Raging Heart On (Lucas Brothers #2)(104)

“Last night you didn’t want me to leave you,” he says, getting up to return the things back where they belong. He sounds angry. He pours the water into a big barrel in the corner. It’s on my mind to ask what happens when that gets full, but since I won’t be around when it does, I guess it doesn’t matter.

“I don’t know what I want when I’m around you,” I answer with complete honesty. “I’m torn between wanting to go back to my quiet apartment or run off to Maine with you.”

“Maine?” he asks with a sardonic smile on his face.

“No one ever wants to go to Maine. Seemed like a good place. When people go on the run in the movies, they always head for the border. I always thought a quiet state to hide in would be better.”

He shakes his head and doesn’t say anything else. It almost feels like we’re friends, and then he does something I’d almost like to slap him for. He puts the handcuffs back on me. I don’t argue, instead I find myself staring at the light in the lantern he must have lit before I woke up.

Therapy. I definitely need therapy.





10


Max


It shouldn’t bother me that Tess seems so disappointed when I handcuff her back to the bed. It does, and that’s all kinds of bad. I have a soft spot for this little, brunette spitfire, and I need to tap that shit all the f*ck of the way out. I am even staying here for another night just so her feet can heal a little more. That in itself is pure idiocy. I should do like she suggested and drop her. Not here though, if the Hernandez twins managed to escape and find her, Tess would never survive—or if she did, she would wish she hadn’t. I could take her to the local town as she said though. I have to go there anyway to get a car off of Zeke. I ignore that train of thought, however, because the simple truth is I don’t want to separate from Tess just yet. I may die today and if I do, these moments with her have been the bright spot in my sorry life.

In the back of my mind, I curse the fact that I couldn’t have met her before Renee, before the child, before I made the decisions that brought me to the place I am now. What would have happened then? My dick jerks against the zipper of my jeans, because I know what would have happened. I would have owned her body and made damned sure she never even thought to look elsewhere for a man.

“Rest, Kitten. I need to go back up top and see if I can see signs of any company.”

She doesn’t answer, and it pisses me off that she’s making me feel guilty. She’s my prisoner damn it. Mine to do with what I want, and in any way I want. Excitement courses through my system at that thought.

__________

I ended up spending the entire day up top. I needed to clear my head. I was right; the woman is under my skin. I am starting to think I’ll never get free, like she will always be there, and today, I found I missed her. I wish I had never touched her. Maybe if I hadn’t touched her or tasted her…maybe then she wouldn’t weigh so heavily on my brain. Tomorrow, I will let her go, I decide again. I’m giving myself whiplash with the way I keep changing my own damn mind. The woman has me going in circles, and I’m starting to get dizzy. I have to let her go. It’s best for both of us. Decision made; I head back to the bunker and check on her.

I barely make it off the bottom rung before she pipes up.

“How nice of you to come back and check on me,” she snaps.

I have to bite the inside of my jaw to keep from smiling. She really doesn’t know how to guard her attitude, and I like everything about it. It all tempts me to show her exactly who is in charge.

“Miss me?”

“Like a toothache. To think I liked you before your hearing. Just goes to show you reality never lives up to the dream.”

“Did you dream of me, Kitten?”

That snaps her mouth shut or at least, I thought it would. I was apparently wrong.

“I think it only fair to warn you, Max, you are an *.”

“You’re tempting me, sweetheart.”

“Yeah well, you’re pissing me off so I’d say we were even.”

“You do get that you are my hostage, right?” I ask because apparently she needs reminding.

“I offered to help you! You dick! What happens? You chain me up and leave me alone again! I specifically asked you not to! I even said please!”

“I told you I’d be back! I had to make sure you didn’t escape! Remember? Hostage?”

“I told you I would help you!”

“And, I told you I’d be back,” I stress again.

“What would have happened to me if one of those men from the prison had found me while you were gone, Max? You left me helpless!” She growls.

She might have a point there, and I curse my stupidity. Still, she’s way too stubborn for her own good.

“You need to stop pushing me.”

“You need to stop leaving me alone!”

I grab her by the back of her neck and pull her face up to me so that our lips are just a breath away from each other. Even then, even knowing what I’ve done in my life, it is not fear in her eyes. It’s excitement.

“You’re playing with fire.” Her tongue slips from between her lips and rubs gently against her bottom lip. Her beautiful hazel eyes are glowing and so f*cking intense. “You should be praying that I leave you alone, woman.”