Page 72 of Hard to Hold
“It is. But you should’ve seen the look on her face. It was as though I’d personally offended her.”
Interesting. “So, you think…?”
Rhys shrugged. “I don’t know what to think, but yeah, I think it’s safe to assume someone abused her.”
I nodded, considering this. It made sense. It certainly explained how tense she was, always looking over her shoulder.
“I can’t fucking sit here and do nothin’, Wolfe. It’s not who I am.”
I knew that. It wasn’t easy for me, either. “We don’t have a choice.”
Rhys gripped the railing and bent over, bowing his back as his knuckles turned white around the old wood, his entire body tight with his anger.
I didn’t know why I did it, but I moved over and put my hand on his’s back. “We’ll figure this out.”
Rhys stood, pivoting to face me.
I found myself face-to-face with a very pissed-off sheriff.
“You’re right. We will.” He didn’t sound convinced. “Which is why I need to go. I need?—”
In an effort to distract him, I grabbed Rhys and slammed my mouth over his. Jerking the man against me, I released all the pent-up frustration through that kiss.
“Fuck,” Rhys moaned, his fingers digging into my waist, our mouths separating only briefly. “God, I need you.”
I knew exactly how he felt. This thing between the three of us, it was building. I knew I had to be careful with Amy, but I didn’t have to do the same with Rhys. I could be as rough, as passionate as I wanted to be.
And boy did I want to be.
I pushed him up against the wooden post that held up the porch’s roof. I held his jaw in place, roughly kissing him, thrusting my tongue into his mouth. It didn’t matter that we were outside, or that it was still daylight and anyone who came down Amy’s driveway might see us. I didn’t give a fuck about that. I wanted this man too damn much.
Rhys was the first to pull back, but not completely. He remained close, our lower bodies still touching.
“I can’t wait much longer,” I admitted.
I could wait forever for Amy because that was what she needed, but I knew Rhys was as tired of putting this off as I was.
“What do we do about that?”
I didn’t know the answer to that yet. But I got the feeling that I'd know by the time I went home tonight.
One way or the other, I was going to have Rhys. Whether we were alone or Amy was with us, I wasn’t putting it off any longer.
Rhys
I was doing my best to keep my temper in check. Wolfe’s distraction had helped. Well, sort of. It had also riled me in a completely different way. Now I needed something to sate the urges that had been building and building. My hand was no longer doing it for me. I needed more. Wolfe, Amy… I needed to feel them, to touch them, hold them. It was slowly driving me to the breaking point.
“Be patient,” Wolfe said, throwing my words from the other night back at me.
Patient. Right. My patience was so fucking thin at the moment. Still, I managed to laugh and relax a fraction.
That lasted until Wolfe backed away from me. Once the heat of his body was no longer pressing against me, the source of my initial frustration made a reappearance.
After Amy’s comment, I was itching to know just who had fucked with her and what they’d done. She clearly didn’t put a lot of faith in the police, which led me to believe that whoever had hurt her was in law enforcement. But who? Was it someone back in Houston? Or had she met him somewhere else?
Unfortunately, my searches so far had netted absolutely nothing. I needed more information to go on. At some point, I figured she would tell me more, or I would hit Wolfe up for the personal details from her employee file. I couldn’t sit back and let her continue to fear someone who might be out for her.
I wanted to fix it. It was who I was. Not something I could change, either.
