Page 24 of Shadow
“Baby girl, I made a career out of rolling out of bed and into combat or an undercover assignment. You could have woken me. You just didn’t want to.”
“No. I didn’t want to. I’ll give you that.”
“Damn it, Olivia. I hate this.”
“Which part?”
He dragged a hand through his hair. Unsure if it was smart to voice this to her. “The part where I can’t just take a belt to your ass and fix this.”
She laughed. “How would that fix anything?”
“Because you would be sore just the way we both like, and you would be soaked for me, and all your stubborn sass would be on the floor with your clothes.”
“All that in the middle of a restaurant? Pretty sure even our most powerful friends couldn’t stop us from being arrested for that one, Ripley.”
He shook his head and smirked. “See? That right there. You wouldn’t be sassing me if you didn’t want me to do something about it.”
In a surprising move, she reached for his hand and Ripley let her take it. “Maybe you’re right. And I’m sorry. I’m not saying I don’t want those things. But I need more. I just don’t know if you can give me more. At least not the more I’m looking for.”
“You won’t know if you don’t give me a chance.”
The server came back with their coffee and water. “What can I get you to eat, folks?”
They placed their orders and waited for the woman to leave them alone again. When she did, Olivia gave him a sad smile. “You’ve got to give me time, Ripley. That’s something we’ve never had. I’ve barely been divorced for six months. And you’ve been home for two minutes. Just… have some patience.”
She was right, he knew that. But there was always a sense of urgency where Olivia was concerned. When he came into town, she was always his first stop. And when he left again, she was the one he dreamed of at night. Her face pushed him to finish a job so he could get home to her again even if it was only for a few hours.
“I’ll do my best,” he said, squeezing her hand again. “But in the meantime, we’ve got a few rules to discuss.”
Olivia rolled her eyes, and he glared. “Just because you’re not my sub doesn’t mean I won’t take you over my knee if you don’t listen to me. This is your life we’re talking about here.”
She sobered and nodded. “I’m listening. Just… I don’t need you to go all caveman on me.”
Ripley laughed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’re asking me not to be protective of you, that’s never going to happen.”
“No. I mean the whole ‘Me big strong man. You little woman. Me in charge,’ thing,” she said in a deep voice that had him rolling his eyes.
“If that’s what I sound like, then someone needs to put me out of my misery. I don’t doubt that you can take care of yourself. But I do doubt your ability to track down a stalker and take care of him.”
“You need to stay safe, too, Ripley. Aside from never having you around for more than a half a second, one of the reasons being with you was so hard was the constant fear you were never coming home. It’s like you love danger and want to chase it. You can’t expect me to be OK with that.”
“The difference is I know how to defend myself, and I could think of six different ways to kill a man if I needed to right now.”
She sighed. “Fine. You’re more skilled than I am in the killing people department. Not sure that’s something you want to be proud of.”
“You’re right, baby girl. I never said I was proud of it.” His voice was quiet, and though he tried, he couldn’t keep the pain out of it. Yes, he’d taken lives over the course of his career, but it wasn’t something he was proud of. Not even a little bit.
Her face softened and she reached for his hand. “I’m sorry. That was an asshole thing for me to say. I didn’t mean to imply that you enjoy killing people.”
The server approached with their food, interrupting their conversation. For a few minutes, he just focused on eating, and silence hung between them. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore.
“What’s it going to take, Liv? Other than time, which I’ve already agreed to give you.”
She set her fork down and shoved her plate to the side. “Time is really all I need. Time to get used to you actually being around. Since it looks like we’re stuck together for the foreseeable future, that might help me get used to it faster. But I’m not making any promises.”
Ripley laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back against the booth. “Alright. I get that. Now, tell me about your schedule for the next few days.”
“I’ve got to get ready for Vegas. Other than that, I just have to focus on getting Olivia’s operational again so I can put my staff back to work. Niki told me we’ve already lost one bartender because we couldn’t give her enough hours at the other location. I can’t afford to lose more people.”
