Page 29 of Israel

He said softly, “You were born to do that, Ashley Silver. And I think you should keep doing it.”

Ashley didn’t know what to do with that. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she felt her chest shake with a sob.

“Ah, shit.” Israel put down his glass and slid over, as if to put his arm around her. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

She couldn’t let him touch her. She knew she would break down sobbing, and if she did that, she’d never put herself back together.

She couldn’t afford to be weak.

She stood up and dashed the tears away from her eyes. “I’m fine,” she said. “You don’t have to baby me.”

He gave a sigh of frustration. “I’m not babying you. Do you always have to push people away?”

She said, “I know how guys are, Grizzly Dick. They either try to take advantage of your emotional state so they can get closer to you, or as soon as you cry they decide you’re weak and you can’t handle anything on your own.”

She turned her back on him and started straightening up the lounge area, gulping back the tears that still threatened to fall. Damn him, why did he have to be so sweet? She liked him better arrogant. She could handle that.

He was silent again, and she could hear him sipping occasionally on his whiskey. Finally he said, “The strongest person I know is my brother, Kane. A long time ago, he got involved with a woman who had…powers. Like alpha compulsion powers, but worse. She made him—well, she made a lot of guys do things they were ashamed of. He was the only one who ever got away from her.”

Ashley remained silent. It sounded horrible, but she didn’t know what it had to do with her.

“For a long time, though, his head was messed up really bad from what she did to him. Sometimes his wolf would go crazy and we’d have to fight and bleed each other before he calmed down. Sometimes he’d hallucinate Selina’s voice and try to go back to her, and I’d have to chain him down and talk to him all night until the hallucinations went away.”

Ashley put her hand to her mouth. She couldn’t imagine going through that with someone you loved.

Israel went on, “Kane is the toughest fighter and the best Enforcer I know. I respect him more than I can even tell you.” He paused, then said quietly, “Just because someone needs to be taken care of now and then doesn’t make them a weak person.”

Ashley leaned against the table, clutching a crumpled napkin in her fist. She’d like to believe that, but too many things had happened in her life to show her that most people didn’t think so.

She felt Israel stand and come up behind her, the heat of his body heating hers as well. He cupped her shoulders gently in his hands, and his breath stirred her hair as he whispered in her ear.

“You don’t have to be strong every minute,” he said. “Can’t you just let someone take care of you sometimes?”

Of its own accord, without her permission, her body moved until her back was against his chest. He was so solid, so warm. “I dream about that sometimes,” she admitted. “What a…a luxury it would be, to just stop struggling and let someone else look out for me. But I can’t afford it.”

He ran his hands slowly up and down her arms. Her skin tingled.

“Why not?” he asked.

She said, “Because everyone I ever trusted to take care of me let me down. And every time someone lets you down, it’s that much harder to get back up and be strong again.” She shook her head. “I count on me. That’s all I have.”

He slid his arms slowly around her waist. “Okay,” he said. “But can I sit with you tonight? So you don’t have to be alone?”

She should send him away, to the other end of the bus. She should go to bed—alone—and try to put tonight out of her mind.

But she didn’t.

Ashley leaned her head back on his shoulder and closed her eyes. “Want to stay up and watch a chick flick with me?”

She felt the low rumble in his chest as he laughed.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll even make the popcorn. But if it’s a tearjerker, try not to judge me if I need a tissue.”

She laughed, her heart feeling a little lighter. “I promise, Grizzly Dick.”