Storm (Sex and Bullets 1)

I turn her around, put my arms around her and clutch her to me. “You’re the one who caught me, Ray. Don’t you fucking let go.”

RAYLIN

“You’re the one who caught me,” he says, the same words he told me that stormy night when I pulled him away from the crashing waves, and then, “Don’t you fucking let go.”

His words are a low blow. He’s doing it again, knocking over my defenses, turning my anger into something different. Something better. When he looks at me like this, it feels as if my heart will crack in two.

“Talk to me, Ray.” His voice rumbles in his chest. “You’re not saying anything. Let me in.”

He’s already in. He has no idea. What he wants…

“Tell me what you haven’t told me,” he says. “No more secrets. We’re going in as soon as Hawk is back in town tomorrow. We’re going to talk to the triad, and we need to know exactly what is going on.”

He’s right.

If I walk away it will be easier, though. Easier for him. And he won’t think that I want to be here for his money.

“I trust you,” he says again, as if reading my mind. “What you tell me won’t change anything.”

Won’t it?

“I feel good with you,” I whisper, tired of fighting him, fighting this thing between us. “I feel happy. I don’t want to go. I want to stay. I want many things I can’t have, don’t you see? A family, a home. A cat.”

“A cat? What are you…?” He frowns, his blue eyes darkening. “Ray.”

“Hear me out. It’s dangerous, okay? Even if you paid the triad back the money

. They want something else. It’s personal. And that’s more important to them than the bucks.”

“What then? What do they want?”

I hate this. I hate putting him in danger. I hate even more the fact that he’ll have to let me go. He can’t afford to do this.

“Me.”

“You.” He releases me and takes a step back, his dark brows knitting. “What about you?”

“You’re a moron, Storm,” Rook says from the door opening, startling me. “She’s playing you. She wants to roll you, get your money.”

Crap. Why does he have to be here when I’m doing this? It hurts enough as it is.

“Shut up,” Storm growls, and God, I’ll miss his voice, that sexy growl. Everything he does is sexy. He’s beautiful. He’s too good for me.

And now he’s about to find out.

God, Rook is right.

“This isn’t about the money,” I say.

Rook snorts and mutters something I don’t catch.

“Then what is it about?” Storm releases me and takes a step back, his dark brows knitting. “What else is there?”

“It’s about me.” I have to swallow hard, my throat so dry is hurts. “Even if you paid the triad back the money… I can’t stay. You were right. I should be on my way.”

“Told you, man,” Rook says, a dark brow lifting, damning me. “Stop listening to her and send her on her goddamn way.”

But Storm doesn’t seem to hear or notice him, at all. “Come on, Ray. You’re talking but not saying anything.”