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“Top or bottom? You wear a strap-on?”
“Are you looking for a new girl to bring home to your boyfriend?”
“How about a foursome with Logan and Megan?”
Men surrounded me, taking pictures and yelling in my face. They made sure not to touch me, but they were no less threatening. Ronan roared my name like a beast, pushing through two determined men to grab my hands. The photographer closest to me glanced over his shoulder at Ronan, spouting curses and sending back a sharp elbow.
Ronan didn’t relent, but it was Bill who finally broke through, his fingers wrapping around my forearm to drag me through the mass of yelling, bumping men. As I cleared them, I whipped my head around to find Ronan. His eyes met mine, relief clearing some of the storm in his gaze. I was almost to the SUV, and Ronan turned to follow when the pap he’d sent spilling to the ground came up to his side and gave his leg a solid kick.
Ronan’s eyes went wide, and he staggered. If Bill hadn’t been holding on to me, I would have rushed back for him. But I was shoved in the back seat before Bill raced to help. I couldn’t see what they were saying, but Ronan waved him off and shoved some of the closest paps out of his way so he could get to me. His stride was off, a slight limp in his gait, but he didn’t slow until he wrenched open the back door and climbed in beside me.
His hands went to my face, cupping it far more gently than he should have been able to given the violence steaming from his pores.
“Are you hurt?” His teeth were clenched, jaw tight, but I knew none of it was directed at me, so I leaned into him, pressing my nose to his, holding his face the same way he held mine.
“I’m fine. No one touched me, baby. What about you? That guy—”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Iwillworry about you. That guy kicked you. Your knee…”
Ronan grimaced. “I’m gonna feel it in the morning.” His hand fell to my leg, gripping me high on my thigh, and his head lolled on his seat. “Fuck, Iris, that shouldn’t have happened. I can’t even—”
I slapped my hand over his mouth. “Don’t say you can’t protect me. You did protect me. I’m unharmed, in one piece. It was chaos, but you and Bill got me out of there like I knew you would.”
He took my hand from his mouth and kissed my palm. “Bill got you out of there.” He hit the seat beside him, his features contorting...in pain? Frustration? I couldn’t read him, but my stomach knotted with the deep-down urge to wipe it away. I couldn’t though, not really, so I tucked myself under his arm and held him tight until Bill pulled up to my place. Then I led Ronan inside, not saying a word when his limp was a little more pronounced.
I took him to my bedroom and began unbuttoning his shirt. He caught my hands, holding them to his chest.
“Iris…” He exhaled heavily through his nose, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m gonna need to take tonight off.”
Rolling my eyes, I freed my hands and continued with his buttons. “I’m not hitting on you. I’m putting you to bed so I can take care of you.” My eyes flicked to his. “You’re going to let me without protesting.”
He sighed again, and his fingers threaded through the sides of my hair. “Okay. Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” I pushed his shirt off his shoulders and kissed the center of his broad chest. “I want to take care of you, Ronan.”
He stared down at me for so long, I blinked and looked away, focusing on his belt next. He was hard behind his zipper, and as much as I was tempted to, I didn’t tease him by cupping his length. If he said he wasn’t up for sex, he must’ve been hurting a lot more than he was letting on.
The funny thing was, my chest went tight at that thought. I had to blink a few times to cast away the wetness stinging my eyes. I hated thinking about Ronan suffering, but I was struck out of nowhere by howardentlyI hated it and how badly I longed to climb on top of him and protect him from everything bad the way he did for me.
I didn’t know what to do with this flash flood of feelings for my warm, beautiful marble tower of a boyfriend, so I pushed him into my bed dressed only in his briefs, propped his swollen knee up, and grinned through the vise tightening my chest.
“Stay there. I’ll be right back with frozen peas and a little herb that’ll do you up right.”
Then I ran from the room with Ronan’s soft chuckle ringing in my ears.
