Page 100 of Her Hidden Smile

“Okay, you’re right, this isn’t like normal. But Millie, you’re fragile right now,” I said as I feathered my fingers down her back.

Hell, I’m fragile too, just thinking about what could have happened.

“The one thing I’m not is fragile. Didn’t you hear me in the hospital the other day? I kicked whack-job butt. Or I tried to.”

“Yeah, baby, I heard. I’ve already been bragging about that to my entire family. Mom and Dad want to come out for a visit.”

She lifted her head and stared down at me.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I’m not. But I told them that we’d talk about it after Jase and Bonnie’s wedding.”

She lowered her head back onto my chest. “Good.”

I didn’t tease her about coming to the wedding this time. I’d wait until she was back to her full fighting strength.

“I still want you to hold me—” She yawned. “Tighter.”

I kissed the top of her head. “I will. Now go to sleep.”

I woke up to butterfly kisses.

Renzo.

I tried to move my head to follow him, but I realized he was holding me in place. I was at his mercy. So many soft kisses on my mouth, until he finally relented and rested on my lips and I sighed.

I tasted his breath—mint and Renzo. He licked my bottom lip and I opened further. His taste was warm and comforting as his tongue slid sensuously against mine. This wasn’t just passion, this felt like a gift. It was a feeling of safety, of love, of acceptance and homecoming. I tried to wrap my arms around his neck, and that was when I remembered I was in a brace. I broke away from his kiss and huffed with annoyance.

“What, Cariña?”

“This brace. It’s in my way.”

He looked down at me and laughed. “Millie, I saw all of your romance books in your nightstand. I took a picture of them, and I read a couple.”

“You did what?” I squawked.

“I read some. It seems to me that we have a lot of things left to explore. One of those things I was planning on getting to was bondage,” he whispered.

My heart stopped. It literally stopped. I knew which book he’d read.

Oh. My. God.

“Your brace is like training wheels for bondage. This is perfect, don’t you think?”

I couldn’t get out a word, so I nodded.

Renzo got out of bed and then pulled off all of the covers so that I was just lying on the top sheet, like some kind of sacrifice. It wasn’t even light out yet.

“What time is it?”

“If you’re asking questions like that, then I haven’t captured your full attention. Let’s see what I can do to remedy that.”

He was right. How could I be wondering about the time when I had his body to adore? I loved his chest and shoulders, but I especially loved his hard abs. He didn’t have a six-pack like on my book covers. Nope. Just one hard gut that looked like a man, along with that trail of hair that led down to something fantastic underneath his sweatpants.

“Millie?”

“Huh?”