Tristan couldn't help but chuckle. "You're pathetic."

"I really am and if ye get rid of my  p**n , I'll be too weak to help keep the lifeless lasses away from ye," Shayne rushed to explain when they both knew that Tristan would never get rid of the man's  p**n .

"Just make sure to keep that shit off the television when Marty's around," he said when the bathroom door suddenly opened.

She paused in the doorway as she wrapped a large baby blue towel around herself. "Who are you talking to?" she asked, frowning as she looked around the room.

"No one," Tristan said quickly, inwardly groaning when she cocked a disbelieving brow in his direction.

"Real smooth, lad," Shayne drawled with an eye roll.

He barely stopped himself from flipping Shayne off as he walked over to Marty, who he might add looked incredibly sexy wrapped up in one of his towels.

"Good morning," he said softly as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, hoping she'd forget that she heard him talking to himself. If this was going to work, and he was going to damn well make sure that it did, he was going to have to be a hell of a lot more careful when he was around her.

Thankfully she took pity on him and dropped it. "I have to go home and change," she said, moving towards her discarded clothes from the night before, but not before she gave him a proper good morning kiss that left him hard and more than ready to continue with last night's activities.

"We have to go to work," she said around a yawn as she stepped away from him and quickly dressed.

He held back a groan of frustration as he forced himself to stay right where he was, but it was damn difficult, especially when she dropped her towel. There was no rush after all. They'd go to work and then tonight he would take her out for dinner. Then they would spend the rest of the night making up for all the years he'd stupidly wasted.

"We have to get going or we'll be late for your meeting," she said as she pulled her shoes on.

"There's no rush, sweetheart. They’ll probably just sign me off when they realize that I don’t really have an anger problem," he said, grabbing his keys and noting twin looks of disbelief.

"I don't!" he snapped, feeling insulted.

When Shayne and Marty both rolled their eyes at that announcement, he decided that a little clarification obviously was in order. "I don't have a f**king anger management problem!"

*-*-*-*

"Hello, Detective Black, my name is Elizabeth. I'm so happy that you were able to make it today," a woman a few inches taller than Marty, rail thin with glasses and a pixie cut, said in a syrupy sweet tone better used on small children than on a six foot-two man packed with muscle who was carrying a gun and was here for some help with his anger issues.

A muscle in Tristan's jaw did a little bounce as he did his best to reign in his temper. Well, Marty assumed that's what he was doing since he looked furious and hadn't yelled at the woman, yet. A few seconds later, his scowl disappeared and was replaced by a charming smile that actually frightened her a little. The man was up to something and she was very much afraid that he was going to bring her down with him.

"Elizabeth, it's very nice to meet you," he said charmingly as he shook Elizabeth's hand.

"I'm very excited to have you join our group, Detective," Elizabeth said in that same tone and Marty had to admit that it was really starting to become a tad annoying.

"Elizabeth, I was actually hoping that you could do me a favor and sign this release," Tristan said smoothly as he handed her a piece of paper.

"I'm sorry, Detective, but I'm under strict orders not to do that," she said with a shrug and a smile as she handed the paper back to Tristan.

"I see," Tristan murmured, sounding thoughtful as he folded the paper and placed it in his jacket pocket. "And you're positive that you can't sign this?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said, adding an upbeat tone to her answer.

"Very well," Tristan said, smiling as he gestured for her to lead the way into the room set up for the meeting. Elizabeth looked pleased as she did just that.

"I'll be ten minutes," Tristan said, pausing at the door.

"The meeting lasts for an hour," Marty pointed out, frowning as she looked down at the flier in her hand to make sure that she hadn't messed up the time. Nope, the meetings were an hour long, which was probably a good thing since it would give her some time to figure out what the hell happened between yesterday morning when she was ready to kill the jerk and this morning when she screaming his name at the top of her lungs as he took her from behind.

"Ten minutes," he said firmly before he closed the door behind him and left her sitting on one of the hard plastic chairs lining the hallway wall of the community center and wondering what she should do.

He said he loved her and heaven help her, but she believed him. That didn't explain why he'd kept her out of his life for all those years or why he treated her the way he had over the past couple of weeks. Until he was able to explain a few things to her, they were going to take things slow. Well, slow but with sex since there was no way she was going to deny herself that pleasure.

She still couldn't believe that he’d been a virgin. That was definitely another thing that he was going to have to explain. She knew why she had held off for so long. She hadn't wanted to make a mistake or end up with a kid before she was ready. Her friends couldn't understand and honestly she didn't care. This was her choice, her life, and she hadn't wanted to sleep with any of the guys she'd dated.

If she was going to be honest with herself, she'd admit that the real reason that she’d held off for so long was Tristan. She'd been in love with him her whole life and when she dated a man she had a rather nasty habit of comparing him to the Tristan that she used to know. She’d also felt as though she were cheating on Tristan and no matter how many times she told herself that she was being irrational, she couldn’t shake the feeling that being with another man was wrong. It didn’t hurt that none of the men she’d gone out with made her feel special or protected, not the way he used to make her feel.

That brought up another interesting question, just how long was Tristan going to be able to keep this up with her? When was he going to suddenly get tired and irritated with her and push her away again? She already knew that if he tried to push her away that he wouldn't get another chance. This was it. She'd given herself to him and it would be hard enough to deal with the aftermath if he decided that he just didn't want her. She wasn't about to put herself through hell and turn into one of those women who constantly took some guy who treated her badly back over and over again. This was a one shot deal and she was going to make sure that he knew that.

"Ready?" Tristan suddenly asked, startling her.

"You've only been in there for five minutes," she said, glancing down at her watch. "What are you doing out here?" she asked, frowning as she looked past him at the closed door. Was that crying she heard?

"Elizabeth realized that I really don't need therapy and decided to sign off on my sheet," Tristan said as he took her hand into his and gave it a gentle tug, pulling her to her feet.