“Honestly, I don’t know what you’re thinking from one minute to the next.” She folds her arms across her chest. Perhaps a defense? But the night is also cool. And thatisa very thin dress.
“Right now, I’m thinking you look a little chilled,” I say as I slip off my jacket and drape it across her shoulders. “I’m also thinking you misunderstand me. Even without the weight of the law, I would never condone animal cruelty or mistreatment. I can’t honestly say what will happen to the park, but whatever the outcome, you have my word that their fate will be a good one.”
“I’m glad. I didn’t lie to Mandy, just so you know. I mostly skirted around the truth.”
But he would’ve made his own assumptions, and that was the whole point.
We fall quiet again, making me very conscious of her breath and the phantom swish of her dress.
“You looked so fierce.” At her sudden whisper, I glance down. “How did it feel, playing the hero?”
“Instead of the villain?”
“You aren’t all bad, Oliver.” Her words sound like consolation.
“Or even half-bad?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she replies, fighting a twitch to her lips.
Is it my mood or hers that I find so bewildering?
“Oliver Deubel.” She gives a slow shake of her head. “My hero.”
“You’re not meant to be flattered.” My words are hoarse, and my feet slow to a stop all by themselves. “Standing up for you should be nonnegotiable. A bare minimum.”
“I guess I wouldn’t know.”
“Because you don’t need anyone to look after you, do you?” I shouldn’t be sliding my hands through her hair. I should be frightening her off, because this feeling in my chest doesn’t belong to me. This need. This ... fear. What could’ve been.
“You’re the one who intervened.”
A noise stems from my throat. Not quite a scoff.
“The proof is in the pudding.” I suppose she thinks I’m being noble as she twists my hand, exposing my swollen knuckles. “But let me ask you this,” she adds soberly. “Did you do it for me or for Lucy?”
I’m not so noble, and her jealousy is unnecessary. I should tell her what happened, but I can’t bring myself to utter the truth. What I owe Lucy comes before my own happiness. What I owe Eve ...
“I did it because he deserved it.”
Not enough. Her gaze drops. “Well, that’s not flattery, but I’m not sure it’s the truth either.” She turns and makes to pass me. My fingers slide around her upper arm, stopping her in her tracks.
“I’m no one’s idea of a hero. If you knew the things I said to him, things no man should ever utter about any woman, let alone a woman he respects.”A woman he longs to kiss.“A woman he’s supposed to protect.”
“I don’t need your protection.”
“Perhaps it’s protection from yourself you need.”
“Why? What could you possibly have said?”
She shivers as I lean closer and bring my lips to within an inch of her ear. I can’t bring myself to tell her about Lucy, but I can frighten her off. For her own sake. For mine.Because I want her too much.
“I told him he should imagine you sucking my cock.” Her shoulders lift with her tiny inhale, not quite a gasp. “Because it’s the nearest he’ll ever get to having you again.”
“Nice.” She twists from my hold. “Thank you for putting those words out there.” Her eyes flash, her gaze slicing over her shoulder. “For putting that image in his head.”
“I’ve warned you time and again who I am.”
“Yeah, I get it. I’m the idiot.” Her eyes flash with defiance, and she begins to move. I grab her elbow and step into her, my shoulders blocking the moonlight from her face as she lifts her chin with the hauteur of a queen.
