I gasped. God, what happened to him? David wasn’t at all like this when I’d met him. Or maybe he was, but there’d been no reason for this side of him to come out.
He jerked the door open, and a bulky guy I didn’t recognize stood there wearing a black T-shirt and cargo pants, and he had his phone to his ear.
“She’s here…. No. She looks fine. Got it.” He nodded to me. “I’m Roman, work for Luke. Kite’s calling you.” His eyes shifted to David. “I’ll escort you from the premises.”
“I don’t need a fuckin’ escort, asshole.” David shoved past him, but I didn’t see what happened because my cell rang on the kitchen counter and I went to answer it.
I glanced at the screen. Killian. “Hey.”
“Savvy. You good?” Worry edged his words.
I hadn’t realized I was shaking until I heard his voice and suddenly everything hit me. I hadn’t seen David in six months, and the confrontation was overdue, but his words had shaken me. I knew he said them to hurt me, and it worked. They had.
“Yeah.”
“Is he gone?”
“Yeah.” I sat at the kitchen table, head resting in my hands.
“Deep breaths, orchid.”
Tears welled. He cared. Killian may be closed off, overprotective, and have underlying issues with anger, but he cared. About me.
“It wasn’t a coincidence that Roman was here, was it?”
“No.”
At least he was honest about having Roman here. But there was more to this. More to why Killian was so protective of me. “I want to see where you live.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I have no problem with you seeing where I live, Savvy. We can go anytime you’d like.”
I inhaled a shaky breath. “The fake dating… I don’t want to do it anymore.” I’d find another way. I still had the check in my purse, and I couldn’t cash it because the truth was, none of this was fake. I wanted to date Killian.
I’d made a couple grand at the club and paid two months’ rent and my hydro bill so it may take longer to get my dance studio, but I’d get there.
“I’ll be there in five.”
“Killian….” The phone went dead and I sighed, tossing it on the table.
It was less than five minutes before there was a knock on my door as I was opening the fridge for the orange juice.
The door opened, as I hadn’t locked it after David and Roman left, and Killian strode in, coming straight for me. His captivating green eyes read complete possession.
I stood frozen in the open fridge doorway.
He reached me and without hesitation, his hand cupped the back of my neck, and his other gripped my hip then slid upward to my waist under my shirt.
He tilted my head back. “You’re dating me. For real.”
Then his mouth slammed down on mine.
There was nothing polite about it.
Nothing. Not one thing.
We banged into the fridge and something crashed to the floor.
I was so shocked that it took a second before my mouth eased under his. And then my hands were in his hair, and I was dragging him in closer. But he was already as close as he could get.
His fingers tightened painfully in my hair, and his thumb stroked back and forth under my bra strap.
“Savvy,” he murmured against my mouth, and the vibration sent a flare off inside me. “Christ, baby.”
His tongue swept inside my mouth, and I felt his tantalizing piercing. If it felt amazing in my mouth, I could only imagine what it would feel like between my legs.
His kiss devoured. Demanded. And everything in me became his. I was tired of fighting it. I wanted Killian. I wanted to feel him inside me.
He broke away and my face burned from his scruff. But I wanted more. Needed more.
“No more bullshit dating, Savvy,” he reiterated.
“The check… I can’t take the money.”
“You did the work.”
I smiled. “It’s never been work dating you, Killian.” But it kind of was. “It was work resisting you.”
He groaned, eyes flicking to my lips and then slowly back up to meet my eyes. “I want you. All of you.”
My breath hitched. I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant, but it didn’t matter. I wanted Killian inside me, and I was going to get that. “Yes.”
His hands were on my hips as he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He carried me into my bedroom and tossed me on the bed.
The mattress sagged under his weight as he kneeled on it then straddled me.
He hovered over the top, the long strands of his hair hanging over his right eye. His arms bulged with the black ink, and my eyes shifted to the scales of a dragon that breathed fire into a river with pebbles skipping over the surface.
I ran my hands up his arms then down again.
Our eyes remained locked, and it was timeless. There was nothing else but us. No past. No tomorrow. No hurt nor pain. No defining what we were doing.