“Yeah, I caught myself a little mouse. I think I’ll keep her.”
That gets me a hiss.
“The hell you will. This is my show. You guys are uninvited intruders. You need to leave before you blow what I’m doing.” She pushes against me to go where? I don’t know. She can’t take a step one way or another without exposing herself and us.
“The only thing you are doing is leaving. Our long talk, angry fucking and then the sweet make up sex after that will come later.” I snap off the face mask so I can think with my head and not my dick for however long it takes to get her to safety. “Until then, stay behind me and move when I move. You copy?”
I turn on my heel and palm my weapon.
I peer around my shoulder to see snowflakes clinging to thick, black lashes surrounding a pair of very pissed off green eyes. Ifthe owner could shoot beams that disintegrate men where they stand, I would be a pile of soot right now.
And the hand across my cheek only makes me want to bend her over and stroke her deep until she’s screaming my name.
I rub at the sting and welcome the bloom of heat across my face that her slap leaves behind.
“Like hell,” she growls into my face like a woman possessed by rage and not an ounce of fear of someone two and a half times her size. I’ve never felt more proud.
I grab her hand and force her to wipe off the blood I feel oozing from the corner of my lip.
“Damn it, Phantom!”
She tries to jerk away but I hold her tighter.
“I’m going to love making that ass of yours pay for the blood you spilled.” I lean in and press my lips close to her ear. “Remember, baby, in my world there’s always a price to pay for blood. Always.”
I take my jacket off and put it around her. “You shouldn’t be out here. Do you know what the hell you have walked into the middle of?”
“I didn’t walk into anything, I've been waiting for this night my entire life.”
I know she speaks the truth, but not on my watch. Not when I can take him down and keep her safe. I know her past, her bloodline and her desire to bury the man who fathered her. It’s why she played around with the enemy. Me. All to piss off dear old Daddy. And then it got real when I proposed and she gotscared and ran off. I don’t need it spelled out for me. It’s why she left me, and I’ve come to terms with being used. Doesn’t change the fact I was the idiot who thought love was real there for a while. Looking at her now, I still do.
Her slightly upturned nose, her perpetual sweetness that she just oozes even when she’s mad and the softness of her skin against mine.
She tries to shrug off my coat, but I grab one wrist and shove it into one arm and then repeat with the other until I have the leather coat around her and zipped up.
I grab the lapels of my coat and haul her body into mine. Bright eyes blaze into mine and I’ve never wanted to fuck her more. “Keep this on. I don’t need you living through this shit only to get sick and die.”
She swings and my universe turns on its head as I nearly miss catching a strong right hook that nearly catches me off guard. But she gave herself away with the small pivot of her hips.
I release her fist but not before kissing each of her knuckles. “Sass and claws. You haven’t changed a bit, my little tigress.”
Piercing eyes hit me. “You have no idea.” She jerks her hand free and this time I let her go and push her into Venom’s waiting arms.
“Venom, good to see ya. But I don't wanna hurt you, but I have a knee waiting for your balls if you don’t unhand me right now.”
“Hello to you too, sweetheart. Mind not doing that? I have Christmas plans with my girl.”
The quick exchange between my brother and my girl gives me a chance to screw my head back on straight. Reaper and therest of the crew fanned out the second we arrived. Right now they are canvassing the area. Our one mission is to stop a large shipment of Euphoria coming into our parish. So far we’ve saved a girl, ended three assholes from raping more women and that is about it. It’s twenty-four hours later and the window for getting this shipment before it is moved to another location is growing slimmer as the night deepens.
And we are after that damn black book with all the dirty details of this shitty operation.
Nowhere in tonight’s plans does my ex come up.
And yet here she is.
There’s no way I’m going to let her get herself in the middle of this drug deal. I push her behind me when she tries to take the lead and Venom moves in behind her.
This woman is going to be the death of me. I know it.
