“When my life is going to shit or something bad is happening, I try not to sit still,” I whispered, my vision going blurry. “If I sit still, I’ll freeze, and if I freeze, then I can’t pull myself out of the hole. So I organize shit when I’m scared. That’s just what I do, Mr. Perfect. I’m weird.”
I felt his lips brush against my temple then, and my eyelids fluttered closed. “That’s fine with me, Temper,” he whispered back, kissing me there. “But if you need to freeze, beautiful, then freeze. You’ll never be in that hole again. I’ll make damn sure of that.”
Then he went to help Ash install my new front door.
Chapter Thirteen
Margo
“You sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself, shifting my weight as I looked up at Ash. “I feel bad.”
“For what?”
My eyes flicked to my new front door and then to my car keys hanging on the hook beside it. “You’ve done so much for me.”
He put his hand on my shoulder as Hayes came back into the living room, pulling his cell away from his ear. “Get used to it, babe. You’re family now.”
“I can pay you,” I blurted, stepping back to get my wallet.
Ash looked at me like I’d grown three heads. “Absolutely the fuck not.”
“But—”
“Nope.” He turned to Hayes, giving him a chin jerk. “I expect a phone call in the morning.”
Hayes, being Hayes, said nothing and he stayed silent until Ash was gone. As soon as my new door closed, Hayes moved to it, flipping both locks and putting up the chain. “I’ll get Jake to come in and install a security system this week,” he informed me.
“You don’t need to do that,” I began, still holding my wallet. “That’s too much.”
“It will never be enough,” he clipped, turning to face me. The sun had set nearly an hour ago, and now that we were alone, I could see his control slipping, fury taking over. “You live above a bar, Margo. You need a fucking security system.”
“Well, I don’t have the money for a damn security system,” I shot back, hating the judgment in his tone. “Do you know how expensive those are?”
“Yes, Red Snake installs top-of-the-line security products for our clients.”
“And that’s fantastic for them, but for me, a small-town barista/bartender/failure, that’s not in the cards—”
“Yours will be free.” He cut me off, folding his arms over his chest.
I nearly choked. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“Grayson isn’t going to let you give me free shit from your job!”
“I own half of Red Snake Investigations, Margo. I can do whatever the hell I want—including doing everything in my power to make sure you’re safe when I’m not around.”
When I’m not around…
What the fuck was that supposed to mean?
I snapped my mouth shut, unable to handle the words left unsaid. There was something in that statement that sounded a lot like commitment. His eyes narrowed. “I can see the gears in your head turning, but that pretty mouth of yours isn’t spouting shit off at me.”
“I don’t spout shit off at you,” I snapped.
He rocked me then. “Temper, that’s all you’ve done since the moment I met you, and I can’t get enough of it.”
I could feel heat climbing up my cheeks. “You have to stop talking to me like that.”