Page 26 of Eternally Bound

“I wasn’t in there banging a woman. I was interrogating a rival member, killing him.” His voice was cool, monotone, like he was reciting a grocery list.

My body froze at his admission, but I didn’t pull away.

Maybe the cold detachment was his way of dealing with it all. Or maybe I was offering excuses, I wasn’t sure.

“What happened to you?” I breathed out, my eyes still on him. This man had changed so much. I believed there was still some good deep inside him. I couldn’t have been so blind to misinterpret him twelve years ago. And I knew I wasn’t blind now. If there was no good in him, he wouldn’t care to protect me and my family.

“I’m not good for you, Ainslee.”

Anger flared within me at those words. “Let me be the judge of that. Thank you very much.”

“Ah, there is my Nightingale.” His lip tugged on one side, and I wanted to brush my fingers over his lips, see them grin happily. I wanted that happy smile on his face.

“You are not like him,” I muttered. I wasn’t sure where the thought came from, but it hit me as clear as day.

“As who?” he questioned, raising his eyebrow. My hand was still on his, and by now, he was drawing circles on my skin, his touch burning my skin in the most delicious way.

“Your cousin,” I told him. “When I ran into him, he scared me. He felt wrong, you could feel the menace roll off of him in waves. You are not like him, Daniel.”

“I hope I’m not.”

“You are not,” I told him with firm conviction. “Nothing. Like. Him.”

“I killed him.” Well, tonight was full of admissions. Though for some reason, Daniel killing his cousin didn’t disturb me at all. “After that day, he started inquiring after you, even followed you.”

“That creep,” I spat, the fear of that man chilling me to my bones. “I’m glad you killed him.”

He didn’t expect me to say that because his dark eyes flashed with surprise and amusement.

“You always manage to surprise me, Ainslee.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I bet you missed that.”

He brought my hand up to his mouth, brushing his mouth against my knuckles and his cousin was instantly forgotten.

“I did, Nightingale,” he murmured against my skin. “I missed it all.”

My heart thundered, my soul sang, and my body melted. Jesus Christ. I should be just a tad bit harder to seduce. But no, I was already his. If he’d ask me to take my clothes off now, I’d ask how fast. Oh my, I’d have to cut those smutty books out of my library.

“And since we are in admission mode, can we talk about what the plan is?” I asked, choosing to let his last words go without a comment. Daniel wasn’t an idiot, he knew exactly how I felt. There wasn’t an ounce of doubt in my mind about it. “Bram will have questions, and so will my mother. And trust me, she is relentless when she wants answers.

“So are you,” he mused.

“Not sure if that is a compliment or not,” I grumbled, though I couldn’t stop a smile from forming on my face. “My mother is older, and she has many doctor’s appointments and has a social life that she’ll want to continue.”

He laughed, actually laughed. “I know. The group of ladies reading smut,” he retorted, his eyes dancing with amusement.

“Hey, nothing wrong with smut,” I defended her.

“Oh, I agree. Do you read it too?”

Now my cheeks flat out burned with embarrassment. Or maybe excitement? I pulled my hand out of his and pressed it against my cheek. It was a wrong move because my skin smelled like him and made some wild images play in my mind. This man was making me so turned on, I was scared my panties would soak through my jeans.

A tiny smirk played on his lips, and I realized he knew what he was doing to me. Arrogant, handsome man! He must have felt sorry for me because he continued without pressing for an answer.

“We’ll go get your mum and Bram, together. We bring them here.” My mouth dropped while I gawked at him. There was no other word for it. “I already told you. I’d keep you and your family safe.”

“In your h-house?” I stuttered, feeling stupid. If we were all together, mother would get wind of my infatuation with Daniel, and she’d never let it go. But in the grand scheme of things, it was the least of our worries. We’d all be safe. And oh my gosh, I’d see Daniel every day.

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