He tensed beside her, stared down at her, but saw little as she’d burrowed against his side and was hiding her face in his arm.
“What is it?”
“Jessa.Oh, and don’t call me ‘baby doll’.”
He snickered.“You do realize you made me want to call you that all the more now, right?”
She heaved out a sigh, glared up at him.“Meanie.”
The jibe worked; he could see her face now and could see the tears she was withholding as well as the anxiety clouding her spirit.
He reached up with an aching hand, attached to a sore arm, which was connected to a once broken shoulder.
The pain of that movement was enough to steal his breath, but he persevered, knowing she needed the reassurance of his touch.
“All will be well, sweet pea.”
“Will it?Will it really?”She shook her head.“I don’t know.There are too many lies, too much BS to cut through.”
“And we’ll cut through it.Little by little.”He sighed.“Jessa’s a nice name.”
She bit her lip.“It is.Isn’t it?”
He smiled and stroked her cheek with his thumb.“Wewillget through this because we have no other alternative.If you think I can be in a world where you’re not safe and not do everything in my power to make sure you are, then you’re nuts.”
“My dad lives in a world where he doesn’t know if his mate’s safe,” she murmured, her tone, understandably, melancholic.
“Mate?”He cocked a brow.“Wow.”
“Yeah.Wow.We just had a doozy of a conversation.”
“I’m sorry I missed it.”
“I’m sure Ryan will help you catch up.”She fell silent a second, her quiet telling him she wasn’t about to share the minutiae of the conversation she’d just left behind.“Do you want to meet one of my friends?”
He tensed.“A guy friend?”
A laugh escaped her and she slapped her hand to his belly.“Why would I introduce you to an ex?Because, don’t even lie, you knew that was what I was saying.”
Sheepishly, he murmured, “Well, it was just how you said it.”
“Yeah.Right, Mr.Possessive.”
It was his turn to laugh.“Like you’re not too.How would you feel if the tables were turned?”
Her growl was both pissed off and hurt.It also stunned the shit out of them both.
Lions could growl, and their beast would add power to it.But nothing very out of the ordinary.
Panthers, on the other hand, could make the same noises as their big cat form… That was a lot of variety!A fact he’d forgotten, and El had only just realized it seemed.
Silence overtook the entire car until Ryan snorted.“I forgot about that.”
Marc and Trip said, almost simultaneously, “Me too.”
“What the fuck was that?”El asked, her voice more of a squeak now, and sounding so high-pitched after the low yowl that she might as well have been a chipmunk.
“It was your cat coming out to party,” Trip told her with a smile.“Don’t worry.It’s normal for Panthers.Extreme emotions can really set you off.”He rubbed his chin with his free hand while his other curved about her arm and tucked her back into his side again.“I shouldn’t have tried to make you jealous.”
