“Maybe.” She shrugs and presses a kiss to my shoulder. “Possibly.” Another kiss. “Regardless, I’m extremely grateful of the timing of your arrival. Nothing happened. You protected me. I just don’t want you to get in any further trouble when we have so many eyes on us and one in particular that makes all the difference.”

“Yes. Fine. Sammy is—”

“Not going to get in trouble for doing what I asked of him. But . . . I won’t do it again.”

“Promise?” I ask.

“Promise.”

I nod and run a hand through my hair.

What if I’d been too late?

For the first time in a long time, I don’t care just about myself. Yeah, I need to be on the world tour and make this all work, but seeing the fear in her eyes? Seeing his anger—his aggression—completely focused on her? It enraged me. Have I ever felt that before?

No.

Hendrix Wright deserves the affection of someone far better than me, but she’s managed to wind herself around my heart.

I care about her.

And damn if that’s not a mindfuck for a selfish prick like me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Hendrix

I wake up alone.

Again.

Not that Jase and I are sleeping in my bed together on the regular or anything, but after sex . . . sometimes we fall asleep tangled together. Sometimes he keeps a respectable distance. Regardless of how we fall asleep, by morning his side of the bed is always cold.

I don’t know what I think of that. Like, we’re doing everything a married couple does so maybe it would be nice every once in a while to not wake up alone.

Or maybe it’s for the best and a perfect way for us to keep our great sex life from creeping over the line into the emotion realm.

Then again, I think my toes are already dangling over that line despite telling myself daily that it’s not going to happen.

But who could blame me?

The man is everything he said he wasn’t. Considerate. Caring. Attentive.

This whole scheme may be all about looking good for the judge and to his benefit, but time and again Jase has adjusted on the fly with my needs and wants and best interest in mind.

He reversed his plans to take me to a flashy restaurant, picking up that I’d felt completely underdressed and would have been embarrassed.

Then there’s Jase’s chokehold on Paul to protect me. The image of Jase pinning Paul against the wall is burned in my mind. I’ve never seen someone so enraged on my behalf.

Not that I’m one for violence, but it felt nice to be protected. To be cared for enough that someone wanted to.