Her exhales continued to flutter over his chest. She was somewhere in dreamland, probably performing for a packed stadium full of fans who loved her. That was her dream, right? And with dreams that big and the talent to make them come true, would Bluelick ever be enough, no matter how deeply anyone here cared?
A valid question, but one he decided didn’t matter much tonight, in his bedroom, with her safely beside him, sleeping off the effects of her hazardous evening.
“I care,” he said, and the words came out low, almost hoarse, like the sound of a rusty hinge opening after decades without use. “I care a lot. I—uh-uh, no,” he said to the dog, who padded into the room. “N. O. Don’t even think about it.” Despite the direct order, it put his front paws on the bed, brought its ugly mug topside, and stared up at him with big, pleading eyes.
“The answer is no. No fucking way. Don’t waste that sad puppy look on me. Your bed is in the hall. You are not sleeping in mine.”
Chapter Nineteen
God, the Caravan needed a carwash. She snuggled her cheek into her nice, clean travel blanket and promised herself that as soon as they made it to Sacramento, she was going to let her mom know Linen Fresh Febreze didn’t cover the scent of musty seat covers and—she twitched her nose as a warm waft of something that stank like day-old Taco Bell hit her directly in the face. Gross. With a low groan, she rolled away and blinked her eyes open to complain to…
Light eddied in through her lashes and washed away the vestiges of her dream, leaving only memories of last night’s drama. She turned toward West and found herself eye to eye with the smushed-up face of a panting black dog.
“Oh. Hey, boy,” she whispered. “Did West let you up here? I bet he did. He doesn’t want people to know it, but underneath that tough-guy exterior, he’s just a big marshmallow, isn’t he?”
“No,” came a growly denial from the other side of the dog. “I did not let him up here, and I am tough to the core. Get down, you bed-hog.”
The dog tummy crawled closer to West and whined.
“Down. I mean it.”
It whined again and licked West’s jaw.
“Ugh.” West flung up an arm. “Don’t—”
As a dog-block, his arm proved insufficient. The beast simply snuck under and got another couple licks in before West managed to subdue the wriggling bundle of energy. Roxy fought laughter as he scooted the dog to the foot of the bed. “Stop. Enough. Where’s your dignity, man?”
The animal gave an unoffended bark, circled once, and settled into the tangle of bedding West inevitably kicked off every night. With the dog out of the way, Roxy scooted closer. He was upset with her, she knew, and probably deserved to be, but last night he’d packed all that away—most of it, anyway—and looked after her, the dog, and even Gibson, because he was a protect and serve kind of guy. She cushioned her head on his pillow and rubbed the back of her hand along his whisker-rough jaw. “Morning, Officer Donovan.”
He turned toward her and ran his fingers gently over her bandaged forehead. “Morning, Reckless. How’re you feeling?”
“Not too bad,” which was true. “Thanks to somebody taking really good care of me.”
The corner of his mouth turned up in a whisper of a smile, but his eyes remained serious as he ran his thumb very gently over her scratched cheek. “Yeah. That Ellie is a very dedicated doctor. Speaking of which”—he rolled away from her and lifted something from his night table—“she said take two of these”—he rolled back and tipped two Tylenol into her palm before pointing to something over her shoulder—“and call her this morning.”
Roxy turned to find a bottle of water sitting on the night table. Dutifully, she swallowed the pills. “She is dedicated and extremely compassionate, and I truly appreciate her seeing me after hours and working around my issues, but I was referring to someone who picked me up from the doctor’s office, drove out of his way to fetch Gib from Rawley’s, opened his home to a dog I tried to rescue, and”—she peeked under the half of the sheet still wrapped around her to confirm her current state of undress—“relieved me of my filthy clothes before tucking me into bed. Last but not least, he watched over me all night to make sure my brain didn’t bust its way out of my skull. That person deserves a huge thank-you. I don’t know how I can repay all his kindness.”
Those serious eyes locked with hers. “He has a few requests he’d like you to consider.”
Equally serious, she nodded. Here it came, and she had it coming, so she’d take it like a big girl. “I wouldn’t be much of a musician if I didn’t take requests.”
“My first is that I get you a cell phone, and you accept it, so the next time you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, you call me. Okay?”
Though her heart wanted to agree to anything he asked of her, her head couldn’t ignore the cost. “I can’t let you pay—”
He folded an arm behind his head and stared at the ceiling. “I checked with my carrier. I can add a second line for pennies, and they’ll give me the phone, so cost isn’t the issue. Your safety is.”
“I have a job. I have income. I’ll pay my part of the bill.”
He stayed
