Chapter Six

Reno stayed carefully behind Raven’s car as he followed her home, his hands gripping the steering wheel.

She was right. He had been pissed, jealous and riding the fine edge of his control; otherwise, he would have handled the younger man with a bit more discretion. Truth was, he wanted to kill that kid for daring to try to come between him and Raven.

He wiped his hand across his face as he fought his raging emotions. Never had he had felt the adrenaline pumping through his system as it was now. His cock was harder than it had been at any time in his life and the urge to fuck Raven until she was too exhausted to fight back was nearly overwhelming.

She was driving him insane, not that he had expected anything less from her. He had known that stealing her heart wouldn’t be easy, and binding her to him even harder. She looked at him and saw her parents. The father who left to fight, the mother who screamed and raged and drank too much while he was gone until the day he returned in a casket.

It was the danger of the job that some women couldn’t handle. And he would have worried that Raven couldn’t handle it, if he didn’t know for a fact that each mission Morganna knew he was on, she and Raven waited out together. Laughing, joking, calling him names and insulting him to hell and back, as reported by his sister. But she handled it. Just as Morganna helped Raven handle Clint’s absences. They had a support system they had relied on most of their lives.

She was stronger than she thought was, Reno reflected, as he pulled into the driveway behind her car. He watched, eyes narrowed as she flounced out of the car, that little black dress flirting with her upper thighs as it whipped around her in a cloud of silk.

More slowly, Reno got out of the truck. Slow and careful, he cautioned himself. He had lost it at the club. Hell, he had nearly fucked her in that dark corner for everyone to see.

“Go away, Reno,” she snarled as she unlocked the front door. “I don’t want to see or talk to you.

At least she didn’t try to slam the door in his face. She pushed into the house, leaving it wide open for him. Reno controlled the smile that wanted to touch his lips. She could yell until hell froze over, but he knew her. Inside out and upside down, he knew her, loved her, and he would be damned if he was going to let her find excuses to throw him out of her life.

“Aren’t you tired of being such a coward, Raven?” he said as he followed her inside, closing and locking the door behind him.

She whirled around, the long, sleek golden brown curls that made his hands itch fanning around her slender body.

“Me? A coward?” An imperious thumb pointed into her chest. “I’m a realist, Reno. Unlike you, I prefer to see the truth rather than the pretty lies you want to feed me.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, slowly. “When, Raven, did I ever lie to you?”

“Every time you touched me,” she yelled back at him, thinking of the past two years, the teasing kisses and flirtatious touching. “Pretending it was something light, something friendly. You want it all, don’t you, Reno?”

“Hell yes!” He snapped, facing her across the room, knowing if he got too close, there was no way he could keep from touching her. “I never pretended any different, Raven. You were the one who kept running, who kept refusing to face facts. You’re the liar, Raven, not me.”

“I never lied to you.” Her hands swiped through her hair, frustration and pain evident on her face. “I told you I couldn’t handle you. I couldn’t handle the kind of relationship you want from me.”

“Fuck that,” he growled. “I don’t want just a damned relationship with you, Raven. I want forever. And you knew it all along.”

Raven stared at him wide-eyed.

“No . . .”

“Yes, by God, you did,” he bit out. “You’d flit around, teasing and flirting, a little kiss here and there, a pet and a pat and you thought that would be enough to hold me off. Now you’re finding out otherwise and it scares the hell out of you.”

Determination straightened her shoulders and glittered in her eyes. “I want you to leave.” Her voice was rough, ragged with emotion. “Leave and don’t come back, Reno.”

A mocking smile twisted his lips. “Yeah, I guess you do.” He crossed his arms over his chest again, restraining the need to hold her, to promise that everything would be okay. “If I leave,” he continued, “you’ll keep hiding your head in the sand, pretending that somehow, someway, if I’m killed in action, then it won’t hurt. You’ll survive it without a bottle in your hand and your heart will remain intact.”

He watched her pale, the color leaching from her face as she stared back at him in shock.

“Do you really think you can do it, Raven?” he asked softly. “Do you think it won’t hurt? Do you think you have your heart packed away nice and tight where nothing or no one can break it?”

“Stop.” Her voice shook, breaking his heart. But her rejection hurt worse. It seared his soul.

He moved toward her then, gripping her shoulders before she could evade him, staring down at her as he fought his own raging emotions.

“Will it work?” He wanted to make her see the truth. “Look at me, Raven. If I die tomorrow, will it hurt any less than it would if we had a year or twenty together? Will you lay me in the ground any easier?”

“Oh God!” She shuddered, her eyes filling with tears as she stared up at him in misery. “I couldn’t stand it. Don’t you see, Reno? I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”

Those tears. He couldn’t handle her tears. God, don’t let her cry—it made him want to kill someone. And since he was the one causing the tears, that didn’t leave many options.

“You don’t understand,” she said, dashing away her tears. “What if I’m like my mother? I don’t have the courage to face that.”

“The hell you don’t,” he said, and swooped down, taking her lips, forcing her head back against the wall as he took the kiss, as he needed to take her heart. Fully. Completely. And her response was everything he knew it could be, everything he knew she kept hidden inside her soul.

Her lips opened, her tongue reaching out for his, suckling him inside the warmth of her mouth as she lifted to him, pressing the hard tips of her nipples into his chest as her arms wrapped tight around his neck, her hands gripping his head.

With a ragged growl, he pulled her closer, lifting her into his arms and turning for the staircase. If this was all he would have, then he would take it. But by God, he would show her. If it was the last thing he managed, he would show her exactly what she was throwing away.