Chapter 37

Damien

“I have a tutoring session tomorrow night,” Penny whispers snuggled into my neck. We’ve spent the last three hours fucking and sucking each other into oblivion. It was a surprise to learn my perfect little wife could give me an out-of-this-world blowjob. I knew one orgasm wouldn’t be enough. For either one of us.

“Tomorrow night? I thought the center closed at five on weekdays.” I pull her closer while I run my fingers delicately down the soft skin of her arm.

“They do. But I’m going to the student’s house for a private lession,” she explains and reaches for my free hand resting on my stomach. She laces our fingers together. “She has a job interview in two days and asked for the extra lesson to be prepared. Not that she needs it; she’s picked everything up pretty quickly.”

“I don’t think you should do private lessons.” I swallow, suddenly feeling like there is a pile of rocks in my stomach. It’s as if my body is trying to tell me to stop her. She shifts away and props up on an elbow, unlacing our hands in the process.

“Damien, I’m a teacher. It’s my job to make sure my students are confident in the skills they are learning from me.”

“Yes, but in the classroom.”

“Damien—” she starts, but there’s no way I’m going to ignore the feelings raging inside of me. It’s my job to keep her safe. She doesn’t sense danger the way I do.

“No, Penny, you can’t do it.” I look away, not wanting to see the look of disappointment I expect the words to cause. Only there isn’t a shred of disappointed in her voice or the way her body tenses next to me.

“I can’t do it?” she asks with irritated anger brewing somewhere inside.

“No, you can’t.”

“I wasn’t asking for your permission.”

“That’s good because I’m not giving it,” I snap, feeling the regret of doing so a second later, but it’s for the best. If she isn’t going to keep herself safe, then I’m going to be the one to do it.

“Damien,” she whispers before sitting up completely. The sheet falls from her chest, but she makes no move to cover up. “We aren’t in danger anymore. They’re gone. Armando, Charles, Brock, even Mirabelle. They can’t hurt us anymore.”

“Do you think that’s what this is about? This has nothing to do with them.” I finally look at her and watch the fire burn behind her crystal-blue eyes.

“I know you want to keep me safe, and you’re always worried something is going to happen to me.”

“Then why are you fighting me on this?”

“Because this is my job. This is what I do. You can’t keep me holed up in this house for the rest of my life.” She throws her arms out and huffs. As much as I want to admit she’s right, I toy with the idea of locking her away anyway.

“Why not? It’s safe here.”

“It’s like a prison here.” Her voice rises an octave.

“It is not. Just because there’re a few cameras—”

“Damien, it’s like Fort fucking Knox in here. I can’t even step outside to water the grass without the damn alarm going off,” she fires off, her nostrils flaring with each word.

Fuck, she is sexy all riled up.

I make a mental note to push her buttons more often.

“It might be a bit much,” I admit, but I’m still going to install a few more cameras just to be on the safe side. I’ll just need to make sure I do it when she’s not home.

“You think?”

“Damn, angel, where did all this sass come from?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She smiles, trying to hold back a giggle but lighting up the room all the same.

“Two months ago, you would’ve cowered in the corner with little to no fight.”

“Two months ago, things were different,” she admits on a shrug. She’s right, though.

Why can’t I get over this need to constantly protect her?

“That they were,” I agree, leaning forward to kiss her soundly. Fuck, she tastes good. Will I ever get enough of her? “Fine, angel, I’ll let this go on one condition.”

She pulls back and lifts an eyebrow.

“I want a copy of your roster—”

“No,” she shakes her head, cutting me off. “You are not going to enlist Sneak into this.”

I chuckle at her reaction. We haven’t been together for long, but she already knew where I was headed with my request.

“If you want me to be okay with this, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Sneak will work his magic, and you can do all the tutoring sessions you want.”

“You mean you’ll have him do a background search on my students.” I hold back a smile when she rolls her eyes. Shit, another thing that does nothing but make me want her more.

“Just a little one.”

“Damien…”

“It’ll put my mind at ease.” I reach for her with both hands and pull her down onto my chest before she can protest. She opens her mouth to say something but closes it quickly. I watch the wheels turn as she thinks about it.

“Fine, but I’m still going to the tutoring session tomorrow night, whether he’s done working his magic or not,” she relents and lays her head down on my chest.

“Deal,” I agree reluctantly, but she doesn’t know how fast Sneak works. If he finds something even remotely shifty, I will lock her away and she won’t be going to any tutoring sessions.

After a few moments, I feel her body slacken and know she’s falling asleep. I carefully shift her off my chest and curl her into my side, itching to call Sneak now. Even without a direct list, he’d still get me the information.

We don’t call him Sneak for nothing.