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“Mm-hmm,” he said. “The guys got in touch with the rental place. It’s all taken care of.”

I blinked, suddenly more awake. “What do you mean?”

His hands moved down to my shoulders and kept massaging me. “You had a good policy on the rental, and as you know, the shop’s in the repair network, so it’s taken care of. We’ll fix it up and return it when it’s done.”

“Seriously? I don’t even need to get on the phone and fight with customer service reps for a few hours?”

He laughed. “Not unless you really want to. There will be a few things for you to sign, I’m sure, but my guys at the garage are on it. They’re tuning up one of our automatic sedans, too, so you’ll have a new ride by the end of the day. Even asked them to fill up the tank.”

Relief washed over me, and the tension in my muscles eased even further. My sigh must’ve sounded a little dramatic, because Stephan squeezed my shoulders in gentle questioning. “What is it?”

“I’ve been a single mom for nearly a decade. I’m so used to handling problems like this myself. Even when it’s frustrating. It’s just like… Problems stack up, and there’s no one else to handle them. It all falls on me. And I mean, I get it done, and everything’s fine, but I never really get a break.” I laughed, but it sounded a little sad, even to my own ears. “It’s nice to have a break.”

Stephan turned me around, and I wound my arms around his neck like it was second nature. The water slicked his hair back and ran in rivulets over his shoulders and chest, like it was following the pathways of his tattoos. His hazel eyes bored intomine. “You’re not alone anymore, Harley. You and Dylan are my first priority. I want you to be safe here. In every way.”

My heart thundered, and heat prickled behind my eyes. If I started crying, I definitely couldn’t blame it on the shower. I blinked hard, willing the tears away. The force of my own emotion surprised me. I’d been alone since my father died. I’d thought I’d be alone for the rest of my life.

Stephan made it sound so easy. He made mewantto rely on him.

I cleared my throat. “You’re overprotective.”

His concerned expression split into a smile. “Must be a fated mates thing.”

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him before he could say anything else devastating.Fated.He kept throwing around that word like it was a regular fact of life. And I supposed, for him, it was.

It filled me with equal parts desire and anxiety. How could I bematedto a dragon who I might lose all over again?

He tugged me against him. His skin was hotter than the water pouring over us. A similar heat rolled through me as he kissed me slowly, surely, like he had all the time in the world.

He pulled away, smiling. Then he tucked my wet hair behind my ear. He liked doing that. I liked it, too—I liked feeling like he was always looking at me.

“Come on,” Stephan said. “Let’s get breakfast going before that little dragon wakes up.”

It took a few more kisses, but we disentangled from each other and left the shower. I heard a suspicious clacking downstairs, so I dressed in a hurry and wrapped a towel around my hair as I rushed downstairs.

“This thing is more complicated than a spaceship,” Dylan said. He was leaning over the counter, staring at the array ofbuttons on the coffee maker with a frown. “I was trying to start the coffee.”

I laughed. “The last thing you need in your system is caffeine, bud.”

“It was for you guys, not me.”

I pulled him into a side-hug, still laughing. “That’s sweet of you, Dyl. Here, I’ll show you how to set it up.”

I showed Dylan how to use it, and he pressed the button to start it triumphantly. Then, there was a sharp knock on the door. As I went to answer it, Stephan came downstairs and shook his head as he moved to the door.

I swallowed and tried not to let anxiety wind around my heart again. After the car accident, I was taking his protectiveness a lot more seriously.

“Hawk,” Stephan said. He stepped aside and let his brother into the house. “You’re up early.”

“More like our guys were up late,” Hawk said. “Ace, you should come to the clubhouse as soon as you can.”

“What happened?” I asked from the kitchen.

Hawk glanced at Dylan, then sighed. “We picked up Blakely last night.”

“Where? I figured she’d be hiding,” Stephan said.

“She was. She ditched the truck at the junkyard. That’s where the cops found it. So, while the cops were busy with that, Striker had our guys check her usual haunts. She was crashing with Tori—you know her?”