“Yeah, but nowhere near as sexy,” Dom murmured in my ear as he lifted me up and set me on the seat. Then he brushed his lips against mine and drew the seat belt across my body, his knuckles grazing one of my nipples and making it pebble.
“C’mon, lover boy. We need to hit the road, or we’ll miss the perfect window to talk to Paisley,” Hack grumbled from the back seat.
“Paisley?” I echoed, twisting around to look at Hack while Dom slammed my door and rounded the truck to climb in the driver’s seat. “That’s a pretty name.”
“She’s a pretty girl,” he muttered without looking up from the laptop he’d already pulled out of the bag.
Dom must’ve only caught the last half of what Hack said because he started the engine and glared over his shoulder. “Who’s pretty?”
Hack lifted his head and grinned. “As pretty as she is, I’m not hitting on your woman.”
I poked Dom in the side. “We were talking about the witness, Paisley.”
Some of the tension left Dom’s shoulders, and he loosened his hold on the steering wheel so his knuckles weren’t white. He focused on the road as he drove through the gate. “You perving on the chick we need to keep Lucy safe?”
“All I fucking said was the girl is pretty,” Hack snarled, turning his computer so the screen was facing forward. A picture was pulled up of a red-haired, green-eyed woman who was undeniably gorgeous. “It’s a fact, not an opinion. And I only brought it up when your woman said her name was pretty.”
“Don’t let your dick make your decisions while we’re taking care of this shit,” Dom warned.
Hack flipped the computer back around and mumbled, “I’ve never given you reason to think that’ll happen.”
“Yeah, but like I recently discovered, your focus can change in an instant.” Dom stretched his arm out and laced his fingers through mine, lifting my hand to press a kiss against my knuckles.
I didn’t want to do the whole road trip with the tension thick in the cab of the truck. After giving Dom’s hand a squeeze, I reached up and turned on the radio. I grinned when I recognized the classic hard rock song blaring through the speakers. Considering what we were about to do, “Highway to Hell” was spot on. I cranked the volume up, and we spent the majority of the drive listening to music. It helped distract me from what was at stake, but my fear returned tenfold when we reached our destination.
“Breaker confirmed Paisley is inside. She has a three-hour break between classes.” Hack’s eyes were glued on the townhouse.
My eyes widened. “There are other Silver Saints in town?”
“A few,” Dom confirmed. “They left last night to keep an eye on each of the players since we can’t afford to have any surprises with you here.”
“She shares the place with three roommates, but they’re all on campus right now. We won’t easily get another opportunity to talk to her without anyone else around until tomorrow afternoon,” Hack explained as he reached for his door handle.
“You’re staying behind.” Hack’s head jerked up at Dom’s command. “We can’t risk overwhelming the girl with all three of us at her doorstep. Lucy has to be a part of this conversation, and she doesn’t go anywhere without me. That leaves you in the truck.”
Hack nodded, not saying anything as a muscle jumped in his jaw. It was obvious he wasn’t happy about not coming in with us. I was grateful he didn’t argue about it because I was already nervous enough. I flashed him a smile before climbing out of the truck and walking to the door hand-in-hand with Dom.
My palms were clammy, and my heart was racing. I felt as though I might puke when Dom pressed the doorbell. “No matter what she says today, it’ll be okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, doll.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and I leaned into his side. Staring up at him, I whispered, “The only thing that doesn’t suck about this whole mess is you.”
“At least we’ll have a hell of a story to tell the kids about how we met.” He gave me a squeeze and pressed a kiss to the top of my hair.
My head jerked up when I heard a soft, feminine voice say, “Hello?”
Paisley was prettier in person than her picture, and I could practically feel Hack’s gaze through the windshield behind us. Her eyes went wide when she took in how big Dom was, and she took a small step back when she spotted his cut. “Hi, I’m Lucy, and this is Dominic. I know he can look scary, but he’s a good guy. The absolute best, I swear.”
“Um…okay.” She bit her bottom lip as she stared at me, her brow wrinkled in confusion.