And he did consider them family. They’d taken him in and offered him acceptance. He’d never forget that or take it for granted, just what all they’d done for him. They’d given him purpose again when he was at loose ends and had no direction after coming off that last tour that took him out of active duty.
But now he had Eden, and he wasn’t at all sure where this would take them, but he knew without a doubt that she was a complete game changer for him. Already his priorities were shifting. He’d basically taken over her protection, although Nathan and Joe were technically in charge. But they seemed to realize that there was something between him and Eden, and they’d let him take the lead without argument—and thank God for that, because for the first time ever he would have openly defied their command when it came to Eden. He wanted this done his way. He wanted to be the one in charge of Eden’s safety, and it wasn’t that he didn’t trust his team, but they didn’t have the personal stake in this job that Swanny had. He wanted to be the one who shielded her, kept her safe. With him at all times. Such possessiveness was completely alien to him.
It wasn’t that he was ever an ass**le to the women he’d been with, but neither had he felt an overwhelming sense of possessiveness. The urge to keep her with him at all times. Not to let her go.
It hit him with startling clarity that in his mind she was his. She belonged to him. Not that a woman was some thing or chattel to “own,” but his reaction to her was staggering. He also realized that this shoot was only a few days, and that might be all the time he had with her.
Panic surged because he hadn’t given thought to the longevity of their relationship, and it occurred to him now that he wanted more. He didn’t want to be a fling, her first lover, and then have her move on to someone else.
Their careers would take them to opposite corners of the world and he had no idea how they could possibly work that out. But damn it, there had to be a way. He didn’t want to let her go.
If this was what being in love was all about, then he knew he’d already fallen hard for her. But the big question mark was how did she feel about him? He knew she cared for him. Hell, she’d gone out of her way to assure him that his scars and appearance didn’t bother her. And she’d wanted him to be her first lover, so that had to mean something. But what?
All he knew was that he was already dreading the end of the shoot when she no longer needed KGI’s services. Although the threat to her, according to her father, was still out there, so if that threat wasn’t eliminated by the time the shoot was over, he might well want to keep them on.
He wanted any threat to her to be eliminated no matter how it was done. He wanted nothing to ever touch her or hurt her, but at the same time, as soon as the threat was eliminated she’d no longer need him or KGI, and he wasn’t looking forward to the end of what they were sharing.
Eden stirred softly beside him, and he forwent his thoughts and turned to face her. She smiled sleepily up at him.
“Good morning,” she said sweetly.
“Morning, honey. How do you feel this morning?”
Her cheeks pinkened as color rose up her neck and into her face.
“I’m fine, I think. I haven’t really moved around much, but you took such good care of me last night I can’t imagine that I’ll suffer any discomfort today.”
“As much as I’d love to stay in bed with you all morning, unfortunately we’ve got to get up and get moving if we’re going to be on time for your shoot.”
She grimaced, showing the same regret he felt.
“At least we have lunch together to go shopping,” she said brightly.
Though it wasn’t something he was looking forward to, being pushed into some posh, stuffy tux that he was not accustomed to wearing, the thought of getting to spend time—any time—with her quickly dissolved his misgivings over having to gussy himself up.
“It’s a date,” he said, kissing her lips. “Now why don’t you hit the bathroom and do your thing. I’ll use the other bathroom and take a quick shower and then we can hit the road. I’ll call the others and make sure they’re set and ready to go and have the cars ready and waiting in the back.”
She sighed but pushed aside the bedcovers, baring her nude body to him. His dick hardened to the point of pain, but he kept a sheet over it until she disappeared into the bathroom. He was going to have to take care of the matter of his erection in the shower because there was no way in hell he could endure this kind of pain all damn morning. And for the most part, other than the very few women he’d had sex with, his hand had been the only regular release for his dick. Just imagining Eden and remembering their lovemaking the night before would finish him off in a minute flat as soon as he hit the shower.
Twenty minutes later and feeling only slight relief in his aching balls, he went in search of her to find her collecting up clothing and a host of other feminine stuff of whose uses he had no idea.
“Ready?” Eden asked, a broad smile curving her pretty features.
“Yep. No workout today, huh?”
She grimaced. “I try to do it every other day. I probably should do a daily regimen, and for a while I did when David and Micah took over my workouts. We worked out, ran and worked on self-defense. But after I got into better shape and more toned and lean, we cut back to three days a week. Sometimes more if I just need to work out my frustrations, but who wants to put themselves through that kind of torture every day?”