“Fine,” she huffed. “But you need to promise, when you go to LA, I do too.”
Adam’s first instinct would always be to keep Eve away from any situation that put her safety at risk. To protect her from the ugly reality of the world they lived in, he had no problem bundling her in Bubble Wrap and slappingfragilestickers all over her sexy curves.
His weakness. Not hers.
Eve was, and always would be, the warrior princess he found at the side of the road. Fierce and courageous, she had more goodness in her left pinky than he had in his entire body.
She also needed closure to be able to move on with her life. No way could he deny her. No waywouldhe deny her. Even if it meant the life she moved on with didn’t include him. The thought sent a blade between his ribs.
He was falling for her—
Yeah, fuck that shit.
He wasn’t falling. He was already arrow-through-the-heart in love with her. Eve existed as the light to his dark. The soft to his hard. The reason behind his recent decisions.
Things were changing rapidly now.
The moment her cry had filled the air, he’d chosen to accept the responsibility his father had bestowed. A look at each member of the unit had confirmed their acceptance.
Command of the Joint Task Team was his.
Adam would no longer go it alone. To pull off what he had to do next, he needed every single man in that room. He needed Chase to get his ass back to Montana with Gray in tow. He needed Davis and Grant, and the rest of the JTT. Hell, he even needed Mutt and Jeff.
And more than anyone, he needed Eve.
They were family now—all of them—and as the head of the family, the time had come for him to step up and lead. “You sure you want to do this?” he asked, giving her the opportunity to change her mind. She bit her lip, but no hesitation slowed her nod of acknowledgment. “And you promise to do what I say, when I say it.”
“When it comes tosafety, yes, I promise to do what you say.” The minx smiled at him. Actually smiled. At him. Like she was the one in charge of this operation, and he nothing but a newbie with an eager-to-please stamp on his forehead.
Jesus. He’d have some fun until she discovered the truth. For now, she needed rest, and he needed to map out his next move.
“Okay.” Hands braced on her ass to hold her weight, he stood and carried her to the bed.Theirbed. The one he planned to use every inch of later when he showed her who the boss really was.
“Okay, what?” she asked, her tone filled with suspicion as he set her down, her head on the pillow.
“Okay. Deal. You promise to obey, and I’ll take you to LA.”
She bolted upright. “I did not promise to obey!”
“Didn’t you?” Because her lips were close, he closed the distance and kissed her. And fuck him, if she wasn’t the sweetest thing he ever tasted. “I believe your words were, ‘I promise to do whatever you tell me.’ That sounds an awful lot like obey to me.”
She leaned out of his reach and tried to cut him down with laser-blue eyes. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it!”
“Do I?”
“Yes.” She poked him in the chest. “Quit playing with me. I said I would follow your safety instructions. That’s all you get.”
“Is it?” He wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her hips down the bed.
She squealed as she fell back and caught herself on bent elbows. “Adam!”
He grinned, and tangling his hand in her hair, he lowered them both until he had her caged beneath him. “I warned you last night. Sex with me changes things. You had your chance to say no. Now we do things my way.”
“But—”
“No buts.” With a twist of his wrist, he exposed her jugular and set his hungry mouth against the delicate vein. Her heart beat through him, heating his blood while his mind and body responded to her siren’s song.
His.
