He raises his hand and places it against my cheek, cradling it softly, smoothing his thumb over my skin. I tilt my head toward the movement, savoring the feeling.
“Is your partner okay?” I ask.
The last I heard, he was liaising with the police at the station.
“Yes. And thanks for asking. It turns out I’m one forgetful motherfucker. His wife is on the west coast, visiting family. I spoke to him a few minutes ago. They’re safe.”
I let out a sigh. “Thank God for that.”
“We’ve been damn lucky,” Rider growls. “This could’ve gone very, very bad.”
“What now?” I ask.
He smirks. “I can think of a few things.”
I let out an involuntary whimper, my body suddenly hot, as though my womb is sending waves of heat flurrying through me.
“No, I mean… with Uncle Aaron, with the mob.”
“You’re safe. That’s all that matters. But…”
“What?” I urge when he trails off.
He lets his hand drop. “I think your uncle is going to get more reckless now. He’s in a desperate position. Without the backing of the Cartel, he’s going to have to assert his dominance. The best way to do that would be to succeed where Manuel failed.”
It takes me a moment to realize what he’s saying.
“To capture me, you mean,” I murmur.
He grabs hold of my hips and moves close to me, pressing our bodies together. And somehow despite the whirlwind craziness of everything that’s happening, my body responds.
My womb responds, sending hammering pulsations moving through my body, willing me to give myself to this man, to take his seed, before it’s too freaking late.
“I will never let that happen,” he growls. “I’ll die – I’ll kill – before I let anyone touch you. You belong to me, but that isn’t a one-way thing. That means I have a primal duty to keep you safe. And I take that very fucking seriously.”
His words bash into me with the confidence of truth.
I don’t doubt him.
He’s proved it countless times already.
A question occurs to me, absurd in the circumstances, but I can’t stop it from rising in my consciousness.
“What, princess?” he says gruffly.
“What?” I echo, aiming a sassy smile up at him, even as nerves try to entangle the budding sassiness, stifling it.
“There’s clearly something you want to say.” He grips my hips tighter, holding me in place… not that I’m going anywhere. “So say it.”
“It’s silly,” I tell him. “It’s more than silly. It’s ridiculous.”
He bares his teeth, a wolf flashing a smile, a smirk, something. My man is complicated, right down to his smiles. “Try me.”
“I was just wondering… and like I said, it’s silly—”
He kisses me hard, our lips crushing together. It’s so unexpected and I just melt into it, whimpering through the stifled press of our mouths, tasting him, my body screaming at me to taste more, more, freaking more.
“Don’t devalue yourself,” he growls, his breath hot on my face. “If you want to say something, you can say it. With me, princess, you can always be yourself. Whatever it is, tell me.”
“Are you my boyfriend now?” I blurt.
He smirks, letting out a short chuckle.
“See?” I spin away from him, terror rising in me at the prospect of my man laughing at me. “You think I’m a silly little kid.”
“No I fucking don’t,” he growls, grabbing my shoulders and spinning me back to him. “That’s not why I was laughing at all.”
“No?”
“No,” he says forcefully.
“Why, then?”
“Because the question is so obvious. Of course, I’m your boyfriend. But that word doesn’t even come close to describing what we are to each other. We own each other, Ruby. We own every part of each other. So yes, I’m your boyfriend. I’m your possessor. I’m yours and you’re mine.”
“Forever,” I whisper, as the madness of the day seeps away, leaving us to sizzle in the heat of each other’s company.
But then of course my body freaking ruins the moment.
My belly makes a huge ugly rumbling sound.
The sound rivaling a car engine trying to start.
“Oh, God.” I step back, smoothing my hands over my belly. “I’m sorry. That’s so embarrassing.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He chuckles, shaking his head with a slight smirk on his face. “I’m hungry as hell too. It’s been a long day. And it’s about time I took us on a date.”
“A date?”
I should be focused on Uncle Aaron and all the craziness of our escape from Rider’s apartment building, and then the bunker, but at the word date, my heart sends a flurry through my body. I feel my skin tingle, doubly so because he didn’t seem grossed out when my belly grumbled.
“But where? We can’t leave the safe house, can we?”
“No,” he says, nodding. “But I’m sure I can think of something. Give me thirty minutes?”
I reach up and grab onto his chest, digging my fingernails in, feeling his heartbeat thudding powerfully against my hand as though all his pent-up tension is going to erupt. “What are you planning?”