Nash: A Rough Romance Piper Stone (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

you’d promised to keep safe as well as protecting whatever innocent people who were stuck in the middle of a war that shouldn’t be happening. I think you left Montana thinking you’d never return because it held nothing for you but bad memories and a dead end. I also think that the longer you were overseas, the more you missed where you grew up. Now? I think you’re floundering because you want to do so much to protect those around you, even though you can’t do it in the same way you did as a Marine. That’s what I think.”

I huffed after issuing the words, another shiver darting down my spine. I was certain he was preparing to bark at me for my impetuous words.

“Okay. I think you’re a girl that grew up longing to be someone you weren’t. Even though your parents adored you, showering you with everything they could for their perfect little princess, you wanted more. The way you talk about reality is because life was slammed in your face during a difficult transitional time in your life. You refused to acknowledge you couldn’t do everything you’d set your mind to until a criminal derailed your life. Only then did you begin to understand just how precious life truly was.”

His words stung more than I cared to admit.

And they were true.

Another even more heightened level of tension settled between us. I realized I was fighting tears that threatened to give away he’d gotten too damn close. God, how I wanted to hate him. No man had ever said those kinds of things to me. I was forced to realize because I’d never allowed any man to get close to me on any level.

Until Dante.

I was an idiot to think this would be any different, although Reaper wasn’t a bastard. Not really. I choked back the tears and turned away again. This time, he didn’t fight me. I took four steps before stopping. “I’d like to go on that ride, although I’ve never actually been on a horse.”

“The first step is all about whether the beautiful baby can tolerate the rider. It would seem horses adore you.” He hesitated, a slight laugh pushing past those damn gorgeous lips of his. “I’d love to take a ride with you.”

Had we reached a crossroads or was this just another path into quicksand? I wasn’t certain I wanted to try to determine which.

“And for the record, Mitch. You’re right.”

His words were more cathartic than he could know.

As I walked back to the house, I hated the fact my heart continued to ache.

For him.

For the brutal, rugged asshole.

For the man I could…

Nope. I wasn’t going to think that way. He would disappear out of my life soon enough.

Maybe I should say good riddance.

Chapter 11

Mitch

Damn him.

Reaper.

I said his name over several times in my mind.

“Reaper.”

Then for some crazy reason I whispered it, although I did like Nash better.

Dangerous.

Rugged.

A killer.

I refused to buy the last thought, no matter what he’d tried to make me believe. He wasn’t that kind of man.

The burly men had left me all alone in a city I didn’t know, a cabin that wasn’t my own. I watched them drive away, the massive Dodge Ram’s engine still rumbling in my stomach. As I moved away from the window, I took a deep breath before checking the lock on the door. I was suddenly so cold, my lower lip quivering.

Folding my arms, I walked toward the fire, shifting from foot to foot as I stared at the flames. A part of me knew I should have demanded to go with them. Another part wanted to hide from the world. The latter had won out at least for the time being. They could play big he-man protectors, saving me from the big bad wolf all they wanted to. I wasn’t going to object.

At least for now.

A laugh rumbled in my chest, but I sucked it down. I shouldn’t adore the man, but I did. I couldn’t deny it. As far as what it meant? Nothing. I had a life in Chicago and his life was here.

The same chill as before continued to press against me, a hard knot in my stomach. I couldn’t do nothing. That wasn’t in my nature. I turned and glanced down at the phone on the table. For emergencies only.

At least that’s what I’d been instructed.

But everything at this point was actually an emergency, including protecting people I cared about. I hissed, turning away then shifting toward the coffee table, glaring down at the phone. What if the asshole had gotten to Jessica? What if her life could be saved by a single phone call?

She’d been such a good friend, treating me as if we’d been buddies for years instead of the few weeks I’d lived in Chicago.

Before all hell had broken loose.

Swallowing hard, I picked up the phone, my foggy brain trying to remember her number. I’d known it by heart. Right now, everything seemed muddled, my world turned upside down. After taking a few deep breaths, trying to push away the recent events, I remembered her number.

And I dialed it.

One ring.

Two.

Three.

“Hello?” The voice was tentative if not laced with fear.

“Jessica.”

“Oh, God. You’re alive,” Jessica said in a whispered voice.

“I’m fine. Are you okay?”

When she hesitated, I cringed deep inside. I had placed her life in danger.

“I’m… fine. It’s just been hard.” Her words were stilted, completely unlike her.

“What aren’t you telling me?” The urgency in my voice was undeniable.

Her laugh was haunted, practiced. “Stop worrying about me. You need to take care of yourself. I hope you’re far, far away.”

“I’m…” No, I wasn’t going to say the location over the phone. “Let’s just say I’m being protected. What about you? Have you been approached by Dante?”

The silence was deafening.

“Tell me. What the fuck did that asshole do?”

“It wasn’t him. Okay?”

“Then who the fuck was it? What happened?” I demanded, my breath skipping all over the place.

“It’s okay. Dante sent a couple of his men.”

Oh,