Page 71 of Savage Reign

Hell. I shook away the possessive thought and settled into the seat while Maverick spoke with Marcus, probably trying to decide where to take her.

Mila was looking intently at me. I didn’t want to fucking scare her, but I wondered if she could see the frustration, the anger in my eyes, if she looked any closer. I let out a sigh and opened my arms. She made a small move toward me before stopping herself and looking back at Silas, biting her bottom lip, uncertainty heavy in those fascinating sea eyes of hers.

Silas grinned at me before bringing his lips down to her neck, making a show of kissing the skin there before he let his lips slide up to her ear. He whispered something to her that I didn’t hear. When he pulled away, Mila pushed out from his lap and onto mine. I instinctively wrapped my arms tightly around her, feeling my heart settle from her nearness. My hand rubbed up and down her back to comfort her as much as to comfort me, and she let out a pleasurable sound, snuggling in closer.

Hell.

How could she ever doubt just how much I fucking loved her?

Her face turned up, her eyes meeting mine just as Maverick climbed inside the car. He sat down next to me, his eyes never straying from Mila, a sort of possessiveness there. I fucking knew how he was feeling.

He reached out and grabbed hold of her hand, playing with it.

“How about we go somewhere more casual?”

She perked up. “Casual?”

Maverick nodded. “I know a barbecue joint not too far from here. Would you like that?”

She nodded enthusiastically, and I felt a pinch in my heart.

“I would like that very much,” she said.

“Then that’s where we will go,” Maverick answered, knocking twice on the partition to let Marcus know to take off.

The car drove in silence.

We should have known Mila wasn’t the kind of girl for all of this shit. She never showed any interest in how much money we had, in all the expensive jewelry we gifted her, to even the designer clothes, even if all that belonged to us belonged to her all the same.

Mila was just… Mila.

And we were fucking this up.

I squeezed her, and she looked up at me questioningly. I subtly shook my head and held her closer.

She placed her face on my chest and let out a loud yawn. Silas chuckled. “Fucking adorable.”

At this point, I was sure Mila could do nothing, and he’d think she was adorable.

Maverick and I shared an amused look.

The drive to the barbecue joint Maverick had talked about wasn’t too far. We got there in less than fifteen minutes, despite the traffic. Marcus pulled up to the back, where they had a parking lot for the customers. Maverick got out of the car first,then Silas, until it was just me and the little firecracker left. She moved to get out, but I squeezed her to me.

She turned to look at me.

“You’re keeping something from us,” I said. I didn’t know how I had come to that, but something had been nagging me all day since the moment I left to get her breakfast. The guilty look on her face confirmed it.

She squirmed against me. “I?—”

“If you’re going to open your mouth to lie to me, just don’t,” I said matter-of-factly. If she wanted to keep her little secretfor now, I’d let her, but I didn’t want to be lied to.

She nodded.

I cupped her cheek. “Okay, sweetheart. But just know, you’re going to tell me sooner or later.”

She hesitated for a brief second before nodding once more. I let her go when she made to get out of the car. I followed closely behind.

“Finally,” Silas said impatiently, pulling Mila close to him. “I was almost half-convinced Killian might fuck you in the car and make us wait.”

---