Damon relaxed on the bed in his room in the crappy Merc headquarters, his head still hurting but his stomach settling. He’d slept most of the day away and was feeling marginally better. A look at the sun behind the cheap blinds showed it had to be late afternoon.

A soft knock drew him up short. “Come in.” Greyson never knocked. The guy always barged in wherever he wanted.

April opened the door.

Damon sat up in the bed and tried to look tough. Or at least not half-dead. “Hey.”

“Hi.” She faltered and nodded at a Vanguard soldier who’d obviously escorted her.

A hot wave of possessiveness gripped Damon. He cut the guy a look, and the young soldier scrambled away. Then he smoothed out his expression for April. “Come on in, beautiful.” His voice was returning, thank goodness.

She walked into the small room, looking around. She had on a pretty pink sundress, and her thick hair was in a ponytail. “This is…nice.”

He snorted. He had a bed, an end table, and a basket of clothes in the corner. That was it. Anything he’d owned had been burned up in Santa Barbara. “I’m sorry I left so abruptly this morning.” That was a freaking understatement.

She reached the bed and sat on the end of it, her blue eyes cutting through the hazy day. “I understand why you left.” Her fingers plucked nervously at a string on the threadbare comforter.

“Good. I would’ve rather stayed in bed with you,” he said.

She looked at his bare chest and then looked away.

His stomach dropped. Oh, shit. This wasn’t going to be good. “April?”

She stiffened her shoulders. “I’m not mad at you, but I realized this morning that I’m just not ready for, well…this.” Her hand swept out. “For you.”

Oh. Ouch. Well. He rubbed a hand over his very short hair. When he’d worked on the force, he’d shaved his head, and he’d gotten out of the habit. “I understand.” It took guts for her to seek him out like this after the previous night, and he could make it easy on her. Now that he’d had a taste of her, he wanted more. “I thought last night was pretty good.”

Her head jerked, and her stunning blue eyes widened. “You think?”

Amusement cut into him, and he hid it. “Yeah. Didn’t you?”

She nodded vigorously, her ponytail bobbing. “I did. I mean, I’ve never had a one-night stand before, so I wasn’t sure, but the sex was really good.”

A one-night stand? The term pierced into him, and he fought a frown. He didn’t like that. Not one little bit. “It was more than that to me, April.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay. Casual sex, then. Forget the number of times.”

Well, he didn’t much like that either. But she had a point. Neither of them could afford to go all in right now. Life was just too dangerous. “I didn’t think it was all that casual,” he murmured.

Her pretty blush warmed him throughout. “You know what I mean.”

Yeah, and if he felt better, his mind would be working faster to reassure her. In bed, she was just as giving as she was outside of it, just as sweet. Nicely wild, too. He’d wanted to untap that side of her, and now that he had, he didn’t want to return to the friend zone. Every new part of her he discovered, he liked even more. She was kind and strong and sexy as hell. “Can we talk about this?”

“Sure.” She turned to more fully face him on the bed.

His cock woke right up, forgetting he was getting over the flu. Or just not giving a shit.

She drew air in through her nose and then released it, obviously counting. “Here’s the deal. I don’t know how to do this. Be with a man who isn’t Don. Ever.” She shook her head. “Especially somebody like you.”

“Like me?” he asked quietly.

“Yes.” She looked around and then focused back on him. “You’re on the front lines, Damon. You fought with Rippers just last night, and the bandages on your upper arms are from bullets. Actual bullets. You’re in danger every single day, more than the rest of us.”

Well, yeah. He’d dated a waitress once who’d had enough of his life, too. She couldn’t take the fear. People who could be with a cop or soldier and not go crazy with worry were incredibly strong. Unique and special. “We’re all in danger.” That was the absolute truth.

“I know.” She sighed, her skin luminous in the daylight made soft by the blinds. “It’s just, I don’t know how to be…intimate with another man.” She winced, her embarrassment palpable.

Man, she was sweet. And adorable. He searched for the right words. “We couldn’t get much more intimate than we did last night.”

Her blush turned a fiery tomato color.

He watched, fascinated. Wow.

“I know, but since you ran out, we missed the awkward morning-after moments.”

His hands clenched with the need to grasp her and draw her near, but he might still be contagious, so he didn’t move. “The morning after would’ve been spent with me inside you. Nothing awkward about that.”

“Damon.” Exasperation rolled through her words, but her lips tipped into a small smile.

Good. He was relaxing her. His dick still hadn’t taken a break, though. This close to her, he was ready to go again. Man. Calm down. Take it easy. He didn’t want to spook her. “Listen, April. I like you, I loved being inside you, and I’d give my left arm to be there again.”

Her chin dropped. Surprise winged across her pretty face.

There wasn’t room in his life for coyness or smoothness. Or even charm. “I can’t promise you anything other than a good time, an escape from this crappy world, and protection from harm during the op with the church. They’re not right. I can feel it.”

Her jaw clenched. “I don’t need your protection. You require rest to get over this flu, and I’ll take over the investigation. They’ll let me see the kids. They trust me.”

Irritation clawed at his skin. “Absolutely not. This—”

“Damon—”

“I’m not done.” He waited until she’d snapped her lips shut. “I’m protecting you no matter what because that’s what it is. I’ve been there, you’ve sighed my name, and even if we never speak again, I’m making sure you don’t get hurt any more than you have here in Vanguard.”

“I’m not your responsibility,” she protested.

“You are.” He meant every syllable. “Last night guaranteed that.” He held up a hand before she could protest. “I’m not asking for anything. You want to be friends? We’ll be friends. You want to be lovers? I’m there in a second. It’s up to you.”

“Everything except you being responsible for me?” Spunk stamped hard on her face.

Man, he wanted to kiss that expression away. Later. Once he felt better. “Yeah.” No reason to lie to her. “I’m keeping you safe because I can. Because, last night, I sank deep inside you, and you dug your nails into my ass.”

She shook her head, her eyes going wide. “This is not making sense.”

Then he wasn’t explaining it right. “Let me try again.”

“No.” This time, she held up a hand. “I think I’ve got it. Since we had sex for one night, you now have rights where I’m concerned.”

“No,” he snapped and then quickly calmed himself. “No rights. Nobody has rights to you.” Man, she was stubborn. He hadn’t noticed that before. It wasn’t so much cute as it was fucking intriguing. “No rights. But I will protect you during this op we’ve created. It’s my job.” Even if it weren’t his job, it’d be his damn job. Nothing was going to hurt her on his watch. Period.

“You’re confusing me,” she muttered.

“Not my intention,” he replied. Hadn’t he just laid it out there? This fever was messing with his mind, even though he was feeling better.

Her lips moved as if she were working through words before saying them.

If she got any cuter, he’d just grab her and damn the consequences.

“I’m not into the alpha male, go all Neanderthal experience,” she said primly.

The words still didn’t compute. “What does that mean?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes, looking about eighteen years old. “This. The whole, I’m protecting you crap.” Her voice had lowered to a terrible imitation of a man’s voice and now rose again so she could continue. “Yeah, the wild sex was exciting, but that’s enough.”

“Wild sex?” he murmured, having trouble following.

“Yeah.” She blinked, and her face colored again. “Last night. You remember, right?”

His fever wasn’t that bad. “The sex was fantastic. But baby, that was an intro.” He said the words gently.

Her teeth played with her lower lip. “An intro? Huh?”

His mouth watered. Oh, he needed another night with her. And then several more. If she thought last night was wild, she was sadly misinformed. “Yeah. A first-time-together, kind of gentle exploring.”

“Kind of gentle?” she burst out. “I have a hickey on my hip.”

“Just one?” he asked. The woman definitely hadn’t looked at her backside in the mirror. Indentations from his teeth were more than likely on her left buttock. He hadn’t bitten her hard enough to hurt, but he’d definitely left his mark. “Look closer.”

She threw up her hands. “I thought it was wild. And my sex life was great before Scorpius. Don’t think for a second that it wasn’t.”

“I don’t think that,” he said soberly, feeling as if he were walking through a field of landmines. “I’m sure it was fantastic. But the world is a different place, you’re a different person, and I’m a different man. Just because this thing between us is different and good, doesn’t lessen what you had. Not even a little.”

“Stop saying the right thing,” she shouted, shoving away from the bed and standing.

Nobody had ever said those words to him. He couldn’t think of a reply.

She put her hands on her slim hips, and no woman in the world had ever looked more gorgeous. Having her hair back showcased the sultry angles of her face. Her eyes blazed a startling sapphire, and her chest actually heaved a little against the light cotton of her dress. A closer look confirmed that her nipples were hard.

His mouth watered more.

“Stop looking at my chest,” she gritted out.

Fair enough. He focused on her face.

“You are not listening to me,” she said quietly.

He was listening, but he sure as shit had no clue what she was saying. Maybe she didn’t either. Perhaps last night had thrown her enough that she was scrambling. It had definitely thrown him, but he’d been sick all day and hadn’t had time to process. The idea that she didn’t want to see him again hurt something deep inside him that he’d figured had died with the pandemic. “I want to listen to you,” he said.

“I think…I mean, I just think that we should keep it to business. And friends.” She clasped her hands together.

That would be smart, but he hated the idea. There was no question that April Snyder had lost too much in this world already. He couldn’t push her. If she wanted to be friends, then he’d be her friend. “That’s fine, sweetheart.”

She didn’t look any happier when he agreed. “Okay.”

“But I’m still in charge with the case. No negotiation there.” He waited for her to nod. Good. “So you stay away from the Pure church until I’m up and around again.” While he was feeling better, he didn’t trust his strength or his aim right now. And he needed to clear his head before dealing with Pastor King again.

“I can go in there alone,” she said, her face brightening a little. “In fact, I think they’re more likely to show me around without you there. I’m less of a threat to them.”

That was entirely the point he was trying to make. “No.”

She jerked. “Excuse me?”

“I said, no.” He let his voice lower and lose the gentleness he’d been showing her. “You want to be friends, then we’re friends. No pressure. But on the op, I’m in charge, and you’re not going in until I’m well. Tell me you get me, April.”

Her glare could cut marble, and it turned him on even more. “Fine. I totally get you.”

Why wasn’t he reassured?