Nothing and no one meant more to me than these bastards, and I showed that by keeping them all safe.
It pissed me off that I recognized the voice period. And it pissed me off even more that a quick glimpse of him over my shoulder, scowling and grumpy but still so goddamn pretty, made butterflies take root in my stomach.
I didn’t get butterflies over anything. Not a job interview, and certainly not over something with a dick.
“You got something to say, Nyxy?”
“Yeah.”
“What?” I prompted when he didn’t say another word.
“It’s Nyx.”
“Only people you’ve fucked can call you that, huh?”
He smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Actually, I’m fine as I am.”
She didn’t need me to protect her.
And fuck if that didn’t make me want to protect her more.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he blurted out. “I was only commenting on the fact your attitude is bigger than your—”
“Don’t you dare say my boobs,” I hissed.
“Do I look like I have a death wish?” he grumbled. “Look, can we not focus on your breasts?”
That had me blinking, because whatever word I expected him to say, that wasn’t it.
Hooters? Sure. Melons? Maybe. Breasts? Nah.
Even killers had hearts.
Not big ones, maybe, but mine was there. Still beating away.
Still waiting...
What was it about her?
What was it about us when we were together?
Sniping and snarling like two pissed off cats sharing the same bag, and yet, when it boiled down to it, capable of sitting here in silence and just being.
“This is a mistake.”
“All the best things in life are.”
I blinked at that, as well as the resolve that told me he meant every word. Looking into those deep eyes, I murmured, “Kiss me?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Sometimes, the heart knew what the heart wanted, and the brain knew the heart was fucking stupid.
I wondered if she knew how at the very center of my focus she was.
At that moment, all I could see, hear, and breathe was her.
She was weird, but I liked that. It was what had my dick twisted into a knot, after all.
Fuck, I wanted her to know everything. The good, the bad, the goddamn ugly.