“You just—” Matt looked over at Mack. “Uh, okay. I’ll hold down the fort.”
I walked to the end of the bar and slipped through the opening where the counter was on a hinge, barely making it two steps before Mack was in front of me, his hand held out, palm up. I met his eyes as I laid my hand on his, and my heart beat wildly as he laced his fingers with mine.
“Come on,” he said quietly, pulling me out the front door. He didn’t slow until we’d rounded the building and stood in the dark alley along the side.
“What are we doing?” I asked, keeping my voice low. The darkness reminded me of that first night he’d kissed me, and even though I’d seen and touched every inch of his body, my stomach still exploded in butterflies when he crowded me up against the wall.
“Can’t do this anymore,” he said. “I don’t wanna live a life without you in it.” He dropped his forehead against mine and his hands came up so he could thread his fingers through my hair. My breath caught. “Jesus, Rose, how much weight have you lost? You’re so fuckin’ skinny, baby. What the fuck?”
His fingers tightened. “We gotta figure this out.”
“We already did,” I replied sadly. It was hard to remember all of the reasons we didn’t work when he was so close I could almost taste him.
“We don’t have to decide anythin’ now,” he said roughly, his thumbs brushing gently over my cheeks. “We got time, baby.”
“I’m not going to change my mind,” I said, gripping his cut in my fists. “I want a family, Mack. I’ve always wanted one.”
“I get it,” he replied. “So lets see where this goes.”
“What are you saying?”
Mack let out a huff of breath. “That I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said with a shrug. “You want ’em, I’ll give ’em to you.”
“I don’t want you to agree with me so that we can get back together,” I ground out, my eyes watering. “I want you to want to make a family with me. I want you to trust me enough that you don’t have any reservations letting me help raise Kara.”
“I couldn’t keep you from Kara if I tried,” he said, his hands tightening in my hair. “You think I don’t know you’re seein’ her still?”
“I wasn’t trying to go behind your back—”
Mack let out a deep chuckle. “Baby, you think I care about that? Shit, you know how stupid I felt when I found out you were still goin’ to hang with her after all that shit I said when you left?”
“I just wanted her to know that I hadn’t abandoned her,” I whispered, my throat getting tight. “Our disagreement didn’t have anything to do with her.”
“Jesus, I love you,” he breathed. He tipped his head down to kiss me, but he never made contact.
Everything inside me went still when I looked behind him.
We hadn’t noticed the men who’d followed us out of the bar.
Chapter 14
Mack
I stared into Rose’s gorgeous brown eyes as my blood turned to ice in my veins.
I’d been distracted. So caught up in getting my woman back that I hadn’t paid attention to my surroundings. I hoped she saw the apology in my eyes as I tilted my head slightly to the side, lessening the cold pressure of the gun against the underside of my jaw.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” the guy behind me ordered.
“Not doin’ anythin,’ man,” I said calmly, tightening my hands on Rose before slowly sliding them away from her. “You want my wallet? Back pocket.”
The man laughed. “Nah, I’m good.”
Rose parted her lips to speak, but the look on my face had her snapping her mouth closed again. Thank Christ.
“What’re you after?” I asked.
My pistol was tucked into the back of my jeans, and as I lowered my hands to my sides, I contemplated how fast I could pull it.
Rose’s lips began to tremble.
I wouldn’t be fast enough.
Even if by some chance I got my hand on it, the man behind me would blow my head off before I could kill him.
“Let’s go,” he ordered, grabbing a hold of the back of my cut. I tasted bile as he used it to pull me backward.
“Let her leave,” I said as Rose’s arms dropped from around my waist. “Whatever problem you got with me ain’t got nothin’ to do with her.”
“Not happening,” he man muttered.
That’s when a second man stepped out of the darkness and grabbed Rose by the arm. Shit. No way could I take both of them without Rose getting caught in the middle.
“Hey,” I snapped, jerking forward.
“No,” the man with the gun to my throat said calmly, pressing the barrel harder against the underside of my jaw.
“Don’t touch me,” Rose snapped, trying to pull her arm from the man’s grip.