“Every time,” he said. “Especially against dirt bags like that. That was especially satisfying.”
“So violent, though,” she said with a shudder as he pulled out onto the street.
He stopped the car and stared at her for a moment. “When it comes to you, I’ll be violent if I have to. Those men would have threatened your life.”
“I suppose,” she said.
“I’m ruthless, Kelsey. I’ll never deny that,” he said. “But I can promise with me on your side, you’ll only be grateful for it.”
“I am,” she said. “But I just don’t… want to be responsible if you’re hurt.”
“Let me worry about that,” he said. “I promise it’s pretty hard to hurt me.”
But she couldn’t forget the image of him on the ground, bleeding, in the rain.
She made a small note not to let him go after anyone else in her past who had wronged her and decided to just be grateful they were both just out of there safely.
She put a hand on his arm as he started the car again. “Thank you, Adrien. It means a lot.”
“What does? That I failed to retrieve your money?”
“That you cared,” she said. “That you minded that I was insulted. That you treated me like a person when none of them did.”
He shrugged. “They are wrong. Now they know it.”
She laughed as they headed back home. “Yes. I suppose they do.”
Thirteen
As Adrien watched Kelsey go over his knuckles carefully, looking for any scrapes, he found he was still incredibly irritated.
Irritated because he’d lost control and displayed strength far beyond that of a human. Irritated because he’d punched the shit out of Bernard rather than resolving things with her money.
Irritated because he’d seen her scared eyes when he’d been angry and wondered if he’d changed in her mind.
Still, Bernard had insulted his mate gravely, and Adrien hadn’t had any choice but to defend her. Especially after that disgusting insinuation when she’d been on the bed.
His jaw clenched just at the memory of it, and he jerked his head to the side, trying not to think of it.
“Am I being too harsh?” Kelsey asked, as she was now dabbing some kind of disinfectant on his knuckles with ginger motions.
He shook his head. He’d barely felt her doing it.
“I really am grateful,” she said quietly, turning his hands over to look at them once more. “I can’t believe how little you were hurt, though.” She looked up at his head. “Also, I guess you took the bandage off after one day, didn’t you?”
“You didn’t notice?” he asked drily.
She laughed. “I guess I tend to look other places on you.” Then she blushed, making a grin tilt the corners of his lips.
“Like where?” he asked. This was more the kind of conversation he wanted to have with her.
“I don’t know,” she said. She gazed up at him seriously. “Your eyes?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“Telling you,” she said with a smile. “And your lips. Your whole face, really, is pretty spectacular.”
Stay with me, he wanted to say. Forever.
But he knew enough about humans to know they didn’t say things like that so quickly.
Instead, he said, “Thank you. I like yours as well.”
“You’re so much better looking than me,” she said, letting his hands go reluctantly because there was really nothing to treat.
“Not true,” he said, reaching out and catching her chin, tilting her face to his and looking it over carefully before releasing her. “I think you’re absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t have ordered you better.”
She laughed awkwardly. “I guess it’s lucky I ended up on your doorstep, then,” she said.
Yes, lucky. Or fate, as dragons tended to believe. “Sure,” he responded.
He looked at his watch. Now that he was finally calming, he realized it was getting late. He should be a gentleman and walk her to her room and let her go to bed.
But he hated the thought of being away from her. He wished it was appropriate to spend the night with her, but as they weren’t promised to each other, it wasn’t.
“Well,” he said, standing. “We should probably get you to bed. It’s been a long night. Hopefully I didn’t scare you so bad you have nightmares.”
“You didn’t scare me,” she said. “Surprised me because I didn’t think anyone was that strong.”
“A lot of it is speed and technique,” he said.
“You held him off the ground with one hand,” she said.