Sinful Protector (Roughshod Rollers MC 2)

So, Kyle had figured that out too. Was there any point to anything I did?

“Look, I’m sorry,” Kyle says after a moment, and I blink. What does he have to be sorry for? “Is there somewhere else you want to go? I know you’re probably not comfortable here, but Jacqui was really pushy, and…”

“Kyle… Shut up,” I say.

Kyle’s mouth snaps closed.

“Sorry,” I say. “It’s just… You have nothing to apologize for. At all. You’ve been watching over me, protecting me. You found the evidence to get rid of Jesse. You saved my life.”

Kyle looks down. “If I hadn’t left, it wouldn’t have needed saving.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please. I’m not surprised you needed a break. I’m sure it was hard watching over the woman who broke up with you.”

The air in the room turns cold in an instant. We both look away, neither of us knowing what to say to that. I hadn’t meant to bring up our break-up. Then again, it needed to come up eventually.

“Kyle… I’m sorry,” I say.

Kyle gives me a forced smile. “Are you breaking up with me again? Because it was bad enough the first time.”

“No!” I exclaim. “No, I’m not. And I shouldn’t have broken up with you the first time. It was stupid and it didn’t amount to anything, anyway.”

Kyle frowns, confused. I fish my wallet out of my pocket and find the card. Slowly, I hold it out to him.

“You probably figured out that Jesse left those flowers, too,” I say, tired. “This card was with them.”

Kyle takes it, his eyes moving slowly over the words. His face is expressionless.

“I’m sorry,” I say again. I give him a small smile. “If it’s any consolation…I really missed you. I…really did want to try, even if we don’t have much in common. I mean, I like sushi and comedy movies, and you prefer hamburgers and actions, and I listen to love songs, and write poetry, and my favorite color is blue…”

“Same,” Kyle suddenly says.

“What?” I ask, derailed.

“Blue,” Kyle says. He looks up, his eyes intense. “My favorite color is blue, too. Does that count as something in common?”

My mouth goes dry. I still can’t read the emotions on his face, but my heart is starting to beat faster.

“It probably does,” I manage to say.

Kyle looks at the card. Then, slowly, he rips it up and allows the pieces to fall to the floor. He reaches out and carefully cradles my face in his large hands.

“Good,” he whispers.

His lips meet mine and he licks my lip, requesting entrance. Heat flashes through my body as I wind my arms around his neck and push back into the kiss, slowly opening my mouth and touching my tongue to his.

When breathing becomes an issue, Kyle pulls back, trying to catch his breath. He trails his hand down my neck, lightly touching the purpling bruises. Then he dips his head and presses a soft kiss to the marks, making my breath catch and my eyes burn.

“Good,” he repeats, raising his head again. “Fuck, Allison, I can’t tell you how much I missed you. I wanted you so badly.”

“What did you want?” I ask, shifting closer to him.

Kyle’s hand runs down to the small of my back and presses me closer. His other hand is still on my cheek.

“You,” he says roughly. “Your laugh. Your stubbornness. Everything. I just wanted you.”

I don’t know what to say to that. It opens something so much larger than I want to admit to right now. So I just cling to Kyle, needing to feel the touch of his hands, wanting his skin against mine, pressing myself as close to him as I can while we’re both still sitting on the couch.

I still don’t know what I did to deserve this. But I’m selfish enough to want to grab onto it and never let go anyway.