against his throat. Holding her. “Settle.” He growled the order when she went to pull away. He didn’t care that she was wet, he wanted her in his arms.
She relaxed against him. “You bought this house for me, didn’t you?”
He was silent a moment, his breath caught in his lungs. Clouds overhead rode the slight breeze. They looked like white fluff flung into the blue haphazardly. “Yes.”
“You really were going to come for me, weren’t you?”
His gut clenched. So many knots. She was working it all out. At last. He was afraid to hope. He didn’t want her to ever think he had meant one word he’d said to her the night he’d sent her away. He didn’t want her to think he was taking her back into his life because they had a son and he wanted the boy with him.
“Yes. Code’s been looking for a direction on you for the last year. One little footprint was all we needed. You listened when I told you how to go off the grid, didn’t you?”
“Yes. After you sent me away, I knew you’d told me all those things for a reason. In your way, you were still protecting me. That’s what you’re all about, Steele, protection of everyone around you. Just know, I really can stand on my own two feet.”
“I’m very aware of that, Breezy.” He wanted her to depend on him. At the same time, he was proud of her. He relied on that strength she had.
“Why didn’t you tell me straight-out that you had plans to come for me?”
She tried to draw back so she could look at his face, but he held her easily in place, refusing to let her move.
“You wouldn’t have believed me.”
She nodded, her green eyes never leaving his. “No, I wouldn’t have. Still, there’s more.”
“Didn’t need you knowing you’re my world.” He made the confession gruffly, feeling like a fool. Feeling so fucking vulnerable she might as well have driven a stake through his heart.
Breezy pressed cool lips to his throat. There was a long silence and he didn’t know what that meant. Finally, her hand slid up his arm to cup the side of his face. “You’ve always been my world, since the moment I first saw you. I knew it was you. I don’t mind you knowing that.”
“That’s because you’re courageous, Bree. You don’t mind if I have the upper hand in all things. Why is that? Why doesn’t it bother you that I need to be the one in control?”
Her slender shoulders shrugged, the movement sliding over his skin like a caress. “Control is an illusion, Steele. I learned that a long time ago. It doesn’t matter who appears to have it. We really only can control ourselves. We have choices. You were my choice. Just listening to the sound of your voice always made me happy. I knew you were a good man, even though you rode with the Swords. I have control over me and my wants and needs. You’re both to me. It doesn’t matter what happens in the future, or if we’re together, I know that isn’t going to change.”
He didn’t like that. “We’re going to be together.” He made that a statement. He didn’t like the feeling of vulnerability being with her gave him. He hadn’t allowed himself to be vulnerable to anyone other than his brothers and sisters in Torpedo Ink. That was the reason he hadn’t told her. He didn’t want her to know how vulnerable he was.
“You’re insisting we stay together, Steele. You’re demanding I tell you how I feel and trust you implicitly. I did that once and, in the end, it didn’t work out for us.”
She pushed back hard, and he reluctantly let her up. She sat on the edge of the lounge looking down at him, staring right into his eyes. “You have to commit to us. Just like you’re part of Torpedo Ink, I have to be part of you. You have to be all in. You have to be able to tell me the hard things and not worry that I’m going to do something to hurt you.”
She could tear his heart out, and there was that monster, crouching inside of him, waiting to slip out. What if the pain she caused was so bad the monster got loose? He closed his eyes and started to turn his head away, afraid she would see.
“No, Steele. Look at me. This is our chance, right here. I saw