Boarlander Silverback (Boarlander Bears #3)(10)

She cast a worried glance behind her, then crossed her arms over her chest, as if she had caught a chill. Good instincts. Damon had that effect on people.

Kirk turned on the engine, and Ally looked up, her crystal blue eyes startled. She slowed and ran her fingers through her bleach-blond hair, pushing it back from her face. With another quick look back behind her, she made her way slowly to his car.

Kirk rolled down the window, and she leaned her elbows against the open frame, giving him one hell of a view of those tiny, perky tits under that V-neck. Black bra to match her shirt and, holy f*ck, he hoped her panties matched.

“Tell me why you got me a meeting with Damon. And try to do it without staring at my boobs.”

Kirk tried and failed to drag his gaze from her chest. “Lady, if you want answers, you’ll have to put them away.”

With an irritated sigh, Ally yanked open the door and slid into the seat. “You feel heavy, and the air in here is too thick to breathe.”

Kirk rolled down his window too to try and thin out the air. “I was pissed.”

“At me?” she asked softly.

“No. At me. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Her big blue gaze collided with his. In a voice barely higher than a whisper, she admitted, “I didn’t mean to hurt you either. I shouldn’t have judged. I forget I’m not the only one with baggage sometimes, you know?”

Kirk lifted his hips, adjusted his dick, and offered her an unapologetic smile. “You’re not my type. I like curvy women with big tits and asses. Brunettes with long hair.”

Rude but not that surprising. She didn’t exactly have men beating down her door. “Kirk, do you want to know one of the big reasons I was recruited when I was so young?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m naturally rail-thin. They needed a small girl, someone who looked weak and strung-out. A girl who looked like a druggie, but without an addiction.” Sadness washed through her eyes. “The things you hate were exactly what someone else was looking for in a woman.”

“You mean what a handler was looking for, not a man who was supposed to enjoy your body.”

Ally clenched that sexy pixie jaw of hers and smelled like anger.

Shaking her head, she shoved open the door and got halfway out before he said, “Don’t run. Just listen to what I have to say. You asked me why I got you the meeting. I’ll tell you.”

Ally stood frozen, half out of his car. He thought she would still leave, but she sat on the edge of the seat and offered him a look over her shoulder instead. “I’m listening.”

“What I was trying to say is you aren’t my usual type”—he jammed his finger at his hard-on—“so this makes no damned sense to me. Suddenly, nobody is pretty to me anymore. No one unless they have short blond hair, tiny, kissable lips, big blue eyes, and the frame of a waif. Small, perky tits are apparently my thing now. And tattoos. Fuck, Ally, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to imagine where your tattoos end. I got you a meeting because you asked Damon for it that first night, and I knew he was putting you off. I got you the meeting because I can’t—” He shook his head. It was too much, too fast.

“Finish it.”

Kirk swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel until the leather creaked under his choking grasp. “Because I’m having trouble getting you out of my head. You wanted something, and it made me feel good to get it for you. I got you the meeting because even though I know you’ll bring me trouble, I like you.”

Ally let off a long, shaking sigh, and she leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes. “Can you say that last part again?”

He studied her profile. Something about her face had relaxed, and in hopes he had caused that, he murmured, “I like you.”

She winced, and her shoulders drew up to her ears, and when she looked back at him, her eyes were rimmed with moisture. He didn’t understand her tears, so he reached forward and brushed the pad of his thumb under her eye, catching the drop of moisture before it streamed down her cheek.

“Why?” he whispered.

“Because it feels so damned good to hear something nice. It feels good to be liked.”

And he got it. He’d grown up in a family group with focus on breeding for numbers, not child-rearing. She’d grown up without parents. Grown up with strangers, and then she’d gone undercover where likely she hadn’t been allowed to love or receive love in return. Dangerous little broken bird. His inner gorilla was practically beating his chest with an oath to keep her safe from hurt.

Kirk pulled his car in a slow circle, following a scorch mark where grass was still determined not to grow.

“What happened here?” Ally asked, her eyes on the destroyed mansion.

Kirk had to fight hard against the need to touch her. Ally’s hands were resting on her thighs, and every instinct in his body screamed to wrap her hand in his. Shaking his head hard, he explained, “Damon wasn’t the only immortal dragon left after the dragon wars. He had an enemy, a dark dragon. One who had been badly burned by Damon’s fire and who had built his strength up over centuries to take him on again.”

“So he destroyed this place out of revenge?” Ally asked.

“Partly. Marcus also wanted to rule the whole damned world, and the only thing that could stop him was Damon.”