“Stop the car,” I ordered, and Cam didn’t argue. He put the car in park, and I jumped out without an explanation and marched over to Dewayne’s back, letting my anger burn brighter with each step. I hadn’t thought this through, but in the moment I was so mad I didn’t care.

I slapped him hard on the back without thinking that he could knock me across the parking lot with one swing. Luckily, I’d had the forethought to take a step back as Dewayne spun around and reached out to grab my arm. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was pissed. His grip on my arm made my knees buckle because it seriously felt like he was about to snap my arm in two. But I fought back a cry of pain and tried to keep the angry glare on my face.

The moment his eyes focused on me, he dropped my arm like it was on fire. “Fuck! Sienna, what the hell are you doing?”

I would not cradle my abused arm in front of him and the bimbo behind him. Yes, I called her a bimbo, because now that I could see her, she looked like one. Seriously way too much makeup, and her breasts were bare.

“You,” I said, pointing at Dewayne with the hand that was attached to my good arm. “You went to Cam’s office today! How dare you question my decisions? When you’re out here with”—I glanced at the female who had thankfully pulled her shirt up over her chest—“her.”

The girl frowned at me. “Who is this?” she asked in a pouty voice, and I realized her lips were pumped full. Ugh.

“I was protecting you. Someone needs to. You agreed to a date with a stranger at the grocery store, Sienna. I was making sure he wasn’t a psycho.”

“You had no right! I’m not bringing him around Micah. Not until I know him. So that means he is none of your business.”

Dewayne raised his eyebrows and took a step toward me. His expression darkened. “Yeah, it is. I want Micah’s momma safe.”

Well, crap. I would not melt because he was being a protective, possessive bear. Just because I hadn’t known what it felt like didn’t mean I had to like it. Dang it.

“What about her? You’re in Micah’s life. Is she safe?” I asked.

Dewayne didn’t even glance back at her or explain. He had been about to screw her right here in front of everyone, but now he was ignoring her. “I don’t even know her name, Sienna. This is just fun, baby. I’ll never see her again.”

“Excuse me,” the girl said, now more than annoyed.

My heart had decided to do a little flippy thing from him calling me baby. Which was ridiculous. He thought I was average, and now I knew why. I didn’t wear enough makeup or show enough skin for him.

“It’s what I do, Sienna. I don’t do relationships or dates. You were going on a date with the guy. I had to make sure that he was a good man.”

Okay. I didn’t understand this world at all. Dewayne was still a man whore, apparently. I had never seen him in a relationship with a female. Which was a shame because the territorial thing he did and the way he called me baby was pretty amazing. Even in his barbarian way he made me felt special. He was good at that.

Cam cleared his throat behind me, and I realized I had forgotten him in the car. I turned back to him and gave him an apologetic smile. “Cam, you know Dewayne,” I said, then glanced back at Dewayne. “So, did he pass inspection?”

Dewayne didn’t move his eyes off me. He held my gaze for a moment too long. The female with him said something, but I was completely lost in his eyes. I had always loved his eyes. “Yeah, Little Red, he’s safe.”

He hadn’t called me Little Red in so long I had forgotten about the nickname. But that wasn’t what struck me the most. It was the way he said “safe.” As if he’d been let down by me. Hadn’t he wanted me with someone safe?

“Take care of her,” he said to Cam, then turned around and took the girl’s arm, and they walked back to the club.

Cam touched my sore arm, and I jerked. Crap, I had forgotten about that. It was still throbbing. “It’s dark out here, but this looks like it’s gonna be a helluva bruise. Let’s get you home and get some ice on it. Unless you can’t move it and you need me to take you to the hospital.”

I made myself move it, and I could easily enough. I just winced and teared up.

“I’m good. I just need some ice,” I assured him.

We didn’t talk much on the way back to my house, and I figured this would be the end of Cam. Not that I could blame him.

* * *

The knocking on the front door broke me out of my thoughts as I stirred the sugar in my coffee. I walked to the door, wondering if Micah had already woken up and wanted to come home. I wanted to see him. When Tabby had told me he’d fallen asleep and asked if he could sleep over, I hadn’t wanted to say yes. I had never been apart from Micah at night.

But the way Tabby’s eyes lit up with hope made me give in, and I went home alone. Without Micah sleeping in his room beside mine, I hadn’t slept well. I missed him. I wasn’t sure how he would feel about waking up without me.

I opened the door to find Dewayne instead. Not who I wanted to see this morning. Not at all.

“We need to talk,” he said, stepping inside like he owned the place. He may own a lot of things, but this house was mine.

I left the door open because I didn’t like the idea of being closed up inside with him. I was mad at him. My arm had a black-and-blue bruise on it in the shape of his massive hand. I had taken ibuprofen last night and kept my arm on ice. Didn’t seem to help. It hurt and it looked awful.

“Last night—” he said, then stopped as his eyes zeroed in on my bruised arm. I watched as he went pale, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to pass out. It was ugly, but it wasn’t that ugly.

“Holy fuck,” he swore, walking over to me and taking my wrist gently in his hand so he could lift my tender arm and look at it. “I did this,” he said.

I just nodded. Who else did he think had grabbed me like he wanted to break me last night?

“I need to be shot,” he said as he gently touched his fingertip to the marred skin. It was like a feather and, instead of hurting, caused me to shiver. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’d never hurt you. Know that. I would never hurt you. I didn’t know it was you last night when you slapped me, and I had drunk too damn much. My mind was slow, and it took me too long to register that it was you. God, Sienna, I’m so sorry.”

His voice sounded so pained that I had to fight the urge to comfort him. Maybe slapping a man his size with his temper from behind had been a bad idea. . . .

“It’s okay,” I told him, then tugged my hand free of his and put some space between us.

“No, it’s not. That isn’t okay,” he said, and his hands fisted up. “That will never happen again. I swear it. I’ll fucking stop drinking. That shit is not okay. Ever.”

Micah would be here soon, and after seeing Dewayne’s reaction to my arm, I needed to change into something with longer sleeves. Micah would be upset too. I didn’t want him scared of his uncle.

“Why are you here?” I asked, wanting him to get to the point before my son showed up.

“I came to talk about last night. To explain why I went to check out your date. But, shit, I can’t get past your arm. I was worried about Cam, and I was the one who fucking hurt you. Did he know I did that?”

I nodded.

Dewayne’s face darkened. “Fucker should have hit me. You need a man with some balls, and that dipshit knew I hurt you and didn’t even come after me.”

Was he kidding? Did he think everything should be handled with violence? And why was that so incredibly hot? I needed to seek mental help. Violence was not sexy. Even if Dewayne’s muscles flexed when he was just talking about a fight.

“You need to leave,” I told him before I could say something stupid.

Dewayne started to say something, but I held up my hand to stop him. “I know you didn’t hurt me on purpose. I know you checked out Cam because you were protecting me and Micah. I get it. Now please leave. I need coffee, and I didn’t sleep well last night, and I—”

I stopped talking as Dewayne took two steps toward me until he was towering over me. Then his larger-than-life hands cupped my face, and before anything could register, his lips were on mine.

I reached up and grabbed his arms to keep myself from melting into a puddle on the floor. Dewayne Falco’s mouth was very talented, and the second his tongue slipped along my bottom lip, I opened up for him and was lost. The minty taste of him consumed me as he nibbled and explored my mouth. I just held on. It was all I could do. My entire body was under his command. I couldn’t think coherently. Nothing had ever been like this. Ever.

But then, I had only kissed one other. And we had just been kids then.

Dewayne’s hands slipped down my back and cupped my bottom as he lifted me higher up against his body. His tongue danced along and teased mine, driving me crazy.

A moan came from somewhere, but I wasn’t sure whose it was. He heard it too, and it was like ice water over the fire that he’d wrapped us inside. Before I could steady myself, I was back on the ground and Dewayne was putting the length of my living room between us. I grabbed the chair behind me and hoped I didn’t sway on my feet.

Dewayne’s eyes were wild as he breathed heavily. At least he seemed as affected as I was. Because I was affected. No, I was marked. For life. I may not have been kissed by anyone other than Dustin before this, but I knew that no one was ever going to compare to what I’d just experienced.

“We can’t. I shouldn’t have,” Dewayne said, shaking his head. Then he all but ran out of my house. I stood there and listened to his truck door close and the engine start up. I stood there long after his truck had pulled out of my driveway.

He hadn’t been able to get away from me fast enough. It wasn’t like I had asked him to kiss me. Had he expected me to push him away? Was I a bad kisser? Had that moan been mine, and he had been turned off?

God! I hated being so damn clueless at this.

“Momma? Why is the door open?” Micah’s voice asked, and I snapped out of my daze and turned to see my little boy frowning at me.

“Because I was waiting on you,” I replied, not missing a beat.

He smiled and ran over to me, and I was careful to hide my bruised arm as I hugged him.

“Did you have fun?” I asked.

He nodded but pulled back and looked up at me. “I missed you this morning. Mama T offered to make me biscuits, but I wanted to come home and eat Pop-Tarts with you. I remembered you didn’t have work today.”

Hillary had given me one Saturday off a month, and I was very thankful for that this morning. After what had just happened, leaving Dewayne at my house to watch Micah would have been hard and distracting.

“I can do better than Pop-Tarts. How about pancakes?” I asked him.

He grinned. “How about chocolate chip pancakes?”

“Sounds perfect,” I said. “Let me go change shirts and we will get to work.”

I didn’t let him see me long enough to see my arm before I slipped out of the kitchen and into my bedroom, where I put on a long-sleeve T-shirt.

DEWAYNE

She was Dustin’s. She would always be Dustin’s.

Why the fuck had I kissed her? Goddamn, I wasn’t going to be able to forget that. She’d been so damn sweet and hot all at once. Almost like she was innocent, when I knew she wasn’t. She had a kid. She wasn’t innocent, and she’d melted into my arms so easily. I had wanted to get her as close to me as fucking possible.

Then she’d moaned, and my dick had gone so hard it had almost broken the damn zipper on my jeans. Fuck, but she was a sexy moaner. If I hadn’t gotten away from her, I would have ended up fucking her on the sofa. The image of Sienna naked and wrapped around me sprang to mind, and I hit the steering wheel and cursed. I needed a fucking cigarette. Why did that shit have to kill you? Giving up alcohol was going to be a hell of a lot easier.

I couldn’t do this shit. She was Micah’s mom. She wasn’t someone I could fuck for fun and walk away from. And after today I wasn’t sure I could fuck her and walk away from her. Hell, not tasting her mouth again was going to kill me. No wonder my brother had knocked her up. Fuck! I wouldn’t have been able to keep my wits about me when I was between her legs either. Damn woman could make any man lose his mind.

Dustin would want Sienna happy and taken care of. He would want her to have the life she deserved. Not one with his loser older brother, who had made more fucking mistakes than the average person. Hell, I’d bruised her arm. How the fuck did someone hurt Sienna? I wasn’t drinking ever again. I was done. If that was the kind of shit I did, I wasn’t touching alcohol. Sienna and Micah were going to turn me into the damn Pope.