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“He ever have you sit on his face?” he asked in a conversational voice.
“What? No.” What the heck? Why was he asking her that? She could feel her face growing red. “I’ve never done that.”
“Never?”
“And I’m never going to do that.” It sounded far too insane.
“Did no one ever tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“That you never say never to a Malone, darlin’. We just take that as a challenge.”
Holy crap.
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
He just grinned. Yeah, she was. But the delicious kind. Still . . . as much as she wanted to do all sorts of things with Raid Malone, she couldn’t imagine it ever happening at this point in time.
“Don’t worry about that now,” he told her, gathering her close. “Everything will be all right.”
Would it?
She really wished she could just stop worrying and believe him.
“I’m going to get a blanket and we can snuggle on the couch.”
“Snuggle?” she asked.
“Snuggle. What’s wrong with snuggling?” he demanded.
“Nothing’s wrong with snuggling. I just didn’t realize you did it.”
“Baby, I’m the King of the Snuggle.”
“That’s a big call.”
“Not really. I’m just that good.” He grinned.
Dear. Lord.
“Just one thing I want to ask about him . . . then we won’t talk about him for the rest of the day.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“You said you were a target, and he was a con man?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“What did he con you out of?”
She sucked in a breath, growing tense in his arms.
“Hannah?”
“What do most con people go for?”
“Money.” He was silent for a moment. “You sold your grandma’s house.”
Definitely no flies on him. “Yes.”
“Baby.” It was all he said. But it was enough. Tears filled her eyes again.
Rats. She hated this. Feeling so helpless. So out of control.
“Did you report him?” he asked.
“No. I couldn’t. And you can’t either! Please, don’t tell anyone about this.” She’d planned to tell Jake the other day . . . but now, she just couldn’t.
“Fuck, baby.”
“Please.”
“I won’t talk to anyone until I have the full details. But if you tell me and I decide it’s worth reporting, then that’s what we’ll do. Understand?”
She sniffled, the tears rolling down her cheeks. “All right.”
“Uh-uh. No more tears.” He wiped them away with his thumb, then tilted her head back so she was looking up at him. “No. More. Tears.”
“I don’t like them either. But it doesn’t mean I c-can just stop.”
“You can. You will.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“None of that cheek, missy.” His face turned tender. “You’re exhausted, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want a nap.” She couldn’t take any more sleeping.
“No nap. Last thing you need is to be alone right now.”
Well . . . she wasn’t so sure about that. Maybe she needed to be alone so she could shore up her defenses. He kept surprising her, shaking up her world.
“How bad are things?” he asked.
Pretty bad. Then she realized Raid meant her finances.
“I have a place to live and food in my fridge. Things could be worse.”
He frowned, looking like he didn’t like that.
“Don’t you need to get some snacks?” she asked hastily. “I don’t want you to fade away.”
“I don’t need to go anywhere. I’m right where I need to be.”
Shoot. She was in definite trouble here.
“I don’t think I can take you being sweet to me right now. Not if you don’t want me to cry anymore.” She leaned against him tiredly.
“What do you need right now?” He ran his hand up and down her back, rubbing at the tight muscles.
She let out a small moan. “More, please.”
“Baby, tell me what you need. I’d give you anything.”
“I wish I didn’t have to think for a while. I’m just tired.” Tired of it all.
“I can do that, baby.”
“What?”
“Take over for a while.”
“I don’t know.” In theory, it sounded good. In reality, it might not be. Sure, she enjoyed submitting. But that was always at Saxon’s. Where she felt safe and protected. Where her boundaries were known and respected.
“Nothing scary. I won’t do anything except make the decisions, so you don’t have to.”
“I feel like you do that anyway.”
“So what do you have to worry about?”
Hmm.
“Do you have a safeword?” he asked.
“Um, yeah.”
“What is it?”
“Peach.”
“All right, baby. You say peach and we go back to our usual dynamic.”
“You being bossy all the time?”
“Exactly.”
19
Hannah ended up lying on the couch with a blanket over her.
“Do you want something to eat, baby? A drink?” Raid called out.
“I want a coffee. But I’ll get it.” She sat up and turned to stare at him.
He shot her a firm look and pointed a finger. “Stay where you are. I can get your drink and I’m already up. Plus, you’re resting.”
“I don’t need to rest.”
“The bags under your eyes and those blood test results say otherwise.”
“The blood tests didn’t say I needed to rest.”
He shot her another look, and she bit her lip. Jenna had just called ten minutes ago to tell her that her blood test results were all good, except they showed that she was low in iron and several other vitamins.
