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“Hey. Hey, Haven,” came a voice from beside her.
She blinked and turned to find Bunny staring at her, a look of motherly concern on her face. “Don’t you worry, hon. These guys have your back. Don’t doubt it for a second.”
“Yeah,” Cora said. “If anyone can handle your dad, it’s the Ravens.” Though Cora’s expression was quite possibly the most worried Haven ever remembered seeing.
“It’s too much,” Haven whispered, shaking her head. “This is all too much to expect anyone to do.”
“Not for one of our own,” Bunny said. “That’s what this place is all about.”
The words nearly broke Haven’s heart. “But I’m not,” she said with a small shrug. “I’m not one of you. I’m leaving.”
Bunny pressed her lips together in a tight line. “Well, it makes no difference. Dare’s gonna handle this no matter what.”
As if her words drew him across the room, Dare appeared beside Bunny. He grasped Haven’s hand. “She’s right. Come with me,” he said.
His skin against hers felt so perfect that Haven would’ve followed him anywhere, so she didn’t ask a question or offer the slightest resistance as he pulled her through the kitchen and out onto the back porch illuminated by the very last light of day.
The screen door had no more slammed shut than Haven found herself pressed up against the wall. Dare was all over her. His hands in her hair, his hips pinning hers, his mouth coming down on hers hard. Given the things he’d said, maybe she should’ve pushed him away. But she couldn’t. She didn’t want to. In that moment, the threat against her freedom and her very life made everything else unimportant.
Claiming, devouring, penetrating, there was something so soothing in the roughness of his kiss. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think, she couldn’t move, and she didn’t care at all. Because she felt like she hadn’t had a deep breath since the last time their lips had met, and, once again, Dare had known exactly what she needed. As much as the deep demands of his kisses left her head spinning, they also made her feel stronger, more able to handle this new blow. So as her arms wrapped around his neck, she surrendered everything he wanted—and maybe some things he didn’t. Because she’d never been more certain that she’d fallen in love with Dare Kenyon than she was right at that very moment.
“Christ, Haven,” he rasped around the edge of a kiss. He was rock hard against her stomach. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“What for?” she asked, breathless and more turned on than she’d ever been in her life.
He shook his head. “Everything. Just fucking everything.” He grasped the sides of her face in his big hands and rested his forehead against hers. His eyes absolutely blazed at her. “I will keep you safe. I will give you the life you deserve. I promise.”
“I know,” she said. She didn’t doubt him. Not at all. If it was within his power, she knew he would.
“You do?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. “I believe in you, Dare. No matter what.”
He stroked his hands down her hair, smoothing his palms over her neck and shoulders. Like he couldn’t stop touching her. Like he had to touch her. As much as she needed to touch him.
“I’ve got shit I need to jump on, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
She wasn’t. Not really. “I really could go tonight,” she said. “I hate that anyone here could get hurt, or that you’d be on the hook for so much. For me.”
He cupped her face in his hand, and his thumb dragged across her cheekbone once, twice. “We got this.”
“Okay,” she said on a long exhale.
“Okay?” He arched a brow, exuding so much confidence that all she could do was agree.
“Yeah.”
He kissed her again, a long, drawn-out meeting of lips and tongue that left her wanting more. Always more, with him. “Then I’ll find you later.”
CHAPTER 26
Dare found Maverick sitting at the desk in his office, his fingers flying over the keys. They had a 911 e-mail alert system that sent e-mail and text messages to every man in the club, and it was the easiest way to get urgent information out fast. Sitting in one of the chairs, Phoenix had his cell to his ear, deep in discussion with Walker Harrison, president of the Brothers of Steel MC, headquartered about two hours away in West Virginia.
Dropping into the wooden chair next to Phoenix, Dare braced his elbows on his knees and scrubbed at his face. What a clusterfuck this whole thing was, though on some level he wasn’t surprised. He’d known for weeks now that Baltimore wasn’t done with them and that shit was playing out right now, just like his gut had told him it would. Because sometimes the past just wouldn’t fucking die.
