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Control came naturally to SEALs. It was a part of who they were and what made them so efficient. So it wasn’t unexpected that the night she had arranged to meet some of her girlfriends for drinks and dinner, he had told her she couldn’t go. He wanted her home with him. He’d been horny, and he wanted his wife. He didn’t want her at the local watering hole together with a bunch of women and the men there lusting after her.
She’d stared back at him silently for long moments then continued to inform him where she would be and when she would be home.
Dammit, Bella, you can stay home tonight. With me.
He’d barely ducked in time to miss the salt shaker that had been aimed a little too close to his head. Then his sweet, soft-spoken little Southern angel had erupted.
Flushed, furious, she had proceeded to lay down the law regarding their relationship, and by time she stalked out of the house, ass twitching beneath her jeans like an enraged little hen, he’d had his tail tucked between his legs despite the fact that he had informed her to just stay the night with her damned friends. He’d be fine without her.
Two o’clock that morning, he’d driven around town until he found her car, parked at the house of one of those friends. He’d carried his tipsy little wife out of the house, put her in his truck, and driven her home. And he’d never made that mistake again.
And now, after hearing that muted, smothered little sound from beneath the car, coming from the woman he wondered if he had even known as his wife, he realized that there was a chance Sabella had held as much back from him as he had held back from her.
Because he hadn’t had nearly enough of her before he had “died.” He hadn’t touched her in the ways he’d wanted to, even then. The darkness that filled him had always been waiting for an outlet, he realized. And now it was focused on one, tiny, too independent little woman. A woman who deserved far better than she was about to get.
CHAPTER FOUR
It was closing on seven that evening, the brilliance of the sun was fading and easing over the mountains as the mechanics left, staring back at Noah, as though afraid to leave her there with him.
At least the sheriff hadn’t shown up, which meant Mike wasn’t pressing charges. Yet. His truck had been delivered to the bank while he was still there, and if luck was on her side, she wouldn’t have to deal with him again for a while.
Noah Blake, on the other hand, she was more than ready to deal with. The blood had pumped furiously through her veins all day, leaving her nerves heightened, a feeling almost like excitement digging sharp claws into her chest.
He had worked hard, steadily, and kept the other men working faster. But she didn’t need him there. She didn’t want him there. She didn’t need him interfering with the structured, ordered existence she had created for herself. And she didn’t want the excitement or the feeling of tension she could feel tightening inside her.
The men working for her would accept taking orders from her eventually or she would do as she had done the past three years. Fire their asses and hire others. She’d fired plenty of them since taking over, another here and there didn’t make a difference to her.
Toby delayed as long as he could until Sabella had to push him out the door before turning to face Noah. She jerked the money bag from the desk and shoved it in her purse before slinging the leather bag over her shoulder and glaring back at him.
This was it. He could get the hell right back out of her life now and she could stop feeling so alive.
“When you see Rory, tell him I want to talk to him. Immediately,” she snapped. “And if he isn’t back to work tomorrow, then as far as I’m concerned he doesn’t have a job any more than you have one. I won’t have a maniac working in my garage and attacking my customers.” She held a hand up as he started to speak. “Whether they deserve it or not.”
He stared back at her, his eyes raging, wild, twisting with color in an expression that could have been carved from stone.
His gaze flicked over her body and she flushed. She could feel her own hardened nipples beneath her shirt and bra. She could feel the flesh between her thighs tingling and she hated it. She hated feeling that and she hated him for making her feel it.
Her gaze flickered to the parking lot as a vehicle pulled up and she almost grimaced. She’d forgotten about Duncan. Nice, safe, easygoing Duncan Sykes with his dark blond hair, brown eyes, and steady smile. He wasn’t dangerous. He didn’t have the power to destroy her sanity or her self-control.
“I’ll be here in the morning.” His lips thinned at the sound of a car door closing. “With Rory.”
Sabella smiled at the thought of getting her hands on Rory. Oh, her brother-in-law was in some serious trouble.
“You do that,” she told him softly as Duncan approached the door, a frown on his face. “And be ready to ride out the same way you rode in. Now, thanks to you, I’m late, and I’m not ready for my date. You deserve to be fired for that alone.”
She put a smile on her face as the door opened and Duncan stepped in. And of course, she compared the two men. Not that there was much comparison. Noah was hands down harder, tougher, sexier, more vibrant and imposing than Duncan would ever be.
“You’re not ready.” Duncan grinned, amusement dancing in his eyes despite the curious glance he flicked to the other man. “Why did I have a feeling you’d forget our date if things got busy?”
“Because you know me.” She grinned back, aware that her amusement was more faked than she would have liked.
Her gaze fl
icked back to Noah.
“New employee?” Duncan asked, turning to Noah as though he weren’t a rabid maniac on the loose and holding out his hand. “I’m Duncan Sykes. I own the electronics store in town.”
A shiver of foreboding raced through Sabella at Noah’s smile. It was the chill in his eyes, the flash of teeth, that warned her he wasn’t nearly as friendly he was pretending to be.
