affection in her voice. “When I first came here with my sisters, believe me, I was afraid, leery and felt totally out of place. They make a place for you. It’s as if once you’re accepted into their circle, they just somehow absorb you and you’re a part of them. It’s really cool, Bree. It took me a while before I could make myself give them a chance, but I was really glad when I did.”
Did she look that uncomfortable? Probably. It was more that she didn’t understand what was happening and that always paralyzed her. She had a tendency to try to make herself small and invisible until she figured out protocol. These people baffled her. A good deal of the problem was she had known them all first as Swords. They’d blended in with the club seamlessly, although they all looked, even then, as if they could eat their prey. They were like chameleons, blending in wherever they went.
How did she know what was real? She’d thought Steele’s feelings for her were real during the time they were together. Although he’d never once told her he loved her, she’d felt it when he’d touched her. Maybe she just had never known kindness and she’d mistaken that for love. It was also possible he’d felt some affection for her, and she’d mistaken that as well.
She forked the eggs into her mouth. This food was as different from the Swords fare as the table filled with obvious friendship and brotherhood was. Everything about Torpedo Ink was different. She just didn’t know if she could trust them to return Zane to her if—when—they got him back.
Steele’s hand slid up her back to the nape of her neck. She froze at his touch. There was no way to stop the flutters in her sex, or the weird sensation of a somersault in her stomach. She accepted that her body would always react to his touch no matter how much she tried to keep it from happening. She turned her head slowly toward him, bracing herself to meet his eyes.
“Everything’s going to be all right, Bree.”
“I want to go with you when you go after him.” She was going, no matter what they all said. They would have to lock her up to keep that from happening. She wasn’t going to say so, though, she was going to stay quiet. If they left without her, she would find her own way to Louisiana, because she was going to be there to hold her son in her arms and comfort him.
He nodded slowly. “I’ve been giving that a lot of thought. We could communicate by phone but having you with us to direct us to the next possible place would be the smarter thing to do. I need you safe, though, Bree, so you have to give me your word you’ll follow orders. I’m not going to be telling you what to do just to be bossy. These situations can get dicey fast and can deteriorate in moments. We’re adept at reading what’s happening.”
That made sense as well. She let her breath out, nodding. “I have no problem with that.” She’d always let him take the lead because she’d trusted him. Now, she wasn’t sure how she felt about him—what she trusted and what she didn’t. She was elated that she didn’t have to argue, beg or try to deceive him. She wasn’t good at deception. Not like he was.
“Good. Eat, baby. You’re going to need your strength.”
A shiver of awareness snaked through her body. His admonishment could have been about keeping her strong for travel, but his eyes and tone said something else altogether. Steele was a very sexual being. He was demanding and often, they’d had sex several times a day. More than once, he’d just caught her, slammed her against a wall and drove her out of her mind. It hadn’t mattered where they were; she’d lost her ability to think around him.
He’d never had a problem being naked in front of others or having sex with others around. She didn’t either. The moment he touched her, it didn’t matter where they were, his entire focus seemed wholly on her, and she loved that. Once at a party, he took her right on the bar and when someone else tried to touch her, he’d gone insane, beating the shit out of him. It had been a thing of beauty to watch him, his body like a machine.