Page 77 of Indigo Sky

“I’m not following,” I muttered, focusing too much on the electric current that pulsed through every part of me anytime her fingers touched my skin.

“I’m happy because I have you. And I know you would never let anything happen to me.”

She stood on her toes and brushed her lips against mine again, and again, and again.

***

And, yeah, okay, maybe the smarter thing to do that night would’ve been to insist she get in her car and drive away. It would’ve been the safer thing—that’s for damn sure. But the thing about her …

Well, I guess maybe it’s the thing about any woman you’re falling for …

You find yourself feeling really selfish a lot of the time, and all I could think about was how good it felt to kiss her.

But it was okay.

Because she was right.

As long as she was with me, I was never ever going to let a single terrible thing happen to her. Not one.

I guess the problem was, she wasn’t always with me.

But … we're getting to that.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I'd thought about canceling lunch plans with Nate.

Iwantedto. It felt wrong to go out to lunch with an old friend as if nothing was going on, as if my girlfriend—holy fuck, she's my girlfriend—didn't have a fluorescent bull’s-eye taped on her back.

But when I mentioned the possibility of canceling to Kate, she laughed gently through the phone and asked, "And what will canceling your plans accomplish?"

I huffed incredulously. "Uh, I could make myself available to you?"

"Rev, I'm fine, I swear. I'm going to the grocery store with Crystal and her son. I'm not going to be alone."

"Yeah? And what if something happens?" I challenged, stuffing my feet into my old boots from my days at Roy's shop.

Roy. I furrowed my brow. I'd have to ask Nate about him and what the hell had happened to cause his untimely death.

"I had some more pepper spray overnighted, and I have my knife in my bag," she said quickly, as if she'd been waiting for me to ask. "Besides, I highly doubt anything will happen in the middle of the day."

"Or maybe that's what he wants you to think."

"Revan." She sounded impatient. The sigh she followed my name up with confirmed the assumption. "I love that you want to be there and protect me, seriously. But I'm okay, I swear. I'm not even taking my own car to the club tonight. I'll be with Crystal the whole time."

"Does she know what's going on?" I asked, narrowing my gaze at my reflection in the mirror over my dresser.

"Yes. Don't forget I've dealt with this before. And becauseIwas dealing with it, everyone at work was too. They have my back just as much as you do, I promise. I'mokay."

The comment shouldn't have wounded my pride at all—she hadn’t meant to—yet it did. She was a strong woman—maybe the strongest I'd ever known in my life—and it was admirable. But it also meant she didn'tneedme the way I wished she did. She wasn't a damsel in distress. She didn't need to be saved when she’d been saving herself long before I came into the picture.

Is that what I'm looking for?

No, I quickly realized. It wasn't. I didn't want a woman completely dependent on me.

But I wanted to feeluseful.

I wanted to feelneeded… even if I wasn't.

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