The next morning, I pull her against me and give her a long, hard kiss. “Will you go somewhere with me?” I ask, brushing back a strand of her dark hair and giving her bottom lip one last soft bite before standing back up to my full height.
“Of course. Where are we going?”
“A couple of my men were hurt, and I need to visit them at the hospital. It’s the same one your mom is at, so we can stop in and see her while we’re there.”
“How were they hurt?”
“Stabbed and beaten.”
“Does this have anything to do with why you were gone all day?”
“We can take my car,” I say, and then laugh at the look she gives me. “I can’t tell you details, baby.”
“Like ever?”
“It’s to keep you safe,kiska. You already know too much because of the way we met.”
“All right, keep your secrets if you must. Let me hurry up and change and then we can go.”
I smack her ass as she walks off and then make sure the dogs are taken care of before grabbing my keys. Once we’re on the road, she looks over at me and laughs. “Your car is way more fun now that I’m not bound and wearing wet jeans.”
Laughing, I shift gears and reach over to squeeze her thigh. “You were so adorable that night,kiska. You have no idea how fucking hard I was when I kicked through that damn door.”
“Seriously?”
“Hard as fucking steel,” I say with a laugh. “And it didn’t go away. Every time I was near you, I was seconds away from ripping your clothes off and sliding into you. God, that night in the media room when you woke me up, fucking hell.” I shake my head at the memory. “I’m obsessed with you, sweetheart. I can’t get you out of my head, and I don’t want to.”
She grabs my hand and kisses it before I need to shift again. “I couldn’t get you out of my head either,” she admits. “I was scared of you at first, but I was also drawn to you in a way that I’ve never experienced before. It’s like I was powerless to stop it.”
I pull in front of a flower shop and open the door for her, grabbing her hand and threading my fingers through hers. The bell above the door gives a soft ring when we enter, the smell of fresh flowers immediately filling my nose.
Maddie smells the air and sighs. “God, that smells good.”
I pull her against me and press my lips to her ear. “Nothing smells as good as you,kiska.” I give her neck a soft bite before standing back up.
“Hi, I’m Sibyl. How can I help you two lovebirds?”
The woman behind the counter looks like she’s got to be pushing eighty, but there’s a sprightly skip to her step when she walks over to us. Her grey hair is pulled up in a messy bun, and her brown eyes are just as warm as the big smile she’s giving us.
“We need three bouquets,” I tell her.
“What’s the occasion?”
“One is for her mother,” I say, kissing the top of Maddie’s head. “She’s in the hospital for a bit.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, love,” Sibyl quickly says.
“Thank you. She’s been fighting breast cancer, so maybe something really colorful to cheer her up? She loves hyacinths and gladiolas.”
“I think that sounds perfect,” Sibyl agrees. “What about the other two?”
“What do you suggest for stab wounds?”
Without batting an eye, she says, “I think sunflowers and gerbera daisies will work well for that.”
I smile at the woman. “Perfect.”
While she busies herself with making the bouquets, Maddie and I walk around the small store, admiring the flowers she has. The woman has one hell of a green thumb. She motions for us to go through the curtain of beads that’s off to the side, and when we do, Maddie lets out a soft gasp. Before us is a large greenhouse that’s filled with way more flowers than I could ever name.
