Page 76 of Truck Stop Tempest

“Why can’t you say it?” She took another step toward me, the bunny stalking the beast. God, her bravery.

After all she’d been through, there was still that goddamn hope in her eyes, that need to be wanted, claimed. She stalked closer still. I retreated, a motherfuckin’ coward. They were only words.

Words that would not form.

“Why can’t you say it?” she asked, half growling. And then my timid little bunny shocked the shit out of me. With all her might, she shoved at my chest. “Say it. Say how you feel, Tito! Say it!”

I stumbled backward, confounded by her outburst. My heel caught on the rug, and I fell on my ass. Pissed, but embarrassed more than anything, I shouted, “What the fuck, Tuuli?”

Color drained from her face. The fight dissolved from her spirit. She backed away, head down, eyes to the ground.

I rose, nerves vibrating, angry at myself for not being able to tell her what she needed to hear, for being weak, for being less than she deserved.

I fisted my hands at my sides, my nails digging into my palms. I hadn’t the wherewithal to fight, the weight on my chest no longer bearable. My body, my heart, my soul, were no longer mine to command. She owned them. She owned me. Why couldn’t I verbalize what was so blatantly obvious?

“I’m sorry I pushed you,” Tuuli spoke to the floor. Stopped, straightened her shoulders, and met my glare. “I need to go. I’ll see you later.”

She stared for a heartbeat longer, waiting for me to speak. When I didn’t, she turned and headed for the door.

She couldn’t leave. She couldn’t walk away. “Don’t go.”

“Why?” she asked, one hand on the doorknob.

I closed the distance between us, pressing my chest to her back, and slamming a palm against the door. “I’m addicted to you. I’m obsessed with you. You’re all I think about.”

Her breath hitched.

“Actions speak louder than words, Bunny.” I bent and whispered in her ear, “What have my actions told you?”

Tuuli sucked in a sharp breath, her head falling back against my chest. She turned, circled her arms around my neck, and pulled me close, smashing her lips to mine. She kissed the ever-loving fuck out of my mouth, decimating my unease, igniting instinct, smothering that cold, black lump in my chest with her warm, bright life.

I coiled my arms around her hips, lifting. Her legs locked around my waist. Her tiny body writhed against me, rubbing me wrong in all the right places.

Hell. Sweet fucking hell.

Too soon, she ended the assault. I struggled to breathe. Tuuli planted her hands on my shoulders, stared at me long and hard, smiled, then shimmied free of my embrace. She opened the door.

“Tuuli,” I managed to groan. “Don’t.”

Over her shoulder, she argued, “I need to go to church, Tito.”

Actions speak louder than words, I reminded myself. Fuck. “You’re not going alone.”

She stopped, halfway over the threshold.

I didn’t have the heart to chastise her defiance. I was proud of her for fighting. For standing up for herself, even if I didn’t agree.

Erik was out there, somewhere, biding his time. I couldn’t let her go anywhere alone.

So, for the crazy little woman who’d brought me back to life, I broke one of my cardinal rules.

I sucked in a sharp breath, and said, “Just wait, please. Let me change. I’m going with you.”

“Are you coming in with me?” I stood next to his window, arms at my sides, heart in my throat.

“I’ll wait in the car.” Tito eyed the steeple, the muscles in his jaw working overtime.

“You do know there are three different entrances into the building, right? You can’t watch them all.” Low blow, playing on his protective instincts, but he’d brought me this far. A little extra nudge wouldn’t hurt.

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