"I've never questioned your masculinity. But I screwed up. Bailey's going to tell people you and I are … whatever we are. That you let me get away with … " She trailed off, waved her hand, before settling on, "sassing you."
"Is that what you think-" He shook his head once. "I didn't let you get away with a damn thing. I respected who you are."
"Who am I?" She couldn't help but whisper.
With a hard, sharp look, he said, "My queen. Do you want to know what that means?"
Queen. Something about the word, the way he said it, his posture straight and strong, imbued with everything that made him the man she wanted, stole the breath right from her lungs. She ran hot and cold at the same time and the internal thunder came rushing back, a crash that vibrated to her depths.
Did she want to know? No. No, she really didn't. She shook her head.
Bless him for letting her avoid the truth between them.
"Are you ready to go?" He asked, rescuing her from another bout of tense silence before it had time to settle.
"Yes," she said, blowing out a breath. "There's nothing more tonight that can't be dealt with when I open in the morning."
"You're not opening again until I find this bastard."
"I need to. If I don't … " She lifted her shoulders and let them fall. "If I don't, I'm surrendering. I don't surrender anymore."
His eyes said we'll see about that but his tone was even. "I'll drive you home tonight and pick you up in the morning if you have to open the store. I want a schedule for opening and closing, and I'll see to transportation until this is over."
"No." She shook her head, doing her best to ignore the dominant position he gravitated to so naturally. "I won't be kept on a leash or in a cage. I'm not becoming a protected, trapped moth just because some dick is harassing me."
"We both know this isn't as simple as harassment. And even if it were, you're without a car until further notice." He closed the distance between them. Strong fingers stroked her cheek before curling beneath her chin and tipping her face up so she couldn't escape his gaze. "I know you need your freedom. I'm not trying to take it away from you. I'm trying to preserve it."
She swallowed, caught by the heat in his eyes. Heat tempered by concern. Trying to ignore the hard plane of his chest, right there because he stood so close, she drew a deep breath and blew it out. Her nipples peaked on contact with the warmth of his pecs. Lily closed her eyes. "I know. I know you're not trying to close me in, but someone is and I hate it. I want to tell him to fuck off and leave me alone but he won't give me a chance to respond. He's trying to terrorize me from the shadows, like some dickless coward."
"It's not you he's after."
"He smashed my shop door, vandalized my house, and defiled my car," she pointed out. "I beg to differ. I don't know what the original break-in was about, but he's responding to … I don't know. My promiscuity? He went after my house the night I stayed later than usual at the Jungle, and tonight he was watching me … watching us."
"There's more to this than what you see from where you stand."
"The attacks at the club?"
He nodded and released her. "There's a connection. The man who's doing this is going after territory and political power. He's cutting down foot soldiers and innocents in order to get to the Kings, and you're the perfect target."
"A queen," she whispered. The thing she still didn't want to talk about.
Jude had proven himself to be attuned to her in inexplicable ways. Now was no different. Instead of shoving his way into the natural opening, he released her. "Let's get out of here. I want to take you home and show you how to operate your new system." Outside, Jude lifted her into the passenger seat of his SUV and fastened the seatbelt across her chest. Air blasted from the events when he started the ignition, comfortable at first, but quickly turning cold. Lily hugged herself and Jude reached to adjust the thermostat.
They were on the highway in the thick of the rush hour tail, when she said, "I just don't get where the first incident came from. You and I weren't connected when he broke into the shop. The only line between us was business and we'd conducted that through email and intermediaries."
He went silent and stayed that way for several miles. When he finally spoke again, his tone was tense. "You and I weren't connected on a personal level but we had a shared interest. Potential common ground."