Page 9 of Bitter Desire
That included her.
She was mine. Done deal.
Whoever had decided to come after her, to scare her, was well and truly fucked. My phone beeped in my pocket, but I didn’t reach for it. Instead, I kept my eyes on Honey. She was frowning, biting her bottom lip and looking down into the depths of her freshly poured coffee. Expensive ass shit from Mexico she claimed was the best, so I had bought it for her. She made her coffee, and mine, every morning in a machine I didn’t have the first clue on how to operate. I knew she liked to drink her coffee fresh immediately after she poured it.
“It’s the best the fresher it is,” she’d explained when I tried to fuck her instead of letting her drink her damn coffee. “You have to let me at least taste it first!” I’d let her taste it and then I’d bent her over the marble counter and fucked her. My dick twitched at the memory, but I forced myself to stay here with my girl.
“You don’t think they’ll do that, do you?” she whispered, eyes still downcast.
“They will. I know these things.”
“How?” She raised her eyes to mine.
It was my turn to look away. I dropped my eyes to the plate in front of me and picked up my fork, even though I didn’t have it in me to eat. I needed something to do with my hands, anything other than sit here with her looking at me the way she was. Seeking, searching, her big beautiful brown eyes asking me to tell her more. Things that I couldn’t. Not yet. When you found a good woman, a woman that made you believe that you could be more than what you’d let the world convince you of–a woman that made it worth relearning all the shit that came with being a good man–you didn’t lay that on her. Not right away. You let her get close and see you could be soft, you could be true...that good still lived in you. You did that before you told her. You got under her skin. Made it impossible for her to think of getting you out without tearing herself to pieces in order to do it.
“Another life, princess. Another time.”
She nodded again and raised her mug, taking a quick sip. “I’m going to ask you about that soon if you keep bringing it up, you know.”
I didn’t like that, but it couldn’t be helped. I wanted her protected from that. Isolated and in her own little world where I’d never been a killer, or the muscle for shitty men. When I hadn’t needed to watch my back or those of people I loved. I wanted her to stay the way she was. Happy, safe, and most importantly— mine. The person on the other end of the text messages had taken that from us. They were forcing my hand. Making me drag out the man I’d once been to keep Honey safe.
I was going to make them fucking pay.
* * *
I droppedHoney off at work, or rather, walked her there. Taylor pulled up on the corner because I knew it made her nervous.
“It’s just that your car is so nice and I-”
“You what?” I asked, cutting her off.
“I don’t look like I should be getting out of a Bentley. Look at me,” she sighed, gesturing at her clothes. She had on a tank top, jeans, and a pair of dark boots.
“I am,” I told her, kissing her.
“It attracts attention. You know how I get around attention.”
She got twitchy, always looking for a quick exit. I might have my secrets and a past I would have to lay on Honey, but so did she. I didn’t pry and, until now, she didn’t either.
“I know, I’ll handle it.”
Handing it amounted to having Taylor park around the corner or down the block from her work when I brought her to A Different Brew. She didn’t let me take her to any of her other gigs, claiming they were out of the way, but that didn’t stop me from sending Taylor to take her when I could. We walked hand in hand to the front of the coffee shop. In the early morning light she was even more beautiful. It was summer now, well and truly summer, and I knew the early morning chill would be gone in an hour or so. It would make the city hot, New Yorkers cranky as hell, and walking anywhere was going to be a test of fortitude, but there were moments that made it all worth it.
Right now was one of those moments.
I reached up, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear and smiled when she blushed. She still flushed at the simplest of touches. I’d had this woman on every single surface of my home, and hers too, I’d tasted every inch of her, made her scream my name enough times that I had lost count and she was here blushing like it was the first day I’d met her.
I kissed her, catching her off guard. She giggled and leaned back, looking up at me. “What was that for?”
I shook my head. The word for what I was feeling was coming on too fast. I wouldn’t go there.
“Just ‘cause,” I told her, and kissed her again. I turned her around and gave her a nudge towards the door. Tiffany was waving at us through the window, her ginger curls bouncing as she came skipping forward to unlock the door. “Have a good day at work. I’ll have Taylor here for you when you’re done. Just text.”
Honey looked at me over her shoulder. She was still smiling, the golden sun of the morning hitting her, spilling down over her hair and making the red and brown in her dark hair shine. The sunlight danced across her tan skin, making her look like summer personified. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to. Now go on.”
She rolled her eyes at me, but she was still smiling. “Okay.”
