With a scowl, he said, “All I can give you is a sixty-year-old house and stakes in a pawnshop and gym.”
“You can give me what none of the richest men at this party can.”
“And what’s that?”
“Your love.”
Rev’s blue eyes shone with a fierce intensity. “I do love you, Annabel. I fought it for a long time, but I know now without a shadow of a doubt, that you’re the only woman in the world for me.”
My heart skipped a beat at his declaration. “You really mean that?”
He nodded. “Do you think even after the way I acted that you could love me again?”
I smiled as I brought my hand up to his cheek. I brushed the back of it over his smoothly shaven skin. I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off of him. “I never stopped loving you. No matter how hard I tried or no matter how hard I wanted to.”
Rev’s response to my words was to bring his lips to mine. Every molecule in my body seemed to come alive as our lips pressed together. His mouth worked tenderly against my own, almost timidly as if he didn’t want to spook me. But then I also realized they were the type of kisses you gave someone that you loved.
I pulled away to stare up at him. “Take me away from here.”
“Are you sure?”
“There’s nothing that I want more than to be with you. Your home, your family, and your club is in Georgia.” I smiled. “That’s where I want to be.”
Rev returned my smile. “You don’t know how thankful I am to hear you say that.”
Taking him by the hand, I started to lead him to the stairs. When he tugged on my hand, I stopped. “What?”
“Don’t you need to go pack?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to waste another minute here when I could be with you. I can send for my things later.” The truth was I didn’t want to ruin this perfect moment by having a verbal altercation with my parents.
Rev laughed. “Whatever you say.”
He hurried down the veranda steps and around the side of the house. “Annabel? Annabel, where are you going?” my bodyguard, Bradley, called out after me. He was breathing a little harder like he had broken into a run to catch up with us.
“I’m going home.”
Bradley’s blond brows furrowed in confusion. “I’m sorry?”
I smiled at Rev before glancing back at Bradley. “You are relieved of your duties. Should my parents ask you can tell them I left willingly with the biker I’m in love with.”
When Bradley started to protest, Rev stepped between us. “Don’t even bother trying to stop us. It won’t end well for you,” he practically growled. A shiver went through me at seeing hisprotective side again. Even outfitted in a tux, he still harbored the rough, bad boy biker side I’d fallen in love with.
I guess he realized Rev wasn’t worth fighting because Bradley held his hands up and backed slowly away. “You know I’ll have to tell your parents immediately,” he said.
“I understand.”
Glancing between me and Rev, he said, “Be careful.”
“Trust me when I say that no one can protect Annabel better than I can” Rev said.
With a tentative smile, Bradley replied, “I don’t doubt that for a minute.”
Rev took my hand and tugged me forward. When he breezed past the valet, I began to wonder where he had parked. And then I saw a motorcycle down the street. “You rode all the way from Georgia to here?” I asked, as my breath hitched and all the excitement I had possessed exited my body.
“I hadn’t been on a long haul in a while. I thought I could use the time to think.” His brows lined in worry as he stopped walking. “Fuck. I didn’t even think if you would be okay with it. I mean, I didn’t imagine you wanting to talk to me, least of all wanting to come with me.”
“It’s okay.”
