“Clue in, Red. What I’m tellin’ you is that you are not pullin’ shit over on me. I’m a biker but I’m not an idiot. You entered this game, you knew it was a game and you made the decision, conscious or unconscious, to play it with me. And you’re playin’ it with me. I won’t allow you to throw in the towel, babe. We’re seein’ where this goes because we both want that. And we want that because what we got is hot and parts of it are sweet and parts of it are wild and parts of it are frustrating as all f**kin’ hell but all of it is alive.”

God, he was so annoying when he was right.

“You hurt me,” I reminded him and damn, his face got soft, his eyes flashed with remorse and both looked really good.

“Yeah,” he whispered.

“I’d had a really bad day and you hurt me.”

His hand at my jaw tensed and he kept whispering when he said, “I’ll probably do it again, Red, because I’m a man and any man can be a dick. But I won’t do it like that, not again. I know you got soft under that attitude and I’ll have a mind to that.”

“I don’t trust that to be true.”

“Then you’ll have to wait it out while I prove it to you.”

“I don’t have to do anything, Tack.”

The pads of his fingers pressed into my skin, his eyes changed and the way they changed, I could do nothing but stare.

Not remorse.

Not intensity.

Determination.

Steely determination.

Crap.

“Tyra, get me right now. You are not gonna slip in a movie about love and redemption and cry by my side because, even though you’ve seen it before, it still moves you and then rip that shit away from me. You are not gonna ride my fingers, whisper to me to f**k you and take my c**k the way I wanna give it to you, panting for more and then rip that shit away from me too. You are not gonna clash with me, toss your attitude my way when most every other woman shies away when I’m me then rip that away. And you are not gonna expose that soft spot you got that I like and I wanna protect and take that away from me either. Babe, I told you, you didn’t get it and you need to get it.” His fingers pressed deeper into my skin. “You are Chaos now. I am Chaos. You think you got the option but you don’t. There is no goin’ back. I’ve claimed you.”

He wanted to protect my soft spot.

And he’d claimed me.

Oh boy.

“You let me go,” I whispered.

“Does it feel like I let you go?”

No, one could say it absolutely did not since he had me in his arms pinned to a wall.

Still.

“It doesn’t work that way, Tack.”

“Try me and see.”

I was right.

Determination. Steely.

“I don’t want to live in your world,” I informed him.

“You took my hand and walked with me to my bed.”

“A bed you kicked me out of.”

“And a day later, you walked right back into my world and demanded to stay there. You knew the risks, babe. And you took them. And here we are, here you are and this is where you’re stayin’.”

“You’re scaring me again,” I said softly.

His palm slid to below my ear, fingers in my hair, thumb pressed to the side of my face and his face dipped closer. “No, baby, I’m not scaring you. You’re just scared. You give me a little more, you’ll see I’ll protect it. More, I’ll protect that too. More, I got that too. When you give it all to me, if it works with us in a way that lasts, you’ll never be scared. You’ll feel safe enough to have your eyes open, your arms up and you’ll enjoy the f**k outta the ride. I’ll see to that, Red, and that’s a promise.”

God. Seriously. Totally annoying when he was right. And, I decided just then, when he was being sweet. And reassuring. And protective.

Damn.

I kept at it.

“Your whole world scares me,” I admitted. “In fact, your entire life scares me.”

“Like I said, baby, you give a little, you take my hand again like you did that night, I’ll guide you through the nightmare. We’ll make it to the other side and I promise, along the way, you’ll enjoy the ride.”

Oh hell. He was getting to me.

“I need to think about this,” I told him.

“That’s exactly what you don’t need to do. But still, I’ll give that to you.”

I felt my back straighten as the words came out of my mouth sharply. “Well, thanks. Big of you.”

Tack grinned.

“You know,” I started, “it’s annoying when you grin all know-it-all.”

“This isn’t my know-it-all grin, Red. This is my I’m gonna get me some later grin.”

I felt a couple of quivers that were on the high end of pleasant scale.

Still, I shared, “That’s even more annoying.”

“Don’t know why since me gettin’ some means you’re gonna get some.”

More quivers that were climbing the scale of pleasant but that didn’t mean I didn’t roll my eyes. I rolled them back when I heard and felt Tack chuckle.

“I told you I needed to think about this,” I reminded him then went on, “What I decide isn’t a foregone conclusion.”

“Uh, yeah it is.”

I had a strong feeling he was right partly because he wanted to protect my soft spot, a spot he liked. Partly because he was hot. Partly because he looked good grinning and he felt better chuckling. And partly because, even as he was annoying, he was kind of amusing.

But mostly because he was treating me like I mattered and he was making it clear he was not going to let me go.

Uncle Marsh said I should expect that and there it was, holding me tightly in his arms.

I didn’t let Tack in on this information. Instead, I declared, “That’s annoying too.”

He grinned again.

“Tack! Stop grinning!” I demanded.

He didn’t stop grinning but said through it, “You got the day. I’m rippin’ that shit on the desk in half too. Tonight, I’m at your place. Tomorrow, your ass is back at your desk but it’s gettin’ there on the back of my bike. Now, you’re gonna kiss me so I can get back to work, you can go home and come to a foregone conclusion.”

Totally annoying but kind of amusing. Again.

I didn’t share that.

“Actually, I was thinking more that my day would include a visit with my best friend to ascertain she’s all right after being kidnapped and interrogated by the Russian mob.”