Page 93 of Prince Charming

It was the stillness in the bedroom that woke Tag.

Marianna wasn’t a quiet sleeper.

His girl had restless dreams a lot. He’d gotten used to holding her like a football to keep her still.

Foraging a hand through the sheets, all he felt was the coolness on her side.

Lifting his head from the pillow, he listened for movement from downstairs.

Frowning, he flung his legs out of bed.

“Anna?” He called out.

The shit with Dix last night meant he’d already lost precious hours with her.

Her purse, phone and coat were gone.

Where the fuck was his woman at this time of the morning?

Her phone went to voicemail telling him that service wasn’t set up.

Tag stomped back upstairs to pull on some clothes.

It was her day off. He bet she’d gone into work, anyway.

Or she’d taken off to lick her wounds in private because of the call last night with Galina.

Preacher was atCharming Soulslifting weights when he got there, Tag didn’t stop to chat, other than to lift his chin to his buddy. A search of his gym brought no answers.

Where the hell was she? He tried calling again and got the same result.

He didn’t want to worry, but he kept replaying how upset she’d been over her kids.

Did it become too much for her to cope with?

Fucking shut it, dickhead. His Marianna wasn’t like that.

The thud in his chest became a boom, boom, boom.

No doubt about it, the moment he got his hands on her, he was gonna redden her little ass.

Stomping back out to his bike, he rode to her apartment, thumped a few dozen times on the door.

An hour passed of aimless riding, looking for any sign of her.

It was cold. He couldn’t think about her out in the snow without feeling his stomach clench.

Outside his place, he was about to call his brothers for a full-scale search when he saw a white coat in the distance, his heart ramped up in his chest. Bundled up, a bobble hat pulled low over her ears. He wanted to throttle her.

He swung a leg over his bike and reached her in a few long strides.

She appeared shocked to see him. Goddamn right, she should be shocked. He was fit to string her gorgeous ass up for making him worry.

His temper rang his fucking bell, but the relief at seeing her almost robbed Tag of strength.

He grabbed the tops of her arms. Stopped short of shaking the answers out of her because she looked so tiny. All he wanted to do was shove her inside his jacket, so he’d know where she was all the time.

“Where the fuck did you go?” He grit through his teeth, “you left my bed in the middle of the night.”

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