Like last night, he beat back his response not only to having the knowledge confirmed her own fucking father burned her, but also the asshole kept tabs on her to control her.
Instead, he swiftly moved around the bar and pulled her in his arms.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he told her.
She rested her hands on his biceps, her head tipped back, her expression not assured.
“Do you think they know I’m here?” she asked.
If they knew that she was visiting him, now or before, they both would be very aware of it.
“No,” he answered and gave her more, “And even if they did, if they got that info just off a tracker, they wouldn’t know who you were visiting. I own this unit ’cause I own the building. A company I’m a partner in did the renos. But the unit, the building, my car, nothin’ is easy to trace back to me. For business purposes, I erased myself a long time ago. Just makes shit easier. Only people who know I exist are the IRS but even that’s a juggernaut I pay three CPAs to straighten out so they don’t audit me. So, unless they’re standin’ outside watchin’ and see me open the door, they won’t know who you’re seein’. And I got security on this building, watched twenty-four seven, so if we had company, I’d know that too.”
She relaxed against him, but only slightly.
“We have a lot to talk about,” she remarked.
They really fucking did.
“We’ll do it.”
“Sebring—”
“Shade,” he cut her off, taking one arm from around her to cup her face and dropping his closer to hers. “We’ll do it. We’ll take our time ’cause we got it. We’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I make sure you’re safe to move around as you like, not the least of that being making it safe for you to be with me. Starting today. So can you do without your phone for the day?”
She nodded.
“Right. Tonight, you’re back here.”
She nodded again.
“Six, Olivia. And if I’m not here, I’ll give you a key.”
“I’m uncertain I have the brute strength to open your door.”
He grinned. “It sounds angry but it’s a piece of cake.”
“Right,” she murmured, her eyes drifting to his throat.
“Livvie,” he called.
Her gaze came back.
Before he could say more words to reassure her, she spoke and as she did, just the way she did it last night, he caught the look deep in her eyes.
“You’ll give me a key.”
That said a lot for any man and woman, he knew it.
For them, the level of trust it communicated was out the roof.
And the way she felt about it wasn’t right there for him to see, but she gave it to him because he put in the effort to look deep.
“I’ll give you a key,” he confirmed quietly.
She leaned into him, her soft body yielding to his hard.
“Fuck, you gotta stop bein’ sweet or I’m gonna need to fuck you against the island and I got zero time this morning,” he warned. “I need coffee and to get a move on.”