Page 140 of Exposed

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King

“You’re right,” she mumbles into my chest. “It was your fault.”

I slide my hand into her hair and hold her against my heart.

When I realized what she was up to yesterday, I was so fucking mad.

I also felt a shit ton of other things I wasn’t prepared for. I pushed all of it out of my head and did the only thing that felt right.

Chase her.

She’s right. It was all my fault.

And I’m not used to being at fault for anything. At least not that I’m willing to admit. I didn’t have her for a whole day. It was all I could do not to throw more furniture.

“Don’t run away from me again, baby.” My tone is low but clear as I speak into the side of her beautiful hair. Even so, my wordsare a warning.

“Then don’t look at me like you did yesterday.”

My arms constrict before I freeze. “How did I look at you?”

She doesn’t move. “You know how you looked at me. Like I’m a victim. It was different, and I hated it. After everything that we’ve been through so far, that was the worst.”

My eyes fall shut.

I get it.

I tell her the truth. “You don’t understand, Goldie. I fix shit. It’s what I do. It’s what I did as a Ranger, and it’s my job now as an agent. If there’s a threat, I eliminate it. If there’s a toxic pipeline of drugs, I shut it down. If crime is being fueled by dirty money, I cut off that source of supply. I don’t know how to stand back and not fix things.”

She pulls away just enough to gaze up at me. She is exhausted. But even with dark circles under her bloodshot eyes, she’s still just as beautiful as the day I first set my sights on her. “I’m not yours to fix.”

“You’re wrong, baby. You are mine. I just don’t know what to do with you besides hold on with a death grip.” I put my hand to her chin and force her to look at me. “I don’t claim to be good at this. In fact, I’m really fucking bad at it. Yesterday proved that. You called me on it, and I couldn’t deal.”

“You couldn’t deal? I’m the one who was attacked by Rand.” Her expression is guarded, like she doesn’t know whether to believe me or kick me out of her room to sleep on the sofa.

I’m not taking any chances.

I bend and scoop her up like I just made her my bride.

Fuck.

My bride.

The last two days have lodged a wedge in my brain. I can’t fucking think straight. It’s good I’m here instead of dealing with Dex Carter.

I sit on the double bed I can’t wait to sleep in with her tonight and cradle her in my lap.

“Goldie.” I pull in a breath and take a moment so I don’t fuck this up since I already fucked it up once. “I’m not making this about me. This is about you. It couldn’t be more about you. But I’m forty-three. Besides my small family, my team in the Army, and now a handful of Agents, I have never done this. And you, baby… Fuck, you are in a different class than all of them. A class I didn’t even know existed.”

“What we had…” She rolls her lips in to mull that over. “What we had was good. No, it was better than good. It was new and sensual and perfect. I want that back, but the way you looked at me yesterday…”

I can’t keep the frown from forming on my face. “Did you hear anything I just said to you?”

She frowns back. “Well, clearly your wavy gorgeous hair is so thick it’s keeping you from comprehending whatI’msaying.”

“What the hell,” I mutter to no one but myself and the green walls plastered with positivity posters featuring butterflies and ladybugs and shit like that. At least there aren’t any unicorns.

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