by Meghan March
“You’ve got my word.”
Trinity’s face lit up. “You’re going to make sure she gets that happily-ever-after, right? She needs it. She won’t ever admit it, but she wants to get married and have babies, and I know she’ll be the best mom ever.”
I held up a hand. “Whoa. Slow down, girl. One step at a time.”
Trinity’s smile didn’t fade. “You might not realize it, Rix, but you’re a knight, whether your armor is shiny or not. You saved me, and I know you’ll protect her. Sometimes the dragon is a better choice for the princess than a prince.”
Now the girl was talking in so many mixed fairy-tale metaphors, I didn’t even know how to respond.
“Go to bed, kid. Get back to your life, and keep an eye on Valentina when I can’t.”
“Done.”
She gave me another brilliant smile and spun before heading down the hallway toward the guest room.
I wanted nothing more than to go climb in bed with Valentina upstairs, but the studio drew me in. It was like a window into her thoughts and feelings, and one I knew I was never supposed to see.
The piece on the easel wasn’t finished, but seeing it rocked me all the same.
This one wasn’t of a person, it was two partial people, walking down a tree-lined path, holding hands. One tanned the color of my skin, and the other pale like Valentina’s.
Trinity’s words rolled through my brain. Happily ever after. Babies. Those things had never existed as a possibility in my world. Could they?
Something about the woman sleeping upstairs made me refuse to rule them out.
I crept up the creaky old staircase, avoiding the noisy treads. It was telling that I knew what steps to avoid when I wanted to be silent.
As much as I wanted to slide inside Valentina while she was still half-asleep, I didn’t wake her tonight as I climbed between her pristine white sheets. There was a kid in the house, and when I took Valentina again, I wanted her screaming my name.
THE SUN SHINING BRIGHTLY THROUGH the bay window in my bedroom woke me gradually until I registered the heat against my back and the arm wrapped around me. My eyes snapped open.
He was here.
And he hadn’t woken me.
I turned in his arms and found him wide awake. “How long have you been here?”
“A while.”
“How long have you been awake?”
“A while.”
I flipped the sheet back so I could get a look at his side. A clean bandage covered it. My hair fell into my face as my gaze darted back up to his and I asked, “Are you okay?”
Rix nodded and reached up to tuck my hair behind my ear. “I’m fine. Your girl’s fine. So I’d say life is pretty good.”
“You got hurt getting her out, though. Tell me what happened.”
The soft smile on Rix’s face faded a few degrees. “You don’t need to know anything except that she’s back and she’s fine. No harm to her.”
I gritted my teeth. The man was ridiculously stubborn. “I need to know.”
Rix shook his head. “No, you don’t. It’s better for everyone if you don’t ask questions.”
I pushed up on one elbow and propped my other hand on my hip. “I’m asking questions, dammit. And I want answers. Trinity wouldn’t tell me anything because you ordered her not to, and you said you’d fill me in.”
“I just did.”
I was going to scream. “You didn’t fill me in on a damn thing. Nothing. I know nothing.”
Rix tugged my propped arm, and I fell toward him. Before I could untangle myself, he had me pinned beneath him, both arms over my head, rendering me helpless.
“What are you doing?”
He pressed a hard kiss to my mouth to silence me. When he lifted his face, his expression brooked no argument. “I’m explaining how things work.”
“I’m not going to like how things work, am I?”
He didn’t respond, just waited, eyebrow raised, as if expecting me to keep protesting.
I didn’t, instead opting to wait for whatever he was about to decree.
“Maybe, maybe not. But either way it doesn’t change a thing. The less you know, the better. So that means you’re gonna know as little as possible about what goes on in my world. There’s nothing good there, and you don’t need to be any part of it.”
I bristled at his pronouncement, but not because of the reason he would expect. “You’re in your world, so there has to be something good.”
Rix’s expression was almost pained. “Trust me when I say I’m not good either. And if you want to call this off right now because you can’t handle what I’ve got to offer, then do it. Tell me to go. You got your girl back. That’s what you needed from me, so if there was ever a time to drop my ass, it’s now. Do it before this goes any further.”
He caught me off guard completely. “Drop your ass? You think the reason I haven’t called the cops when you continually break into my house and sneak into my bed is because I only wanted Trinity back? Are you insane?” I struggled beneath him, trying to break free. It didn’t work. “If I recall correctly, you laid out some asinine requirement that I sleep with you for payback, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who can follow the chain of events here because that happened before. You didn’t have to extort anything from me because I gave it to you freely. Does that make it sound like I want to drop you now that she’s safe?”
I’d finally made my decision. And now he was throwing it back in my face? Oh. Hell. No. That’s not how this was going to work.
Rix hadn’t said anything yet, and I was ready to drag the words out of him.
“Let me up,” I demanded.
He shook his head. “No. I’m still deciding what to do with you.”
“You don’t get to decide what to do with me. I do. And I’m ready to shake some sense into you.”
His chest shook until a deep laugh echoed through my room.
“You’re one of a kind.” He lowered his forehead so it rested on mine. “I don’t deserve you. Shouldn’t be here. But I’m not goin’ anywhere. You’re stuck with me, duchess. You had your out. I’m keepin’ you.”
I strained upward and pressed my lips to his. “Good thing I’d already decided I was keeping you.”
“Fuck, I wish I was inside you right now.”
“Why aren’t you?” My body was molded to his, and more than ready.
He pressed up on his elbows. “Because there’s a kid in the house, and I don’t roll that way. But I gotta get out of this bed or I’m gonna forget I have a problem with it.”
Trinity. Crap. I forgot.
How could I forget?
I rolled out from under Rix, only because he let me this time.
“I need to make sure she’s still okay. And get her some breakfast. And—”
Rix snagged my hand. “Chill out. It’s okay. She’s fine.”
I might have growled at him, but I’d never admit it.
Rix laughed again and dropped my hand. “Or don’t chill out. Do what you need to do. I’m gonna grab a shower.”
Rix in my shower. After he spent the night in my bed. And we’d decided we were keeping each other. Things were becoming awfully domestic all of a sudden.
The rational voice inside my head whispered this couldn’t last, so I might as well enjoy it while I could. I quieted that voice, but decided the advice about enjoying it wasn’t a bad idea.
I pulled on some clothes and made my way downstairs as I heard the shower water kick on. I wanted to rush back to the bathroom and make sure he was properly caring for whatever kind of injury he had, but I stopped myself cold. Rix’s body was not only tattooed, but scarred. I’d never asked any questions, and it seemed that was exactly how he liked it. He was a capable, grown man and didn’t need me fussing all over him.
He also didn’t need me killing him off with my cooking. I racked my brain for the fastest breakfast places around that might deliver if promised a hefty tip, but the thoughts died w
hen the scent of food hit me.
Bless that girl, she was getting a raise. A big one.
Steam rose from the waffle maker and Trinity scrambled eggs on the stove.
I crossed to the espresso machine and pressed the button, watching as the dark liquid poured into a shot glass.
“I have a waffle maker?”
“It was in the pantry, still in the box. I took a chance, assuming you actually like waffles and didn’t know how to operate it.”
“I’m sure it came with directions . . . I just didn’t try to figure it out.”
“You know you’ve got at least six other appliances in boxes in your pantry. What gives?” She turned and shot me a laughing grin as I sipped my espresso.
“My mother. She thinks I’m going to become a housewife who cooks one of these days. Actually, she’s hoping I’ll start pinning recipes and DIY vertical gardens on Pinterest, and get so caught up I start pinning wedding ideas. She’s crazy, because that’s never going to happen.”
Trinity raised an eyebrow. “You planning on more of a courthouse gig? Your daddy officiating?”
I jerked my head back. “Whoa, let’s not even go there. A wedding is not part of my plans anytime soon.”
That’s the moment Rix decided to walk into the kitchen, hair still wet.
I swear he just took the shortest shower in the history of the planet.
“Good, because I ain’t got a ring.”
I choked on the last sip of my coffee and started coughing. Trinity’s eyes lit up, and Rix opened the fridge, ignoring both our reactions in favor of orange juice.
Again, this whole scene was wildly domestic. And somehow . . . easy. Except for the fact that my espresso had gone down the very wrong pipe called what the hell did you just say.
Rix held up the OJ. “You want some, duchess?”
I nodded. “Please.”
“Trinity?”
“I already have some, thanks.”
And so our morning started with Trinity cooking to keep us all from getting food poisoning and keeping Rix from knowing about my complete lack of skill in the kitchen.
Conversation was light as we ate, mostly about the Saints and Trinity’s plans for art school. She was strangely silent on the Derrick front, but I didn’t bring him up. I was assuming that she and Rix knew way more about what was going on with him, and for once, I didn’t want to know.
There, Rix. I can play your game when I choose to.
As much as I loved hearing Trinity going on and on about art school, I was a little concerned what would happen when Derrick was back in the picture—if he came back. She was still a very young eighteen, and that boy had clearly melted enough of her brain that she didn’t make the best decisions.
On the other hand, if she hadn’t gotten wrapped up in him, I wouldn’t be sitting at my kitchen table with his “boss” either. Which was another situation that was only half-resolved and didn’t seem to have any easy answers.
Rix’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he stood to take the call. As soon as he’d left the room, Trinity turned to me.
“You’re gonna marry that man. I already know it. You better learn how to cook, girl, because he’s the kind that comes with quite an appetite.” She winked at me.
I wasn’t going to touch that statement with a ten-foot pole, especially not with Rix only one room away. The deep rumble of his voice carried just enough for me to lose the easy feeling I’d had most of the morning.
“I want patrols 24/7. We’re not fucking around. They’ll be back for blood.”
Chills ran through me at his prediction to whomever was on the other end of the call. Trinity’s face went blank and she gathered up the dishes. I decided to follow her lead, because I didn’t know what else to do. Any questions that I had would be met with silence or a refusal to answer.
If someone was coming back for blood, I didn’t think I wanted to know when or how or who, so long as they stayed far, far away from me. And I wanted them to stay far, far away from Rix. I was not okay with him needing more bandages. The idea of him hurting made me want to draw blood from someone else.
Whoa. When had I turned into this woman? Being around Rix had some very unexpected side effects.
When he ended the call and walked back into the kitchen, his face was set in an implacable expression. “I gotta go. Be back when I can. I’ll take Trinity home too.”
“Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone.”
He turned, and I followed him back into the living room where he’d taken the call. Only this time I shut the French doors behind me.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I heard some of what you said anyway.”
“And?”
“And I want to know if Trinity is going to be safe at her gran’s. The woman is elderly and not in the greatest health. If anyone is looking to use her as leverage again, won’t they just break in and grab her?”
“I guess you did hear plenty.” He lifted his hand to my face and tucked my hair behind my ear again. It was an intimate gesture, and one that was at odds with his stoic side. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to her. She’ll have someone watching out for her around the clock. I don’t expect they’ll retaliate that way, but I’m prepared for it regardless.”
“Good. Thank you.”
He shook his head. “You don’t need to thank me, duchess. I take care of the people under my protection.”
“So does that mean someone’s watching me too?”
Rix’s stare intensified. “I’ve had my guys on you for a while. Now, you’re never unprotected.”
Surprise rippled through me, but it wasn’t altogether unpleasant . . . until I recalled the dates I’d been on with Rhett. I wondered if he’d heard about those. My thoughts must have been written on my face, because Rix frowned.
“I didn’t always like what I heard, but I heard it anyway.”
Well, that answered that.
“You opening the gallery today?” he asked.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you have a plywood front window and you need to learn how to take a break.”
I stiffened at the second part of his statement. “I don’t tell you how to run your . . . business, so I don’t think you get the right to tell me how to run mine.”
He stepped closer, leaving no space between us, my breasts pressing against his chest. “Working six or seven days a week is gonna burn you out, duchess. And I want you smiling. Besides, tonight I got plans for you.”
He was right about the burnout. As much as I loved the gallery, threads of resentment were starting to form. My life was dictated by my work, which was completely normal for a small business owner, but I was starting to feel the weight of it more than I ever had in the past. Maybe because in the past I hadn’t had anything else competing for my attention like I did now. I hadn’t had a life outside my business.
“Now that Trinity is back and if you’ve got people staked out for security, I can see if she’s interested in taking on a few more hours a week. Remy already asked for more hours.”
Rix slid his hand into my hair and closed his fingers around it. The gesture was so him, so possessive, it unleashed butterflies in my stomach. “Good. I like that. So, tonight I’m gonna send you a text with instructions, and I want you to follow them to the letter.”
“What kind of instructions?” I asked.
“The kind I want you to follow without question. I may not be able to sit across a table from you at a fancy restaurant, but I can still take you out and show you a good time.”
My curiosity bloomed wildly. “And you’re not going to give me any hint of how you plan to show me a good time?”
A seductive smile slid across Rix’s face. “No. None at all. Follow the directions, and I promise you’ll enjoy yourself.”
With his grip on my hair, he tilted my head and lowered his lips to mine. The first passes were sips at my lips, and then when I opened to him, he took more. The kiss turned fro
m simple to demanding in moments. Rix pulled away first.
Did I ever pull away first? No, because you’re completely lost in him whenever he touches you. How long had it been since I’d felt this comfortable with a man? Years. And something told me it was unique to Rix.
He released my hair and stepped back.
“Every time I taste you, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to stop. You test my control, duchess.” He brushed his lips across mine one more time and then he opened the French doors. His eyes met mine. “Tonight.”
REMY WAS SCHEDULED TO WORK with me today, and for that I was happy. I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts all afternoon if we happened to have a slow day for customers.
Rix’s promise about tonight and the text that was sure to come with the instructions I was required to follow was constantly on my mind. He was right. We couldn’t exactly go out in public and do anything normal couples did together, because we weren’t a normal couple by any stretch of the imagination.
I scoured my brain for what else we could possibly do and came up with mostly nothing. It was hard to imagine Rix setting up a private dinner for two somewhere off the beaten path. Me and him and candlelight and roses seemed out of character. But still, my mind jumped from one outlandish possibility to the next. I was not good at surprises. I wanted to know all the things, right now.
Instead, I got to watch my new window be installed and deal with my insurance company.
The text came as I waved Remy off and flipped the OPEN sign to CLOSED.
RIX: Short skirt. Button-up blouse. Heels. Walk out of your house at 10 and get in the black Escalade.
How did I reply to that? With the only answer I wanted to give.
VALENTINA: Okay.
Anticipation lit my system. Things were changing again. Tonight. I had five hours to get ready, and that meant it was time for a little pampering.
Manicured. Pedicured. Freshly trimmed and blown out. Showered. Shaved smooth. When I slid my feet into one of my favorite pairs of heels—black patent leather Louboutins—I felt like the woman I’d been all those years ago who wasn’t afraid to hit the bars by myself and take what I needed for the night. Confidence and intent made all the difference in the world.