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Though she was a little disappointed that he hadn’t taken her up on her offer, she was more concerned with how he sidelined himself to satisfy her needs. Something he did in his line of work too.
They were traveling down the road before she spoke again. “You know that I care about what you want too, right?”
“What I want?” he asked with a brow raise. “I want those lips wrapped around me every minute, but we have to get where we’re going.”
If she hadn’t insisted every day, almost to the point of them arguing, that they had to park and sleep, he’d have just kept on driving. Harry expected top results from him every time, yet no one expected more from Daire than he expected from himself. Just because he was capable of going without sleep for longer than any normal person, didn’t mean he should. His happiness meant everything to her, his health too, she didn’t want him pushing his limits for her.
As far as she could tell, though she hadn’t asked him straight out, he was still adhering to the Omega regimen too. He wasn’t drinking alcohol, wasn’t eating greasy take out. He cooked for himself or ate cold, healthy food.
After the first night, she ate what he ate. It wasn’t her place to tell him what he could and couldn’t have. She would never dream of it. But the adherence showed what was inside… what he craved to be a part of again as soon as possible.
Although she joked about sex being part of his work out, he was fanatical about his fitness levels. In the back of the truck, there were weights he trained with while she slept in the mornings. He’d do workouts customized to the restricted space of the Beast. Whenever they didn’t have to worry about traffic or onlookers, he’d train outside. Not because he would be embarrassed to exercise; it was because he always had to be aware of everything around them, of any potential threats.
The service station wasn’t much more than a gas station with a diner and convenience store. Still, the central parking lot had a section for RV and travel-trailers, so that was where Daire took them.
When he popped his door open, she leaned over to grab his hand, stalling him. What did she want to say? How much she loved him. How she wished he could value himself like she valued him.
From initial concern, his expression relaxed, and he touched her hair. “Right back attcha, Little Red. Wait there.”
He left the truck and came around to open her door. They couldn’t solve each other’s problems overnight. Maybe they couldn’t solve them at all. He’d said he liked her emotional and happy because it wasn’t something he’d been allowed to be.
So she turned around, stretching her legs out of the cabin to wiggle her toes at him. “I’m not wearing shoes.”
Even simplicity made him happy, she noticed the tilt of his lips as he bent down to retrieve her heeled mules from the foot-well. “You do this because you know how I feel about your legs,” he said, slipping on one shoe and then the other.
Still stooped, he picked up her arm to loop it around his neck and hooked an arm around her waist to lift her out of the truck. Before she’d release him, she pouted for a kiss that he bestowed.
“You should eat something,” she said, capturing his hands when he scooped her body in front of his as they crossed to enter the convenience store.
With her palms on the backs of his hands, she squeezed her fingers between his, wrapping his arms around her. Spotting the coffee machine on the other side of the store, she continued toward it.
“Am I gonna need my strength for something later?” he asked into her crown, his lips lost in her hair.
“Maybe,” she said, about to select her coffee.
Daire was one step ahead of her. Reaching around, he picked a cup, put it in the machine and pressed all the buttons to get her exactly what she wanted. His specialty. Spinning around, she relished being trapped between him and the machine.
Her Heart seemed to like it too because he guided her hands to his chest and moseyed even closer. “You were sent here to destroy me.”
“I was sent here to satisfy your every whim,” she murmured, locking her hands together at the back of his neck to pull him down for a kiss.
While they tasted and enjoyed each other, the machine grinded beans and dispensed her coffee. When the sound dwindled, his kiss slowed. The change of pace wasn’t sensual, it was distracted.
She opened her eyes just as Daire broke the kiss. Already his frown was trained on the blaring TV in the top corner of the store.
“…sought after area of Henderson, Nevada, just a twenty, thirty minute drive to the owner’s hotel and casino.”
The report had drawn Daire’s attention. As she twisted to see what he was watching, his arm came around her shoulders.
“It’s understood that Mr. Balfour is out of town on business and couldn’t be reached for comment, but evidently there were people in the building before the explosion. Bodies have been recovered, though no identifications have yet been made.”
“Oh my God,” she exhaled when the picture changed from a close in shot of a blonde in the morning desert sun to aerial shots of a smoldering building.
Some walls were trying to stand while other areas were a blackened mess of rubble and debris. The devastation was astounding. It was almost impossible to identify the building as the same one they’d fled only a few days before.
Daire’s arm disappeared as he stalked across to grab a newspaper. On his own mission, he swept a burner phone from a rack and went to the counter to pay for both. Her stupor lasted until he’d presented his money for the items.
Rushing over, she got to his side as he tucked his change into his pocket. Without even looking, he snatched her hand to pull her out of the store.
