More demands? “About what?”
“Wanting me, this.” She gestured helplessly. “Having sex.”
And there was the biggest joke of all. “I’m not about to turn down easy sex.” He couldn’t. He needed her too much. “If you stay,” he said by way of an answer, “you’ll definitely be under me.”
She slowly inhaled, then said the unexpected. “I left my old life behind because someone...someone tried to hurt me.”
Ice ran through his blood. In a voice so faint he barely heard it himself, he whispered, “How?”
She rushed through the explanation, her hands open on his chest, sort of clinging. “I was almost raped.”
He took that one on the chin, staggered by the rage that exploded. He would easily kill anyone who dared—
“Almost, Rowdy. It didn’t happen.” She petted him, soothing, ripe with concern. “But I had to leave. No one...no one really believed me when I told them.”
Leveled, Rowdy searched her face and knew without a single doubt that she was telling him the truth. Everything he’d just been thinking faded behind the red mist of rage. “I believe you.” Avery might’ve thrown him for a few loops, but she wouldn’t make up something like that.
She wilted against him, tears of gratitude hanging on her lashes. “Thank you.”
He rubbed her upper arms. “Give me a name.”
“I don’t want you involved.” He opened his mouth, but she said, “No, Rowdy! I mean it. It’s not your problem.”
“Like hell.”
She went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “But that’s why I wanted you there with me when I went back home. That’s why I bragged about your ability.”
Stunned, he said, “Your folks didn’t believe you? That’s who you meant?” Son of a bitch. And here he’d been thinking they were such nice people. It didn’t matter if he told Pepper he’d been attacked by an alien. She would believe him and back him up, no questions asked. That was family.
And here he’d been sort of envying Avery....
She touched his collarbone, then his shoulder. “They know him. He’s a reputable man, by all appearances a very good person. They thought I was exaggerating. And he had a story all ready about how we’d argued, how I’d overreacted.”
Hearing the hurt she still carried amplified his fury. Through his teeth, his muscles knotting, Rowdy asked, “Fisher?”
Those damn tears swam in her eyes again. “I don’t want you to do anything, Rowdy. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
“You’ll see him again.” Her mother’s medical condition dictated that she’d be around the bastard because he had a feeling Fisher would take every opportunity to close in on her.
“Yes, but now I know to be more careful. Now I know to avoid being alone with him.”
Using his thumb, he brushed a tear from her cheek. “He’s a threat, honey, and threats are best dealt with head-on.”
“I don’t want to be another burden!”
Crazy Avery. It wouldn’t hurt her to show some faith. “Trust me, babe, dealing with Fisher won’t be a hardship.” He already looked forward to it.
“He’s not what you think. He’s not a dumb thug like Darrell. He has power and resources and—”
“He’s scum, and I’ve met every kind there is.” He thought that would reassure her, but she threw her arms around his neck, her trim little body up flush against his. Her skin was still chilly. He needed to get her wrapped up and warm. “Avery...”
She tucked her face in by his chest. “The other thing I wanted to tell you?”
There was more? He sighed while stroking her back. “Let’s hear it.”
Her breath came faster. The seconds ticked by while Rowdy resisted the urge to palm her behind, to kiss her.
Very slowly, Avery disengaged. She kept her hands on his shoulders but tipped her face back so she could see him. She looked devastated, worried and full of remorse, and that worried him.
He’d kill Fisher, he decided. He’d rip him apart. He’d—
Avery put her small hand to his jaw. “I love you.”
* * *
TO BE ON the safe side, Cannon hung around for a few minutes. If Rowdy proved to be more bullheaded than he imagined, he didn’t want Avery out in the storm alone.
He was already soaked, so what did a little more rain matter?
After twenty minutes, though, he decided it was safe to leave. He realized he was grinning, but what the hell? It was kind of funny to see a guy like Rowdy Yates struggling over an itty-bitty thing like Avery Mullins. As a couple, they amused him a lot.
They also made him grateful that he wasn’t caught in that damned emotional trap.
Women were all well and good. Hell, he adored women. Respected them, too. But he had a lot of plans that had nothing to do with getting involved in a relationship.
He spent his mornings working out and training. Before getting hired on at the bar, he’d used the rest of his free time playing vigilante, clearing out some of the scum from his neighborhood. It really pissed him off that so many areas had gone downhill, run by lowlifes and losers who wanted to blame everyone but themselves for not stepping up.
After meeting Rowdy and taking his measure, he’d decided a bar would be a good place to get the lowdown on criminal activity. So far, he was right.
What he hadn’t expected was Rowdy’s own little mystery, with strangers hanging around, Avery getting upsetting phone calls and a whole wealth of drama to go along with the cryptic happenings.