Those green eyes lock on mine, and the panic inside me loses its teeth.
“I’ve got you,” he says. “Nobody touches you now.”
I want to believe him so badly it hurts.
“I need my bag,” I say. “It’s in the SUV. My phone is in there.”
His jaw tightens, but his touch stays gentle. “Stay close.”
I do.
He keeps himself between me and the men on the ground as we cross the clearing.
I grab my tote from the SUV and clutch it to my chest.
The biker takes it carefully, like he knows it matters because it is mine.
“Still yours,” he says. “I’m just putting it somewhere safe.”
I let go.
He tucks it into a compartment on his bike, then turns back to me.
“What’s your name?”
“Reina.”
His gaze holds mine.
“Reina,” he repeats, and my name sounds different in his mouth. Softer. Stronger. Like he’s already made it important.
“I’m Ace.”
Of course he is.
Of course the man who comes out of the dark, takes a bullet for me, and looks at me like I’m something worth bleeding for is named Ace.
He climbs onto the bike and reaches for me.
“Come here, Reina.”
I climb on behind him, clumsy from shaking, and his hand catches my thigh for one steady second before he lets go.
“Arms around me,” he says.
My arms slide around his waist.
He goes still, just long enough for me to feel it.
Then his hand covers mine and pulls me in tighter.
“Good. Like that.”
I press my cheek to his back.
He is warm under the leather. Solid beneath my arms. Real in a way nothing else feels right now.
The motorcycle surges forward, carrying me away from the cabin and everything waiting inside it.