When he pulled back slightly, Somers licked his lips and said, “No, sir. Don’t even think about it. You are not going to get out of having this conversation—ah.” The last noise was a combination of a gasp and a groan.

Hazard’s hand, which he had worked up under the shorts, moved slowly but surely.

“I didn’t say just food and sleep.”

“Um.” Somers’s eyes were hooded. His head rocked back and bumped against the wall. It seemed to startle him out of the daze. “Huh? What?”

Slow and sure. Tight and then loose.

“I said you needed three things. I didn’t say just food and sleep.”

“Oh. Uh. Right. Yeah. Three things.” Somers seemed to be trying to think.

“Come on,” Hazard said, giving a long, last pull before working his hand free of the shorts. He slapped Somers’s bare thigh, the red print rising almost immediately. “Our room.”

“But Evie—”

“This is just the pre-dinner entertainment,” Hazard said, grabbing the undershirt and dragging him up off the bed. “The real show is after she goes to bed.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

JULY 3

WEDNESDAY

7:42 AM

HAZARD WAS COOOKING EGGS when Somers staggered into the kitchen. The blond man’s tie was askew, his shirt misbuttoned, and one leg of his trousers was caught in his sock. He had wadded his suit jacket into a ball for some unknown reason, and he stood in the kitchen, expression glazed, like a man who had survived a bombing and stumbled out of the wreckage.

“Well,” Hazard said as he slid two of the eggs onto a plate, “this is very flattering for a guy’s ego.”

Somers’s gaze narrowed. “This is your fault.”

“I know,” Hazard said, shrugging as he added bacon to the plate. “I’m too good. I’m a public menace.”

“Do not be cute. Do not be funny. Do not, for the love of God, get a big head and start swaggering and strutting.”

“That’s kind of your area.” Hazard set the plate on the table. Then he took the wadded-up jacket and guided Somers to a seat. While Somers picked up a fork, Hazard straightened the tie and redid the buttons.

“I’m not four years old,” Somers grumbled, poking the egg to break the yolk.

“Uh huh,” Hazard said, bending to free the trapped cuff of the trouser.

“Oh God,” Somers muttered as he took the first bite. “I need help.”

Hazard jogged upstairs and quickly ran the iron over the jacket. By the time he got downstairs, Somers was rinsing his plate in the sink.

“I’ll get that,” Hazard said.

Somers waved him off and loaded it in the dishwasher. “Thank you,” he said, slipping into the jacket when Hazard held it out for him. “God, I set four alarms. Four.”

“I noticed.”

“I cannot believe this.”

“You were exhausted. Emotionally and physically. Although not so exhausted that you didn’t want thirds last night when I—”

“Daddy,” Evie squealed, rushing into the kitchen and wrapping herself around his legs.

“Monster,” Somers muttered to Hazard.