World's Worst Boyfriend: A Romantic Comedy Adventure (Fake It Book 3) by Carina Taylor (ebook reader online txt) 📗

furniture I had in my garage. We talked well into the night, and I didn’t even remember falling asleep until we woke up to the sound of a chime on Fletcher’s phone.

The wrinkles from his shirt had left an imprint on my cheek.

Fletcher groaned as he rolled over and read the text. “It’s West. Today’s the day.”

I wrapped my arms around him tightly. It felt like the middle of the night still. “I don’t want you to go back there. Please. I can’t handle anything happening to you.”

He stood up from the bed, dragging me with him since I was attached like a leech.

He laughed and pulled me to my feet. “You know I love you, right?”

“Yes.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I love you too.”

“I know.” With a smile he bent down and kissed me softly. “But this is my job. I’m going to finish this, and then we can spend more time together.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to you. You promise you’ll be careful?”

He kissed me again, whispering his promise that he would be.

After glancing at his phone, he dragged me back to bed. “We still have a few hours.”

We woke up snuggled close together. His hip was still sore no matter what he said, and I’d used a pile of pillows to help prop him up, keeping the pressure off of his side as much as possible.

I’d fallen asleep to him playing with my hair. We were still bridging the chasm between us, but I knew we could work through it. And own up to the fact that I had caused part of that rift myself.

Fletcher’s phone rang at seven o’clock. It was Sullivan demanding that he be at his house to review everything in the next forty-five minutes. That meant there wouldn’t be time for Fletcher to run home and put on any fresh clothes.

I happened to have something for him. “Here. Wear these.” I handed him a t-shirt and jeans.

“Hey, these are my clothes. I thought you cut up all my clothes.”

My cheeks felt a little warm. “Yeah, well apparently, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of everything. I still can’t believe I cut up your things.”

“They were pretty gross…I’ve had to do some surveillance in some pretty dirty places for this job. The warehouse is surrounded by woods and has a creek running around part of the parameter. I can’t even count the number of times I got soaked and muddy doing recon.”

“I’m pretty sure I could,” I muttered under my breath, thinking of the piles of dirty laundry I’d done for him.

He peeled his old shirt off and put the new one on. “Saidy, there’s something you should know. Even though a lot of our issues are because of my work, I’m not exactly good relationship material. You might be disappointed to find out that some of those flaws are part of me, not just a byproduct of my working undercover. I’m not a good gift giver. I forget important dates. I don’t know how to be romantic.”

“I think you’re being too hard on yourself,” I admonished. “Do you remember the time you gave me socks for my birthday?”

Fletcher groaned. “See? I thought those were a great gift. I can’t believe you let me get away with that.”

“I was so upset that you only got me socks. But then the next day I ended up sick in bed with the flu.”

He grimaced. “You were so sick.”

I nodded, tracing my fingers over the planes of his chest. “Do you know what I remember about that night?”

“What a jackass I was for getting you socks?”

“I remember thinking how ungrateful I’d been. I’d been so focused on you not meeting my expectations for a present, that I forgot what a good guy you are. You came over the minute you could get away from work. You carried me to the bathroom every time I needed to be sick. You made me tea. Mopped the sweat off my forehead and changed my sheets. You held me while I shivered. What I remember from that night was the sweetest, most selfless boyfriend anyone could imagine. You weren’t even concerned about catching it yourself.”

He sighed and ran his fingers through my hair. “I love you, Saidy.”

“From now on I’m going to work harder at loving you the way you need too. Gifts are my thing, not yours,” I said with a smile. “You’re a protector. You show your love by taking care of me.”

“I know I suck at showing how much you mean to me in normal ways, but I would do anything to protect you. Anything.”

“Well, you did do anything. And while it annoys me to share you with other people, I know you’re the best type of man out there, and that’s something I can’t let go of.” I leaned forward on my tip toes and kissed the corner of his mouth. His hands wandered down to my hips, pulling me closer to his.

“You might have to share me with the job, but like I said, there will be no more secrets between us. No more undercover work. After this it’s over. You’ll be stuck with a regular guy who doesn’t lie about what he does for a living.”

“Good. Because I don’t think I can handle you sneaking around my house randomly showing up fixing things. I’d rather be able to just call and nag you to come fix my leaky faucet.” I pressed a kiss against his jaw. “Please be safe today. I’m already worrying too much.”

“I promise I’ll be safe.” He pulled me close. “But don’t expect to hear from me for a while. Maybe not until late tonight. I can’t risk blowing everything this close. You did a great job of putting Sullivan at ease. He’s been back on the phone a bunch, which means he’s still taking bids and finalizing the meeting for tonight. I’ve heard several of his conversations.”

I sighed. “That doesn’t change the fact