“You feel…” She hesitated briefly before finally saying it. “Safe.”
Holy shit.
Something deeply male and possessive expanded violently inside my chest hearing that word leave her mouth. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel to keep from reacting too obviously because there probably wasn’t a compliment on earth that could have hit me harder than that. Because even when she smothered it, her fear and nerves were clear to me. Knowing when it was just us, she felt that way… put me down.
Bad.
Especially knowing what it likely cost her emotionally to admit it.
Not sexy. Not hot. Not good with my mouth, even though yeah, I was planning on making her say that again eventually.
Safe coming from her? That word was not small.
“You said something last night,” I said quietly. “About wanting attention if it felt safe.”
Her cheeks pinked immediately. “Yeah.”
I brushed my thumb slowly across the back of her hand. “I want to know that I make you feel that way.”
The silence after that felt enormous. Pip stared out through the windshield for a few seconds while sunlight painted gold across her bare skin before finally nodding once.
“You do.”
This stopped being about flirting and attraction. This was knowing she trusted me. And holy shit did that make something territorial and protective rise violently inside my chest.
“It feels intense sometimes,” she admitted softly after a second. “When I’m with you…” She laughed nervously under her breath. “I don’t know. I feel untouchable.”
My jaw tightened instantly.
Every instinct inside me practically detonated hearing her say that. I wanted to pull the Range Rover over and kiss her until neither of us remembered our own names. I wanted to tell her she was untouchable, that if I had anything to say about it, no one got near her without going through me first. I wanted to say Luke Dempsey’s name and watch her face closely enough to finally understand what the hell crawled through her every time he got too close.
I didn’t.
Not yet.
That wasn’t the play.
Pushing made her retreat. I had already seen that. She hid behind jokes, school, sex, benefits, anything she could get her hands on if the truth got too close. So, I kept my voice calm and my hand steady over hers even while something ugly and possessive paced beneath my skin.
“Yeah?” I asked quietly.
She nodded slightly. “I know. Sounds dramatic.”
“No,” I said honestly, eyes holding hers briefly before I looked back toward the road. “It doesn’t.”
Her thumb moved once against mine. Nervous. Sweet. Almost unconscious.
I turned my hand, catching her fingers more securely between mine.
The motion made her glance down and notice it for what it was. The minute she noticed it she blushed.
I wanted my mouth on that blush.
“So,” she said, clearly desperate to pull the conversation back into territory where she could breathe, “are you mentally prepared for today?”
“I brought a competitive attitude and an empty stomach.”
“Those are both dangerous here.”
