Chapter 48
He knew he’d pissed her off. Madison’s hair was practically standing on end as she got ready for bed. And threw pillows and blankets at him. She was more of a quiet woman than her little gaggle of friends, but she had a fiery temper he loved to trigger.
He had it so fucking bad for that woman. He used to think if he ignored it, the fire between them would go away on its own. Just fizzle out over time. That hadn’t happened. He’d gotten pretty damned good at avoiding being around her, too.
Hell, so many times he had wanted to scoop her up into his arms and carry her back to his cave and keep her there. Forever.
This…hell…this was his mate. The one woman who he knew was made for him. Who just was.
The woman just deserved far better than a caveman like him.
He wouldn’t be doing her any favors if he pursued what was between them and he damned well knew it.
And now, with their family connection—if he did something and screwed it up between them, it would impact more than just the two of them.
It would impact their entire family. He would never forget that—or take it lightly.
She had braided her hair for the night. Big brown eyes just blinked at him from behind her glasses. She had a loose T-shirt on and definitely no bra. And tiny little shorts designed to tempt a man like him. Things he’d seen her in a hundred times now.
But they were alone, and she was right there, and damn it, he was just a man.
He’d meant it—he wasn’t letting her out of his sight. Not after what had happened to Gunnar’s woman. And Jarrod’s. Dom just wasn’t taking a chance that something would happen to her and he not be there to protect her.
He just stayed there on her couch, listening as she moved around in her bedroom. He wanted to be in there with her. Holding her. Stripping that little almost threadbare tank top off of her. It had apple green letters for W4HAV over her chest. He wanted to trace those letters…cup the flesh beneath…
He wouldn’t be able to survive that woman long term. Dom just wouldn’t. He didn’t know how long he’d be able to last here. He just didn’t. But hell…if his sanity was the price he had to pay for her safety, so be it.
There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to keep her safe. Anything.
No matter the cost.
Dom stood. Checked the doors and windows, one more time. Found himself in her dining room. Where she’d obviously been working on something in her off time. On a lot of things, apparently. It was everywhere on the table.
He sat there, and read what she’d been working on. Read the notes in neat little Madison-prissy handwriting. Interesting.
He was seeing some patterns he didn’t like at all.
Patterns going back decades.
What the hell? Dom just sat down. And started really reading. He grabbed a notepad. And started putting things together. He’d seen some of this information somewhere else—just in different formats.
In Sol Kimball’s notebooks.
And…even before.
What was it doing spread out on Madison’s dining room table?