Chapter 9 #2
He holstered his weapon and stepped out from behind the tree. “Raven?”
She spun, eyes wide. “Connor!” A frown creased her brow, and she glanced around like she was only just realizing where she was. “Oh God. I…I wasn’t thinking.”
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m angry! I’m so damn angry that some days I think the rage will eat me alive. I keep thinking it’ll get better. I keep thinking he’ll leave me alone!”
Connor inched forward. “He?”
“My ex. He’s like this parasite, trying to suck everything good from my life.” She met his gaze, tears pooling in her eyes. “I hate him. I hate him so much!”
“Come here.”
“What?”
He closed the small bit of distance between them and tugged her against his chest. At first, she was tense. Her shoulders were stiff, her arms not moving from her sides. Then she seemed to melt. To breathe him in. To just trust him to hold her.
Every part of him wired for protection lit up. He wanted to shield her. Stand between her and any and all enemies.
No part of him wanted to let her go, but when a cool breeze ran over them, Raven shuddered. He needed to get her out of the cold.
He stepped back and took her hand. Without a word, he led her to his truck, making a mental note as Raven grabbed her bag from her Subaru to contact the local mechanic to fix the car and investigate what had caused the smoke.
She didn’t question him as he started driving. She didn’t ask where they were going or what came next. But when he pulled up in front of his craftsman-style home, she finally broke the silence.
“I can’t stay with you.”
“You gonna make me sleep outside the community center again?”
Her brows flickered. But not in surprise. She knew he’d been watching the center.
He climbed from the truck and moved around to her side. She didn’t have any of her things, but if he’d stopped at the community center, there was a chance he’d have lost the fight of getting her here. This was easier.
Inside, he led her up the oak stairs toward the spare bedroom.
It was right beside his, and yeah, he liked that she’d be close.
He’d made it up the second he realized she was sleeping at the community center.
Maybe that made him a cocky bastard, to think he’d get his way and have her here, but he didn’t care.
He stepped inside first. “Sheets are clean. Bathroom is just next door. But my room has a bathroom attached if you’d prefer that.”
“You’d give me your bedroom?”
“Whatever you need, Raven.”
A frown pulled her brows together. “Why are you doing this for me? We barely know each other.”
“You need help.”
“That’s it? That’s the whole reason?”
“Do I need more?”
She swallowed before perching on the side of the bed.
Her gaze drifted down to her hands. “I had money. My ex took it. I didn’t even realize he’d linked our accounts.
Legally, there was nothing I could do to get it back.
The bank claimed it was his too because the accounts had been linked for a year. Now I have almost nothing.”
A vein throbbed in Connor’s temple while his hands fisted. He wanted to hit the guy. If the jerk was here, he probably would.
He knelt in front of her. “You can stay here as long as you need. There’s food in the fridge, and I’m happy to take you anywhere you need to go until your car is fixed.”
Her frown deepened, her gaze shifting between his eyes. “I keep thinking I’ll blink and you’ll disappear.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you can’t possibly be this good of a guy.”
“You’re easy to be good to.” He slipped a piece of hair behind her ear, his finger grazing her cheek.
Her sharp inhale cut through the room. When her focus lowered to his mouth, heat flared in his gut.
He had to force his breaths to remain even. Force his body to remain still when what he really wanted to do was close that small space between them and taste her.
But he didn’t have to move. Raven did.
She leaned forward, and it felt like a million seconds passed before her lips finally touched his. But when they did, fuck, they were soft. Soft and sweet and lingering.
For a moment, she was all he felt. All he was conscious of. Everything else—the night, the confessions about her ex—just ceased to exist.
As her lips slid across his, warm and sure, he cupped her cheek and nibbled her bottom lip, going deliberately slowly. Wanting to coax her into deepening the kiss rather than rushing her.
Her lips were responsive and pliant, making his cock twitch and slow heat pulse in his gut.
He’d known a kiss with Raven would be good. But this? This was the kind of desire that hit him in the fucking stomach and would’ve knocked him to his knees if he wasn’t there already.
Her lips parted, and he slipped his tongue inside. Her hum weaved itself inside him, unraveling another notch of his composure.
She tasted like coffee and sugar.
When she eventually started to retreat, he had to physically force himself to let her go. To allow that distance to be formed between them even though all he wanted to do was ease her back and press her to the mattress.
Her eyes were wide as she looked at him, like she was shocked at what had just passed.
He wasn’t. He’d felt something the moment he’d set eyes on this woman. Connection. Desire. Electricity. The kiss had fed into all of that.