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“Good. Let’s begin.” He raised an imperious eyebrow and I snorted.
“That look’s gonna get you an eye put out.”
“Just one more reason I’m growing to love you, Lemon. You’ll never let me get away with anything.”
It felt like he’d punched me in the gut. I wanted to jerk my hands away from him, but his tightened around mine like he could read my fucking mind. I had to take a couple of deep breaths before I spoke next.
“You said no lying. We never lie to each other.”
“So I did. What’s your point?”
“You don’t love me. You’re not going to make me believe you love me. Not yet.”
“Why? Don’t you love me?”
“NO!” I did jerk my hands away then. Because I might love him.
Instantly, his face hardened, then he scowled at me. “No. Lying. Especially not about this, Lemon.”
“Why not?” I spat. “You just did.”
“How do you figure that?”
“You do not love me, Rocket. We’ve known each other less than a fuckin’ day! Fuck!” I stood so quickly I knocked the chair over as I paced across the room. I had to put some distance between us before I fucking cried again.
Rocket didn’t immediately refute my words which only made that need to fucking cry that much worse. The tightness in my throat made me feel like I was choking. And maybe I was. Choking on emotions I desperately wanted to deny because I knew with all my heart he was right. I did love him. I hadn’t seen him much over the last year or so, but when I had I’d been so drawn to him my imagination had taken over, and I’d built this wonderful fiction around us.
He moved in behind me, wrapping his arms tightly around me. His breath fanned over my cheek, making me shiver. We stood like that for a long time before he spoke.
“I’m many things, Lemon. I’ve done bad shit in my life. Still do. Always will. But I will never, for any reason, lie to you. But you’re right. I did lie. I’m not growing to love you. I’m already there. Have been since you insisted on staying through Hammer’s torture.” He chuckled. “Fuck. There were so many things that led me to that moment. I think you might have had me when you bashed your head in to my fuckin’ nose.”
I sighed, leaning into him. “I’d say that wasn’t one of my finer moments, but I’d be lying. And I don’t want to lie to you.”
He whispered next to my ear. “I think it was your best moment.”
There was no help for it. I turned in his arms and threw my arms around his neck. Tears tried to fall, but I held them back. Mostly.
Almost mostly.
Rocket held me, those strong arms of his wrapped so tightly around me I could barely breathe. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
We stood there for long moments. I wanted to go back to bed and learn more about the sex he’d shown me earlier, but we had shit to fix. It started now, and I absolutely would see this through.
Chapter Twelve
Rocket
Yeah, I was fucked. How many times had I thought that very same thing with regard to Lemon? It was the fucking truth. This woman had me wrapped around her little finger. She might not realize it, yet, but when she did I was in serious danger of losing my reputation as a badass motherfucker. Maybe even my man card. Because my men would absolutely find out. Hell, no one could see how I looked at this woman and not know. The only question was, did I really care who knew? Because the answer to that was a resounding and big ol’ hell no.
I let her compose herself. No way was I stupid enough to acknowledge I felt her tears on my bare chest. I’d been on the receiving end of Lemon’s fury more than once and had no desire to repeat the experience.
OK, so that was a Goddamned lie. Any show of aggression by her got me hard and ready to fuck her. Just thinking about that first time I’d witnessed Lemon in all her furious glory had my cock stirring. And that was after coming my brains out twice already.
When she was ready, she pushed me away and sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her arm before lifting her chin. “OK. Let’s get to this.”
That was my Lemon. Ready to take on anything she needed to. I got why she thought the club was broken or dysfunctional. In a way, I thought that might have been why I’d forged ahead with ties to Salvation’s Bane and Iron Tzars. The Tzars had men I’d served with, other members of Grim had served with, and now had one of our own daughters. Bane had my own daughter. True, Talia wasn’t mine by birth, but I’d raised her from a young teen and she was a daughter of my heart.
We sat and Lemon cleared her throat. “So. First problem. You.”
