AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Rage, you can’t know that.”
“No, you might not know that.” She didn’t fucking get it. “But I knew from the moment I saw you.”
“You couldn’t have been too sure. You never said anything.”
He couldn’t stop the growl in his voice, either. “I was sure. But I also knew about the petition and the protests. So, I took my time. Trying to give you a chance to see the man and not just the biker. I was working my way up to ask you out. The punk ass in the alley just pushed up the timetable.” Her brow furrowed as waves lined her forehead. So, he rested his on hers, smoothing the lines away.
Her voice was softer than a mouse’s footsteps. “Would you really have asked me out?”
“I told you, I knew when I saw your eyes through the window.”
She pulled out of their forehead kiss. “What did you know?”
“I knew how sexy you were.” He kissed her eyelids. “I knew I wanted you beside me, under me. Beneath me. On top of me.” He kissed her cheeks. “I knew I wanted you in every possible way.” He kissed her cinnamon honey-tasting lips.
“Well, then you got what you wanted this weekend.”
“No. We started this weekend. We pulled out onto the highway, but we still got a lot of traveling to do.”
“It wasn’t just great sex?”
“No, that’s where we started. Not gonna lie about that. I looked through the window and saw sex, pure sex. But when we talked, you started opening up and sharing little pieces of Molly. And I wanted more than just sex. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have shared any pieces of me.” His eyes grabbed hers because she needed to understand. “Nobody got those pieces before you. Not even my brothers.” He shook his head. His body resisted letting her in this close. But he didn’t have a fucking choice. Not if he was going to keep her. “Like I said, you’re the first and you’re the last.”
His forehead bumped hers again. Finding his spot in the center of hers. Whispering his truth, as if she were dragging it out of his heart like splinters of glass. “You saw beyond the bike. You make me happy when I didn’t think happy was a place I could ever visit. I was content with quiet. Quiet was my happy. I spent so many years raging inside. I thought happy meant no fighting, no drinking. Norages.” He took a deep inhale, wallowing in her scent, before exhaling. “I forgot what happy was.” His thumbs brushed the corners of her eyes, wondering at the moisture there. “Your eyes soften when you talk to me. Your smile heals wounds from the inside. Your ear listens and responds with soft words. I know that makes me sound like a wussy-ass punk. But no one will ever get that wuss side but you. I wish I had more to offer you.”
She sniffled. “Sounds like you’re giving me quite a bit.”
“Nothing compared to what you’re giving me. You turned happy into a place I can visit. But it’s not enough to visit. I need to be there every day. Every day with you. If you’ll have me?”
Her tiny hands reached up to center his face. Her hold fierce and protective. Not a mouse at all. Today she was the lion, and he was the prey. He shuddered against her hold. Did she get what he was asking? His breath stalled in his lungs, refusing to move while he waited. “I’ll have you.” The breath burst through its dam. “You make me happy, too. You didn’t judge me. Didn’t reject me. Sometimes I think you don’t even see my differences. You just see me. And if that’s all you have to offer. It’s enough. It’s more than enough.” She reached up to kiss him. And stopped to growl out. “But that’s not all you have. There’s a big-hearted, fiercely protective, sweet guy inside. I’m hoping you’ll let me introduce him to you. Because I like him, more than like him. And you should too.”
He tried to shrug away her words, but his shoulders were too heavy. He could barely stand. His head was spinning. She wanted him. Shemore thanliked him. How did a man react to that kind of gift? He didn’t have the words. But he was a man of action, anyway. He could tell her she’d never regret it. But he’d rather show her. Show her every day of her damn life. He stooped down to pick her up. Swinging her into his arms and ignoring her squeals of laughter. He dipped down to suck more of her honey delight into his mouth. And started down the hall, back to the bedroom. He had some more proving to do.
He laid her down on the bed. Letting his gaze hold hers. The two of them syncing in a way he wouldn’t have been able to describe with a gun cocked to his head. He’d taught her the ebb and flow of sex. But she was teaching him something that was so much more. He loved her, but it was too early to tell her. He pictured his Molly-mouse running for her hole. No, it was way too early to say. But at the same time, it was too late to kick him out. He was like every stray she had probably picked up in her life. Cat or dog, once you opened your home, they weren’t going anywhere. And neither was he.
Epilogue
Rage snatched the garbage bag out of Molly’s hand. “I got it. How many times do I have to tell you? You need the garbage taken out. You call your old man.”
“And how many times do I have to tell you, I can take out the garbage myself.” She planted her hands on her hips and nodded to the front window of the shop. “Especially when it’s broad daylight.”
“Crime is about opportunity, not clocks. All it takes is for some dumbass to see you alone in the alley. Not paying attention and trying to get a bag into a dumpster. Next thing you know, he’s deciding that mugging you would be his lucky day.” He loved when she got all feisty with him. Stood up for herself. Loved it, except when he didn’t.
“You worry too much.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t worry enough.” He growled back.
“Rage,” she laid her hand on his. “It’s been two months. It’s okay. I’m okay. This part of town has always been perfectly safe until that one…”
“The one time, someone saw an opportunity and took it. Dammit, why won’t you just let me look out for you? Protect you? Be there for you? You give me so much. Why can’t I give you this?”
“Rage, I haven’t given you anything…”
“You give meyou. Babe, you gotta accept how much that means to me. If something happened to you.” He took a deep breath to slow his breathing and sagged against her back door. “If something happened to you. I’d turn into Rage. Back into the hammer of anger, I used to slam down on people. It took me years to learn to control that rage. But it would only take one moment, one phone call, and I’d be right back there again.” He took another deep breath. “So please, do me a solid. DoStone’s Throwa solid. And call me when you need the fucking garbage taken out.”
Her mouth dropped open, but at least it erased the stubborn line that had creased her lips. He rarely cursed around her, but they’d had this conversation a few times. “Okay. Fine. But Michael, I was doing this for a few years, by myself, before you came around. So it’s a little hard to remember.”
“I get that, but you’re not alone anymore. You’ll never be alone anymore. Because I’m not going anywhere. I love you.”
