“I didn’t know,” she says quietly, sounding guilty.
“Here, eat this,” I tell her, practically shoving it in her face.
“Thank you,” she says nervously as she takes the slice and stares at it for a moment. Then she takes a big bite, her eyes instantly widening in surprise. The moan that escapes her lips has my dick twitching in approval.
“Sit,” I tell her, pulling out the chair. She drops into it, humming around a bite of pizza, and damn if it doesn’t go straight to my cock. Does she even know what she sounds like? God help me. I can’t help but wonder if her noises in bed would sound the same.
We all grab a slice and start eating in silence, watching her eat pizza like it’s the best thing she’s ever tasted.I wonder if she’d like to taste me?Fuck knows I’m dying to taste her.
“Eat as much as you like,” Sly says when she finishes her first piece. She eagerly dives in for a second piece, and Jagger holds out several cans of soda for her to choose from.
“I don’t know which to choose,” she admits, looking up at him. He opens both cans and holds them out for her to try. She ends up preferring the root beer over the cola, and I quickly snag the open Coke can, wanting to place my lips where hers have been.
Pete snorts as he watches me do it, but I just grin back at him.Jealous much?
He grabs the TV remote and sits back on the bed thatused to be covered in money, before Sly and Jagger packed it all away. He switches it on, and as the sound echoes around the room, Wren looks up in surprise.
She stands and moves around to where she can see it, her eyes wide with wonder. “It’s a TV!” she exclaims.
“You’ve never seen a TV before?” I ask in horror.
“Not since I was little and I watched it at a friend’s house.”
“The motel you stayed at didn’t have one?” I ask, and she just shakes her head as she stares at the screen.
“Why don’t you grab your drink and another slice and come sit over here with me?” Pete asks. And when she does, his eyes bounce to mine in smug victory.
Was he trying to claim a spot as her favorite? I shake my head as I grin at her.Silly man, my Wren doesn’t play favorites. Her heart is big enough for all of us.
Watching her get comfortable right beside him, my smile grows. Her hip touches his, even when there’s plenty of room for her to sit with space between them. I notice she hasn’t pulled away from any of us; she seems to feel the same magnetic pull to us that we do to her.
She nibbles happily on her pizza as she watches Pete flip through the channels.She’s so fucking cute.
I note the purple tinge to her cheek and clench my fists, accidentally crushing a slice of pizza I forgot I was holding. If I could kill the guy who did that to her all over again, I would. I’m glad he’s gone, but unfortunately, I barely remember killing him. When I saw him on top of her, hand raised, I lost it. I practically blacked out until Pete called my name, pulling me out of the fog.
My rage used to be how I made money. They called me The Berserker in underground fighting rings, due tothe fact that I’d go feral when I fought, like I was another person. It worked… until it didn’t.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t my rage that landed me in prison, but instead, my resistance to fighting. A man named Il Nero wanted to hire me as his personal bodyguard, or hitman. I wasn’t sure. Either way, I didn’t want to work for anyone else, and I refused to belong to anyone.
The last time they asked me to join, they told me I didn’t have a choice. I ignored the threat, then two days later, I woke to the police breaking down my door and a dead woman in my room. Only, I’d never even met her before, and I certainly didn’t kill her. I’d been framed.
“Oh, what’s this?” Wren asks, her wide eyes taking in the TV screen.
Seeing she’s done eating, I grab the ice pack and move to sit on her other side as Pete answers. “I don’t know, let’s watch and find out.”
I wrap one arm around her shoulders and use the other to hold the ice pack to her cheek. She smiles up at me before resting her head against my chest.
My heart might just combust from that small movement. It tells me everything I need to know. That she’s not afraid of me, like everyone else is. Somehow, my tiny little Wren already understands that I’ll never hurt her.Never her. I’d sooner cut off my dick than harm her.
But she wasn’t afraid, even though she knew I wasn’t a good man. Definitely not good enough for her. That’s why I told her I was staying with her, whether she wanted me to or not. Because I knew I wasn’t worthy of her, but I was gonna spend my life desperately trying to be.
I wish I had brought my book with me. I could look something up on the phone.
How to make a woman fall in love with you.
Just as I think about asking Jagger for the cell, my eyes drift to the TV, and I smile.
“Oh! I think this is the Bachelorette!” I say excitedly.
