“Then why’d you drop that shit at the office instead of droppin’ it in a mailbox?” he asked, jerking his head back to indicate the desk.

Fuck.

He totally had me figured out. Even I didn’t know until that moment that was my play.

Fuck!

I gritted my teeth and glared at him.

He grinned again and gave me a squeeze.

Total jerk!

“You wanted this,” he said quietly.

“I want closure,” I returned, at this point mostly lying in order to save face.

“You want me.”

Whoosh.

There went my breath.

Tack waited but I didn’t reply.

Then Tack stopped waiting.

“You know how I got my name?”

“Does it matter that I don’t want to know?”

There it was. Another lie. I totally wanted to know. I’d been curious since he gave it to me.

“No,” he answered.

Figured.

I glared at him.

“Sharp as a tack,” he stated.

I blinked.

Then I found my mouth asking, “Pardon?”

“That’s what my Dad said about me. Sharp as a tack. Said it so much, they started callin’ me that. Tack.”

“Fascinating,” I muttered sarcastically though the sarcasm was all for show. It actually was fascinating. And it was also true, regrettably.

“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.”