Page 99 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

“I think it’s time I went home,” I finally wheezed.

Theo hesitated, a battle waged in the depths of his eyes, before he gave a slight nod. “How’d you get here?”

“Uber.”

He dipped his head, and he started to turn as he said, “I’ll give you a ride.”

“I don’t?—”

He whirled back around, snatched me by the wrist, and hauled me against him. My heart hammered and my stupid body sang.

I wanted him so badly I couldn’t think straight.

“Don’t argue with me about this, Pipes.” He inflected my grandmother’s nickname, dragging it out. Half taunt and halfpraise. “Not going to have you riding with some random stranger in the middle of the night.”

A random stranger would likely be a whole lot safer than him, but I sucked down the bedlam he incited and fought for a way to throw up a wall.

“Tell me you didn’t ride your motorcycle here in the zero-degree weather because I’m sure as hell not getting on the back of it if you did.”

I watched as Theo tried to keep the easiness in his expression, though there was no missing the way sadness slipped into it. “Already told you, the only person riding on the back of my bikebelongs to me. Don’t worry yourself, sweetheart. My truck is sitting right outside.”

Somehow, I was sure the cruelty in his voice was directed at himself.

Tension clamored up and down my throat, and I forced out, “Fine.”

“That seems to be your favorite word when it comes to me.” His mouth was suddenly back to my ear. “And I can promise if I had you, it wouldn’t just befine.”

I was held in it for a moment. In the million flashes of what that might be like, before I shook myself out of it.

One-Star. One-Star. One-Star.

I silently chanted it, trying to convince myself it would be a horrible, terrible experience.

Turning from him, I wound through the crowd and headed for the round table where I’d left my purse and coat.

Theo somehow made it there before me, and he unclasped the hook on the rope to let me through.

I slipped into my coat while he moved over to the booth and slung into his leather jacket. He shared a couple words with Cash that I couldn’t make out before he came striding back my way.

Dark thunder rolled beneath my feet.

“You ready?” he asked, that casual confidence gliding back into his demeanor, as if what had happened on the dance floor hadn’t affected him at all.

“Sure.”

He grabbed my hand. I should have yanked it away, but instead, I let him lead me through the throng that was packed shoulder to shoulder in the club.

His palm a current against mine.

Energy pulsed through the connection. A buzz that burned through my body as he cut a path through Kane’s.

I thought every person there must feel the same danger oozing from him that I’d sensed the first time I’d seen him.

Because the sea parted and allowed us to pass.

When the bouncer manning the door saw us coming, he opened it, and the giant of a man dipped his head as he said, “Goodnight, Theo. Be careful out there.”

“I always am,” Theo returned. He hauled me through the door and out into the wintry bite.