“What’s all that about?” I ask. She will beg. Show me how crazy she is for me.

I know the moment she grasps my intentions because her face drops and her body goes lax beneath me. “You don’t need to keep me safe.” She wriggles free and heads for the bathroom, and I roll onto my back on a drained sigh.

“That’s how much I care about you,” I say to the ceiling. Love! Love, you fool. You fucking love her.

I hear the door close, and slap my palms over my face, scrubbing them down my bristles. Idiot. I roll onto my front and shove my face in the sheets, giving the pillow a few thumps. “I love you,” I mumble. “So fucking much, I’m in constant agony because I’m not sure you should love me back.”

The door opens. I still, listening hard. The sound of her feet pads the carpet past me. She’s going into the dressing room. Oh, here we go. I have zero faith that my gesture will be taken well. Not after her performance this morning.

I creep off the bed slowly and take tentative steps to the doorway, chewing nervously on my lip. “Problem?” I ask when I find her gazing at her dresses.

She turns toward me, my toothbrush hanging from her mouth. I frown. She didn’t see her own next to it? Her eyes fall down my torso. I consider distracting her further and giving her what she was asking for in bed a moment ago, but she speaks before I can act. Or, at least, she tries to. “Wh . . . hell . . . roths . . . ing . . . ere.”

I can’t restrain my smile completely, not when she’s got toothpaste dribbling down her face and she’s looking at me with such outrage. “I’m sorry. Run that by me again.” I need time to consider my answer, and it’ll be something she can’t argue with.

Her nostrils flare. Oh boy. Keep it light, Ward. Today has to be a good day.

She waffles on again, looking like she’s foaming at the mouth. She kind of is. Exasperated, I collect her and carry her into the bathroom, setting her by the sink. “Spit.”

She spits like a bloke and swings back to face me. “What’s all this?”

I can’t take her seriously when she looks like this, so I lean forward and rid her face of all toothpaste with my tongue. Distract her. Yes, I’ll give her what she wants, and she’ll agree to anything I want. That’s how we work, and it suits me fine. “There,” I whisper, finishing at her lips. She breathes in, her body hardening. “What’s what?” I work my way to her ear, reaching between her thighs.

“No!” She shoves me away. “You’re not manipulating me with your delicious godliness.”