Page 22 of Hero & Villain (Super Serum Billionaires #1)

He felt so good. Was he going to break my nose?

Would that feel good if he did it? I couldn’t imagine him doing anything that he didn’t like.

My stupid voice was breathless. “You’re a hero.

You wouldn’t hit a woman. You should hit Nix for running his business so sloppily.

You’re the only honest person in this outfit, at least if honest means you let him gouge you for everything you do.

” My heart was pounding, and adrenaline rushed through me, making me ready for absolutely anything.

He kissed me, soft and sweet. I gasped as his mouth covered mine and every intelligible thought drifted away.

I wrapped my hands around his neck and surrendered without the slightest resistance.

He wouldn’t ever hurt me. He was the one who saved me, at the top of the world and at the top of the cliff.

The stress and worry melted away as he held me gently, cupping the back of my head as his lips drew out every drop of unhappiness.

He pulled away too soon with a low growl, leaving me disoriented and loopy. His brows were drawn down as he scowled at me, eyes somehow soft even after I’d broken his nose. “You can’t kiss me with Jezebel holding me at gunpoint and not expect me to reciprocate as soon as I get the chance.”

My breathing came short and quick while I stared at him, at that soft mouth and soft eyes. “Is that proper heroic behavior? I had no idea the code was so complex.”

His scowl relaxed, and he slid his hand down my throat. My head tilted sideways, letting him touch me any way he wanted to without the slightest resistance. His touch was delicate, and so right, like I’d been made to have his hands protecting my vulnerable neck.

The door opened, and Nix came in, carrying a box of electronics stuff, cords and wires spiraling out of the top like hungry snakes.

We leapt away from each other, me straightening my skirt and Dirk crossing his arms while I smiled at Nix.

I probably looked like a psychopath. Too bright, too fake.

“Don’t you think his nose will heal cleanly?

I was just looking at it. Anyway, I’m done for the day.

I have some notes that you’ll want to look over.

It’s the stack under the stapler. I’m supposed to get a car from Trix so Jezebel doesn’t have to keep driving me around.

I’ll make sure to keep the tires simple. ”

I pushed through them and left the office, waiting until I was outside to press my hand to my chest, trying to get my beating heart under control. And my mouth. It tingled, and his taste was still on them. I hadn’t taken a few steps before Dirk followed me outside.

“You think that you can just walk away?” he growled directly behind me.

I shivered at the sound of his voice. “Clearly. Wait until I’m sleeping to stalk me. It’s safer for you.”

“How long have you had night terrors?”

I stopped walking. I crossed my arms before I whirled around to face him, chin raised, stomach tangling. “How is that any of your business?”

He stared at me for another moment until his eyes softened. “It’s not.” He held out a black card. “There’s someone on the circuit who makes mental health his business. It’s a side-gig that he doesn’t advertise freely, but I got permission to give you this.”

I looked down at the number on the gold-embossed card. It was subtly scented, a masculine scent that was part money, part power. I stared at Dirk. “This tells me nothing.”

“He got a PhD in psychology at Harvard before I was there. He’s older, wiser, and he’s seen it all.”

I gripped the card until it bit into my fingers. I didn’t need a therapist. Dirk kissed me like he wanted me. If I could control my reaction to him… Not that I’d been doing great at that. Maybe I did need a therapist. “He’s confidential?”

“Extremely.”

“It’s not that I need help.”

He kicked my shoe. “We all need help, Princess Pink. Call him, and I’ll forget about you dumping me in the desert. A scorpion about ate off my face.”

I studied the card while my heart pounded for no rational reason. He wanted to help me instead of get rid of me? He really was a hero. “You haven’t mentioned the lying. I used your guilt over Nitro’s death to get you to help me. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Is that an apology? I’ll take it whether it was or not. If you’re Toni or Dani, you’re connected to Nitro. It’s the same thing to me. You have my protection if you want it. You can think of me as the big brother you never had.”

My heart ached as I looked up at him hesitantly. “You kissed your sister?”

He winced. Right. His sister was dead. Don’t joke about dead siblings. “Yes, although not like that. Look, you’re clearly in trouble. Feel free to stay here as long as you want until you can get your feet under you. You should probably watch out for Jezebel and Nix, though. They’re both crazy.”

He was crazy if he was willing to help me after I broke his nose and dragged him into the desert. I held up the card. “Is he their therapist too?”

He shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. He’s very confidential.”

I hesitated, then tucked the card into the pocket of my kitten cardigan and continued towards the biggest building that housed the vehicles while my heart pounded. Dirk Dagger fell in beside me, but didn’t mention anything else about yesterday’s debacle.

Could he actually forget something like that?

He’d been in my room while I slept. I was not okay with that, except that he’d retaliated from my breaking his nose by kissing me and giving me the number of a therapist. It’s not that I needed a hero, but I was supposed to be the helpless damsel that needed rescuing.

He was probably even serious about helping me without taking anything in return, as if family was naturally that generous.

I fought down the strong impulse to grab his hand and crossed my arms instead.

I didn’t need a big brother to watch out for me, but at least he wasn’t kicking me out before I’d taken him down.

Inside the enormous tan warehouse filled with a wide assortment of vehicles from helicopters to what looked like tanks, an Amazonian woman with dark curly hair in a messy braid walked towards us with a wrench in her hand.

“I’m Trix,” she said, shoving the wrench in her pocket and wiping her palm on her dark blue coverall before holding it out to me. Ah, the dragon. I could definitely see it.

“Dani,” I said, shaking her hand.

She frowned as she gripped my hand with her strong, tough one. “I thought you were Toni. Nitro’s cousin isn’t Toni?” she asked Dirk, still gripping my hand, and squeezing a little tighter, like we were men challenging for the hand strength contest. She won. There was no challenge.

He shrugged. “What’s in a name, Dragon?”

She snorted and refocused on me. She finally loosened her grip.

“You’re staying with Jezebel. Are you okay?

If you need help, I’d tell you to call me, but there’s no way I’d get there in time.

You’re basically screwed.” She turned and yelled at a man with a plump dark mustache who was under the hood of a go-cart.

“Brew, take over for me. Dani needs a ride.” She refocused on me. “What’s your speed?”

“I drive moderately?”

She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the nearest truck, a monster machine with tires as tall as my head. “Can you drive a stick?”

I gaped at the truck. “I want a car with tires I can lift.”

She nodded. “That’s sensible. Any other specs?”

“I like good gas mileage. And big enough that you can fit bodies in the back seat.”

“Not the trunk?”

I glanced at Dirk, who stood with his arms crossed, devoid of any expression on his ridiculously handsome face. “That would be a plus.”

“Perfect. Come and meet Prudence. She’s an uptight librarian if ever there was one.”

Is that what I was? It was almost humorous that I gave that impression when I was so capable of holding my own, but it would be better to be underestimated.

Also, I wasn’t sure what I was holding in this place, but it wasn’t capability.

I followed her around the monster truck and past a few other vehicles to a low car underneath a gray cover.

Dirk swore under his breath. Did that mean I would or wouldn’t like what I was about to see?

Trix yanked back the cover in a dramatic swirl of fabric that revealed her showmanship and the pink boat that looked like Elvis had been there.

Also an irritated Marcus Licinius Crassus, who looked up from his meal of doughnut with pink sprinkles with a yowl.

I leapt away from the cat and the car while Trixie leaned forward, pointing out.

“Out, Marcus! I’ve told you, you can’t just shed hair anywhere you want. And you know that you’re not allowed to eat doughnuts! Jezebel’s worried about your weight.”

The cat yowled again before he leapt over the side, skulking away between vehicles with his long tail twitching.

Dirk had moved into a defensive position between me and the cat. I noticed that only then. My heart tingled. I shook it off and tried to remember what we were doing here. Right. I was getting a car. A big pink car thoroughly covered in mountain lion hair.

I looked from the pink boat to her. The dragon. “It has good gas mileage?”

She grinned, green eyes flashing. “No, it has excellent gas mileage. I’ve been working on it with Dirk here, thus the unfortunate color. You don’t seem to mind pink though. Unless the hair was an accident, in which case, you have my condolences.”

I shook my head and touched my hair self-consciously. “No accident, even though it might have been a mistake.”