Taming Blade (Kings Reapers MC Book 5) by Nicola Jane (mini ebook reader TXT) 📕

up like this, it’s so pretty. The waiter tops up my glass with champagne. “I didn’t know you could hire these pods for dinner,” I say.

“You have to know the right people,” says Ethan. “Tell me more about yourself, Matilda. I know about your grandmother. The shop. Your dreams of owning a cocktail bar. What about your parents?”

“My mum and dad live in Scotland. They moved a while back, but I was settled here, so I stayed with Nan.”

“You must miss them?”

I nod. “Yeah, but I talk to Mum regularly. Dad—he’s my step-dad, but he raised me so I just call him Dad—he’s a great man and treats Mum so good. They’re perfect together and I want that in a man. What about your parents?”

“Split when I was a kid. Both live miles away, so I don’t see them often.”

“Siblings?” I ask

“Nope. Just me.”

“Me too,” I say. “I always wanted a sister, but now I have Sara and she’s pretty much the same thing.”

“Do you see much of your real dad?” he asks casually.

I shake my head. “No, never met the guy. Mum said he walked out on us before I was born.”

“How’s your friends over in the MC?” he asks and I frown. He asked about them before and I don’t get his fascination with the gang.

“Good,” I mutter. Flashes of the dead man’s eyes pass through my mind. “I wouldn’t say they’re friends, though,” I add.

“You took my advice and avoided them?”

“Sort of,” I answer. “I really don’t know them all that well.”

We eat lobster and drink more champagne. Then we eat dessert and stand looking out over London together. So far, the date’s perfect. When Ethan finally turns to me, I hold my breath in anticipation of our first kiss. He doesn’t disappoint. As his mouth closes over my own, I sigh because it’s perfect—soft, gentle and just how I imagined it.

Ethan takes me home, and when we stop at my house, he steps out after me and walks me to the door. He kisses me again and it’s just as swoon worthy the second time around. When I close the door, I lean my back against it and smile to myself. I’m jolted out of my bliss by a loud thud on the other side of the door that scares the crap outta me and causes me to let out a yelp. I peer through the peephole and scowl when Blade comes into view. I pull open the door and he bustles me inside. “What the hell?” I hiss.

“You kissed him,” he growls.

“Your point?”

“You didn’t kiss me on our first date!”

I laugh with disbelief. “He didn’t kill a man in front of me,” I snap. “He took me on an amazing date to the London Eye. He fed me lobster and champagne and a fruity little dessert that almost gave me an orgasm, it was that nice. He kissed me at the perfect time and he walked me to the door. Are you seeing why I kissed him and not you?”

“Not really,” he mutters, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “He’s not even that good looking.”

“Wow, how grown up.”

“I’m sorry about the date fail,” he mutters. “I fucked up.”

“Why are you here?” I ask. “I told you already, stay away from me!”

“I was passing, saw you kiss him, and lost it.”

I shake my head sadly. “Please leave.”

He takes a deep breath and peeks up at me through his eyelashes. “I missed not seeing you this last week. I don’t understand why I can’t get you out my head.”

I look away. His puppy dog eyes and dimples are affecting me. “I can’t answer that. All I know is you put your hands on me, you threatened my friends and family, and you admitted, quite crudely, the only reason you went on a date was to get inside my . . . what were the words you used? Tight little cunt?” He has the decency to look a tiny bit ashamed. “I asked you to stay away from me. Please leave.”

Blade steps closer and I move back. “I regret it. The date, speaking to you the way I did, and putting my hands on you. I needed you to understand that if you went to the cops, Riggs and Cree wouldn’t have let you walk out of the club alive.”

“You know something, Blade? I regret it all too, but most of all, I regret smiling at you that very first time you walked into my shop. I regret looking forward to you coming in every day and flirting. I regret meeting you. I’m a nice person. I help the elderly cross the road. I give the same skinny kid free sweets at three p.m. every day because I worry he doesn’t eat anything at home. I didn’t deserve being treated how I let you treat me. Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed for a date. You told me it wasn’t your thing, and I learned that the hard way, but I am barely holding my shit together,” I grit out, closing my eyes briefly to stop the threat of tears. “I check the news ten times a day. I lie awake at night seeing that man’s dead eyes.” My voice cracks but I compose myself. “Every time I see a cop car, I crap myself wondering if they’re coming to arrest me.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he reassures me.

“I didn’t report a murder, Blade. That’s a fucking crime.”

“So you’re dating that guy now?” he asks, and I like the way he looks to be in turmoil over that thought.

“I guess I am, yeah.”

He nods slowly, his hands still stuffed in his pockets. “Then I guess that’s it,” he says. His tone is final, and for a second, I feel panicked. But he’s right—this is it. I can’t see him again. We stare at each other in silence, letting that realisation sink in. This time when he steps closer, I stay rooted to the spot. Slowly, I watch as his