His brow creases. “Promise me you won’t take it off again.”

“Ray…that’s nice in theory, but sometimes it just isn’t practical.”

“Promise.”

With a huff, I thud my fists against his rock-hard stomach. “Okay. I promise. Now get off me.”

Ray grabs my wrists and pins them to the mat over my head, his body angled over me. My breath catches in my throat, and I steel myself for the memories, the black rush, the heart-pounding fear, but it doesn’t come. Instead, a red haze settles over my vision, and I press my lips together and buck my hips, throwing him slightly forward.

Bad plan. Now his groin is only inches away from my face. He’s still wearing his jeans, which means that bulge isn’t a cup.

“Ray…”

His face softens. “I hurt you.”

“Yes, you hurt me. Keeping secrets hurts me. It makes me feel like you don’t respect me. And it makes me feel like I can’t trust you. So maybe you could return to your proper seat now. Tray table up.”

He shifts down, settling his weight over my hips, but he doesn’t release my hands. “I hurt you. Means you care.”

I swallow hard and meet his gaze. “You hurting me means I was being stupid. Things were going where I didn’t want them to go. Now I’ve had a wake-up call. You have secrets you can’t share. You need to protect your secrets. I need to be with someone I can trust, and I need to stand on my own two feet. It’s just not going to work between us.”

His gaze darkens, searing me to the core. “You want to be done? Or are you scared and trying to push me away?”

The air shifts between us, electrifying, tightening my nipples and heating my blood. I am hyperaware of his thighs tucked against my hips, carrying most of his weight as he sits astride me in a dominant MMA position. My wrists, hot under his palms, press against the cool mat, restrained in a way I could never have imagined allowing them to be restrained. My chest rises and falls twice for every one of Ray’s breaths, and my core tightens. The innuendo isn’t lost on me. God, yes. I want to be done in the carnal sense of the word. But only by Ray. And I don’t really want to let him go.

“I don’t want to lose you.”

Ray’s hands tighten on my wrists, and he leans down and brushes a kiss over my lips. “I don’t want to lose you either, but I live in a dangerous world. I’ve got stuff in my life that would make your head spin. I need to protect you from that, and I’ll do what it takes to keep you safe, even if it means you hate me for it, because for the first time in my life, I want something more than doing my duty. I want a life and I want you in it. I’ve got one bad guy to catch and then I’m free. And after I’m done and after what went down this evening, you’ll never have to worry about being safe again.”

Finally, he releases my hands but I don’t move. Heat sweeps through my belly. I feel both vulnerable and curiously safe lying beneath him. My gaze shifts from his intense gaze to his sensual lips, and my breasts swell, remembering the touch of his hands, the gentle press of his lips. He wants me. Not just today, but tomorrow and the tomorrow after that.

“You make it sound like I don’t have a choice about being with you.”

“You don’t.” He leans down and kisses me with a savage fierceness that takes my breath away.

“I suppose that’s a good thing since I have a history of making bad choices, and if I chose to believe you, it would probably be a bad idea.”

Ray stands, then holds out a hand to help me to my feet. “You think coming with me now would be a bad decision?” He pulls me up and into his body in one smooth fighter move.

Behind us, exercise machines whirr and weights clang. Rampage barks orders like a drill sergeant and someone laughs. But Ray’s gaze is focused entirely on me, and now his hard, masculine body is pressed up against me, and all I can think about is how much better it would feel if we weren’t wearing clothes.

“Yes.”

“I’ll prove you wrong.” He cups my jaw in his broad palm, stroking his thumb over the apple of my cheek. “I can show you things, Sia. Things that will take your breath away. Things that will make you so hot and wet you won’t remember your name. Any dream, any kink, any fantasy, anything you want to try, I’ll make it happen and I’ll keep you safe.”

“It’s not about sex. It’s about my heart.”

“I’ll look after that too.”

Butterflies flutter in my stomach at the heated interest in his eyes, and I draw in a ragged breath. “Any fantasy?”

Footsteps thud on the mat nearby. I catch sight of Tag walking toward us out of the corner of my eye, but he’s not close enough for me to see his face. And I am distracted by the beautiful fighter in front of me who is sliding his hand under my hair to curl around my neck.

He pulls me close. “Anything. What do you want?”

“I want to know what happened tonight.”

“I found Luke.”

* * *

The thunderstorm rolls in just as we leave Redemption.

I haven’t been able to speak since I sat with Tag and Ray in the café and heard how Ray had managed to track Luke down using only the details I’d given him and the name that had slipped off my tongue. Of course he went to Tag to verify his information. And somewhere along the way, they had decided justice should be done and they would do it together, with Tag disguised and on lookout because of the risk to his job and Ray throwing all the punches. Justice was done, and they were pretty sure he was still alive.