Dirty For Me (Motor City Royals) (26 page)

She cursed and began to back up faster, stumbling a little as his longer stride brought him closer, until she was walking backward quickly, her breathing getting faster. “Levi, what the fuck are you—” Her words were cut off as she backed straight into the door to the garage.

And he kept coming, closer and closer, right up to her, putting out his hands at the last minute and placing them with great care on either side of her head, caging her against the door with his body.

She shrank back against the metal, obviously trying to pull away from him, but there was nowhere for her to go.

And this time, he did smile.

Because finally she was exactly where he’d pictured her for so many lonely fucking years. So many
angry
fucking years.

At his mercy.

“Hello, Rachel,” he said softly, clearly.

She stared back at him for a second, the fear large and black in those wide, dark eyes. Then the actual fact of her nearness began to penetrate his consciousness.

They weren’t touching, but he could feel her heat, smell the scent of her skin—sweet, like she was something good to eat and yet not too sweet. Vanilla maybe or some kind of flower smell; he wasn’t sure which. He didn’t remember her smelling like that before, but underneath that there was a slight hint of feminine musk that was all Rachel, so achingly familiar.

Someone behind him was shouting at him, but he ignored it, as desire, want, need rose up inside him, hungry and raw, desperate to claim her. Because she was so close, so fucking close, and it had been so fucking
long,
and he’d promised himself . . .

But right at that moment the fear vanished from her eyes like a light turning off and anger flared instead. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Her hands came up and she shoved at his chest. “Get the fuck away from me!”

She was surprisingly strong, but he’d had eight years of resisting people who’d tried to push him in various ways and if he didn’t want to be pushed, he wouldn’t be. Then again, he’d made his point, so he let her shove him back a couple of steps, putting some distance between them.

He heard his name being called again—probably Gideon getting pissed with him—but again he ignored it, his focus entirely on the woman in front of him.

Her cheeks had an angry flush to them, her chest rising and falling fast in time with her breathing. Anger glittered in her eyes and filled the space between them, tight, hot and dense as a neutron star.

Then she stepped forward and this time it was her turn to get right up close, to get in his face the way he’d gotten into hers. “What kind of hello is that, Levi?”

As if she was the one who was justified in getting angry. As if she had the right to demand things from him.

His own anger, already simmering away, boiled over.

He reached for her again, sliding his arm around her waist and hauling her against him, eight years of rage dying to be let loose. He had so much he wanted to say to her, and yet, when it came down to it, only one thing mattered.

She had to pay. She had to pay for what she’d done to him.

Their gazes clashed, both of them furious. Her hands were flat against the plane of his chest, pushing at him hard, her body rigid. Yet despite all that, she felt so good against him. Warm and soft, everything a woman should be....

“Hey!” Gideon shouted from behind him. “What the fuck is going on? Let her go, Levi.”

Fuck. His control was usually way better than this. He had to stick with the plan, not let her make him crazy like she always used to, damn her.

He gave a low, slightly feral-sounding laugh and released her, raising his hands in surrender and stepping back. “Nothing’s going on. Just saying hi.”

Rachel’s chin was lifted, fury gleaming in her eyes. Her arms were at her sides, hands curled into fists like she was ready to throw a punch. Spots of color glowed on her cheeks and she was looking at him like he was the devil himself.

Fair enough. As far as she was concerned, he was.

Gideon had come up beside them, giving Rachel a look before glancing back at Levi. “I don’t want this shit in my garage, I already told you that. I know you two have issues, but—”

“Issues?” Levi interrupted, unable to help himself. “What issues? Oh, right, you mean the fact that she never visited me in the whole eight years I was inside? Not once? Or even how she fucked off when it was time to deliver her statement to the police and—”

“
Enough
.”

It had been a long time since Levi had obeyed anyone who wasn’t a guard, and he wasn’t about to start now, especially since he was free. But years of respect and trust had ensured Gideon a certain amount of loyalty so Levi made himself stop and shut the fuck up. Probably a good thing anyway since clearly he needed to get himself back under control again.

Rachel had said nothing, but as he watched, he could see a fine tremble shaking her, almost imperceptible, like a subtle earthquake.

Anger. Definitely anger.

Gideon looked at her. “You okay?”

Levi fought down the instinctive burst of irritation that went through him. Christ, as if he’d ever hurt her. Put the fear of God into her, sure, and maybe scare her. Make her suffer in a very specific way, definitely. But no, he’d never hurt her and Gideon should know that.

Then again, Gideon knew how angry Levi was. How Levi used to ask him where Rachel was every time Gideon came to visit. And how bitter the answer “she decided not to come” was, especially when Zee and Zoe had also made the effort.

But not Rachel. Never Rachel.

She would pay for that, too.

Rachel gave a stiff nod, glancing away from him at last. One hand lifted to rub her arm, a familiar, nervous gesture from years ago.

He found his gaze following the movement of her fingers, noticing for the first time her tattoos, a full-length sleeve of deep red roses and other flowers amid dark leaves spilling down over her skin. The drooping head of a rose hung over her shoulder, too, scattering a fall of red petals like drops of blood over her chest.

It was a beautiful design. Beautiful work. And familiar. She’d used to draw stuff like that in the notebooks she constantly lugged around with her. Was it one of her own designs?

Gideon cursed under his breath. “Look, I get that this is difficult. But if you two can’t be in the same room without wanting to kill each other, maybe it would be better if Rachel went home.”

“It’s fine, Gideon,” Levi said.

“Is it?” The other man’s dark eyes were sharp. “Because it sure as hell doesn’t look fine to me.”

Levi crushed his anger flat. Made himself hard and cold, the way he’d been for the past eight years. The only way he’d managed to survive. “I appreciate you coming for me, Gideon. I appreciate everything you’ve offered me since I got back. But what’s between Rachel and me is none of your fucking business.”

“What’s between us?” Rachel’s voice was hoarse and a little thick. “There’s
nothing
between us. Nothing at all.”

Levi shifted his gaze back to her. He didn’t speak, just held her dark eyes with his, because they both knew exactly how much bullshit that was.

Her mouth set in a hard line, and he remembered that, her stubborn will. Like him, she hated backing down. On anything.

Well, this week she would. He’d make her.

Gideon sighed. “Okay, fine. Rip each other to shreds, see if I care. But don’t do it here, okay? Blood is very difficult to get out of concrete.”

Rachel said nothing, staring at Levi for one angry second.

Then abruptly she turned on her heel and strode out of the garage.

Oh, shit no. She wasn’t leaving that easily, not when he hadn’t said what he wanted to say.

Levi stepped forward after her, only to find one of Gideon’s large, powerful hands gripping his shoulder, stopping him.

“Levi,” Gideon said in a low voice. “Let her go.”

He stiffened.

Levi let out a long, silent breath, making his muscles loosen. Then he glanced at his friend.

In the car on the long drive from the Central Michigan Correctional Facility in St. Louis back to Detroit, Gideon hadn’t mentioned Rachel, keeping the conversation firmly about what was happening with Zoe and Zee, and the garage. Filling him in on how Zee had been revealed as big, bad Joshua Chase’s long-lost son and his engagement to the daughter of one of Detroit’s most wealthy families. And then telling him that Levi had a job he could come back to and could crash on Gideon’s sofa until he found himself a place to live.

It was all typical Gideon, generous to a fault. But the guy was operating on the assumption that Levi was the same man who’d gone to prison on manslaughter charges eight years earlier.

And he wasn’t.

The Levi who’d gone into prison was a boy compared to the man he was now. A much harder man. A man who knew what he wanted and had put in place meticulous plans on how to get it.

After all, he’d had a lot of time to think about it.

Levi smiled at his friend and gently pulled Gideon’s hand off his shoulder.

Then he strode straight out the door after Rachel.