Raylan
My tires spit gravel as I slammed on my brakes behind Lennix’s SUV and shut my truck down. She’d attempted to ice me out ever since I outed her to her folks for keeping her stalker a secret from them, and my sanity started to slip away as I chased after her. That wasn’t me trying to be a dick. That was me desperately attempting to make sure she stayed safe. And I would make damn sure I had reinforcements in the form of her family, because I refused to let anything happen to her.
The more I thought about that note and flower, the more unsettled I got. The idea of Lennix being in danger sat in my gut like a rock, growing heavier with each passing day. I couldn’t stand the thought of her getting hurt, and every time by brain started down that path, my chest clenched like I was being squeezed to death by a giant anaconda. Just thinking about it right then had a cold sweat breaking out across my skin as I struggled to pull in a full breath.
She was pissed at me for overstepping, but what she hadn’t realized yet, what she didn’t understand, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to ensure no harm ever came to her. Her family calmed down a bit after I told them about the new system, but I knew they’d still be keeping a closer eye on things. Which was great, since anyone who wanted to get to Lennix’s place would have to drive by her parents’ house in order to get there.
I threw the door open and climbed out. “Lenni, will you please stop runnin’ from me? For Christ’s sake.” I was practically growling, I was so frustrated. I couldn’t take another moment of her avoidance. I missed her like I might miss a vital organ or a limb, and, damn it, I couldn’t stay away for another second.
I needed my friend back. I needed my Chaos.
Her sharp, angry voice carried through the air and slammed into me like a tangled ball of barbed wire. “Go away!”
“I’m not goin’ anywhere until we talk,” I continued, trailing after her as she stomped toward her front porch.
All that dark-as-midnight hair flew around as she shot me a glare over her shoulder. “I have nothing to say to you.”
I pushed the sting of that away and kept moving. “Lennix, please.” I sped up and reached for her elbow. “Would you stop already?”
She whipped around and jerked her arm out of my grasp, but I considered it a win that she’d at least stopped walking. “What?” she snapped so loud her voice cracked through the night air like a whip. “What, Raylan? What could you possibly have to say that’s so important?”
“I just want you to give me a chance to explain,” I insisted, bordering on begging as my pulse raced and adrenaline flooded my system.
She folded her arms over her chest, but the gesture looked more protective, like she was trying to shield herself, than attitudinal. “What do you want to explain, huh? You want toexplain why you’ve been taking your jealousy and anger out on me for months? Or maybe you want to explain why you’d kiss me like your goddamn life depended on it after you shot me down when I did the same damn thing. Maybe you want to explain the mixed signals you practically keep shoving down my throat that make me feel like I’m the one going out of my freaking mind.” She lifted her hand and tapped at her chin in mock thought. “Hmm. Oh, I know. You want to explain why in thefuckyou’d rat me out to my parents and cause them to worry over nothing!” She’d started out sarcastic but finished that last sentence on a shout.
My jaw ticked as I ground my molars together to the point of pain. “I won’t apologize for trying to keep you safe.”
Astonished laughter bubbled up from her throat. “Keep mesafe?” She threw her arms out at her sides. “From what? There’s nothing to protect me from.”
“You don’t know that,” I barked back as blood began to pump in my ears. “Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but when anormalman’s interested in a woman, he asks her out. You know what kind of guy leaves anonymous flowers and notes? A creeper who most likely has something seriously fucked up to hide, that’s who.”
She rolled her eyes and jutted out her hip. “You’re being dramatic.”
“Call it whatever you want. I’m not sorry about it.”
She let out a bitter scoff. “Of course you aren’t. You just go around taking your feelings out on everybody else with no consideration?—”
I lunged forward, cupping both her cheeks as I dove for her mouth, unable to hold myself back for another second. Lennix’s sweet gasp parted her lips and I didn’t hesitate to dive in, her sweet, honeyed taste exploding on my tongue. That first taste setoff something inside of me, a need so strong, so raw, I couldn’t get close enough to her.
Before I could take the kiss deeper, Lennix pulled away. My heart lodged in my throat as she stared up at me, her chest heaving the same as mine. My gut clenched and panic coursed through me at the thought that she might close me out again. I wouldn’t fault her if she did, but Christ, what I felt for her was quickly shifting from want to need. Like oxygen or food and water. Panic began to churn inside my blood as my eyes darted across her stunned face from her bee-stung lips to those flushed cheeks.
“Lenni—” Her little hands came up, her fingers twisted in the material of my shirt, and she used her hold to jerk me forward, sealing her lips with mine once more. The kiss was hungry, frantic. If I thought that kiss a couple nights ago rocked my fucking world, this one was even...more. More intense. More desperate. More hungry... just more. My palms landed on her rounded hips, my fingers eager to feel and explore now that I finally had permission to touch her phenomenal body. She was all soft, rounded curves wrapped in silky skin.
She moaned into my mouth, the sound making my dick pulse against my fly like it was desperately trying to get out and get to Lennix. My Chaos. Every inch of her, inside and out, was wild and beautiful.
“Raylan,” she panted, sucking in a frantic gulp of air as I dragged wet, sucking kisses down her neck. I couldn’t get enough of her smell, of the rasp of lust in her sweet voice. The way she said my name in a needy tone I’d never heard from her before. God, that kiss was everything and not nearly enough, all at the same time.
“Say it again,” I growled against her skin before dragging my tongue along the tendon of her throat. Her pulse fluttered against my lips like hummingbird wings. “Say my name, baby.”
Lennix’s hum was downright decadent... wanton. “Raylan,” she repeated, and I swore to Christ, it made my dick weep, beads of pre-cum dripping from the tip as my hips rocked of their own accord, pressing harder against those curves and that body that was driving me out of my goddamn mind.
“Inside,” she panted, fisting my hair and pulling my face from the crook of her neck so she could reach my mouth. Her teeth clamped down on my bottom lip, the sting lighting a fuse inside me I didn’t know existed. I let out a groan that came from deep in my gut. My cock twitched violently as the sharp bite of pain gave way to something hotter than I’d felt before. I couldn’t remember the last time I needed someone the way I needed Lennix.
No... that wasn’t true. It had never happened, because I’d always been determined to never let anyone in far enough to need them. I had my family, and that was enough. All I had to give, I gave to them. But she’d somehow managed to worm her way beneath my skin anyway.
“Raylan.” Her fingers scrabbled, her nails digging in like she was worried I might disappear. “In. Side.”
I was so wrapped in the feel of her that it took longer than usual for her words to register in my fuzzy brain. “What?”
