Page 147 of Beyond the Badge: Crew

With that intense love and passion, she would make a great mother one day. If she wanted that. And if she did, he couldn’t be the one to give it to her.

For that reason alone, he shouldn’t be here. Because, while he denied that any kind of connection existed between them… one did.

He feared that every time he came over here, every time he ended up in her bed, it would only get stronger.

Only get more intense.

In the end, he did not want to do to her what Sasha did to him, even if unintentionally. To save her from that, he needed to make excuses and get the fuck out of there.

When he rolled down the window, she spoke before he could. “I could see the whites of your eyes all the way from the house. Why are you so damn scared?”

For fuck’s sake.“You’re seeing things. I’m not scared.”

“Yes, you are. There’s nothing to be afraid of, Crew.”

She was so damn wrong.

“I don’t bite,” she teased.

Untrue. You’ve somehow sank your teeth so deeply into me, I can no longer escape without it tearing me apart.

He squeezed his eyes shut at that realization.Jesus fucking Christ.He couldn’t escape. It might already be too late.

To prove her wrong about being afraid, he powered up his window and exited the car.

Before she could step back, he shot his hand out to grab her by the back of the neck. He swung her around and pinned her against the driver’s door using his body from hips to chest.

When her head tipped up as his tipped down, he searched her shadowed eyes.

He couldn’t see their color, but he knew what they were. He could picture every shade—from dark brown to light—the color of every fleck and the outer black ring around the iris. He knew this because he’d stared into them every time she challenged him. As well as every time they’d had sex.

“Why do you drive me so fucking crazy?” slipped from him. He hated to admit that, but it was true.

“Are you sure you didn’t drive yourself there?”

His fingertips dug harder into her neck. “Fuck no. It’s all you.”

Since she was wearing a form-fitting camisole, her shoulders were bare even though the night breeze had a slight chill. She jerked one slightly in a half-shrug. “You could leave.”

Like it was that simple.

“I could,” he agreed, even though that was a damn lie.

“But you won’t.”

Goddamn it.

The confidence she exuded was nothing but a turn-on for him. It wasn’t cockiness, it was pure strength.

He hoped she never lost that, or no one dared attempt to destroy it. But if someone tried, he knew she would fight tooth and nail to keep it.

Right then and there, the truth slammed him in the chest like a battering ram.

Shewas the woman he had hoped Sasha would be. One able to handle who he was. How he was. Even what he was.

At the time, he’d thought Sasha was “the one.” He now knew he was so fucking wrong.

It wasn’t Sasha.

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