Dixie
There were some people in life you just fell into step with. Lovelyn was one of them. A total sweetie pie who welcomed me back with an open heart.
Begging her for the story of how she’d come to be in a relationship with the Big Bad was working for my aching head. After so many weeks of being alone, I was finding it hard to arrange my thoughts. Squirrel brain had taken over.
Lovelyn finished her tale of falling in love with Kane, including how he’d thrown grown men aside to reach her in the game. What a mental image that made. She navigated carefully around the fact she’d been seeking me, focusing instead on the romance of it. How they’d fallen in love while travelling together.
“He’s so lovely. He’s scared of scaring you, though.”
That made two of us. “Do you think he’ll mind waiting until tomorrow? Promise I won’t disappear again.” There was only so much a girl could handle in one visit.
Mila goggled at her. “It’s hard to imagine my brother being scared of anything.” She blinked and turned to me. “Our brother. I’ll get used to saying that.”
I pressed down on the little rush of fear at the connection. The whole Marchant lineage. “Tell me about it. I knew his name but nothing else. Glad he’s on our side. He’s freakin’ huge.”
Lovelyn’s cheeks pinkened. She was the cutest.
Seated on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, Cassie took everything in. Of everyone, she’d said the least. Something about her scrutiny made me want to hide. I touched my fingers to my forehead.
Mila noticed. “I don’t know about you, but my brain is fit to burst. If you’re up for it, I’d love to talk more tomorrow, too? Maybe we can take a walk around the building, seeing as I can’t leave it.”
I smiled. “I love that idea.”
“Then it’s a date.”
Mila gave me her number. They readied to leave, and at the door, Cassie gave me another hug.
“We’re here however ye need us to be.”
If she wanted to say more, she held her tongue. I was glad for the kid-gloves treatment.
Tyler returned to me when the women left. In the quiet apartment, he held up the wall, a strange vibe of reserve coming from the man who looked at me like I’d hung the moon. “I told the management team that you’re mine.”
The happiest shimmer slid over my skin. “I know, hun. Cassie said.”
He tipped his head to the boxes. “After all this, I’d understand if ye want me to leave. The place can be yours. I won’t keep a key.”
I got up and walked over. He stopped talking.
Tension strung tight between us.
“I do want you to leave.” I pushed up on my toes and kissed his cheek, that tiny piece of contact sinking deep into me. The warmth of him a need. “I want us both to go. Take me home?”
Tyler’s eyes shuttered closed, and he fisted his hands at his sides. “Thank fuck for that.”
At the exit to the warehouse, after Tyler tucked his coat around me once again, Shade found us.
“It’s not safe for ye to be without a guard.”
Tyler paused then gave him a curt nod. “When I flash my hazards, peel away.”
The enforcer snorted. “Like I don’t know where ye live.”
Tyler scowled. “Seriously?”
Shade shrugged. “It’s my job. I enforce for the crew. I take care of business. Hard to do that if I can’t find anyone.”
Still, he left us at the bottom of the road that scaled Deadwater Ridge, his headlights shrinking to dots in the pitch-black night.
