Page 35 of Savage Hearts

I was blushingred by the time we finished and she led me back out.

Maverick was sitting on the red recliner in the corner, frowning at something on his phone.

He looked up when he heard us, his eyes moving from Sarah to me and staying. There were questions in them I didn’t want to answer. He stood and brushed off an imaginary wrinkle on his suit jacket. He looked flawless.

Flawless and powerful.

We stopped when we were no more than a foot away from him, and Sarah stared at the floor, her expression one of deference. I wondered if she knew the extent of their powers and reach within Chicago.

I had no doubt that any organization able to annihilate an entire chapter of the MC—one that had ruled in this city for the past two decades, at that—was strong.

“Everything is done, Mr. Tiernan.”

Maverick didn’t speak right away. Sarah shifted on her feet nervously, and I looked up to see why he wasn’t answering her, only to be hit directly with his blue eyes.

I bit my cheek to keep in every smart retort I could feel bubbling up to the surface. Dad always said my mouth would get me into trouble. We both thought it would be with him. But I was learning to be smart. If I wanted to escape, I would have to keep my mouth shut and not draw any more attention to myself. Was it ironic that I was using Dad’s lesson with the man who had killed him?

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the thought.

So instead of saying what I really wanted to say, I asked, “Can we go?” I was trying so hard to keep my voice from wavering. I hated the tone of my voice.

I wished I was stronger

Wished I could just kick him in the balls and let that be done with.

But the voice that came out didn’t sound like my own.

Whether or not it was intentional, he took down my defenses yesterday. I had no idea how to fight him off.

And he knew it.

He didn’t answer me.

Just looked at me with those expressionless eyes of his.

I wondered which I preferred, the indifference from such a cold man, or the warmth and softness—thehumaneness—of the man who had held me in his lap on the drive here.

He waved Sarah away, and she practically ran out of there, as if Lucifer was chasing closely behind her. I looked around, but we were the only ones left in the salon. Maverick closed the gap between us in one large step. I tilted my head up, not wanting to look away when I was essentially trapped in the room with a predator.

Our gaze met.

I froze.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. That gaze of his was heavy with meaning, with enough power to make me feel like I was in a small protective cocoon created by him.

My heart suddenly calmed, and I felt somehow… safer.

It was laughable.

And my sense of self-preservation really was fucked up, because no woman in my position should have felt safe with him.

I shouldn’t feel safe, but I did, and I didn’t want to look away from his gaze.

The moment our eyes held felt momentous for some ridiculous reason.

It was beautiful and special andfragile.

“Not yet, little monster. I still haven’t done what I promised to do for you.”

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