to a one-night stand. I knew she wasn’t somebody who’d read anything into it.”
“Why did you end it?” asked Mila, putting her empty cup on the coffee table.
“I didn’t. She did.”
“Did you object?”
“No. I had no reason to. There was nothing between us.”
Mila couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Charlene had wanted him to object. Maybe the fox had hoped that by pulling away from him, she’d spur him into pushing for more. “How did you feel about her imprinting on someone else?”
“Happy for her. I thought of her as a friend, nothing more.” Setting his cup on the coaster on the coffee table, he added, “She tried discouraging me from pursuing you. When she mentioned over the phone yesterday that I hadn’t been to the club, she assumed I’d given up on you, and she seemed pleased by it. Said I was too old to be chasing skirts.”
“Maybe she’s just looking out for you in her way and wants you to find someone you can settle down with—someone not me. People often aren’t fond of pallas cats.”
“Well, I’m very fond of my cat.” Dominic lifted her and sat her on his lap to straddle him, marveling at how she seemed to fit there just right. As she went lax against him, he smoothed his hands up her back. “Very, very fond.” He kissed her, licking into her mouth. Feasting and savoring until his head spun with her taste. “I shouldn’t have pulled back from you and put distance between us.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.”
“It won’t happen again.” Dominic didn’t miss the spark of doubt in her gaze. “I’m all in this, Mila. I made a commitment to you, and I don’t have to tell you that I don’t take shit like that lightly. I wouldn’t have put that brand on your neck if I wasn’t sure that you could trust me to honor it. I can’t promise you that I won’t fuck up, but I can promise you that I’ll give this everything I have. Okay?”
Mila twisted her mouth. “All right. I promise to do the same.”
He gave her a lazy smile. “That’s my girl.” He kissed her again, sipping from her lips, liking the way her heartbeat quickened. The same heartbeat that had briefly come to a halt the previous evening, he remembered. And that thought was enough to take his breath away.
Never again. The next time danger came her way, it would find him in its path. “I’ve got to be honest, I’m not feeling good about you staying here after what happened in the basement.”
She smoothed her hands down his hard chest. “Vinnie and the boys will secure the building.”
“It should have already been secure. If I hadn’t trusted that you were safe here, I wouldn’t have kept my distance. In fact, I would have worked on getting you to stay on my territory for a while.”
“Can you honestly tell me that a snake shifter couldn’t have found a way onto your territory in much the same way that it did this building? Because you’d be totally lying if you said yes. In any case, I won’t be hiding away on your territory or anywhere else. That’s not who I am, and it’s not who my cat is.”
“I respect that you’re a highly dominant female, baby—”
“Prove it. Don’t try to change me. Don’t ask me to go against my nature. I know you want to protect me. But wrapping me up in cotton wool truly wouldn’t help the situation. The hit isn’t personal to me. It’s just a means of flushing out Alex. If I seem too difficult to get to, a price might suddenly appear on my mother’s head, or my father’s. Then the pride would be scrambling, trying to protect us all at once. Their attention and resources would be divided. Only two things will help—finding Alex and learning the identity of who put out the hit. I’m hoping Nick’s hacker-ally can help with the latter.”
Dominic fucking hated that he couldn’t deny she made sense. Still . . . “I don’t want your parents in the line of fire either, but I can’t agree that it’s better for the threat to remain focused solely on you.”
“I’m not asking you to agree with it. In your shoes, I wouldn’t like it either. But the pride has a better chance of protecting me if I’m the only one they need to worry about.” She put her finger to his mouth when he would have protested. “Let it