“Will you ever lie to me again?”
With her gaze still locked onto mine, Ayda held us both in place, her lips closing as she swallowed deeply. “No. I won’t. I don’t want to.”
I carefully stroked her cheek just to feel her again. My eyes searched hers frantically as I swallowed down the anger and tried to let the love I had for this woman take over.
“One day you’ll realize that as long as I have breath in my lungs, I’m always going to put you first. Whatever visions you’ve got in your head of being the warrior princess who saves the wounded alpha, forget it. I’ll protect you always. But I will make you stronger—if that’s what you want. I willhelp you feel safer… just in case you need it.” A small smirk tugged at my lips. “Which you won’t.”
Ayda’s eyes broke contact for only a moment as she dropped her gaze to my lips. “Better to be prepared and never need it,” she whispered as she glanced up again. “Plus, it’s a good excuse to get sweaty with one another. Especially if you teach me how to beat the crap out of that thing.” She tipped her head in the direction of the bag, and let a small smile show beside the earnest request.
“Steady, Rocky, I have some conditions first.”
“And they are?”
“Well, first of all, it’s as fundamental as fuck that you forget everything Sutton has taught you. And I mean everything.”
She rolled her eyes into the back of her head for a moment, nibbled her bottom lip and then turned those blazing blue eyes back on me. “Done. You know how he drones on and on. You end up tuning him out half the time anyway.”
“That’s the cowboy in him. Makes him shoot straight and walk with a swagger, but that’s all the man has.” I brought my thumb and index finger to her chin, gripping it gently. “Secondly, we focus on your strength before we pick up a gun. If you want to survive you have to rely on the tools you were born with over anything else. Understood?”
She nodded and dropped her gaze for a moment. It only took a second, but her eyes finally rose to meet mine again. “Then in full disclosure, I should probably mention a couple of things that happened today because carrying that gun made them a little easier to face.”
“What things?”
“After you left the diner, I got a really creepy feelingof being watched. I couldn’t see anyone there, but I could feel them staring at me like they were measuring me up for something.” She raised both her hands and put them on my shoulders. “If I could have seen anyone it would have made me feel better about it, but there was nothing. Then, when I was walking home from work…” She swallowed. “My ex from high school showed up and followed me for a bit. I shot him down, but he was persistent. Deeks showed up as I was getting annoyed, and Jacob assumed Deeks was the boyfriend I’d told him about. I let him assume. He doesn’t need to know anything about my life.”
“When you say he was persistent…”
“He kept making lewd suggestive comments and tried to persuade me into allowing him to give me a ride home. I said no. Repeatedly.”
I narrowed my eyes as I studied her. Ayda looked nervous. Whether that was because she was scared of my reaction, or whether it was this ex who had shaken her up, I wasn’t entirely sure.
“I’ll take care of him. He won’t come near you again,” I told her as calmly as I could. And I would. I needed someone to pour this anger out on. Someone who would fight back. The bag just wasn’t enough. “And as for the weird feeling you got, I’ll have the men ride out. Check the area and the town borders. Make sure no Emps or Navs are circling. Better for us to be safe since we destroyed an entire MC just months ago.”
“Do what you have to. I trust you.” Ayda smiled up at me. “I just hope it wasn’t my overactive imagination that made me feel like I was being watched. I just couldn’t shake it. Even when I was walking home, it was there.”
“You? An overactive imagination?” I raised a brow. “Imagine that.”
It was her turn to smirk at me. “I would ask you what that’s supposed to mean, but I think I know.” She bit her bottom lip again and pressed up to her toes, her arms moving so she could wrap them around my neck. “Are we okay?”
My arms circled her waist, and I pulled my chin back so I could look down and see all of her. “We will be,” I whispered. “Just let my wounded ego stop crying in a corner, and shit will be back to normal in no time.”
“Can I kiss it better, maybe coax it out by stroking it a little?” she teased.
“Stroking always helps.” I dug my fingers under her ass cheeks, sucking in a breath before I hoisted her up into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist until she was the one looking down on me. “Kissing. Licking…” I began to walk us around the room slowly. “Sweating. Fucking.”
“How about sucking?” she whispered, her smile turning seductive.
“Sounds like the perfect apology.”
“Shame I get the betterendof the deal.” She leaned down slowly, her lips brushing mine. “I love you, Drew Tucker.”
“I love you, too, darlin’. I really fucking do.”
Chapter Eight
AYDA
Ihated fighting with Drew. I hated knowing I’d hurt him even more. It had taken a lot for him to say that to me, to open up and be that vulnerable after I’d shaken his trust so thoroughly. Yet, with all that being said, sometimes a fight like that was a storm on a humid day. The rolls of thunder and flashes of lightning chased away the humidity and left a fresh atmosphere behind. This hadn’t just been a fight; it had been a revelation, but I was glad the storm had passed, and my body was enjoying the afterglow of the make up sex. That always promised some good aches and a couple of bruises in inconspicuous places.
