Abruptly, I was enclosed by warmth, the shaking in my limbs no match for the firm strength encompassing me. “Easy.” Kieran’s husky voice penetrated the panic tearing me up from the inside. “I’ve got you,” he soothed, rocking me gently.
I shuddered, teeth clacking a few more times, and grappled for his shirt to cling to.
“Shhh,” he hushed. “Settle down, now.”
I wanted to scoff. I mean, in the history of forever, when did telling someone tosettle downever actually work?
Erm, now.
Hi. It’s me, making history with my lowering heart rate and deep breaths.
“That’s it,” he praised, still rocking while his gentle fingers stroked through my tangled hair. “Good boy.”
Whimpering, I realized I was sitting in his lap, a seat he’d created just for me by crossing his legs beneath him. How such a large man folded himself in, I didn’t know, but it felt so nice.
I fit perfectly in the intimate space he’d created, my own legs folded in and my chest plastered against his. Yeah, the stitches in my knee stung from the way I bent my leg, but that pain was well worth the comfort of this embrace.
The memories that seemed so vivid only moments ago faded into the background, disguised by the steady rhythm of his pulse. Those memories couldn’t hurt me here. Not with Kieran wrapped so tight around me. I exhaled. The last of the clinging anxiety drained away, leaving me no better than a limp, wet noodle.
Kieran’s breath brushed against the top of my head when he quietly asked, “What happened?”
“I remembered a name,” I answered, not bothering to lift my face.
The instant tightening of his muscles was irrefutable proof that he wanted that name. Instead of demanding it as I was sure he wanted to do, he rubbed his chin in my hair, beard catching on the tangled strands, and asked, “What did they do to you, baby doll?”
Surprised, my eyes shot open, lashes brushing against his skin. “You don’t want the name?”
“Having his name won’t change his fate. It was sealed the moment he laid his eyes on you. But how brutally I send him there depends on how badly they hurt you.”
Maybe it was wrong, but, to me, his vengeance was sexy. No one ever defended me before. No one ever cared enough.
“I heard them coming through the stairwell,” I explained. “My door was already broken from when they were there before, but I slid the chain across anyway, hoping it would buy me time.”
“That’s exactly what you should have done,” he commended.
“They burst through it in a second flat. I picked up a broom and swung it at him. He c-caught the h-handle and used it to pull me in,” I recalled, thinking of how scared I’d been.
The hand that had been rubbing up and down my back curled into a fist against my spine. His anger was pungent but didn’t incite panic. Perhaps because Kieran was angryforme when I was used to anger being directedatme.
“Then what?” he asked, voice stiff.
“I bit him. I bit him so hard I got a mouthful of blood.” I shuddered at the memory and tried to push it away. “He threw me into the fridge, and they started to shoot. I crawled out the busted window and went down the fire escape to get away.”
“They didn’t chase?”
I nodded against his throat. “Yeah. I slid through an opening in the fence at the end of the alley. They didn’t fit through.You can run, but you can’t hide,” I repeated. “That’s what they yelled as I ran away.”
He made a sound and leaned back to grasp my face and meet my eyes. “You did well.”
“I did?”
“So well.” He leaned in to kiss me. My lips parted on a sigh. and my lashes swept down, letting him take over my senses. He pulled away too soon, kissing my cheek and then my temple before hugging me back into his chest.
“You should have told me.” The severity in his voice did not match the soft way he kissed.
I started to pull back, but he tightened his grip.
“The second you saw your apartment, you should have come and gotten me from the car.”
