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“Two days ago, you were insulting me and couldn’t stand the sight of me.”
“The sight of you has never been something I couldn’t stand. As for insulting you, I am sorry. Most of the shit I said to you was because I hated that other men had touched you. I still do. I will always hate it, but I’m gonna make sure you don’t remember their names.”
My eyes shot back up to look at him. He was leaning back in his chair with a piece of bacon in his hand as he took a bite, not taking his focus off me.
“I can’t stay here. I have Dovie. Once I get my car and my money, we are going to have to find somewhere new to go. Far away from Jameson.” Who apparently had it out for me.
“If Jameson wants to live, he’ll stay away. Once he knows you’re mine, you’ll never see him again. As for Dovie, there are a lot of rooms in this house. She can have the entire top floor.”
I shook my head, trying not to grab on to the picture his words were painting of our future. This was more dangerous than anything I’d ever done. Men with wealth and power were one thing, and I was used to dealing with them. But Storm … Storm was a different kind of power. The Mafia was a whole new level.
“You realize what you’re offering me is what you hated me for?” I asked him.
His eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward. “Are you in love with me?”
Dammit. I’d gotten away without admitting this last night, but I’d said enough. He knew. I hadn’t denied it.
“Yes,” I whispered. I couldn’t lie to him. Not anymore.
“Did you love any of the other men?”
I shook my head. “No.”
He reached for a biscuit. “Then, it’s completely fucking different. I’m not married. I’m not attached to any woman. You aren’t going to be my side piece. You’re just mine, and I will make sure that it’s not a secret.”
I watched him put jam inside his biscuit as I tried to wrap my head around what he was saying to me. The hope was stirring in my chest, and I was fighting it back hard. I could not allow myself to be weak.
“I can’t—” I said, and the warning in his gaze stopped me.
I had to think of the right way to say this. Explain how this was a bad idea. Even if, at the moment, it sounded like a dream. One I was smart enough not to sink into.
“What happens to me when this ends? You’re right. You are important to me. Which means the more I allow you to … to handle everything. Let me have something this perfect. But when it is over and I am destroyed, I’ll still have to run. Take care of Dovie. I can’t fall apart. I have to stay strong. It’s what gets me through each day. Staying with you for however long this is going to last will weaken me. Take my edge.”
Storm stood up abruptly, and I stopped talking. He moved around the table with two long strides, then jerked my chair back before he leaned down, grabbing the armrests, caging me in.
“This doesn’t end,” he snarled. “I’m not letting you go. Ever. I don’t claim women. I don’t bring them to my house. You’re different. You’ve been different for me since the moment I laid eyes on you. This, us, it doesn’t end. You don’t leave.”
I blinked, staring at him, unsure if I wanted to throw myself into his arms or fight to be free.
“Do you love me?” I blurted out.
He’d demanded I admit it, but he wasn’t telling me he loved me too. Yet he was so sure he wanted to keep me forever.
His nostrils flared as he held my gaze. “If the clawing in my chest to keep you, touch you, own you, along with the desire to handcuff you to my bed so I know you’re unable to leave me, is love, then yes.”
I let out a startled laugh as my heart hammered in my chest. “Handcuff me?”
He nodded his head once.
“That’s a little twisted.”
He grabbed my chin as his eyes dropped to my mouth. “You have no idea how fucking twisted you make me.”
Fear and excitement warred inside me as I sucked in a breath. Dangerous. Storm was the most dangerous man I’d ever known. I ran from danger. I’d been doing it my entire life. But he made me want to willingly walk up to his room and hold my wrists out to him.
“I’m scared,” I admitted. Of everything he wanted. Everything I wanted.
“Of me?” he asked, those honey eyes lifting back to meet mine.
I nodded slightly.
A dark smile curled his lips. “You’re the last person on this earth who should fear me. But if another man touches you, I’ll kill him. If you want to fear something, fear that.”
