He’s like a demon, burning up with the intense primal desire to keep me safe. I can see it in the tightness of his jaw, the bright light glinting in his eyes, everything honed down to this moment and the need to safeguard our future.
“Apologize to my woman,” Nick snaps. “Or I will shatter every bone in your body.”
“I’m sorry,” Terrence gasps, his eyes flitting to me. His face has turned a bright shade of red, tears brimming from the pain. “Shit man. I didn’t mean to…”
“What?” I take a step forward, waving my hand forcefully through the air. “You didn’t mean to what?”
“To hurt your feelings.”
“No,” I yell, voice breaking as the anguish of the past pushes through to the present. “Not that. You know what I’m talking about.”
Nick tightens his grip and Terrence lets out a pathetic wailing noise. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry I shot them. I shouldn’t have. I was doing a lot of coke at the time and—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses,” I hiss. “You make me sick.”
“You just confessed to murder, Terrence,” Nick says, a savage grin on his face, almost like he’s getting ready to tear his prey apart with his teeth.
I’ve never seen him look so primal, so ready for war.
Heck, I’ve never seen anybody look so savage.
“And you assaulted Kenny. And I’ve seen your men dealing drugs in the food court. Oh, and that punch you landed on me? Yeah, you assaulted a police officer, dumbass. I think I’ve got enough to put you under arrest.”
Terrence’s lips start to tremble like he’s a little kid. “Wait, you’re a cop?”
At the word cop, his friends turn and run away, sprinting through the parking lot like they’re being chased by flames.
Kenny steps forward as if to go after them, but Nick shakes his head.
“It’s okay, kid. I know who they are, where they live. They won’t get far. In fact, they’ll probably flip on their cowardly leader just to save their own skin.”
“Good,” Kenny says, staring hard at Terrence. “It’s what he deserves.”
I wrap my arm around my brother as Nick reaches into his Santa jacket and takes out his gun, badge, and a set of handcuffs.
“Are you going to make this hard on me?” he growls, gesturing with his handgun.
Terrence shakes his head and turns around, offering his wrists for cuffing.
“Have you had all that on you the whole time?” I ask, with the shadow of a smile.
Which should be crazy, impossible, ridiculous, and a million other things I’m sick and tired of thinking.
Nick and I just are, an essential realness the same as the crackle of snow underfoot or the taste of roasted marshmallows over an open flame.
Nick looks over at me. And there’s a smile on his face, a smile, not a smirk. He looks somehow more handsome than usual. “That fake belly’s got to be in useful for something.”
Chapter Fifteen
Nick
I lay my ear against the ensuite door, trying to listen to my woman in the bedroom. She said she had a surprise for me and she wanted me to wait in here until she was ready, but my whole body is burning, throbbing, my manhood ultra-stiff with need and anticipation.
My mind flits over the past few days… sorting out the paperwork for my investigation, processing Terrence and the drug dealing bikers from the food court, getting to know Kenny, and giving him a heartfelt apology for the way I flipped out.
But most of all I’ve been spending as much time with my perfect elf as I possibly can, moving her into my apartment so she doesn’t have to stay in a mall or some rundown hostel.
She’s my woman.
She deserves the best.
She came to me last night with a brave-shy look on her face, a combination only my little elf can achieve, wringing her hands as a blush spread across her full gorgeous cheeks.
“I think I’m ready,” she whispered, causing a torrent of fire to flare inside me.
I bolted to my feet and gripped onto her shoulders. “Ready for us?”
“Yes.” She bit her lip, which made me want to maul her right there, tear off her sweatpants and reveal the luscious bounty beneath. “But please don’t be disappointed with me.”
“I could never be disappointed with you,” I snarled, leaning forward and laying my lips softly against her forehead.
We’d been physical since Terrence’s arrest, of course, but she always pulled back at the last minute, anxiety gripping her. But she was spunky and sassy as we rode the elevator up to our suite, her hand gripping onto my arm tightly.
“It’s so weird seeing you out of your Santa suit.”
I grinned and kissed the top of her head. “Do you want me to keep it around, just in case?”
She giggled. “Maybe. But first I have a surprise for you…”
There’s movement in the bedroom, pulling me back from the past and shoving me firmly into the present.