Page 89 of Savior

“Knowing what I know now?” I propped my elbow up against the back of the couch. “I think I’d consider it the highest compliment to be compared to Celia Quinn. She’s a warrior.”

“She’s a warrior? Babe, I watched you hold a knife on a biker like it was nothing. You looked like, I don’t know, some badass goddess sent to save the entire fucking world. Speaking of bikers, though—”

I sighed. “We’re not going back, Nate. Look, I know you wanted to stay out of this, but my father is still out there—”

“Oh, we’re not backing down now,” he said, staring toward the black screen of the television.

“We’re… we’re not? Why the change?”

He cocked his head to look down at me, knocking the ice pack from his eye onto my lap. “Isn’t it obvious? I told them I’d stay out of it, and they still involved my wife. When it comes to protecting you, Katy girl, there isn’t a fucking thing I wouldn’t do.”

“You’d break the law?” I whispered as I placed it on his face again. “Potentially even risk your job—”

I’d been convinced he’d never do anything to blow up his perfect life…

Nate lifted the pack off his bruised hand and held it up. “This is just a fraction of what I’m willing to do when it comes to you.”

My mouth gaped like a fish as I sagged against him. A slow smile spread across his face as he lowered his head, pressing his lips against my forehead and catching my tears with the pads of his thumbs. “Someone’s gotta take care of you, Katy girl.”

“I thought that’s what I was doing for you,” I said weakly.

Nate’s fat lip looked almost comical when he smirked. “It might surprise you to know, but that wasn’t my first fight. Hell, it wasn’t my tenth fight.” He leaned closer to whisper, “And in medical school, they teach you a thing or two about first aid.”

I pushed against his chest. “You’re making fun of me after I saved your life.”

He nodded. “You damn sure did. The Bonnie to my Clyde—”

“Considering they both died in a shootout with the law…” I shuddered at the image his words conjured up. What if we ended up like that?

Running from the enemy, only to die in a hail of bullets.

As if he was thinking the same thing, Nate flinched and curled his arm around my body possessively, rubbing a trail up and down my spine to ward off the sudden chill.

He cleared his throat. “How about we distract ourselves for a bit?”

Warmth flooded my body, and this time when I shivered, it was from pleasure, not fear. My eyes popped open in surprise. Instead of the feel of Nate’s mouth on mine, I was met with the sound of the television being turned on and the incessant clicks of a man channel surfing.

“Um, babe?” I shifted my focus up to his face and leaned in, letting my lips brush against the stubble on his jawline.

“Yeah?” He flicked a glance in my direction, seemingly unaffected by my advances. His act would’ve been more believable had his dick not been pressed up against my thigh.

“Kiss me.” I was shameless in my begging, but my body was craving his touch. Maybe it was a normal human reaction to the threat of imminent death. Before, it had been my father’s war or something I’d been mistakenly involved in.

We were in uncharted territory now.

No longer casual observers, but willing participants.

A slow smile lifted the corners of his mouth, but he shook his head. “C’mon, Katy girl. Watch a movie with me.”

In spite of my racing heart, I managed to extricate myself from his embrace and move off the couch. “I said I’d take care of you.”

The ice pack fell from his eye and landed against the cushions again, but Nate made no attempt to reach for it as I began unbuttoning my pants, working them down my hips. I fought against the urge to look away and kept my eyes locked on his as I tossed them aside.

“We don’t…” His throat moved up and down in a swallow. “We don’t have to do this. That’s not what I expected—”

“Nate,” I said as I pulled my blouse over my head and settled across his lap. “You’re not him. So, shut up and kiss me.”

He pulled me down hard into his kiss, tracing the line of my jaw with his thumb while his fingers kept a steady pressure against the back of my neck.

---