Page 14 of Fire

“Sure, if that’s what you want. I’ll bring dinner again.”

Grace is shooting daggers at me with her eyes, but I just shrug my shoulders. There’s no way I’m going to disappoint that kid. She finally turns back to Asher while I walk out—going back to the living room. I pick up the pizza box and the other stuff. Carrying it to the kitchen, I throw away the trash, as well as putting Asher’s cup in the sink. I go back to the living room and fold the blanket, putting it in a chair. I’m just sitting down on the sofa when she walks in.

“You didn’t have to clean up,” she murmurs, not really looking at me.

“I know. I wanted to. Being a bachelor, I’ve learned to take care of myself and those important to me. It made me feel good to pick up for you, Grace.”

“I’m not really used to that. I’m not sure how I feel about it.”

“How about you just let me do what I want and see if you can learn to like it?”

Laughter splutters out of her mouth as she rolls her eyes. “You have to be the cockiest man on the face of the earth, Carter Ford.”

“I like that,” I murmur.

“Like what?”

“You happy and saying my name.” She shakes her head as I pat the cushion next to me. “Come over here, Grace.”

“I shouldn’t,” she responds, but slowly walks in my direction. I let her get in front of me before I reach out and pull her down onto my lap. She gasps, immediately stiffening in my arms.

“Shh,” I hum against her ear. “You’re safe with me, Gracie Lou Sutton.”

“You know my whole name?”

“I know a lot about you, Grace. Detective Garcia shared some. The rest I found out on my own.”

She tries to push out of my arms, obviously not liking this conversation at all. I refuse to let her go, holding her tightly against my body. “Calm down, Grace. I’d never hurt you. I’d cut off my own arms before I did that. I have a daughter, and I’d kill any man who hurt her. You have nothing to fear from me. Hell, baby, I’m not here to play games with you. I’m here, because I think you’re a fucking spectacular woman. I want to spend time with you. I want you in my life.”

“What on earth for? I think it’s pretty clear that I’m nothing special and I have more baggage than any man would want to deal with.”

“I’m not just any man, Grace. I want to be your man.”

“Your brain is cracked then,” she squeaks out.

“My men would probably agree with you. What I’m telling you is the truth, though.”

I don’t fail to recognize the way she relaxes against me. She stops fighting me, completely turning sideways to look at my face. I scarcely contain my groan at the way her ass rubs against my stiff cock. If this woman had the faintest idea how much I craved being buried inside her, she’d probably take off running for the hills.

“You’re in a motorcycle club.”

“Yeah, is that a problem?”

“I’m not exactly the club girl type.”

“I think you’re wrong. My daughter’s married to one of my officers. If you think she’s not a good woman who would die for her child and her man, you’re wrong. Something tells me you’re just like that, Grace. You’d kill anyone that threatened to hurt Asher and if some son of a bitch was lucky enough to get past your walls, you’d do the same for him.”

She stares at me. For a moment, I think I broke her. It’s clear she wasn’t expecting my response. “What do you want from me, Ford?”

“A date. I want to spend an evening with you. Let me show you how good we could get along. Let me show you I’m worth at least getting to know before you kick me out of your life.”

“Ford—”

“You had fun tonight, Grace. Admit it.”

“I have a lot of baggage.”

“Most of which I know. I have a hell of a lot of crap in my past, too, sweetheart. It happens. It doesn’t define who we are. It just helped to shape us.”

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