Page 26 of Defiant Devotion

“Can you stand?” I asked, rubbing her upper arms and keeping her upright. A ridiculous smile tore at my lips. She was adorable like this, sleepy and dazed. Fucked thoroughly.

We had a lot to talk about. I needed to get to the bottom of her disappearance. But I couldn’t deny she was so damn sexy and enchanting like this.

All because of me. I felt like a king to have this much impact on her. And I couldn’t wait to do it again.

“Stand?” She shrugged as she nodded but added, “No.”

I chuckled, amused by how endearing she could be all lopsided and sated like this. She didn’t have a ton of experience, not if she’d only recently lost her virginity to me. But I was thrilled thatIhad been the one to claim that feat.

What the fuck is with this possessive shit?I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to be attached to her, but we had a discussion to get through. She had to explain why she was acting like we were strangers, why she was here in the first place, and what happened that she was estranged or missing from her family.

I had to keep my wits about me with her.

She blinked and rubbed her face as she stepped toward the back of the chair. Propping her hip to it, she slowly lowered to grab her pants and panties that remained caught at her ankles. I hadn’t fully gotten my clothes off either. I tugged my pants back up, then retrieved her shirt, then mine.

Without making eye contact, she took her sweater. “That was…” She hesitated to finish her comment as she put her cami shirt on, then worked on getting her arms through the sweater sleeves.

I watched her profile as she stayed slightly facing away from me, wondering what adjective she’d land on.

Hot?

Fast?

Addicting?

Not enough?

“Unexpected,” she admitted.

“It was,” I said, curious how she meant that word. Unexpected as in she hadn’t counted on seeing me again? Or unexpected as in we’d just crashed and fallen into each other and wound up fucking like wild animals?

As I watched her get her clothes back on, I waited for her to speak up again. She wasn’t leaving me again, not without some explanations, but I wanted to see if she’d break her silence first. Seconds turned into minutes, and the awkward lack of conversation stretched between us. In the distance, the heavy thud of the music beat on, but it was dim and dulled, not preventing us from talking in here.

“Are—”

Gunfire cut through the quiet in this private room she’d darted into.

She flinched, then stiffened at the second round of shots being fired, but I didn’t wait. Diving forward, I covered her body and made sure that if anyone was shooting in the direction of the closed door, the bullet would hit me, not her.

“Get down!” I ordered as shouts and more gunfire erupted outside our room.

“I am down,” she retorted. Without moving too far from my body blocking her in case anyone came in here, she fidgeted as though she wanted to keep her distance from me. Which didn’t make sense. I’d just been as close to her as a man could get with a woman.

“Stay—” I didn’t get a chance to tell her to stay put and stick with this position behind me.

The door opened as someone slammed into it, but no one fell into our space. A fight had ensued out there, and I didn’t want our door to remain open. I was armed. I already had my gun in my hand, but I had no clue what was going on out there. My firearm would be used to keep us safe, nothing more.

“You’re in my way,” Sonya insisted as she wrestled past me, half-crawling and half-running. “Let me out of here. I’m not hanging around when all hell’s breaking loose!”

“Wait.” I lurched forward, diving to grab her before she escaped and ran through the strip club with who knew how many guns being fired. “Stop! S?—”

She kicked back at my hand, making me lose my almost-grab on her. Then with one knee on the ground, she spun and then shot to her feet.

“Stop!” I ran after her, keeping my gun at the ready, but she was already sprinting down the hallway. She was lucky she chose to run away from the bigger, main room where the gunfire seemed to be coming from, but two men fighting blocked me from chasing her.

“Fuck!” I ground my teeth, so frustrated and livid that she’d gotten away.

It wasn’t only a pain that she had succeeded, that she’d managed to evade me.

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