Edge Of Fear (Arrow's Edge MC Book 4) by Freya Barker (top rated books of all time .TXT) 📕

he didn’t feel some kind of compulsion to keep me safe. I know he feels a sense of responsibility I suspect may stem from the time I got shot. Or maybe it’s because I might be pregnant with his child. Maybe that’s what is keeping him around.

“I can hear you thinking,” he mumbles sleepily.

I can feel him rolling over on his side and I turn to face him.

“Just woolgathering.”

He runs the pad of his index finger from my forehead, down the slope of my nose, and stops at my bottom lip, pulling it down a little. His eyes followed its path and are now fixated on my mouth.

“Why do I get the impression it’s more than that?”

As much as I don’t want to hear the answer, I ask him the question anyway.

“Tell me honestly; is this not working for you?”

He props himself up on an elbow, a frown on his forehead.

“Is what not working for me?”

“This thing between us.”

The frown deepens, making him scowl, and given he’s hanging over me I’m feeling a little disadvantaged. I pull myself up into a sitting position, pulling the sheet up under my chin. Van, who’s taken to sleeping just inside the door to my bedroom, lifts his head.

“Explain,” he growls.

“I mean, I understand. I seem to be walking under a dark cloud or something—a magnet for trouble—it would turn anyone off. I’m sure you’ve got—”

My ramble is cut off when I’m suddenly pulled down, Tse’s weight covering me, and his eyes burning in mine.

“Be quiet.”

“But—”

Then his mouth is on mine, robbing me of the ability to talk. To think.

His hands tug up on the nightshirt I’m wearing, a rough palm finding my breast, and I arch my back, chasing the connection. This is what I missed. This hunger I feel coming from him. An insatiable need to touch, no, claim every part of me and make it his. It’s the most profound compliment I’ve ever been paid. Honest, raw, and so empowering. I’ve never felt more beautiful or desired as I do now.

His leg slips between mine and I’m not in the least embarrassed to rock my hips, rubbing myself against him shamelessly.

Our kiss is wet and wild, teeth clashing and tongues battling for domination.

My hands slide in the back of the boxer briefs he’s been wearing to bed, pushing them down and digging my fingers in his muscular ass. The responding groan from deep in his chest reverberates through my body.

Then he rips his lips from mine with a second groan; this one pained, and buries his face in the crook of my neck.

“Please, Tse…” I beg, for what I’m not entirely sure, but I’m aching with need.

“Fee, baby. We’ve gotta stop.”

It works like a bucket of ice water.

Planting my heel in the mattress, I heave him off me and escape the bed, ignoring Van who lets out a startled woof.

“Fee, dammit!”

I dive into the bathroom, locking the door before I sit down on the toilet and relieve myself. I will myself not to cry. I’m not wasting tears.

The click is faint and I don’t have time to register what is happening before the door flies open, and Tse’s large frame suddenly fills the small bathroom.

Suddenly I’m furious.

“Hello? I’m on the toilet!” I yell at him. “Can you not leave me with a small shred of dignity?”

“I don’t give a flying fuck, and no!” he yells back.

His booming voice bounces off the tiles in the tiny space as he shoves the door shut, locking a suddenly alert Van outside. Then he folds his arms and glares at me. I glare right back until I realize I’m in a rather precarious position with my bare ass hanging over the toilet bowl.

With as much poise as I can muster given the situation, I grab a handful of toilet paper, wipe, and tug my nightshirt down as I lift off the seat and flush. Then I turn my back and run my hands under the faucet. When I turn it off and lift my eyes, I catch his reflection in the mirror. His hands are rubbing at his face, hair standing on end, and his shoulders slump forward.

He looks like a man on the edge.

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stay away, Fee,” he says so softly it’s hard to make out. “And believe me, I don’t want to. Do you know how hard it’s been to leave you at the restaurant in the morning and drive away, when every bone in my body wants to stay close enough to you I can hear you breathe?”

He looks up and all anger is gone from his eyes, replaced with something I can’t describe any other way than desperation.

A fist squeezes all the air from my chest and a deep pressure remains right under my breastbone.

“Then why?”

Tse

Why?

Oh, I know what she’s asking. I’m just not sure I have an easy answer to give her.

The only saving grace to this whole week was coming home with Sophia at night. With the house locked up, the dog close by, and the alarm set, I could finally breathe.

Danger doesn’t normally faze me—heck, I have two bullet wounds attesting to that—but it’s been a very long time since I’ve experienced fear so acutely. Especially for someone else, or in this case, perhaps two someone elses. This constant tingle up my spine, like something dark is out there, looming.

I put my hands on her shoulders and coax her to turn around. Then I slide them to the base of her neck, the pads of my thumbs touching her rapid heartbeat.

“You have the ability to make the world around us disappear, Fee. I lose myself when I’m inside you and I can’t let that happen. Not while there’s a threat out there.”

Her expression softens a bit but there’s still a stubborn set to her mouth.

“The doors are locked, we have an alarm, and Van, I think I’ll be okay.”

That right there is the fundamental difference between us. She believes she can control