I backed her onto the couch again. Covered her with my less than perfect body and started kissing her again.

“More parts of me are flawed than not, Bry. Stick around long enough and you’ll see.”

She must not have been in any hurry to go because when I wrapped a hand around her knee and put it up over my hip, she slid the other one to the side of my hips of her own volition, making room for me to be able to slide right back inside her body. Her eyes fluttered closed and a tiny smile danced over her mouth. She arched up into me and whispered against the side of my neck, “Thank you for taking care of me tonight.”

She didn’t have a clue. As I started to move again, started to make her more and more mine, she didn’t even know the lengths I would end up going to in order to take care of her, and neither did I.

Chapter 9

Brysen

I SPENT THE NIGHT with Race. Not that it was a hardship to have his very talented hands and mouth all over every part of me for most of the night. But in the bright light of the daytime, the fact that I had just put everything down, walked away from what I knew made the most sense, and took something for myself made me feel a little overwhelmed. It was the first time in forever that I actually felt like myself, like I had some part of a life I actually wanted within my grasp, and I didn’t want to squander it. Even the fact that I had let him make love to me over and over again without protection was something I should be kicking myself over, but I was on the pill, responsible for my own choices. If I never had the chance to be with Race again, at least I knew I had had all of him, and it was better than anything else in the world had ever been. I think the thrill of it, the little unknown that came with being with a guy like him, added to the way it was so easy for him to work me all up.

He had rolled off of me this morning when his phone went off. He had mumbled words like payout, and the spread. He had pulled on a pair of jeans minus underwear, which was just dead sexy, kissed me hard on the mouth, and told me that Bax was getting the BMW squared away, and disappeared in a flurry of golden gloriousness and hasty good-byes. I didn’t know if I would see him again anytime soon, and frankly I was all right with that because I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to handle this major change in our relationship. We had never really been friends, didn’t know each other beyond the powerful attraction that seemed to pull us together, but the more bits and pieces of him I uncovered, the more I realized he was so much like me. His life looked one way, but underneath the surface there was so much more, so many other things going on. I hadn’t meant to blurt out my entire sad tale to him the night before, but after I had, I felt like a small portion of the burden was off my shoulders. It was a relief to have someone else out in the world knowing why I was doing what I was doing at home, that my sacrifice might go unnoticed on the home front by those it was for, but Race would know, and that mattered somehow.

I took a quick shower with the demon-hot water and cringed when I had to put on my dirty clothes from the night before. My face was scrubbed clean of makeup, my hair was damp, and I had a very prominent bite mark right on the center of my throat. I looked like the very image of “the morning after,” and I couldn’t say that I hated it. My eyes were big in my face, but there was a shine to them that had been missing for a long time—and maybe even a bit of the old me lurking back in the blue depths.

I collected my stuff, braced myself for whatever Bax was going to say, and went in search of my car. The garage was busy and loud. Machines were running, a plethora of male voices were talking, a radio was playing loud rock music somewhere, and over the top of it all engines were running and exhaust fumes perfumed the air. It was hectic enough that I was hoping no one would really notice me, but of course there was no such luck. A freshly showered girl exiting Race’s loft wasn’t going to go unnoticed, so I blushed when I caught a few knowing looks from the guys covered in grease and motor oil.

I saw Bax’s big form come out of the office. He had a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth and his phone pressed against his ear. He caught sight of me where I was walking down the metal steps and inclined his dark head toward the back of the garage. Everything about him was dark and demanding, I had no clue how Dovie didn’t run from him every single time he looked at her. Just the look in his pitch-black eyes was enough to make me scamper like a scared little rabbit in the direction he indicated.

The BMW had four new wheels along with a new set of rims that looked way more expensive than the stock ones that had been stolen off of it the night before. I tossed my purse and the laptop on the passenger seat and looked in surprise to see that even a new radio had been put back into the console. I startled when Bax called “heads-up” and tossed me my keys. I caught them in my hand and watched him warily as he sauntered over to me. A ring of smoke escaped his lips and his dark eyes narrowed fractionally at me. He had a black star tattooed on his face right next to his eye, and the way it crinkled and moved was fascinating. He was the embodiment of the kind of man who was honed in the very fires that fueled the Point.