“Will give it all for him, Eden. Whatever it takes. He’s my life. My reason.”
My spirit clutched, taken by this man’s devotion, by the goodness he couldn’t see.
For a minute, we stood there staring at each other, unsure of what to say. Of where to go from there.
One thing I did know was it was time to clear the air. For him to understand me the way I needed him to.
I angled my head, hoping he’d receive it. “I need you to know I’m not as fragile as I look. I can handle myself at the bar.”
I just wasn’t sure I could handle myself with him.
“Know that.”
“Then I need you to stop treating me like I’m helpless or weak.”
Trent blinked like I’d offended him. “Never thought that. Not once.”
I looked away, into the weaving whisper of the night that crawled through the mountains and the trees before I gathered myself enough to look back at him. “You’ve been trying to get rid of me since I walked through your door. Telling me I don’t fit.”
Air puffed from his nose, and he anxiously ran his fingers through his hair. “That’s not because I think you’re weak, Eden. Just know you’re better than that place. Knew it the second I saw you, and I don’t want to be responsible for you stepping into a world that you don’t believe in. A world your heart shines through. Desperation tends to force people to make choices they regret for the rest of their lives. Don’t want that for you.”
I got it then.
Saw it.
His wounds. His scars. His fear.
A sweet warrior.
A wicked savior.
This terrifying man who was somehow tender. Goodness in his spirit and demons in his soul.
“I know who I am, and I’m not going to lose that there.”
Warmth filled his expression, his voice a soft caress. “And I think that might be the best thing about you.”
My chest squeezed, and the only thing I could do was give him a shaky nod.
“I need you to treat me like any other server there, and know I’ll be okay.”
That time he grinned, his gaze raking me, head to toe. “Not possible.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like I’m any different than any of those other women.”
Like he hadn’t propositioned any of them before? Hadn’t touched them? Taken them?
I fought the welling of jealousy. The way my eyes wanted to pinch to block out the vision.
I guessed he saw all my thoughts through the silence because he was in my face again, leaning down low and forcing me to meet his eye. “Never. Not once.”
My head spun and my insides twisted, and again, I had no idea what to make of this man. How to protect myself from who he was.
I hugged my arms across my chest, more to guard myself from him than the cold wind that whipped through.
Rough fingertips found my arm. They fluttered down, chasing the goosebumps or causing them, I wasn’t sure.
“You’re cold,” he rumbled, glancing at my face before back to the chills as if he were infatuated by the response.
Backing away, I glanced over at my house. “I am, and I really should go inside. I need to get up early.”
“Could think of plenty of ways to warm you up.” Another smirk. A play and a trap.
Whiplash.
Constant and unending, no way to decipher where I would land with him.
He’d managed to toss my quiet, safe life into chaos in the short time I’d known him, and I was the fool who was a few errant seconds from allowing it to spiral into full anarchy.
Every rule, everything I knew about myself, everything I demanded for myself, lost to the riot.
Because his offer sounded so good.
One night.
One night.
For one night, it would feel so nice not to be alone, that loneliness screaming out to be filled.
I hugged myself tighter and took a step back.
Because I wasn’t aching for the sort of comfort that only ran skin deep.
“And you, Mr. Lawson, are the type of mistake I can’t afford to make.” One I would never recover from. “I know who I am, remember?”
His smile was reluctant. “Okay, then, Kitten. Get yourself inside where you belong.”
He started to move down my drive, still facing me, hands right back in those pockets like that was the only way he could control them. Then he slowed, his hair billowing in the breeze and that wicked face filling with severity. “Heaven. It’d be Heaven, gettin’ you for one minute while on my way to Hell.”
I felt the ground shake beneath.
I had no idea how I’d ended up here.
My stable world shaken off path.
Without another word, he spun and strode for his bike.
All big body and towering force and dark allure.
I stood there frozen, watching him as he climbed onto his bike. He balanced the metal, boots planted out to the sides, and he pushed a button that brought the deep, gurgling engine to life.