“I’m serious,” I tell him.

“Don’t know what I did to deserve you, Anna,” he says softly, our eyes connected.

“Then don’t fuck it up, Arrow,” I whisper back. “Treat me how I deserve to be treated.”

“Quinn was right,” he muses. “You are a firecracker.”

Quinn? The older man at the bar last night?

“Well,” I say. “Are you going to kiss me or not?”

He slides his hand up my thigh. “Where do you want to be kissed, Anna? Your mouth, or your pussy?”

My cheeks flush.

I clear my throat. “Maybe we can do both.”

He grins, then slams his mouth down on mine.

*   *   *

A few days later, I’m having the day from hell.

After missing the bus from campus I call a cab. The one day I need an escort, and no one shows up.

Typical.

After paying the cabdriver, who smiles at me with no teeth, I can’t get into my apartment because I can’t find my keys. I knock on the maintenance man’s door, but he isn’t home. I sit on the front step, and then it starts raining. I try to call Arrow again, and luckily this time he answers.

“Anna?” he says as he picks up.

“I’m locked out of my apartment,” I tell him.

“I’ll be right there,” he says, then hangs up.

Five minutes later he shows up, dangling my spare set of keys in his hand.

“Hi,” I say, wrapping my arm around his torso. “Looks like Rake having a set came in handy.”

He kisses the top of my head. “I know. Come on, let’s get you inside.”

When we’re in, Arrow starts packing some of my things.

“What are you doing?” I ask, as he grabs my suitcase from the spare room.

“You’re moving in. Rake and I decided,” he says. “You’re at our place most of the time anyway, Anna. And if you don’t want to stay at the clubhouse, then I’ll move in here with you. Your choice.”

I look around my crummy apartment. “I don’t know, Arrow.”

“You want me to buy us a place?” he asks casually. “And you need a car too. Rake said he offered to buy you a car and you said no. What’s up with that?”

“I’m saving for my own car, I don’t want anyone else to buy it for me,” I say.

He scrubs a hand down his face. “Of course you are. You need to choose your battles, Anna.”

I arch a brow. “Looks like you need to take your own advice right now.”

He stops packing and closes the space between us, a smile playing on his lips. “You’re something else, you know that?”

He lowers his head and kisses me gently, taking it slowly like he has all the time in the world. “I want you to live with me, this is what I’m asking you.”

“That’s what you should have started with,” I tell him, smiling. I wrap my arms around his neck, using his body to lift me up, and wrap my legs around him. “Why don’t we stay in the clubhouse for now, and see where we go from there?”

He looks relieved. “Okay. Fuck, I’m glad you agreed. Rake told me to call him if we had to kidnap you.”

I place a kiss on his neck. “I can be agreeable sometimes.”

“Good to know,” he says, his breath hitching as I trail openmouthed kisses down his neck.

“You know, we’ve never fucked on a kitchen table before,” I say, glancing behind me at the table.

Arrow palms my ass, gripping each globe. “No, no, we haven’t. You’re insatiable, Anna.”

“Are you complaining?” I ask, running my fingers through his hair and gripping it.

“Fuck no,” he replies, walking back with me and leaning me on the table. “You’re more than I imagined, Anna.”

I smile as he kisses me, a warm feeling in my chest at his words. Could Arrow love again? Could he love me?

*   *   *

Later that night at the clubhouse, I find Arrow’s side of the bed empty. I wander into the kitchen to get a drink and hear the men in the game room. As I’m about to enter the room, I hear something I’m obviously not meant to hear.

“It’s safer for her here. Thanks for getting her here, bro,” Rake says.

Did Arrow want me to move in? Or was he just doing my brother’s bidding?

“I think you should tell her who ransacked her house,” I hear Arrow say. “Knowledge is power, Rake—it’s wrong to keep her in the dark.”

They know who did it?

“I’m her brother.”

“And I’m her man,” Arrow inserts. “I’m all for keeping her safe, but she needs to know, so you have a couple of days to tell her or I will.”

“Fuck you, Arrow, she’s my fuckin’ baby sister and you know her history. Now I’m able to protect her from a lot of things. She’s smart, educated, and beautiful. She has a good life going for her, even though you’re in it—which wasn’t part of the plan by the way.”

Arrow grunts. “She’s safer with me, and you know it. No one with half a brain fucks with me, Rake. You need to tell Anna the truth.”

Rake’s cold voice stops me. “Trust me, Arrow; you of all people don’t want me telling Anna the truth.”

“Why?” Arrow asks, voice booming.

I open the door and step in. “Tell me what, Rake?”

Two pairs of guilty eyes look my way.

RAKE shoots Arrow an accusing look, then looks at me again, his green eyes softening.

He sighs. “Come and sit down, Anna.”

I take a seat next to him, feeling nervous. “We know who messed up your apartment. It was one of the Wild Men MC members.”

“Why?” I ask, feeling confused. “How do you know?”

Would Talon let them do that to me?

Rake sighs. “Someone saw him leave your apartment. We tracked him down. It was one of the men we caught messing with our shipment, one that we traded to Talon for you.”

“I don’t understand,” I say, my voice shaking.

Rake sighs. “He obviously wanted revenge, and he was going to take it out on you. You need to be careful, Anna. We only found out everything yesterday, and that’s why you needed to be here with us where we can keep you safe.”

I look at Arrow. “So you didn’t actually want to live with me, you were just doing what you had to. I get it.”

“No, Anna, you don’t. I did want you here,” Arrow quickly says.

“Right.”

“Anna,” both of them say at the same time.

“Talon never hurt me; how come this man wants to?” I ask them.

“Talon isn’t innocent, Anna; why do you keep acting as if he is?” Rake snaps, scowling.

“Hey, you weren’t held captive by him, okay? I was. Trust me, he didn’t hurt me, and I don’t think he would.”

“So he has a soft spot for you,” Rake replies flippantly. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to be enough to save you if his men want you. He’s not the president, Anna; he’s the VP. He doesn’t call all the shots.”

“So, what? This man came to hurt me? But I wasn’t there, so he got angry and destroyed the place?”

Arrow answers this time. “That’s what it looks like. We don’t know for sure.”

“I thought you caught up with him?” I ask, frowning. “What did he say?”

Arrow flinches and Rake cringes.

“What did you do?” I yell, standing up.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” Arrow replies curtly. “Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

I open my mouth, then close it with a snap. “You two are unbelievable, you know that?”

Did they kill that man? I don’t want one of them going to prison. I don’t think I could handle that.

Arrow takes my hand, but I pull it away and storm back to his room.

When we get into bed, he pulls me into his arms. My body is stiff for a moment before I relax.

“Sleep,” he whispers.

Even angry, I dream of him.

*   *   *

“Two vodka and cranberries please,” the young woman says. I smile at her and make the drinks while Summer takes her money and gives her change.

“When does Reid get here?” I ask Summer. It’s been unexpectedly busy, and we’re holding down the fort, waiting for Reid and Tag to arrive.