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He leaned over and lifted me into the air and hoisted me over his shoulder. I squealed in surprise. “I didn’t mean you had to do this tonight,” I gasped.
“It’s all I’ve been thinking about.” He ascended the stairs, his hand settled below the curve of my butt.
My heart leapt with excitement.
“Did you bring a toothbrush?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He marched into my bedroom and flipped the light on. Bones brought me to the bed and gently dropped me. I bounced and then flopped back.
Bones looked at me as he slowly removed his leather cut.
“I care about your gums,” I babbled.
“Oral hygiene is important,” he agreed.
I nodded like an idiot.
He went to my walk-in closet and hung up his leather cut and then he sat down on the edge of the bed to take off his boots.
“I got carried away.” He smiled at me. “Otherwise, I would’ve taken them off downstairs.”
“I like that you got carried away,” I said.
“Take off your boots. Get comfortable, Duchess.”
I yanked off my boots and set them down on the other side of the bed. I debated on removing my tight jeans but decided against it.
Bones turned toward me. “Okay.”
“Okay what?”
“Okay, I’m ready to listen. To whatever it is you want to tell me.”
I was silent for a moment while I gathered my words and then I spoke. “My dad died three years ago—and my mother lost it. But not the crying and screaming and damning God kind of lost it. It was…” My hand went to my chest. “Inside. Like her heart was made of glass and it shattered into slivers too tiny to ever piece back together. After the funeral, she went to a resort.”
“A resort,” Bones repeated. “Like a spa or some shit?”
“Like Canyon Ranch but for…” I pointed to my head. “She came back from the resort and we didn’t talk about my father’s death again. My mother—she can’t handle bad things happening the way normal people do. So, I don’t tell her when bad things happen in my life. And up until someone trying to rob me at gunpoint, nothing bad has ever really happened in my life except my father’s death. What I’m trying to say is, nothing bad ever happens because I won’t let anything bad happen.”
“You shut the world out to protect yourself, and your mother.”
I nodded. “The world can’t hurt you if you’re not a part of it, you know?”
His hand snaked out and rested on my thigh. I covered his hand with mine.
“They were supposed to have forever, but forever was too damn short,” I murmured.
“It’s always too damn short. That’s life, Duchess. You live it to the fullest while you’ve got it and when your time comes, you go out with a fucking smile and no regrets. You want to have regrets?”
“No. I don’t want to have any regrets,” I admitted. “The night I met you, Charlie had dared me to talk to you because she didn’t think I would. She’s been trying to get me to come out of my shell for a while.”
“What made you talk to me? I mean, she dared you, but you didn’t have to take the dare. You could’ve sat at the bar and sipped your drink and turned your back. But you didn’t.”
“Because she didn’t think I’d do it. And for some reason I wanted to prove her wrong. Why were you going to approach me if given the chance?”
