I can’t deny I’ve always loved his protective nature, but I don’t need him to take care of me. “I’m not yours to take care of, Kane.”
“Is it that doctor you work with? Maybe it’s time I payed him a visit.” His steel coloured eyes stare into mine with a familiar darkness. “I’m not having some fucking slimy prick hurt you like this. Whether we’re together or not, I’ll always take care of you.”
I cover my wrists, pulling the fabric tight. “It’s not the doctor. He’s still a sleaze, but he doesn’t force himself on me.”
“Then who?”
“Who what?” Shane says as he arrives back from the bar. He looks between the two of us in the middle of a stare off contest.
Kane reaches for my arm again, and I move my body to the side, but he’s too quick for me. He slides my sleeve back up my arm and holds it in front of Shane. “Have you seen this?”
Shane places his drink on the side of the pool table, steps closer, and takes my arm from Kane. His face pales as he gently roams over the bruising and raised abrasions with his rough fingers, but with the gentlest of touches.
Tingles shoot up my limb, leaving a flurry of goose bumps in their wake. My mouth parts as my breathing speeds up. I can only imagine what those hands would feel like on other parts of my body and, in a twisted way, I wish it was him who marked me.
“What happened?” Shane asks, his eyes lifting to mine with a dark intensity I’ve never seen from him. I can’t tell if it’s anger or something else. His stare is almost primal, like a lion ready to pounce. But is it me he wants to pounce on or my offender?
I scratch my dry throat. “Nothing. It’s fine. It doesn’t even hurt.”
Kane nods to my hand at my neck. “It’s on the other wrist, too.”
I roll my eyes. These men are impossible.
“If you won’t let me protect you, then maybe you’ll let him.” Kane says as he lifts his pint from the pool table frame. “Whoever’s hurt you needs to learn they can’t touch what’s ours.”
“I’m not yours.” I don’t aim the statement at Shane as I’ve always been Shane’s to protect since I was a little girl, but Kane lost that privilege several months ago. “Can’t a girl get tied uponce in a while? I was just having a bit of fun. Jeez. You two crazy fuckers should try it sometime.”
Shane’s lip twitches in the corner. “Tell your boyfriend to take better care of you next time.”
“Or we’ll break his fucking fingers,” Kane says.
The twitch in Shane’s lips gives way to a smirk.
I dig my fist into my hip. “What I get up to has nothing to do with either of you.”
“It has everything to do with me,” Shane says. “Any man hurts you, hurts me. Believe me, where you’re concerned, I’m not a cop, I’m a fucking soldier and your safety’s my only mission. I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in anyone who lays a finger on you.”
I pat Shane’s broad chest, loving the feel of his hard muscles under his white t-shirt. “All right, Rambo.” I can’t help but giggle. “A little over dramatic, don’t you think? I have one night of hot sex and now you’re the A-Team.”
Shane’s smirk turns into a wide grin, making his eyes sparkle as if he’s just won the lottery. I’ve no idea what he’s so happy about, but his best friend snarls like there’s a bitter taste in his mouth.
Kane’s eyes narrow. “Those bruises on your arm aren’t funny, Lilly. And you won’t be laughing when I find out who it is.”
I fold my arms over my chest in a huff. “Don’t you have a teen to take care of? You should worry about her instead of me. She was wasted the last time I saw her.”
His nostrils flare. He places his pint down on the ledge before stomping away into the other room, leaving me alone with Shane. The room’s full of many other people, but all I see is him and his penetrating gaze.
“Does it hurt?” His eyes soften, and he hangs his head low.
“No.” I’m not about to tell him that every time it hurts, I’m reminded of the three intense orgasms I had.
“Is this a new boyfriend of yours?” The sparkle’s back in his eyes, along with the twitch in his lips. He lifts his bottle to his mouth to hide the smile forming.
“Boyfriend is a bit of a stretch. It’s just casual.”
“Anyone I know?” He bites into his bottom lip with his chipped front tooth. My walls clench at the memory of my shadow sinking his teeth into my thigh.
“No.” I try to recall the marks on my flesh, but my mind is hazy under Shane’s heated stare, like when the sun’s rays blur everything in its path. “I need to use the bathroom.”
