‘Yes,’ he said with no shame or apology. Grabbing her hand, he jerked it up and squeezed her ring finger. ‘You’re wearing your wedding ring, and using your married name.’
‘So why would I be sleeping with another man?’
‘You’ve been faithful?’ he frowned.
‘You haven’t?’ Tilting her head, she folded her arms and waited for his answer. By bringing her limbs up she had eliminated the last of the space between them, so her folded arms were now pressed into his torso.
‘I haven’t had time to look at a fucking woman. I have spent the last seven weeks chasing your damn tail across the country. Why can’t you stay put, woman?’
‘I haven’t found my place to belong yet. When I do, I will.’
‘Your place to belong,’ he spat out. ‘There’s only one place you belong and you’ve spent almost two months running away from it.’
He caught hold of her face and hauled her up, forcing his mouth down over hers. Although she hadn’t expected the kiss that didn’t mean that she didn’t want it. Opening herself to him, she leaned into him and trailed her hands up to his shoulders
‘That’s right,’ he grumbled and hooked his hands under her ass to lift her up.
Turning to the desk, he sat her down and leaned over her to continue consuming her mouth. His fingers began to work the buttons on her blouse, though his impatient hand stopped its task to fondle her breast.
‘Dax, I’m at work,’ she said, leaning away from the kiss. ‘And people can see us.’ Turning to alert him to the transparent panel on the opposite wall.
‘Where’s your boss?’
‘Probably still in his bed,’ she said. ‘He owns a strip club, so he hasn’t been home for long. Why? What are you going to do? Find him and beat him until he fires me?’ Smacking both hands onto his chest, she made him move and got off the desk to put some space between them. ‘Why are you here?’
‘I thought that was damn obvious.’
‘You came here to get laid?’ she asked, folding her arms to try and conceal the drawn out movement of her breathing and the pebbles at the peak of her breasts that his kiss had managed to make itch.
‘Yeah, I walked away from my life and chased you across the country because I needed a tramp to ride my cock.’ When he moved toward her, Ivy tried not to tense or back away. ‘Are you crazy, babygirl? I came here for you. You’re out of options.’
‘Options?’
‘I told you that you’d never be free of me. That if you left their prison you’d be stuck in mine. I’m not gonna let you escape again.’
‘You left them? What about Mauri? What about—‘
‘We don’t have to worry about that anymore. I told them I was gone, that I was out and I wasn’t coming back.’
‘I thought you were going to make them see, make them understand about us, so that your life wouldn’t have to change.’
‘I was wrong.’
‘Wrong?’ she asked. When her shoulders loosened, her hands fell to her sides. ‘I told you that weeks ago, I knew that they would never let us be together and that it would come down to a choice.’
‘A choice I’ve made,’ he said, bringing his hand to her face. ‘I went in there, to that midnight meeting…’
‘What happened? How did you get out of there?’
‘You don’t have to worry about that,’ he said, that cool anger crystallised in his irises, but he tried to hide it with a smile and a swipe of his thumb along her jaw and up over her lips. ‘We’re not going back there.’
‘They let you walk away,’ she said and the smile on his lips twitched.
This wasn’t over and he knew it as well as she did. Dax would either carry around the loss and betrayal of his supposed family for the rest of his life, or that family would track them down and do everything in their power to get him back.
‘I don’t need their permission to be with my wife.’
‘You shouldn’t have come here,’ she said, shaking her head and averting her attention.
Ivy began to make her way toward the door, Dax shifted into her path, blocking her exit and forcing her to look him in the eye. They were right in front of the window and she knew that the mechanics wouldn’t be getting much work done while this drama was unfolding.
‘You belong to me. I’ll follow your tail for as long as I need to.’
‘I wanted you to follow me, to fight for me,’ she whispered. ‘I knew that we weren’t over, that I’d see you again. But if you can’t let them go—‘
He snatched her arm when she tried to get around him. ‘I’ve let them go. I don’t give a fuck about them.’
‘You do,’ she said. ‘You have to admit that what they did hurt you. You fought with me, Dax. You fought me so hard because you were convinced that they would let you be happy, that they would let you be with me. The fact that they didn’t… it changes everything about your relationship with them, they weren’t who you thought they were. They didn’t give you the respect that you—‘
‘What do you want?’ he snapped, tossing her arm away. ‘Do you want me to get the fuck out of your life?’
‘Yes, I’m using this horrible situation as an excuse to dump you, tough guy. If I wanted rid of you then I wouldn’t still be wearing my rings, would I? I wouldn’t have used your last name every chance that I got.’
‘Why did you do that?’ he asked, edging toward her. ‘Because you wanted me to find you?’
‘Yeah, because I love you and I want to be with you. But you can’t resent me for—‘
‘They made their decision,’ he said, scooping his hands up under her chin to hold her head. ‘They got the chance to accept this, they didn’t take it. Being with you was never a question for me, whether they wanted to be a part of it, that was the question.’
‘Dax—‘
‘Yes, babygirl, I love you,’ he said, answering the question she didn’t get a chance to ask. ‘We are the same and the only place either of us belongs is side by side.’
‘It’ll be tough, you don’t have a crime syndicate to run around after anymore and you won’t know where to fight and—‘
‘Are you kidding? I started my career not far up this seaboard, anyone that I don’t know in the underworld isn’t worth knowing.’
Smiling, she shook her head. ‘Not much of a smooth talker are you, tough guy?’
‘It’s not talk you need from me,’ he said, lowering to lift her off the floor and take her to the door, which was still closed.
Resting her back against it, they were no longer in view of the window. ‘We can’t have sex here,’ she said.
‘Says who?’ Closing his lips on her neck, he elevated her body and the rasp of his jeans opening boosted her heart rate.
‘My boss, we need me to keep this job, I have a place to stay and—‘
‘He owns a strip joint,’ Dax said, looking her in the eye. ‘And a car garage.’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘And manages the apartment complex next door. That’s where I stay. I think he owns it.’
‘Lot of money, lots of lowlifes on the payroll,’ he said, indicating the men on the other side of the door that he couldn’t see. ‘He’s a crook, Minx.’
She had been impressed by Blaser when she met him. He was sort of distant, which made her constantly curious about what he was thinking without saying. But he’d been kind to her, as had everyone else she’d met. But that didn’t mean his business was legit.
‘What does that have to do with having sex?’ she asked.
‘I’ll find a way to persuade him into understanding.’
And the smugness in his tone made Ivy relax and give in. ‘You think that you have some secret skill that he’ll need, which allows you to get away with screwing his employees while they’re being paid by him.
‘You worry about the secret skills I have that you need.’
But he didn’t need to use fancy tricks, she’d been anticipating what it would be like to be in his arms for weeks. Every minute that they’d been away from each other she dreamt of him coming after her to declare his love and devotion, which was exactly what he’d done and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.