“Neither do I.”
He smirked a little, studying my face. “Are you telling me that the great, sexy party queen, DJ Summer, is going off the market?”
“Come on, Ronan. I’ve been off the market for a while now.”
That made him smile. I loved the way his eyes crinkled and the lines of his face softened.
“Fuck, you’re gonna be a hot old man.”
He chuckled. “I hope so. So you don’t get bored of me…”
“Ronan,” I said seriously, “I want you to know… The fact that you’re so strong and protective are two of the things I love most about you. But I’d never use those things for my own gain. I’d never manipulate you and use that giant soft spot of yours—”
“Soft spot?”
“You know you’ve got a massive soft spot.”
“I do,” he admitted, with a small sigh. “It’s Summer-sized.”
I grinned, then said solemnly, “I swear to you. I would never use it against you, or use it to try to control you. Like I told you… you’re a free spirit, Ronan Sterling. And I love that about you, too.”
“I love your free spirit, too. Feel like I kinda want to spend the rest of my life trying to keep up with it.”
I grinned, and damn, the angels were back. This man was gonna kill me. I was gonna die of a heart attack in bed one day.
But what a way to go…
“Then I guess we’re both agreed that we’re doing this thing. Together. You know, despite the fact that we’re both kinda terrified of getting hurt, again…”
“Yeah,” he said. “I want that.”
“I want you.”
“Then I guess there’s no problem.”
I brought his hand to my mouth. I brushed my lips lightly over his battered knuckles. “And maybe tomorrow you tell me what happened to your hands.”
“Yeah.” He groaned. “Maybe I do. And maybe it’s time I bring on another bodyguard to watch your back, because I’m too emotionally involved to see straight where you’re concerned.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that. I hadn’t expected him to say it. But I could feel the naked honestly in his words. It felt like… regret?
Clearly he was worried about me, but he was even more worried, maybe, about his ability to protect me.
“Do you think that’s necessary?”
“I’m not willing to lose you just because I had my priorities confused, Summer.”
I tightened my grip on him, gently. “I don’t want to lose you, Ronan.”
“Baby, you’re not gonna lose me.” He rolled over me, and while his weight pinned me to the bed, he looked deep in my eyes and said, “I’m gonna make damn sure you never have to.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ronan
I was up early in the morning, well before Summer. I couldn’t sleep anyway.
Just kept going over last night in my head.
I’d already called Naveen and Brody, after leaving the motel with Maddox, and gave them the short version of what happened. But as the sun was coming up, I slipped out of bed and went downstairs, sat down in the sunroom, and called Jude on the road.
“Ronan,” he said when he picked up. “I’ve been waitin’ for your call.”
“Do I want to ask about our friend from the motel?” No doubt Piper would’ve updated him by now. Getting into the details over the phone probably wasn’t the best idea. I knew that. But I had to ask.
I had to know.
“He’s been taken care of,” Jude said.
“Taken care of…” I repeated. “Is that biker speak for something I do not wanna know about?”
“Sounds like you were ready to take care of things yourself last night.”
“And yet I didn’t.”
“I hear you have my brother to thank for that.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Maybe. Would be nice if I knew exactly what I was thanking him for…”
“An arrest has been made,” Jude said. “You need any more details than that, you’ll need to talk to my brother. In person.”
An arrest?
What the fuck. Sanchuk had been arrested?
I got right up out of my chair, trying to process this.
“So what happened last night?” Jude asked. “Things got pretty heated? Somethin’ about a power drill and a remote control…?”
I sighed. “I went a little too far.”
“Did you,” he said.
“What would you have done?”
“I’m just wonderin’ what ‘too far’ looks like to you.”
I fucking hated to admit it, to anyone. But I forced myself to. “I’m not sure I can continue on as Summer’s bodyguard.”
“It’s not a weakness,” Jude said. “Caring about someone you’re paid to protect. I love Jesse. Though I wouldn’t fuck him.”
Yeah. Being bodyguard to his best friend, Jesse Mayes—Dirty’s lead guitarist—was probably a hell of a lot less complicated than this situation.
“I’m serious,” I said. But even to myself, I sounded defeated.
I’d had a lot of time to think about it last night. And whether I was or I wasn’t just like all these bikers, deep down, was still up for debate in my mind.
But one thing I knew: I didn’t want to be like them.
And I sure as hell didn’t want to put Summer in any danger.
“So don’t be her bodyguard anymore. Put someone else on her.”
“Yeah. I could probably do that. Should, probably.” I knew I had to, really. I was just still trying to swallow the fact.
I felt like I’d failed her somehow.
“And by the way, this is exactly why I want you runnin’ the crew,” Jude told me. “Because you fuckin’ care. And when you care, you do it large, brother.”
That caught me off-guard.
“Running the crew?”
“Players head of security.”
I’d expected more of an argument here, or maybe for Jude to come down on me about the whole thing. Take Piper’s side.
Definitely didn’t expect a promotion.
“I know you’ve got your other clients,” he said. “Your company. But we can make an arrangement. The Players would need to be your primary client. We’d need you on the road with the band, ideally. But if you want the gig,
