Page 92 of The Healer

“Hey, anything puncturing the main artery will kill.” She shrugged, and pressed the pen in deeper, drawing a dark blue dot on the boy’s neck. “Now, Tommy, lower that gun, and I’ll release your brother.”

“Better do as she says, kid.”

She threw Rhys a pout. “I just wanted coffee.”

The kid wiggled again. “And I wanted the money my brother owes me.”

“Oh.” Heat burst across her cheeks, and she jumped off him. “So sorry.”

Rhys lifted him to his feet and dusted him off with his massive hands. “We all good?”

Tommy and the boy nodded, their eyes wide.

“How much do we owe you?” Gesturing to her Jeep, Rhys opened his wallet.

“And this.” She darted for the coffees, tugged the candy bars out of her pocket, and scooped the pen off the floor.

Ten minutes later with the incident behind them, Rhys had yet to speak. He gripped the steering wheel, shaking his head, cussing, then chuckling around the word ‘pen.’

“I damn near had a heart attack.” He flicked a glance at her. “I wanted to pin you to the wall and fuck you hard.”

She gasped, then shifted on the passenger seat, trying to ease the ache.

His nostrils flared, and he growled. “As soon as we reach Inner City, that I can promise you.”

“Shit.” She stared out the window, anywhere but at him. “I feel so bad.” Guilt dipped her chin to her chest, and regret was swift to cast its bitter light.

“You apologized and gave them your number.” He arched a what-were-you-thinking brow at her.

“Still.” Peeling the wrapper back, she bit into the candy bar. “Want one?”

His laugh started as a slow rumble until a guffaw filled the Jeep. His cheeks darkened around his wide grin.

Joy saturated her soul at seeing him so carefree and because of her. She blinked at him, then lowered her gaze, lest he read how she felt about him. Confessing she loved the man was foolhardy and certainly not so soon in their relationship. Her breath caught. He could rip her heart out or devastate her with an uncaring word. What she had wanted was the kind of love her parents had. Scanning Rhys, with the driver’s seat so far back, and those long arms, big hands, that sexy jaw, those lips, she hoped she had made the right choice.

“Yes, Lona-love, I’d love a candy bar.”

She unwrapped one for him. When he took it from her, his fingers brushed hers, shooting out sparks of lightning joy that zinged along her nerve endings. Zinged? She snorted. Was that her professional opinion? What happened to her vocabulary? Stashing the half-eaten candy bar, she curled onto her side with her back to him.

He rested his hand on her hip. She sighed, contented, and let the post-adrenaline exhaustion claim her.

Rhys snuck another glance, as he had been doing since the ‘incident.’ He grinned, able to do so after his heart had nearly burst from his chest at the scene before him. His bear had threatened to break free, but with her skirt raised exposing a long, toned leg, her hair curling around her cheek, and the pen in her hand, he calmed.

The clerk didn’t reek of fear, neither did the kid on the floor, as if they disbelieved her pen-can-be-lethal claim. A familiar warmth flooded his chest, and he stroked his thumb across her hip. Lunar, he was a goner. Just one trip had him loving her more. They said long journeys tested any relationship. It had strengthened theirs.

She slept on, her soft snores music to his ears. Despite the raging hard-on he sported, he let her rest. Inner City’s skyline blurred on the horizon. They were close. Then he would wake her and taste her sweetness.

Between his shoulder and ear, he pinned his phone, not wanting to disturb her. “Noah? We’re almost home.”

“Oh, good. I moved your things to the cabin by the lake, figured that’s where you’re heading.”

“Why that one?” Not that he minded. It was his favorite and the closest to the clubhouse. Still, Noah implied Lona and Rhys were moving in together. He would love that, but she had specified her own place. He shrugged. They would cross that bridge later.

“All the others are undergoing refurbishment.”

Rhys arched a brow, amazed at how fast Noah worked. “Spending our donation?”

He chuckled. “Yup, for the necessities. Um, there have been a few changes. We’ll chat when you have a moment.”

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