East Bound by Nana Malone (best value ebook reader .txt) 📗

In the lift up to the penthouse, he turned to me, still scowling, and I couldn’t help but poke the bear a little. "I'm just saying, who has the badge?"

He coughed out a laugh. "You can't end every argument like that. I want to keep you out of this."

"I'm sorry, but you can't." Once upstairs and in the penthouse, I tossed my keys onto the tiny porcelain dish he had by the door. I hadn’t given him an answer about a more permanent relocation, but I was staying the night.

"It's like you're telling me not to do my job. I'm not going to tell you that you don't have to do this. You and the others have a huge stake in avenging your friend. I understand that. I wouldn't dream of telling you not to pursue the people responsible. It doesn't make any sense. But I also want you to be careful. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I know."

"Do you know? Do you understand that you are very much someone I need in my life? You get it, right?"

"So what you're telling me is that you like me?"

I gave him my most beleaguered, frustrated sigh. "Barely. If you didn't have a big dick, we wouldn't be talking."

He tugged me close. "Big dick, you say."

I giggled and scooted away from him. "I'm serious. I can't kowtow to someone just so he’ll give me sex."

"I'm not sure why not."

I shook my head. "Come on, let's order some carryout."

He leaned in, nuzzling my neck, "You'd rather eat than fuck?"

"Well, when you put it so delicately."

"Don’t want to talk about the new safety parameters I have installed here at the penthouse?"

I frowned. "Safety parameters?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes. I have added your thumbprint and biometrics. Your eyeball scan too. And now, you can voice activate the panic room."

I blinked at him. "The panic room?"

He nodded as if that was the most normal thing in the world. "Yeah. I'll show you." He took my hand, led me down the hall into the bedroom and to the anti-chamber inside the closet. "See? Just say, 'East has a big cock.'"

I frowned at him. "You really think I could say that under duress?"

"Well, we can find out."

He started kissing my neck. "East Hale. Pay attention."

"What? Okay fine. You can change it to whatever you want. You press these buttons here." He showed me a sequence of buttons to press. "And you can change it to whatever you want. It's voice activated. You can also use your thumb or your retina, but in the event that you are injured in some way, your voice will work too."

"Wow, you really thought of everything."

"Well, I wanted you to be safe."

That was the crux of our fight. His pathological need to see me safe. Like he couldn’t do for his sister. "I am safe. Is there any reason that I wouldn’t be?"

"You don't know the Elite."

I sighed. "Listen, I get it. I don't know what they're capable of, these people, these men in the shadows. I understand that you have legitimate concerns, and I'm with you. I don't want to negate that at all. I just like my life. I like my independence."

His brow furrowed. "I get it, but maybe just for the time being, until we can get all of this under control, you'll consider staying here?"

I sighed. "It's not that I don't want to be with you. I might get used to this penthouse life. I mean, I think it was meant for me, don't you?"

He laughed. "Of course."

"I just... I don't want to move too fast. I don't want to take any of this for granted, you know?"

He palmed my cheeks gently, and his green eyes penetrated mine. "I know. And I'm not trying to push you or force you. It's just for safety. If you want to still, I don't know, date, I'm here for doing whatever you want. We can date as long as you like. I have five guest rooms."

I blinked, then blinked again. "Five?"

He nodded as if that wasn't a big deal at all. "Yeah, if you prefer your own guest suite, of course we could do that, but this bedroom is the one with the panic room."

"You’re willing to let me sleep alone?”

He shook his head, and his brow furrowed. “Of course not. Where you go, me and my dick go. But if you want to pretend that this isn’t the real deal and we’re just dating, we can sleep in a bed in the penthouse that isn’t my bed.”

“I—" I had no words. Telling him he was ridiculous would be a futile effort. “No, I want to be with you. And I don't want any other room. I just don't want us jumping the gun."

His voice was quiet when he said, "I'm not Denning. I'm not going to fuck you over. Just fuck you. Well and pleasurably until you are so exhausted that all you can remember is my name."

"That sounds like a fantastic idea. But this is all temporary, okay? Sooner or later, I'll go back to my life. You will too. And then we'll take this slowly."

He nodded. "Yep. If that's what you want."

"Why do I get the impression that you will take every opportunity to convince me that this is where I belong?"

"Because it is."

"It is what?"

"It is where you belong. Right here. Next to me."

And I knew then that I was in trouble. East Hale had a way of getting to my heart that no one else had ever managed before. And there was no way, after being with him, I could ever want anyone else.

He was dangerous. And it terrified me.

Chapter 23

Nyla

"Remember, just stay calm. Direct. Don't stray and don't let on. Just stick to the script. And let me know if you see anything.”

I scowled before even ringing the doorbell. "You know that this is actually my job, right? I interview suspects. People pay me