind. Damn. If only all of him felt as responsive as his dick. “Maybe. But she also thought someone had killed me or taken me prisoner.”
Luna relaxed back against him. “The idea that you might marry is too ludicrous to be considered, huh?”
“For right now, yeah.” Joe nuzzled her hair, quickly falling in lust again. “You have to understand Alyx. We're close. She knows there's no way I'd get married without telling her first, so therefore, she assumed foul play.”
“Does she know about you getting beat up?”
“No way. If she did, Alyx would be on a manhunt herself, and I'd have to worry about her as well as everything else.” Joe slid both hands around her to her belly.
Luna made a small sound of yearning. “Joe . . .” He pressed his mouth to her neck, the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. He spread his fingers wide.
“You shouldn't keep things from your family, Joe.”
He inched one hand higher, one lower. “You don't know my family,” he rumbled. “They'd go nuts worrying. They know what I do and they know it's sometimes dangerous. The fewer details they're aware of, the better.”
Luna sighed. “That's nice.”
Pausing in his seduction, Joe bent around to see her face. “Nice?”
“To have family like that, I mean. To worry about you. To . . . care.”
Temporarily sidetracked, Joe propped his chin on top of her head. He'd never before realized how short Luna was in comparison to his six feet, three inches. He guessed her to be around five-six, but she had such a presence about her, he'd always thought her taller. “You don't?”
“No, not really.” As if catching herself, she turned in his arms and gave him a chiding shake of her head. “Look at you, trying to work your moves when you can barely stand up.”
“Hey, I'm up.” He looked at her mouth. “In more ways than one.”
She fought a smile. “I thought we weren't going to talk about that.”
“Not then.” Pressing into her so that she couldn't miss his rising erection, he murmured, “But now . . .”
“No.” She flattened her hands on his chest and stared up at him. She had the most beautiful caramel-colored eyes, lightened with glowing gold flecks. “We have to finish talking about your background check.”
A frown replaced his grin. “Oh, yeah. I'm pissed about that.”
“Do you have a criminal record?”
He considered swatting her for that impudent question. “Of course not. I used to be a cop, remember? I got picked up a few times, but that was justâ”
“You've been arrested?” She went wide-eyed in shock again, then shook her head as if she expected no better.
Joe locked his jaw. “Sometimes in the thick of things, it's tough to see who's the good guy and who's the bad.”
She gave him a cynical look. “And you like to blur the edges?”
“Sometimes.” He rolled one shoulder. “Police have to be cautious. So I've been hauled in a time or two, but I've always been released.”
She slid away from him and moved to the other side of the table. “So there's nothing to worry about, right? You've never been arrested, so you have nothing to hide.”
“I didn't say that.”
She clutched the chair in front of her. “So you do have something to hide?” Annoyance clouded her eyes. “If they reject you, then that means I'll have to go alone. I might as well leave now instead of wasting time waiting for you.”
His molars would be dust by the time they finished this tooth-grinding conversation. “You're not going without me.”