“And I make you happy, right?”
“Oh, are you fishing for compliments?” Ivy teased.
“I might like a compliment.”
“Well, in that case … yes, you make me very happy.”
Jack leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Ivy’s expectant mouth. “You make me happy, too, honey. You make me … so happy.”
“On a side note, though, my father is threatening to have a talk with you because you didn’t call him after my accident,” Ivy said. “You should probably prepare yourself for that. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Your father stopped by today? That’s nice. He wasn’t mad I spirited you out of town, was he?”
“He didn’t stop by. I saw him when I was at the nursery. He’s fine with the trip. He’s just really unhappy about the lack of a phone call.”
“What did you just say?”
“My father is going to have a talk with you,” Ivy repeated.
“Not that.” Jack’s mood shifted, anger coursing through him. “What did you say about the nursery?”
Ivy was genuinely confused. “Nothing. I just said I saw my father while I was there today.”
“Dammit, Ivy!” Jack roared. “Are you telling me after everything that happened you walked over to that nursery by yourself today?”
Ivy was taken aback. “I … .”
“Are you trying to kill me?”
Ivy scowled. “Now you listen here, Jack. I’m an adult. That’s my business. It’s my job to take care of it. I was perfectly safe walking there. It took two minutes.”
“You were not perfectly safe,” Jack seethed, leaning forward. “What if Marcus was hiding in the woods? What if he shot you? What if he tried to take you?”
“We don’t even know if it is Marcus,” Ivy pointed out.
“That’s not the point!”
“Don’t you yell at me,” Ivy hissed. “You are not my father. I’m allowed to make decisions regarding my own life. If you don’t like that … well … .”
“Well, what?”
Ivy didn’t have an answer. There was no way she could even finish the sentence. They both knew what she was going to say before thinking better of it. The problem was, even if she did say the words, both halves of the couple knew it was an empty threat. “Well, nothing.”
“Come here,” Jack growled, grabbing Ivy’s waist and pulling her to a flat position on the couch.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m letting you relax me before I give you a massage,” Jack answered. “We both need to relax. Otherwise I’m going to kill you for how stupid you were today.”
“Don’t call me stupid!”
“Don’t do stupid things!
They reached for each other at the same time, passion exploding as well as pent-up need. As far as relaxation went, there was no better way to get it.
“I THINK we might be sick in the head,” Ivy said an hour later, Jack rubbing the area around her neck as she rested on the floor between his legs.
“Why do you think that?” Jack asked, taking extra care around her shoulder. The last thing he wanted to do was cause her pain. He’d done enough of that for two lifetimes.
“Because we get turned on every time we scream at each other … and we scream at each other a lot. If this keeps up, I’m not going to be able to walk.”
Jack chuckled, Ivy’s words of wisdom tickling him. “I think we’ll figure something out,” he said. “You’re in shape. You can take it.”
“Ha, ha.”
“I think we’re both a little heightened emotionally right now,” Jack said honestly. “Between the shootings … and the possibility of Marcus being alive … and you making me crazy … well, things are bound to get heated.”
“I guess.”
“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Jack offered. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“You didn’t frighten me,” Ivy scoffed. “I know you would never hurt me.”
Jack lowered his voice. “I did hurt you, though.”
“Not that way,” Ivy said. “Plus, you know what? I refuse to dwell on that any longer. Brian told me you panicked after the shooting. He told me not to write you off. I didn’t want to see it because I was so hurt that it was easier to be angry with you than entertain the idea that you might have a legitimate reason for being a butthead.”
“I adore you, Ivy Morgan,” Jack said, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.
“I still have twenty minutes of massage in front of me,” Ivy reminded him. “Don’t even think of stopping. That’s the best thing I’ve felt since … well, the last thing you massaged me with.”
“That was just filthy enough to be hot, honey,” Jack said, returning to his task. Ivy reached over and snagged the file Jack brought home and started flipping through it. It was full of things regarding Marcus’ death.
“The thing is, I know you were hurting more than I was after the shooting,” Ivy said. “I saw it on your face in the hospital. I had a tiny wound on my shoulder and you had a gaping one in your heart. It wasn’t fair of me to turn on you like I did.”
“It was fair, Ivy,” Jack countered. “I was being a coward.”
“How come you decided to stop being a coward?”
“Because the idea of going another day without touching you was almost enough to kill me,” Jack answered. “I don’t think you understand how I feel when I’m around you. I’m not sure I understood when I first felt it. I do now, though.”
“Try me.”
“Oh, now who is fishing for compliments?”
“Come on,” Ivy prodded. “I want to hear it. I want to hear all of it whenever you think about stuff like that.”
“Okay,” Jack acquiesced. “I feel like my skin is on fire every time I touch you. I feel hot … and not in a sexual way. Although, to be fair, I often feel hot that way, too, when you’re around.”
Ivy giggled, warming Jack’s heart.
“I
