Free Claiming Honor (Bad Boys of River City Book 3) by Elle Wylder Page A

control of himself after a minute.
    "Why are you laughing at me?"
    Smiling, he shakes his head. "There are a lot of things I'm serious about, sweetheart. You're at the top of the list."
    He cups my face in his palms. "That's never gonna change, baby, so get used to it. We belong together."
    There he goes again, trying to make my choices for me. And that future he's dreaming up? I can't deny part of me wants it. A huge empty part I've never taken the risk to fill. But there's no need to rush into anything is there? He hasn’t even said he loves me.
    "You're skipping a few steps. You're attracted me, I get it. And the sex is…"
    Incredible. Mind blowing. Perfect.
    "Amazing," he says.
    I smile a little. "Great chemistry does not equal a great relationship. Or love."
    Oh the L word gets his attention and not in a good way. He's uncomfortable and doesn’t stop me when I pull away.
    Chapter Eight
    Hunter
     
    She blindsides me with talk of love. I want her to love me but I don’t know if that's what I feel or even how to describe what I feel for her. Obsession. Desire. Need. None of them seem enough. One thing is for damned sure. Now that I've had her there is no fucking way I'll let her go.
    "Honor," I start, but I have no idea how to continue. "We'll figure it out," I finally say but what I really mean is I will. If I don’t then I risk losing her and that is un-fucking-acceptable.
    She gives me a wry smile. "I'm going back to the beach until it's time to get dinner. No point in wasting all this sun."
    I follow her into the bathroom. She drops the towel and I watch her shimmy into her wet swim suit. I want to do the same but my phone rings before I can reach for my trunks. Instead I pull on a pair of jeans and jog downstairs to the office. I spend the next few hours working but I'm distracted by thoughts of Honor. Worrying about her. I know she's safe with her friends, surrounded by my men on a crowded beach in broad daylight, but I'm damned relieved when I hear them return. No one stops in the office. I assume they're upstairs changing. The first two I see are Lake and Ryder, each with a beer, and Lake hands me one.
    Today I'd been going over my rental income books and dealing with some landlord issues. Tedious but necessary. A glamorous life of crime it ain't. Maybe I need to show Honor more of that. She needs to see me as a normal guy, not some thug off the street. Though, I admit I have some of that in me. If I can help it, she will never see it. I save my files and shut down the laptop.
    "Anything we need to know about?" Ryder asks. I know he's not asking about the business accounts.
    "Cox is apparently banging his stripper girlfriend in Montgomery. Other than that, nothing worth mentioning."
    Ryder cocks his eyebrows. "I don’t know much about stalkers, but does this whole thing strike anyone else as…off?"
    Fuck yeah but before we can discuss it further, female voices drift down the stairs. A few seconds later, Honor walks in with my sister and Faye. She's dressed casually, in a strapless, ankle length white and pink dress typical of what of what women wear on summer evenings at the beach. She's got her hair pulled into a messy knot, not a lick of makeup on, and she's the most beautiful woman I know. She makes my heart seize in my chest. Makes it impossible to breath for the first few seconds I see her, every single time. I'm starting to believe it will always be like this. All she has to do is enter a room, look at me, smile at me, and I have a minor heart attack. I can't wait to test that theory over the years.
    "C'mere, sweetheart," I say.
    I can't help myself. I have to touch her. It wasn’t that long ago I had her under me, but I still need her close to prove this is real. It's actually happening. Honor is mine. I haven’t felt this kind of vulnerability since I was a kid. I rub my palm over the ache in my chest. She cocks her head to one side and gives me a look that makes it damned clear she knows exactly