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I’ve honed my skills by dealing with people every day in my shop.
I haven’t wanted to touch a woman in years. In fact, the thought repulsed me.
But everything about Rebel entices me. I want her.
She’s mine.
That doesn’t mean I think she’ll heal all the open wounds on my soul. The past will always taint me. My failure will always be right there. But, maybe, I can make it so those parts of me never touch this woman in front of me.
Her tattooed hands cover her belly, and my eyes snap up to meet hers. Her lips part and I know she can see the heat in my gaze. Feel it against her skin.
“It’s not nice to stare,” she chastises me sassily.
“Wish I could say I’m sorry, Hellcat,” I shrug one shoulder, “but I’m not.”
Rebel laughs, the sound raspy and sensual. Have I ever found a woman’s laugh sexy before? No, I don’t think so.
She arches an eyebrow in challenge and question. “Hellcat?”
I rumble, “It’s not appropriate?”
“Scarily,” there’s a bit of awe in her voice as she cocks her head to the side and studies me. “Were Crucify and Rites busy today? They’re the only ones who have come by to pick up an order before.”
My blood boils knowing my brothers have met Rebel before me. I should have been the first. The fucking only. Yes, I know that makes me sound like an asshole, but possessiveness is clawing up my throat right now and making it hard to breathe.
“Disappointed?”
She shakes her head slowly. “Disappointed that a mountain of a man is on my doorstep instead of those two jokesters who treat me like a little sister?” She rolls her eyes, the action matching the slight bite in her tone at the end of her question. “Can’t say I am, Monk.”
I have never hated the sound of my road name coming from someone more than I do right now. “Tyler,” I counter.
She blinks up at me, the movement slow and a little languid, like she’s fighting the same fog I am from being around each other. Her eyebrows pull together slightly and makes her look fucking adorable.Hellcat.“Huh?”
I chuckle, the sound rusty coming from me.What the hell is this woman doing to me?“My name is Tyler. I don’t want you to call me Monk, unless we’re around my brothers.”
“Unless we’re around your brothers?” She shakes out her hands and mumbles, “Am I a fucking parrot right now? What the hell is going on?”
I step forward, looming over her with my much larger body. It’s not just because I’m taller than her either. I’m broader than her. Larger. Intimidating.
I can protect her from anything and everything.
I have the skill and I sure as fuck have the will.
She should be shrinking back from me with the way I invade her space. But her gaze doesn’t waver. She stares me down with the same curiosity I feel and can’t seem to shake.
“I’m just as surprised about this as you are, Rebel,” my voice is soft, softer than I’ve ever heard it before. The thought of spooking this woman in front of me doesn’t sit right with me. “I’ve been asking myself what the fuck is going on since you opened the door.”
“Because you were expecting a grandma,” her words don’t come out as a question.
“All I knew about you was that you made our cuts and sometimes you have delicious cookies.” I rub the back of my neck, feeling a little sheepish. “They never mentioned your name. I probably wouldn’t have pictured a grandma named Rebel.”
She throws her head back and laughs, not the raspy chuckle I heard moments ago, but a full-on belly laugh. Holy shit. How many laughs does this woman have?
What do I need to do to hear them all? To make them my own? To never be away from the warmth they create in my chest?
I hesitate when she shakes her head, amusement dancing in her beautiful eyes, before she takes a step back and waves a hand to welcome me into her home. The disappointment that bubbles up in her gaze has me shaking off my temporary reluctance.
It’s not even her that I’m not sure about. I know she’s mine. I know I want her.
