“You saying I can’t keep my wife and son safe?”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Arya muttered, moving between the two men and spreading her arms to press her palms against their chests. “Get over yourselves, guys. This isn’t about your male egos. It’s about keeping Rylee out of the hands of the guys who’re trying to buy her from her jerk of a stepdad.”
Nova held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I’m just saying that it makes more sense for me to be the one who looks after Rylee. Staying at the compound provides better protection, and that’ll be tough to do with Grady since he isn’t anywhere close to sleeping through the night yet.”
I was super confused by how much of a fight Nova was putting up over where I stayed after what he’d said to those guys outside. Snuggling Grady close, I glared up at him. “You should be glad to hand me off to Dax and Arya. I’m just a babysitting job, remember?”
“Oh, shit,” Dax murmured.
Arya's eyes sparkled as she poked her brother in the chest. “You totally deserve whatever she dishes out for saying stupid stuff.”
“Patriot was the one who called her a babysitting job,” Nova growled, dropping the duffel bags on the floor before reaching down to take Grady from my arms.
He placed a sweet kiss on the baby’s head, and I tried to think about ice while my ovaries melted. When he handed his nephew to Dax, some of the lustful fog disappeared, and I argued, “And you agreed, which is basically the same thing as saying it yourself.”
“Not even close, angel.” Nova bent down to pick the bags back up and then surprised the heck out of me by pressing his shoulder against my stomach to toss me over his shoulder.
“Did he just call her angel?” Arya whispered as I tried to catch my breath while I grabbed the loops on his jeans for balance.
Dax nodded, holding his hand out to her. “Looks to me like your brother has everything under control here. Let’s get our boy home before he wakes up hungry.”
My eyes widened even more as I wheezed, “Hello, I’m being manhandled over here.”
“Yup, I see.” Arya flashed me a big thumbs-up sign with a grin. “My recommendation is to just go with it. That’s what I did when Dax kidnapped me, and look how well that all turned out for us.”
7
Nova
Rylee sputtered as I carried her through the main lounge and up the stairs. If I hadn’t been so anxious to get her to my room before anyone could talk her into leaving, I would have asked Dax to watch her while I went back outside and kicked Patriot’s ass.
But even if she stayed near Dax, I didn’t want her anywhere in the clubhouse without my cut. Women who weren’t claimed were fair game around here, and I wanted it to be damn clear who Rylee belonged to.
When we reached my room, I dropped the duffel bags to fish my key out of my pocket and unlock it. Once inside, I unceremoniously tossed Rylee on the bed before turning around to retrace the few steps it took to grab our bags from the hallway and resecure the door.
“What the heck, Nova?” Rylee squawked as she rolled to her side to try to scramble off the mattress.
I dropped our bags and stalked to the opposite edge of the bed, grabbing her ankle before she could swing her legs around and dragging her back to the center of the bed. I crawled onto it and covered her body with mine, caging her between my bent arms.
“Would you stop manhandling me?” She squirmed, trying to get free.
“Nope,” I said, giving the p a little pop.
Rylee stilled and stared up at me, her pretty little mouth slightly open and her gorgeous green eyes filled with shock. “What do you mean, no?”
My head dipped close to her mouth, and I murmured, “I like handling this sexy body.”
“Um…” Her cheeks bloomed with two pink circles, and I grinned. I loved seeing her blush. It was cute, but I also got hard wondering if the pretty pink color was the same shade as her pussy. “Why can’t I stay with Arya?”
My eyes narrowed, and my grin curved into a frown. “I told you, angel. It’s my job to protect you.”
“I’m sure Dax is fully capable of keeping me safe,” she muttered. “I don’t understand why you have to be the one—”
“Don’t you?” I interrupted, dropping the weight of the lower half of my body onto her so my hard-on nestled into the apex of her thighs.
Rylee gasped, and a shudder raced through her body while her nipples visibly hardened beneath her shirt. She stared into my eyes, no doubt seeing the deep, gnawing hunger in their depths. “Who is going to protect me from you?” she whispered.