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“No problem,” Thorne said. He got the salad out of the refrigerator and handed it to her. “It’s pasta salad.”
“You know, you’re a really good cook,” she said.
He chuckled, “You haven’t even tasted my food yet,” he reminded.
“Well, from what I see here, you are an excellent cook.” He sat down across from her, and she took a bite of the chicken, followed by one of the pasta salad. “I was right,” she said with a mouthful of food. “You are a good cook.”
“Thank you,” he said.
“You know,” she breathed, “I don’t really know much about you. I mean, you seem to know a good deal about me, since you had to know about my ex and our relationship, but you really don’t talk about yourself.”
“Yeah, well, there isn’t much to tell,” he said.
“Oh, I don’t believe that for a second,” she said. “You seem like an interesting guy. How long have you known my cousin?” she asked.
“I’ve known Savage for about ten years now. That’s when I moved to Huntsville and found the Royal Bastards. Walking into Savage Hell was the best decision that I ever made. I patched in and from that moment on, Savage and the guys have become my brothers. I don’t know what I would do without any of them.”
“I can understand why you feel that way,” she said. “Savage is a great guy. I’m just sorry that we grew apart because of our fathers.”
“Yeah, Savage is the best,” he breathed.
“What brought you to Huntsville?” she asked.
“Work,” he said. “When I moved there, I was still active in the military. I had to report to Redstone Arsenal and when I went into the CIA, I just stuck around.”
“What exactly do you do?” she asked.
“It’s complicated and sometimes, it’s classified. Let’s just say, I’m the guy they send in when no one else wants the job,” he said.
“What kind of jobs are we talking about?” she asked.
“Murder, kidnapping, that kind of thing. I’m who they send in to get people out. A lot of the time, I’m too late, but then, I have to go after the bad guys and take care of things.”
“Take care of things?” she croaked. Rose was starting to wonder just who her cousin had sent to protect her and Sadie. She knew that he was capable, but not deadly.
“I make sure that they are good and dead so that they can’t hurt anyone else,” he said.
“Oh,” she breathed, “I had no idea.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not something that I like to share. Most of the guys at Savage Hell don’t even know about what I do for a living. Not that it would matter. Most of them are either active-duty military or retired. We all have our specialties, mine just happens to be killing people.”
“Well, hopefully, you won’t have to kill anyone while you’re with me,” she said.
“Rose,” Thorne breathed, “you do know that I’m nothing like him, right?”
“Like whom?” she asked, although she already knew the answer. She did know that he was nothing like Joe. Thorne was kind and patient—two qualities that her ex never possessed.
“Your ex—I’m nothing like him,” Thorne said.
“I know that, Thorne,” Rose whispered, “and, I’m sorry that I treated you like you were. I guess I just needed a little time to come around to the fact that I like you. I was afraid of making another wrong decision and the last one nearly destroyed my and Sadie’s lives.”
“Wait—you like me?” Thorne asked. He dropped his fork to his plate and pushed it back from himself.
“I didn’t want to admit it, but I do like you, Thorne,” she said.
“Is it so awful to admit?” he asked. He sounded like he was hurt by her declaration, but she wanted to tell him the truth.
“Not awful,” she said. “Scary. It’s scary to put myself out there again, you know?”
