“Why? I’ve seen some of your stuff. You’re really good.”
I slammed my notebook closed and blew out a breath. “Every time I try to settle down somewhere, trouble with my dad’s club tears me away. It’s never safe anywhere for me for very long. I can uproot my life on a whim when it’s just me, but I couldn’t do that with my own business. I can’t exactly move that with me, can I? A physical structure?”
Finn shook out his sweat-drenched tank, fanning himself. It was almost completely see-through and I could make out his pecs and sexy abs beneath. He moved closer, his sweatpants straining to contain his muscular thighs. I swallowed hard and cast my eyes downward. I needed to get a hold of myself. My libido always seemed to rage completely out of control when I was around him. But, after what’d happened a couple of nights ago, there was no way I was going down that road with him again. It’d been humiliating beyond belief.
“You understand that this threat is a different breed, right?” he said. “Knox and his Rogue Riders are so dangerous, because many of them used to be members of the Iron Kings MC. It means they know the ins and outs of every aspect associated with it, making your father and his members far more vulnerable than they would ever be otherwise.”
“Yeah, I know. Your point being?”
“Once they’re dealt with, being around Iron Kings will be safe. With them looking out for you, it’s likely the safest place you could ever be. You could set up your business in their town and never have to worry about needing to uproot again. You would always be safe, because you’d be right there on their turf.”
“I can’t.” I grimaced at the memories. “My dad isn’t just protective, he’s majorly overbearing. When I did live in Ridgefield with him, before going off to art school, he suffocated me. He wouldn’t give me the space to live my life how I saw fit. He had his club monitor where I went, what I did, how much I drank, any man who looked my way. It was awful.”
“You’re older now. It might be different this time.”
“Maybe,” I murmured, wholly unconvinced.
“Put your book down and come with me,” he ordered all of a sudden.
“What? Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
I rose to my feet and followed his lead as he led me from the living room, along a corridor and down the basement stairs. He stopped in front of a boxing bag in the center of an impressively-sized home gym.
Oh.
“Finn, my dad taught me how to defend myself when I was a kid.”
He folded his chiseled inked arms across his chest, his biceps bulging. Oh crap. I shifted my weight, uncomfortable with the tingling sensation that just that small action was causing within me.
“Either he held back when he trained you, or you’re rusty.”
“Excuse me?”
“You were in the worst position imaginable when I burst in on you and those enforcers. Your defense was next to none. In fact, you were striking a submissive stance. And those scissors were next to useless in your inexperienced hands.”
Wow. “Well, those maniacs were twice my size!”
“Size isn’t the be all and end all,” he argued.
The idea of him training me, our bodies touching and getting all sweaty and overheated in such close proximity had the tension I felt between us ramping up. It took its toll and it had me bursting out laughing as I ran with his unintended innuendo. “Are you sure size isn’t everything?”
He shook his head at me. “That wasn’t what I meant, dirty girl.” He snatched up a pair of gray boxing gloves and closed the distance between us. “I didn’t know you had that in you.”
“I figured as much.” It came out much more biting than I’d intended. I was still sore about what’d happened in his bedroom, more than I’d really let myself acknowledge.
He started to help me into the gloves, but I jerked away, snatching them from him and seeing to it myself. I wasn’t totally helpless. I knew how to put on a pair of frigging boxing gloves, for hell’s sake!
“I’m not trying to hurt you, Ashley. I’m just doing what needs to be done to protect you.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about the threat hanging over my head. No. He meant him. “The Rogues threat aside, what makes you think I need your protection?”
“I just know.”
“And I know, Finn. As shocking as it may seem to you, I do know what I’m doing. I’m not the naïve little fool of a girl that you and my dad seem to think I am.”
He stepped up to me, barking, “I’m almost twice your age, woman! I’m a bad man! I’m twisted! You need someone your own age, someone who’s not fucked beyond belief!”
“I never wanted anyone until I met you!”
His eyes shot wide and he jerked back as if I’d just slapped him. “Fuck.”
“I’m not as innocent as you seem to think. You don’t need to treat me with kid gloves. I’m the daughter of a MC president, Finn. I’ve seen things. Bad things. And, for the record, I’m well aware of what you used to do for a living.”
He eyed me intently. “Yeah, I was a killer, Ashley.” He gestured around the room. “Everything you see here. My home. All of it. It’s all built on blood and death. That’s the kind of man that I am. Twisted.”
“A twisted man wouldn’t act as someone’s bodyguard. A twisted man wouldn’t have the loyalty that you do towards my dad, wouldn’t feel that sense of brotherhood.” I squeezed his arm. “A twisted man wouldn’t treat me so sweetly. And he certainly wouldn’t have tossed me from his room with the misguided intention of protecting me from himself.”
He scrubbed his hand over his face, a wry smile playing on his lips. “Damn, you’re argumentative.”
“You know I’m right. You’re a good man. Your intentions have
