Page 40 of Dark Encounter
Chapter 15
Erik
What was I doing? I couldn't let Grace into my world, and yet I'd offered her just that.
She loved me. She said it herself. How the hell could I deny her after she professed her love for me? We barely knew each other and yet she was willing to put herself on the line like that?
A woman that dressed like she belonged in a retirement facility because shedidn'twant the wrong attention? I only had so much push inside of me. I was lonely and completely in love with her too. Years of going to the library and watching her from a distance left me no choice. She would become the softer side of me, and I would be forced to protect her with my life.
My father.
"Fuck," I mumbled and held her hand tightly as we walked around the library toward the bike.
"What's wrong?" Her voice filled with uncertainty.
"Nothing, kitten." I got on the bike and handed her a helmet. "We'll figure it out. Let's just get outta here for the afternoon and work through a few things."
"Okay," she mumbled softly and got on the back of the bike.
She wasn't tough or street smart in the least. It's like I'd gone inside of a goddamn book and snatched a princess-type out to be my girl. She couldn't defend herself or protect our kids or...Don't go there.
My mother's funeral played before my eyes, leaving my heart racing and a thick ball of regret sitting in the back of my throat as I drove us to New Jersey. My father had found himself a princess too, a sweet, beautiful, caring woman who wouldn't harm anything or anyone, and look where it got them. Mom was dead, and my father was a black shell of a man, ready to kill and maim someone before seeking out the truth in the situation.
It's where I would be if I let Grace burrow any farther in my heart and something happened to her. I would burn down the whole fucking city in retribution.
She ran her hands up my chest and pressed herself against my back as I pressed the gas and shot off down a back road with the wind in my hair and the sun beating down on my arms. I was shaking as my thoughts got darker and darker. She must have noticed.
We pulled up to a little hamburger shack outside of the city, and I turned the bike off and offered her my hand. She got off and handed me the helmet back.
"I'll get lunch. What do you want?" She moved up beside me, and I wrapped my arm around her waist.
"Whatever you want." I pulled my card out and gave it to her. "You're not buying shit. Use this. Keep it."
"What? No." She handed it back and walked toward the shack as I closed my eyes and tilted my head to the sky.
What was I doing? No... what the fuck was Cole doing? Anger burned through me at the thought of the cop talking to my girl in private. Cole knew Grace was mine. He made that shit pretty clear in front of the library. I would spend the day with Grace and then... Cole and I were having a long ass talk. One that hopefully ended with a handshake instead of his big ugly ass splattered all over the concrete.
"I got us some fries to share." She walked toward me, her pink tank top fitting her tightly and her long silky hair dancing in the wind.
I chuckled as my eyes moved down to her pants. "Grace. What are these tights you're wearing, baby?"
"You don't like them?" She pretended to pout and got on the back of the bike.
"I love them. They keep everyone with a breath in their chest and a cock in their jeans away. You look like a serial killer with those on." I started the bike, enjoying the way she leaned against me, molding her softness against the hard muscles of my back.
"Then I fit in perfectly."
We drove for another thirty minutes and pulled off into a large national forest that had park benches. I parked the bike and grabbed her hand as we walked down through the massive trees that sat all around us.
"I used to come here all the time as a kid." I glanced over at her, and she smiled back. She was so fucking beautiful it almost hurt to look at her. How long would she stay? Who would come after her? Fear and anxiety tightened my chest, and I cursed myself.Thiswas why I didn't want to take things beyond a good hard fuck from time to time.
"I've never been here." She pulled her hand from mine and walked to the nearest park bench, working to get everything laid out for us.
I wanted to reach out and run my fingers through her hair, strip her down and make love to her on the table top, but now wasn't the time. I'd forced myself on her too many times lately as a way of just being close to her. "How long have you been working at the library?"
She sat down and picked up her burger, smiling softly at me. "Since freshman year. I was part time during college, but after graduating, I got hired on as one of the supervisors." She shrugged. "It's not for everyone, but I love it. Stories got me through a lot of hard times as a girl."
I reached out and brushed my fingers down the side of her arm, wanting to be a preppy jock type for her, but I couldn't. I was a killer and had always been. It was the way I was raised.
