Page 32 of Rock

“Lyla, you could have a concussion.”

“I don’t.”

He sighed. “Then, at least let me bring you to the compound so you can see Doc. We’ll let him decide.”

She scrunched up her face. She didn’t feel like facing a bunch of people.

Rock licked his lips. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll take you to my place. I’ll have Doc meet us there.”

His place…

“I have an apartment in the compound, but I also have a house on the edge of town. It’s not much, but it’s a place to sleep.”

“I have a room at the motel,” she said absently. There was no way she wanted to go there tonight. Out of the question.She wouldn’t feel safe with some guy hunting her for unknown reasons.

“We’ll stop and get your things. You’ll stay with me,” he insisted.

She cracked a smile at his tone. “Still so bossy.”

He lifted a brow. “Significantlymorebossy than when I was twenty, Little Lyla.”

She shuddered at the name he’d just used for the second time tonight. He’d called her that all the time when she was a teenager. “I’m not so little anymore,” she pointed out.

He looked up and down her frame. “You’re hardly larger, Little girl, but you also know that’s not what I mean when I say Little,” he challenged.

She shuddered again. She did know what he meant, but it had been decades since she’d even considered the idea of age play. Not since the night she’d spent with him. She’d never once met anyone in that lifestyle. She was aware of it. She’d researched the subject over the years. She’d read books about it—both fiction and nonfiction—but she hadn’t practiced it.

Rock gathered up her satchel. “Is this all you have here at the house?”

“Yes.”

“Where are your keys? I’ll drive your car and have someone get my bike and drop it at my house.”

She pulled the rental car keys out of her pocket and handed them to him. She wasn’t going to argue. She certainly didn’t feel like driving. Staying at his house, though… That was huge.

He pulled out his phone and appeared to send a few texts before ushering her out of the house. Like the gentleman she remembered, he opened the car door for her and helped her into the passenger seat. He also reached across to fasten her seat belt. “I’ll be right back.”

He shut her door and jogged over to his bike.

She watched in the mirror, wondering what he was doing. Finally, he pulled something out of the bottom of the saddlebag and hurried back to the car. After he climbed in, he handed her a stuffed bear.

She slowly took it from him. Her heart rate picked up. He’d given her a bear the night of her prom when she’d been distressed.

He shrugged. “Maybe it’s silly, but it’s what we do in my club. When we encounter a damsel in distress, we give her a teddy bear. I’d say you’redefinitelya damsel in distress.” He started the engine as if this was no big deal, but it meant the world to her.

She pulled the bear into her arms and held it tightly, lowering her face to inhale its scent of leather from being in the saddlebag for heaven only knew how long. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome, Little one.”

She sucked back a breath. Little one. Was she Little?

As he started driving, he glanced at her and changed the subject. “Do you have kids?”

Apparently, they were going to get the big things answered immediately. “No. I…couldn’t get pregnant. That was the primary reason for my divorce,” she overshared.Nowould have been sufficient.

“I’m sorry.”

She drew in a breath. “I think that came out wrong. I’m not sure I reallywantedto have kids, so I wasn’t willing to use heroic measures and thousands of dollars to have them.That’swhy we divorced.”

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