Page 47 of Locke 2

He’s going to steal you.

The thought of Locke taking me to do all those sordid things to me awoke every old part of me that I had tried to bury deep. The parts that I said weren’t healthy and needed to be shed. Standing before him now, those parts were alive inside me, aching to be touched.

“Interesting,” I breathed out, delighting in his restraint. “You’re acting like such a gentleman.”

“Lioness, there’s nothing gentlemanly about my warning.”

“The man that abducted me, that chased me and forced me down on that grassy field, that forced my legs apart and nearly fucked me didn’t ask for my permission.”

His gaze burned a path down my body. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Why not?”

“Because the last thing I want to see is the loathing in your eyes after I’ve taken you.”

My amusement faded as I heard the wretchedness in his voice. My heart slowed. Sadness pulled at my centre. I quietly admitted, “I don’t loathe you, Locke. I don’t think I ever did.”

“Tell him,” Aurora whispered, emerging from my peripheral vision. “Tell him what he made you feel, Kali.”

But I shook my head, the words sitting like hard lumps in my throat. I turned away from him—from her—and crawled into bed. I heard his soft sigh of relief behind me.

Perhaps he was closer to losing it than I thought.

I took a very deep breaths to calm myself. He took a seat on the chair I’d left in the bedroom specifically for him. His weight made it groan. Dahlia’s head popped up from under the covers. She sprinted across the mattress and practically dived off the bed and into his lap.

I smiled, though it was weak. “She likes you.”

She settled into his lap, and I almost felt jealous when he rested a large hand over her back and gently stroked her. “You rescued her.”

I nodded. “After the original owners found out she had cancer, they didn’t want her anymore.”

“It was the best thing to happen to her.”

“How so?”

“If they didn’t want her, they’d have pulled away. She’d have felt unwanted. It would have been cruel of them to keep her.”

“That’s true,” I agreed. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t want to confront death.”

“Do you judge them for it?”

“No. I understand the urge to pull away.” I looked at him sadly. “But who is there for the little one left behind?”

He looked longingly at me. “You.”

My face fell. The past disagreed with his statement. I looked down, avoiding his eyes. “As you know, I’ve done my fair share of running, Locke. Taking her in was the least I could do.”

He continued to stroke her, and I continued to watch. I stared at him. The way he pulled his brows together. The slight flinch of his lips as she encouraged him to keep going by bumping her head against his hand. He was so gentle with her.

Why couldn’t he be like that with me?

“Lay with me,” I urged again.

He didn’t look at me, nor did he appear surprised. “It would hurt.”

I smiled, cheekily saying, “I bounce back. I’m all healed from the other night.”

“I meant me.”

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