Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Rage
She’s delightful.
I enjoy the way she goes between sassy and confident, and shy and unsure. In my opinion, it’s humanizing. Most women I’ve dated don’t allow themselves to show any vulnerability at all in the beginning. Luna is the opposite. She knows who and what she is and doesn’t pretend to be anything else.
I love a tall, curvy woman, but that kind of physical attraction is different from what I feel for Luna. I could be attracted to ten different women on any given day. But I don’t randomly offer to make babies with them.
What I feel for her goes so far beyond that part of it. It’s just too damn soon to say those things. First, she has to learn that she can trust me. Once I get past that obstacle, it’ll be easier.
“Did you want to walk on the beach?” I ask as we leave the restaurant.
“Sure. It’s a beautiful night.”
It’s June and though it’s warm during the day, it’s cool and breezy at night.
The beach is just a block away and we pause on the sidewalk to take off our shoes. Then we step onto the sand and I take her hand.
“I love the ocean,” she says as we start to walk. “I grew up in New Hampshire, so the ocean was a good ninety miles away, and then it was freezing year-round.”
“I grew up in South Florida,” I say. “So the beach was right there but I was never really into it. Surfing and all that wasn’t my thing. I wrestled and played football.”
“What else were you into?”
“Mostly, survival,” I admit. “My grandmother raised me after my dad left. She did her best but she was old and didn’t have the energy for a kid like me. After she died I went into foster care for two years. Then I joined ROTC so I could afford college, and the rest is history.”
“I didn’t know you were in the system. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I was luckier than a lot of kids.
My foster parents weren’t the best, but they weren’t abusive or anything.
There were four of us, all fosters, and our foster parents were mostly in it for the money they got.
But to be fair, they fed and clothed us, so all I had to do was keep my head down and graduate from high school. I already had a plan for college.”
“And that’s where you met Grim?”
“Yup. We played football and did ROTC. Then we wound up in Force Recon together. I guess we’ve been pretty inseparable since the day we met.”
“That must be nice, to have that kind of friendship.”
“You don’t have a best friend?”
She shakes her head. “No. I was always too smart for my own good. Most of the kids in school thought I was weird. It was better in college, but I mostly hung out with guys because in my experience, women are catty.”
“You seem to be close to Allora and Courtney.”
She smiles. “Yeah, it’s been fun making friends. Not just with them but with everyone at Shadow. It feels like a family.”
“That’s what they wanted, to create a new, special family that has nothing to do with royalty. Daniil loves his actual family, but Courtney wasn’t sure about that life, and he loves her more than he loves being a royal.”
“That’s very romantic,” she says softly.
“Is it? I never thought about it in those terms.”
“Do you think you’re not romantic?”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t had a serious girlfriend in a long time.”
“Allora said the same thing about Grim…was that done by design?”
“What, not having serious relationships?”
She nods and I hesitate.
“If you’re asking if we discussed it, or made some kind of bachelor pact or something, no.
I mean, while we were in college, we were young and wild.
You can imagine how that was. Then while we were in the Marines, it was hard.
Women were either completely enamored with the idea of marrying a military guy, or they wanted nothing to do with it.
And frankly, we were deployed almost the whole time we were in.
I don’t think either of us were in a head space to fall in love after the shit we saw over there. ”
“That makes sense.”
“When we got out, I went into fighting professionally, with the UFC, and while I’m not proud of it, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I liked the attention.
But the truth is, none of them cared about me.
Elliott. The man. They just wanted to be on Rage the Cage’s arm, and that got old quick.
Then we got into the security and bodyguard world and it seemed unfair to drag a woman into that life.
Or maybe we just convinced ourselves of that because we were scared of the emotional stuff. ”
“You? Scared?”
“Of allowing myself to be that vulnerable? To fall in love? A little. I don’t know exactly, and I can’t speak for him, but I see the way he looks at Allora and I know for a fact he’s never looked at a woman like that before. Maybe he was waiting specifically for her.”
“Okay, you can’t say you’re not a romantic,” she says, playfully bumping me with her hip. “Because that’s a very romantic observation.”
“Oh, I can observe it—I just don’t know that I could come up with shit like that on my own.” I reach out and slide my arm around her shoulders. “You’ll have to tell me if I don’t put in the right effort.”
“Is romance…part of our equation?”
“If you want it to be.” He rubs my shoulder as we walk.
“Now it’s my turn to be honest.” He stops and turns to look at me, his expression thoughtful.
“Princess, I’ve thought about sleeping with you almost since the first time I saw you.
Every time you walked by I felt like a teenager again.
You’d accidentally brush against me, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe. ”
My heart skips a beat. “Elliott.”
“Not being able to touch you was killing me. And then you started talking about some other guy getting you pregnant, and I was pissed.” I hold up a hand.
“I know I had no right. I don’t understand it.
But that’s the truth. So, romance? Yeah, I’d be down for that.
Dating. Spending time together outside of work. ”
She stares up at me, pretty blue eyes hard to read in the moonlight. But she’s standing close, almost touching, and when she tilts up her face, there’s no force on earth strong enough to stop me from pressing my lips to hers.
They’re as soft and sweet as I imagined, and I take my time, nibbling and exploring. Her lips part, just a little, but I’m not one of those guys who needs to stuff his tongue down a woman’s throat the minute we touch. There’s a time and a place for that, for sure, but this isn’t it.
Right now, I just want to get to know her. Touch her. Drink in her sweetness.
I pull her close, wrapping one arm around her waist and using the other to gather her hair because the wind has picked up and it’s whipping her in the face. A soft moan escapes her as I fist her hair, and I glance down.
“You like when I pull your hair?”
“Mm, yes.” Her expression is equal parts playful and aroused.
Good to know.
“Be careful what you ask for, princess.”
She reaches up, winds her arms around my neck and this time she kisses me.
Ironically, she doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to stuff her tongue down my throat either.
She merely presses her lips to mine and then playfully nips my lower lip.
Our mouths move together again, and now she’s fully in my arms, lush body pressed to mine.
Her breasts feel soft and warm against my chest, and I can only imagine what this will be like without the barrier of our clothes. For now, I’m stupidly happy just having her in my arms. Finally. It feels like I’ve been waiting years for this.
Maybe I have.
I let one hand drift down, cupping her round ass, and I squeeze. Fuck, this is going to be so much fun when we finally get naked.
A faint buzzing in my pocket interrupts us and I grunt in annoyance. Luckily, it stops, and I go back to kissing her.
Then her phone starts to ring, playing the theme song to “Hawaii Five-0.”
“That’s the emergency ring tone,” she whispers against my mouth.
“Shit.” I yank my phone out of my pocket while she answers hers.
“Hello? Courtney?” I can’t hear what Courtney is saying but she stiffens and then responds, “Oh, no.”
Then I look down at the row of texts from Daniil.
DANIIL: Where are you? We have a situation.
DANIIL: Court told me you and Luna are out on a date—I’m sorry to interrupt but I need you to call in. There’s been another incident with one of the Demons’ girls.
DANIIL: Court is calling Luna but I really need you to check in.
Shit.
I quickly call him back. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Another one of the club’s girls is dead.”