Page 4 of Golden Knight

I shake my head, releasing myself from the memory. I can’t let it pull me down into the abyss. I need to stay on track.

She closes her eyes. When she opens them again, her eyes dart around the hallway. Who is she looking for?

So many questions but no answers. Once she sees that no one is around she tries to lead me into her office. At first, I didn't let her go. She tries again, and I give her a small wink as I relent. She whispers, “Let's go in here.”

When she opens the door, I follow her into a large room. The office isn’t anything special. It's a room with bare walls and a desk in the center. I roam over to a bookshelf on the back wall. It's full of binders. Pulling the binders out, I find spreadsheets for the bar. I glance around again, noticing she has no personal effects anywhere in the room. If it weren’t for the fact that she said this was her office, I would never have known.

I can feel her eyes boring into the back of my head as I continue my examination of her office. I know she’s waiting for me to say something, but I don’t. I stay silent. I need answers from her, not the other way around. It seems as though Amber is thinking the same thing.

But I’m fucking tired of waiting for her to give me what I need. She’s been silent for too long. I turn to look at her. Her eyes are glued to the floor, refusing to look at me. I can’t have that. It's time.

“Sunshine, eyes on me.”

Her eyes snap to mine, obeying my orders. Good girl. Her eyes are filled with so much emotion, telling me so much, but not enough.

I take a step toward her, and she instinctively takes a step back. I stop in my tracks. I fucking hate that she’s so afraid of me. “Jake. I... what are you doing here?” she stutters out.

My hands clench down by my side. I’m trying so hard to keep them to myself. “I’m here for a business meeting. Why are you here?”

“I work here.”

The need to be close to her is overwhelming. Even though I’m strumming with anger and confusion, I have this urge to protect her. I ignore all the questions swimming in my mind. I just need to feel her, hold her. I take a step toward her again. This time she doesn’t move or flinch. I take that as my cue to keep going. Closing the distance between us, I grip her waist and pull her into me. She is stiff in my arms at first but when I lean down and snuggle into her hair, her body relaxes.

I run my nose up and down the column of her neck as I breathe her in. She is perfect. Her arms wrap around my shoulders as she pulls me into her too. I whisper the words I’ve been dying to say into her ear, “I missed you, sunshine.”

“I missed you too.”

“I’ve been looking for you, but every time I got close, you were gone. Where did you go?”

Shaking her head, she whispers, “I can’t tell you.”

I try not to think too hard about what she just said and the fear that is written all over her face. I’ll get the answers from her eventually.

Right now though, I need to feel more of her. I need her lips on mine. We never kissed when we were younger because we always thought we had time for that in the future. Honestly, the two-year age difference between us back then seemed so big, but not anymore. At this moment, I need her to know that I’m still hers, and she’s still mine.

I pull back a smidge and glance down at her lips. I take the leap of faith, crashing my lips to hers, and fuck they feel so good. Her soft pillowy lips move against mine. I run my tongue against her lips asking for access. She opens without hesitation. I’m getting lost in the kiss when she pulls away from me so fast.

Her breathing has picked up and her face is flushed. “Fuck,” she whispers into the room.

She looks back at me with wild eyes. It's the same look as the other women I’ve helped in the past. I try to pull her close again when her whole body goes rigid as if she is ready for a fight. “Jake, I can’t.”

I listen, taking her signal. I can’t imagine what happened to her while she was captured, and by the look in her eyes, I can tell it was bad. I don’t want to scare her away so for now, I won’t push.

I want her to remember us, what we were, and what we could have been. I need her to know that I’ll always be there for her, no matter what. She is my home. So, for now, I will follow her lead, but when the time's right, we will be doing it my way. We’ve already had so much time taken away from us.

I nod my head. “It's okay, sunshine. Do you need anything?”

She stares at me for a moment, searching for the sincerity in my face. She can see my intentions plain as day, she answers, “No, I don’t need anything from you, Jake. I’ve been taking care of myself for a while now.”

I can tell she needs space. I need to get out of here before I go too far. I place my business card on her desk. “You don’t have to do it on your own anymore, sunshine. If you need anything, anything at all, call me.”

I sprint out the door. If I stay any longer, I won’t be able to stop. And right now she needs me to resist. When I head back into the bar area, Zeev is sitting right where I left him. Looking around the bar, I notice Mikhail has already left. I walk up to the table and he stands at the same time, slapping his hand on my shoulder with a look of concern. “Everything okay?”

I nod my head and walk out toward the car. Once we’re settled in the car, ready to head back to his house, he looks over at me. “You know that Blanche and I are here for you if you need anything.”

I don’t say anything else. I’m not ready to discuss Amber yet. But I don’t need to. He knows I’ll tell him in my own time.

As I sit in the car, I can’t help but think about what I saw in Amber’s eyes. The way her body trembled in my hold, the way her heart rate picked up, and how she whispered those words in my ear. I know deep in my bones, if any one of those fuckers who touched her is still alive, I’m going to kill them.

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