“I’m married to my profession, Sevyn,” he replied grimly.
“Sorry. There I go overstepping again.”
He smiled at me, but I could see the pain in his eyes. Who had damaged him this way?
“It’s okay,” he replied.
I couldn’t help it. My fingers itched to touch him, and after all, he was still holding me and hadn’t let go. Creating a level of intimacy like he had made me feel free to do what I wanted to do.
I reached up and caressed his face, but he grabbed my hands and squeezed them as his mouth set into a grim line.
I pulled my hands free and stepped out of his embrace. With a deep inhale, I replied, “Maybe it’s time for me to go stay withWaverleigh. I know that you probably want your space back, and I seem to be repeatedly invading your privacy.”
“You’re good, Sevyn,” he replied dismissively, grabbing our plates and heading into the kitchen.
“No, I’m not good, Deuce. I can’t seem to keep my emotions in check when I’m around you. I’m touching you, melting into a ball of emotions, and overstepping my boundaries. I’m sure that you’d like to get back to your life.”
“Come on, what are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about how I keep pressing up on you, and you keep pushing back. You were just a kind guy who happened to be a cop and doing a good thing for me. I doubt that you find me attractive, walking on a cane with only a partial memory. I’m damaged goods at best.”
He winced, and I turned to walk away. Unfortunately, because I didn’t move fast, he caught up with me, grabbed my hand, and snatched me around to face him.
With his eyelids at half-mast, his gaze shot fire out at me, and his teeth were borne in a snarl as he spoke. He grabbed my jaw tightly and leaned in so close that our noses were only inches apart.
“I had better never hear you speak of yourself that way again. Do you hear me?”
“I’m just telling the truth, Deuce. I get that I’m a pretty girl, and I’m not saying that to brag or be arrogant. I always have been told that since I was a child, but I also know my limitations now. Whereas my face might be pretty, my body and my mind not so much.”
“Shut up, Sevyn, and I mean it, damn it.”
Shock floored me and rooted me into that spot. He had never spoken to me that way or looked at me the way that he was at that moment.
“You got one more time to open your mouth and let some stupid shit come out, and I swear it’s gon’ be you and me right here in the middle of this floor. I’ll be damned if I’m ’bout to let your handicapped ass whup mine. I’ve spoken all these words about how intelligent, strong, determined, and capable you are, but I’ve never said what I really wanted to say.”
“Which is?”
“You’re beautiful, gorgeous even, sexy as hell, and that booty juts out like a donkey’s ass with that cane. Make me wanna hop on that donkey and ride it all night long.”
I was shocked and laughed so hard, but he quickly shut me up with a possessive kiss that sucked all the oxygen from my lungs and any objections from my brain. This kiss was much hotter and more passionate than the one last night. All the release that I had achieved earlier in the bed went straight out the window as he fired every nerve ending in my body up again. I wanted Deuce so desperately, and he had no idea how badly I needed him.
When he finally ended the kiss, it took me a moment to recover. But when I did, I asked, “What was that?”
“That was me showing you that you’re every bit of a woman as you ever were. That accident hasn’t changed anything, beautiful.”
“You owe me,”Asad shouted to Blake.
He and Blake had come over this evening to watch the boxing match between Jamil “Shooter” Perry and Jamarian Strong.
“Man, please. I can’t believe Jamarian went out like that,” Blake complained.
“I can. I always told you that Shooter is the best pound for pound fighter in his weight class,” Asad retorted.
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Pay up,” Asad stated, wiggling his fingers at my best friend.
“Cash App or Zelle?”
