Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 44254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
“Apologize,” I snarl. “Now.”
“I’m sorry.” The man gasps, squirming but being careful not to move his twisted arm. “Oh, f-f-f… I’m sorry. Okay?”
I let him go as the security arrives, returning to my seat and taking a sip of orange juice. There’s an inferno inside of me, raging, telling me I should’ve been harder on him.
I should’ve wrecked him for even hinting something like that about my woman.
The security guard walks over to us, looking between us, trying to figure out what happened.
“He just attacked him,” one of the men says. “He just….”
“Stop it,” the man I fought – Chris – says sharply. “Let’s just get out of here.”
I turn, watching them go. Jerry stays behind with tears in his drunken eyes, staring at me.
“Mr. Dawson, I’m sorry,” he says. “I just wanted to say hello. I don’t want to be like him. I don’t want to act like that. I want to do better. Please don’t fire me.”
“You didn’t throw the punch,” I tell him. “Go home. Sober up. I’ll see you at work.”
Just like that, it’s over, the security guard backing away once he sees the situation has resolved itself. The restaurant begins to quieten down, though people are glancing our way.
“Are you okay?” Danni asks.
“Yeah,” I say, wondering if she’s waiting for me to finish up where I left off. “I hope I didn’t embarrass you.”
She laughs disbelievingly, in the most adorable way, shaking her head. “No, not even close. Nobody’s ever stood up for me like that before. You handled it so well, too. Even the security guard was just like…yup, I’m out of here. But your face, Dominic. Do you want me to get you some ice or something? I can’t see a mark.”
“I barely felt it,” I tell her. “I’m not saying that to sound like some tough guy.”
“You clearly are a tough guy.”
I smirk. “Okay, then. But the point is, I’ve taken far worse shots than that. I really should’ve diffused the situation, but I wanted the prick to hit me. I wanted him to learn he doesn’t get to speak to you that way.”
“Don’t make a habit of it,” she says quietly. “I don’t want you getting hurt. Or going to prison. But thank you.”
She looks around the restaurant, smiling shakily. “I feel like everybody’s watching us.”
“Do you want to leave?” I ask, needing her to be comfortable.
She shakes her head. “Let them look. I don’t care if you don’t.”
My body surges at her words as though I can feel my blood pumping through every single cell, the flowing force. It’s like my seed is sending it around me with extra ferocity, the closeness of the fight putting me on edge.
And yet I don’t resume what I was saying.
The moment’s passed.
I could tell her….
But it’s better to sit here, looking into her eyes as she looks into mine, enjoying the feeling of getting lost in each other.
“What are you going to do about Jerry?” she asks.
I sigh, shrugging. “He seems like a decent kid. I'll keep him on if he turns up to work sober and proves his worth. If his brother decides to make something of this, though….”
“What will you do then?” she asks quietly.
I look at her steadily. In my unit, we used to talk about how we were carrying on a long lineage, from the wanderers of ancient times to Spartans, to Vikings, to warrior societies at all points in history.
That’s how it feels now, like the years have been stripped away. I’m staring at my woman across a campfire, ready to commit to defending her, always.
“Whatever I have to,” I tell her. “I never go looking for trouble. If I had my way, I’d never get in another fight again. But people like that, Danni, think they can rule the world just because most people are scared. I’m not scared, and I’ll never pretend to be.”
She bites her lip, giving her that beautiful, sexy look.
Her eyes are glimmering. I wonder if she knows or if she can sense it…
Something special is happening here, something unique, if I could just summon the courage to say it aloud.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Danni
Everybody has moved on from the fight now, nobody looking over at our table.
I wrap spaghetti around my fork, studying Dominic’s face as he cuts into his steak. There’s no mark there, but that doesn’t stop the caring instinct from trying to make me take him someplace I can watch over him and hold an ice pack to his face.
And it also doesn’t stop me from wanting to turn back time, to make it so he can finish what he was going to say.
I don’t want him to fight, but I can’t deny there was some satisfaction there when he easily put that jerk in his place.
It was the fire in my man’s eyes, too, like he was barely holding back the full force of his fury.