Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,180

over into the glove compartment, pulled out a tiny black box and handed it to me.

I frowned. “What’s this?”

“Open it.”

I opened it, and as soon as I did, I gasped. Nestled inside on a delicate silver chain was a beautiful star pendant made of white gold.

“Do you like it?” Colt asked.

“It’s beautiful.”

He pulled it out of the box and fastened it around my neck. “It’s supposed to symbolize protection,” he said, his hand brushing against the back of my neck “I wanted you to have something to let you know everything’s going to be okay.”

I felt the color rising high on my cheeks, the warm happiness I felt at him giving me a gift like this, something so romantic, so thoughtful taking over my body. I loved it. But at the same time, I was conflicted. How could I work with the FBI, tell them things that might get Colt in trouble? It was confusing, what he was asking me to do, and even though I’d already agreed to it, I was already having doubts.

“Colt,” I said. “I love it. But I can’t just –”

“Yes, Olivia,” he said. “You can.”

His eyes blazed, and I reached up and touched the necklace, the cool metal against my skin.

I nodded.

He shifted back in his seat, started the car and pulled out of the restaurant parking lot.

We drove to Loose Cannons, and as we got closer to the club, I could feel Colt’s tension coming back.

When we pulled in, he cut the engine and stared out the window.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Okay.” We sat there in silence for a few more minutes. “You seem edgy.”

“No,” he said. “I’m not edgy. I’m looking forward to this.” His eyes were steely and determined, his gaze focused.

“Looking forward to what?” I asked carefully, trying to ignore the feeling of trepidation that had begun to bloom in my stomach.

“To cleaning this place the fuck out.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew what he was talking about, and it wasn’t cleaning the floors or making sure the glasses behind the bar were all sparkly and shiny. He was talking about getting people out.

He cut the engine. “You stay here.”

“What?” I shook my head. “No way. I’m coming.” I went to unbuckle my seatbelt, but he reached over and buckled me back in.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know what the reaction in there is going to be.”

“The reaction?”

“Yes.”

I frowned, confused, and then I got it. He meant the reaction to what he was about to tell them - that his uncle had been bought out, that there wasn’t going to be any more shady stuff, no drugs, no “favors” in the back room. He thought it might get rough.

But I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to sit in the car while he went in there and dealt with this all by himself.

“Colt,” I said. “You can’t protect me from everything.”

“I can protect you from this.”

“I’m coming inside.” I went for the car door, but he reached over and hit the lock before I could get out.

When I turned to look at him, he was grinning, which was infuriating.

“What’s so funny?” I demanded.

“This is exactly what happened the first day I met you. Remember? You kept insisting you wanted to get out of the car, and I wouldn’t let you.”

“Of course I remember. You took my purse.”

The cocky look slowly left his face. “I knew,” he said gruffly. “I somehow knew, even then, that I needed to protect you.” I waited a beat and then unbuckled my seatbelt, slid closer to him on the seat and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Let me be there for you,” I breathed. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

He shook his head and turned away from me, trying to disentangle himself from my grasp, but I could tell he really didn’t want to move away. He did want to protect me, I knew that, but that wasn’t why he was pushing me away. He was pushing me away because I was getting too close.

“Colt.”

He turned his head toward me slightly. “No. It’s too dangerous.”

“Look, you want me to work with the FBI, right? With Caleb? If that’s going to happen, you’re going to have to let me in on some things. They’re going to have to believe that I know some things. And if I’m going to be working here anyway, I’m going to see things Colt.” I took his hand, rubbing my thumb over his knuckles. “You can’t