Page 21 of Bitter Desire
Her eyes drifted closed and she nodded. “Yes.”
“Good girl.” I kissed her forehead and then stepped back, catching her hand in mine. “Now, come on. I’m hungry and if I am, then I know you are. We’ll have dinner and head out.”
Right on cue, Honey’s stomach growled and she sighed, rubbing a hand against it. “Okay, you’ve got me there with food. Food is worth people knowing I got railed in the backseat.”
I barked out a laugh at her comment. “So all I had to do was mention food and you go from shy and nervous to ‘railed in the back seat’?”
“Food has a magical hold on me. You know that, Law.”
She was right, I did. I’d seen Honeyhangry, and I’d seen her blissed out on her dinner. I preferred her with a full belly. We walked up to the welcome center, hand in hand, and the peace of it settled around me. We were greeted with a smile and our check-in went smoothly. It only took a few minutes for us to be seated at the in-residence steakhouse. Honey picked up her menu, excitedly looking over the offerings while I ordered a drink. Wine for her and whiskey for me. The server came and left, drinks on the table and a basket of fresh bread and butter, the kind that made Honey’s eyes light up when she saw it, swearing it was “her favorite.” I leaned back in my seat watching her with a smile. She was spreading the butter on the bread and chattering to me about a new book she’d started the day before. There was no trace of the worried woman I’d taken out of New York City, not even her earlier concern about looking just fucked was on her mind.
There was only here and now for her. The moment was utterly mundane, nothing special about it or this steakhouse out in the middle of nowhere, except that everything about it was special, because she was here. And she was happy.
I’d made the right choice in bringing us here.
Dinner was good and quick. I’d sipped my whiskey and eaten, relaxing enough to match Honey’s mood, but I kept my eyes on the door. Taylor was there with his own glass of whiskey, and I knew not a single person would enter the restaurant that he hadn’t already had eyes on. I didn’t need to watch, but it was a habit. Years working security, years on the streets as muscle, years needing to make sure my own back was covered.
When we left the restaurant, Honey was flush cheeked and giggling, the wine she’d drunk just enough to push her into tipsy territory. I kept an arm around her waist on our way to the door and she rolled her eyes at me.
“I’m not drunk. You don’t have to carry me.”
“I’m not carrying you,” I replied, nodding at Taylor who pushed up from his seat and followed behind us towards the car.
“You are so,” she said, giving my arm a poke. “I’m barely even walking with the hold you’ve got on me, Law.”
“I just want you to be careful.”
She sighed, head leaning against my arm and then she was patting a hand to my chest. “I’m always careful when I’m with you.”
I hummed but said nothing else. Just helped her into the car and kept a hand on her thigh as we drove to the cabin. It was a few miles out from the resort center, tucked away in the winding and curving forest road. There were tall pines lining the drive up to the cabin, even more framing it, the boughs of the trees blocking out even the sky.
“It’s so pretty. I love it!” Honey exclaimed the second we pulled up in front of the cabin. Though calling it a cabin was a stretch. This wasn’t rustic by any stretch of the imagination. There were only the clean lines of meticulous architecture, a set of stairs that led up from the ground to the double doors of the cabin, a chimney top peaked out over the side of the cabin, and there were floor-to-ceiling windows at one end framed by a wrap-around deck. I could see myself sitting there with Honey.
“Good. It’s all for you, princess.” I led her towards the steps though she stopped suddenly and turned to look back at where Taylor was taking our bags from the car.
“What about Taylor?” she asked, and I knew she wasn’t asking because she didn’t want him around. She was asking out of genuine concern for him, and I smiled. My girl was sweet through and through.
“He’s got his own place near here.”
It was a mile from us, the closest Addie could find on short notice. If I needed him, he would be a few minutes and a phone call away. Seeing as I didn’t have many plans to leave the cabin and no one knew we were here I was certain I wouldn’t need to have Taylor leave his cabin.
“Oh good, he needs to relax too. He’s always working,” Honey said with a nod. Through and through, all right. She didn’t know how else to be. Her eyes landed on the bags in his hands and she frowned. “I didn’t pack anything. What am-”
“Took care of it. One of those is yours.” I’d gotten a bag and packed it with fresh clothes and toiletries for Honey. She kept enough things at my place that I had most of what she needed, but I’d also had Addie buy a handful of dresses for Honey to wear to the show she’d booked for us.
Her eyes came to me. “Why are you so sweet to me?”
“Because someone ought to be, princess.”
Honey came close, threw her arms around me, and hugged me tight. Taylor walked past us and up the steps with the bags, but neither of us moved from where we held each other. A minute later he was striding back past us and towards the car. I’d get in touch with him later by phone, letting him know my plans. But right now all I cared about was the woman in my arms. The car started and when Honey looked up at me, her face was bathed in the headlights as Taylor left the cabin.
When we were alone, I nodded at the cabin. “All right, princess. Up,” I said, holding out my arms to her.
Her brow furrowed. “What?”
“In my arms,” I told her, looking at my arms, and she laughed when she got what I wanted from her.
“You’re going to carry me inside?”
