He was gentle with me, which I appreciated. Then he left, striding away with a single purpose that made my heart ache and warm in a contradiction I was more familiar with when I thought about Saint.
I looked to Nash. “Make sure he eats and doesn’t kill anyone?”
Nash nodded.
“Orla—”
“I got her, Cam. She’s safe with me.”
I grunted, more because I’d run out of words than anything else.
Nash rolled his eyes and reached over me for the gavel. He pounded it on the table, then made his escape too, leaving me alone, but not for long. I stood and leaned heavily on the table for support.
Alexei appeared like a ghost. “I am taking you home.”
“That an order?”
“Perhaps. But not mine.”
“Saint?”
Alexei’s lips twitched. On anyone else, it might’ve been a smile, but not him.He’s a hitman. Russian mob. You’ve probably never met anyone more fucking dangerous in your life.But I wasn’t scared of him. I loved him. “I don’t want you to leave.”
“Leave?”
“When you’re done babysitting me. I don’t want you to go back to Bristol and live in your ivory tower.”
Alexei took my hand from the table and draped my good arm around his shoulders, taking my weight before I could stop him. “You want me to live here? In your clubhouse?”
“I want you in my bed. That ain’t always here.”
“Wanting to fuck me more often doesn’t mean much.”
That stung. I twisted in his grasp to face him. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know. I just do not want to have this conversation here.”
“Why?”
“Because it is not what you need.”
It was. So fucking much. But no argument came to me.
I kissed his cheek and reclaimed my arm. Then I walked myself out of the chapel and into the night air.
It was freezing. I shivered, colder than I’d ever been. My heart cried out for Saint. Before Alexei, being around him was the only time I’d felt warmth since my parents had died.I need him home.
“He won’t be long,” Alexei whispered.
I shook my head. “He’s never been in my house.”
“Nothing stays the same unless you want it to.”
He moved past me and down the steps.
His car was in the yard, parked between my Harley and Saint’s as if it had always been there. Unlocked, like my fucking soul. But what about his?
Alexei slid behind the wheel of the Jaguar SUV. I took a last glance around the compound, catching Rubi’s eye, then I opened the passenger door.
