Again.

Whatever.

“You can stop talking now,” I invited.

“Wasn’t me who broke the silence by tellin’ you that you’re a pain in my ass.”

I decided to take his anorexically veiled meaning and try silence.

Creed wasn’t done.

“Though, just sayin’, you’re also a pain in my ass.”

“You’re still talking,” I pointed out.

He stopped talking but his body started moving and I knew he was silently chuckling.

A-freaking-gain.

Whatever!

I was too annoyed to notice that even after the dream, Creed had led me so far from its residue, I fell right to sleep.

* * * * *

“Chelle picks them up at three. Come to the house at three thirty so we can head to the airport.”

We were standing at Creed’s front door and he was giving me directions I already had, something I was realizing I’d have to learn to live with because, apparently, badasses were bossy even when they didn’t need to be.

And repetitive.

“Right,” I muttered.

“You get lost, don’t like Cave Creek, call me. You can hit Cooper’stown for lunch then head back out here.”

Creed had given me some ideas of what to check out during my time alone in Phoenix and I’d picked two top contenders. One was Cave Creek, which was a town just out of the city and with its desert location, history and copious bars and restaurants, it sounded like the place for me. The other choice was Alice Cooper’s restaurant, Cooper’stown which was downtown and sounded like it had great food with seriously cool swag.

“I won’t get lost,” I told him but this was a lie. I probably would. I got lost all the time even with sat-nav because I routinely made the decision to distrust sat-nav and went my own way and got lost which was why I got sat-nav to begin with. It didn’t make sense but then again, a lot of things about me didn’t make sense. I’d learned to roll with it.

Creed stared at me a beat then repeated, “Take the one-oh-one to Cave Creek Road, baby. It’s not hard. If you make it hard and get lost, call me.”

I stared at him but I did it with narrowed eyes and repeated, “I won’t get lost.”

“You will.”

“It’s easy to get there, Creed.”

“You forget, I followed your ass, frequently, for a month. My count, while I was followin’ you, you got lost five times. Take the one-oh-one to Cave Creek Road, you get lost, call me. You with me?”

Annoying!

“Just asking, we established your kids like me, will they stop liking me if I wake them up on a Sunday morning by kicking your ass in the dining room?”

He grinned. “No, probably not seeing as you got absolutely no prayer in hell at kickin’ my ass and they’ll find it amusing to watch you try.”

I cocked my head to the side. “That a challenge?”

His grin got bigger. “Yep.”

“I accept.”

His grin changed and I felt the change spasm through me as he dipped his head close to mine and whispered, “I take you, I f**k your ass after I make it so you beg me to do it. You take me, you get to tie me to the bed and do whatever you want to me.”

Holy shit!

I was so totally winning this. All that was Creed at my mercy?

Yeah. So. Totally. Winning. This.

“You’re on,” I whispered back.

“Don’t tire yourself out, baby. We play out the challenge tonight.”

Oh yeah.

I smiled slow. “I’ll be ready.”

His face dipped closer. “Yeah you will. After I pin you, I’ll make sure of it, beautiful.”

Another spasm shot through me before I asked, “You gonna make me have a spontaneous orgasm at the front door or are you gonna let me go get lost in Phoenix?”

The sexy swept clean free of his face, his hands came up to frame mine and his face stayed close when he answered quietly, “I’ll never let you go but I’ll let you leave… for now.”

Seriously, he had to quit saying shit like that. He was killing me.

“FYI, babe, I’m not a woman prone to liking fervent avowals of adoration,” I told him in an effort to get him to stop making me feel squishy happy like a big girl.

His hands framing my face pulled me closer. “Bullshit, Sylvie. I say that shit, light hits your eyes. You love that shit, you feed off it and I’m gonna give it to you until you’re addicted to it and can’t live without it.” His thumbs swept my cheekbones and his voice went velvet rough. “But don’t worry. I swear, I won’t make you have to.”

He was wrong.

Not about my bullshit. He was totally right about that.

He was wrong about having to give it to me until I was addicted to it.

I already was.

“Let me go, hot stuff,” I whispered, lifting my hands to curl my fingers around his wrists. “It’s getting late.”

Frustration flashed briefly in his eyes before he nodded and pulled me closer while lifting up his head so I felt his lips on my forehead. Then he tipped my head back and I felt his lips touch mine. Finally, he let me go and stepped away but grabbed my hand while his other opened the door and he walked me out to his front step.

He squeezed my hand and I looked up at him.

“Later, Sylvie.”

“Later, babe.”

I got up on tiptoe, he bent for me and I touched my mouth to his.

When I pulled back, his eyes were looking deep into mine and I could see the light in them, happiness and hope in his rugged, scarred features, the feeling I felt in my soul reflected in his face, a look he just told me I gave back.

Yeah, I was addicted.

Totally.

And so was Creed.

Then again, that was always the way.

And, hope to God, it always would be.

Chapter Eighteen

My Whole World

A cold winter evening in Kentucky, seventeen years earlier, Creed is twenty-two, Sylvie is seventeen…

Once I heard him get her down, I stole out of Creed’s bedroom, down the hall and cautiously looked around the corner into the empty living room. I didn’t enter it until I saw Creed walk in and, at the look on his face, I took a deep breath and moved into the room.

His angry eyes came to me.

I bit my lip, let it go and asked, “How is she?”

“Drunk and f**kin’ passed out. The usual. How do you think she’d f**kin’ be?”