Page 57 of Hard to Hold
“You don’t have to do that,” she said, but her voice was shaky.
I pulled her to the edge of the seat so I was standing directly in front of her. I lowered my voice, keeping my tone even. “I don’t know what you’re scared of or what you’re runnin’ from, but I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. You should know that by now.”
I folded my hand and opened it again, signaling for her to place the key in it. Amy reluctantly passed it over, and I passed Wolfe on the way to the door. I didn’t see anything amiss out front, but I looked it over, making sure her front windows were still intact.
Once inside, I did the same thing I did earlier. I walked into every room, flipping on the lights as I went. This time I went so far as to check that all the windows were locked, looked in her closets and even under the full-size bed in her bedroom. No way were the three of us fitting on that thing.
The thought made me laugh.
I returned to the living room to find Wolfe and Amy standing in the doorway.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I don’t want you to think you have to protect me. That’s not why I like hanging out with you.” She looked up at Wolfe. “Both of you.”
Wolfe cupped her face and stared down at her. “No one’s gonna hurt you, Amy. You’ve got my word on that. And when you’re ready to tell us what’s goin’ on, we’re here to listen.”
She nodded and Wolfe released her face, but not before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
“Good night,” I said, pausing in front of her and pressing a kiss to her lips.
Her hand brushed over my chest and I wished like hell I wasn’t leaving her alone tonight. However, I couldn’t impose on her. The woman had to come out of her shell sometime, and Wolfe was right; whenever she was ready to talk about it, we’d both be there.
In the meantime, I was going to do a little digging. Now that I had more information, I wouldn’t be able to help myself.
Because if someone was out to hurt Amy, I damn sure wasn’t going to sit back and wait for it to happen.
Chapter Eleven
Monday, July 31, 2017
Amy
I was up before the sun on Monday morning.
That wasn’t surprising since I'd gone to bed at eight o’clock last night. I'd spent my entire Sunday alternating between reading and watching movies. Oh, and I'd spent about two hours total texting back and forth with Wolfe and Rhys.
Although I had hoped to see them, I knew that it was for the best that I hadn’t. We’d already been moving too fast, and I wanted time to let it all sink in. To really sink in. The whole thing was surreal, and I still wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Not only because there were three of us in this erotic triangle, either.
No, that wasn’t too difficult to handle. It felt right, for whatever reason.
My reluctance had more to do with the fact that I'd spent five years of my life under the thumb of a man who wanted to own me. Before him, I'd lived by my parents’ rules, as well as my aunt and uncle’s. Making decisions for myself wasn’t something I'd had to do, and the truth was, despite my fear of coming face-to-face with a monster, I did like being on my own. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be at someone’s beck and call ever again.
But it was Monday and I had a job to do. No time to think about any of that.
When I arrived at the shop, Wolfe was already there, but no one else was.
“Mornin’,” he greeted from his position near a long, narrow table that looked to be almost completed. He appeared to be setting up the stain and varnish nearby.
“Morning,” I replied. “Do you always get here first?”
“Most of the time, yeah. Lynx doesn’t like to get out of bed. He says I’m lucky that he’s usually here by eight.”
“Should I make coffee yet? Do you drink it?”
“Most days, no. However, I slept for shit last night. I could use some, but you don’t have to make it. I can handle it.”
“I don’t mind.” I went to the coffee machine and got it all set up and brewing. As I wiped down the counter, I turned to look at him. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to respond to him at work. I didn’t think waltzing up to him and kissing him would be appropriate; however, I didn’t want to appear as though I was brushing him off, either.
Truth was, I wanted to kiss him. In fact, I wanted to spend all day and night kissing him and Rhys. Maybe it made me a hussy to want two men, but there it was. The situation was beyond confusing, but it felt right. I wasn’t sure how I'd come to a point in my life when having two men want me and each other at the same time was even a thing, but that did seem to be the case, strange as it was.
