Chapter 25
Dixie
I paced the darkened living room, flying to open the door when Tyler knocked. I closed it behind him then took his hand, placing the key into it. His one. “Put that back on your chain.”
He did, following me into the centre of the space, only the city lights outlining us. My blood rushed, my heart beating too fast.
“I liked watching you work.”
“I liked ye watching me, too.”
I talked with my hands, trying to process my thoughts faster. “Mila was monitoring Convict. The next time you go out with your team, I won’t be able to do that.”
He gazed at me and waited.
“I want to be able to track you.”
Tyler arched an eyebrow. “That can be arranged.”
“Go on then, arrange it.”
The thought of losing him scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t stand it.
He took up his phone and sent a message, returning his attention to me, curiosity and other emotions burning in his eyes. Yet he gave me space to process everything I was feeling. Feelings I didn’t quite understand.
I pulled out a dining chair and had him sit. “Indulge me a minute. Start over with when you decided to take me. Don’t miss a thing.”
Tyler didn’t question my need for repetition. “From the beginning, then. Ye were always on my mind, from very first sight. But I knew getting involved with anyone was a bad idea. I got used to your being there. When ye were hurt, I nearly lost my mind. I visited the hospital.”
Warmth flooded me. “I had no idea.”
“Because I didn’t want ye to. I checked that ye were sleeping. I just needed to see ye breathe. Then I left for work for weeks on end so I couldn’t obsess.”
I hugged my arms around myself. “How did that work out for you?”
“It didn’t. That obsession only got worse.
When ye disappeared, it peaked. I had to get ye back whatever it took, so I put plans in place.
Cameras on your flat. A device in Kane’s car to track their hunt.
Wait, I missed a detail. I picked up Mila from a meeting with her solicitors.
She told me in passing that there was another sibling. I later found out that it was a woman.”
“You didn’t work it out then,” I confirmed.
“No. It was the first hint of a connection, and I’d already suspected you’d attracted the interest of the killer for other reasons than wrong place, wrong time, but those two pieces of information were in my head and separate. Not enough to make the leap.”
“How did you feel when you did?”
He paused. “Electrified.”
Damn, but that was a good word choice. I swallowed a burst of emotion, and Tyler went on.
“Also scared for ye. Once I learned your hidden identity, it was easy to justify to myself that ye needed my help. That laid the groundwork for everything I did next. It was a switch flicked.”
“Tell me your exact thoughts.”
“She needs me. I’m the only person who cares enough to help her.” He scrubbed a hand through his short hair, messing up the whorls. “Was I wrong?”
I didn’t hide the relief. I needed this obsession. To consume his every thought. While he’d been working, all I’d thought about was how capable he was. How badly I wanted that steadiness to be mine. “Keep going. What do you like about me? I mean, give me an aspect. Something specific.”
Tyler drew his gaze down me, taking in every curve, caressing me without a single touch. He lingered on my tits then came back to my eyes, a smile flirting with his lips. “Your attitude.”
I returned the smile. “Brat or bossy bitch?”
“Neither. Your confidence in who ye are.”
That wasn’t me putting on an act for pay. He liked a real part of me. I rolled my hands, shaking with nerves at where I was taking this. “More.”
“I’d see ye managing the women or problem-solving. Making things work right for the club and your co-workers. I admired that.”
“Was I naked when doing these things?”
His smile broadened. He tried to suppress it, but it won out. Damn, that was beautiful.
“Sometimes. But I never hung around the brothel. I did see ye strip once.” He shook his head like the memory was too hot to handle. “Never let myself again.”
I touched my hand to my chest, over my fast-beating heart. “Why?”
“Far too dangerous. Plus I hadn’t got your consent.”
I goggled at him. “If I was stripping, a whole room of guys would’ve been watching.”
“Customers at your job. I wasn’t one.”
Which made it wrong for him. Consent was important to Tyler. Slowly, I was understanding the man. “Does it bother you that I sold sex for a living?”
“No. Other than wanting to murder any man who has ever touched ye. But that’s true of anyone even looking at ye wrong now.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “Do ye care about any of my previous partners?”
Devil-eyed jealousy rose in a hot wave. “One hundred percent. Do I know any of them?”
“No.”
“How do you know that?” I crossed the room to the window. Tapped my foot while glaring out at the city.
“I haven’t slept with anyone here. Never wanted to.”
“Still gonna need names, big man.”
He only laughed, and I twisted back to witness the delight in his eyes.
“Don’t tease me. I don’t think I can handle it.”
He heaved an amused sigh. “Does it help to know that applies to Deadwater as a whole? In fact, I can’t even tell ye the last time I had sex.”
A hundred questions formed in my mind. I picked the loudest. “Were you married? Or widowed?”
“Neither.”
“Anything long-distance? Any long-term hookups who still think you’re theirs?”
Tyler braced his forearms on his knees and watched me. “No. Let’s just say I steered clear of relationships.”
“Oh no. We’re not ‘just saying’ anything. We are deep diving into that.”
“There’s nothing to say. I didn’t want to cause harm so I never tried.”
I prowled the room, continuing my task of figuring him out. The contradiction that came with the man who committed to no one but then went rogue and captured me. “Tell me again why you took me from that beach.”
Tyler went quiet. His gaze never left me. “Because I had no other choice.”
A shiver zinged down my spine. “Just because you wanted me?”
“More than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.”
“Yet you’ve barely touched me.”
Tyler breathed out through his nose, his expression gentle but hiding something savage. “The lass I fell for suffered an assault. I’m not even thinking of my own sexual appetite. How could I?”
I stared at him. Fell for? For a long minute, I didn’t speak. It was such a turn-on that he was holding back. That he cared so much. “A week ago, I couldn’t even consider sex, but when I’m with you, it’s on my mind. Only with you. Different in every way.”
He released a pained groan.
“What if I want you, Tyler? Gonna refuse me?”
His jaw tightened.
On the table behind him was a box, partially open with some of my possessions on display.
I still hadn’t sorted through them, but I’d taken a peek in this one.
It had a collection of items from my tiny kitchen, including ribbon from a drawer.
I drew out a length of black satin. Wrapped it around my hand.
Tyler followed the movement. “I don’t fuck often. I’ve told ye how I can react when emotional.”
The dead traffickers. The kidnap. Right. That’s what he meant by not causing harm.
“What are you worried about with me? Hurting me? I know you’d stop the second I ask. Being too intense? Sorry to tell you, but that ship sailed.”
The air tightened between us.
“I don’t know how to be good at this.”
My mouth popped open. “At sex? Baby, the only time a man can be bad is if he thinks he’s God’s gift.”
He released a laugh. “No, doll. That isn’t what I mean.” His voice lowered to a darker pitch. “I’ve already done damage. If I have my way, I’ll be a fucking monster.”
Those words had no right to be consuming, but they wrapped around me in an embrace. “You’d never hurt me.”
“Never. But there are people out there who did, and if ye make me yours in the same way I’ve made ye mine, that’s licence to do whatever I want to them.”
Because I’d be his property.
I ducked my head in understanding. Or an attempt at it. Tyler wasn’t being dramatic. He was the most competent man I’d ever met. He was asking for help in working out this thing between us. It wasn’t just a warning to me, but also to himself.
Then there was something else. An edge I didn’t quite get. I wasn’t the only one who needed to take this slow. Not knowing why was going to drive me insane.
I prowled until I was behind him, drew my touch across his shoulders.
He shivered. “Going to use that blindfold on me?”
“I was thinking about it. May I?”
“If it helps.”
I hesitated for a second, hovering over my next step. I didn’t want to provoke him. I only wanted to feel safe while being desired. A deep breath had me brave.
With care, I slid the ribbon over his eyes and fastened it at the back of his head. Tyler didn’t flinch. Only the faint tilt of his head towards me. A man positioning himself by Dixie-shaped instinct.
That stillness did something to me.
I stayed where I was for a beat, watching his chest rise and fall, the way his jaw flexed as if he were holding himself in check. He trusted me enough not to rush or demand. Neither of us needed that.
I stepped closer.
His breath deepened.
I brushed my mouth at the corner of his. Close enough that our breaths tangled, and so that he could feel me.
It was a test.
He passed it by not moving.
My lips touched his. A barely there whisper of contact, soft and questioning. I pulled back immediately, watching for any sign that he’d chase me.
He didn’t. His hands stayed braced on his thighs, fingers curled, his restraint tightening his muscles in his forearms and at his neck.
So I tried again.
This time, I let the kiss linger. Let my mouth settle against his for a slow count of three. Felt the warmth of him, the quiet hunger in the way his lips responded without taking over.
A breath shuddered out of him, rough and helpless.
“Okay,” I whispered, more to myself than him.
I kissed him again.