Smolder (Georgia Smoke #6)

• Twenty-Five •

“You’ve had my attention from day one.”

Sebastian

Her face paled as she stood there, staring at me. It was as if she didn’t recognize me.

“It’s still me, Royal. Just another name. My name,” I assured her.

She shook her head, and her eyes looked around the room wildly, as if she was looking for an escape.

“You see, Amor— Sebastian , that’s the problem. You lied to me about your name, and I woke up on a plane nowhere near where you had told me you were taking me. Now, we are in a cabin, in the wilderness, in some remote location with no other living soul for miles.”

I took a step toward her, and she took one back, holding up both her hands to stop me. I hadn’t wanted this. Especially after she opened her legs to me on the flight and rocked my fucking world. But I was done lying to her—at least about the things I could be honest about. The next time I sank my cock into her, I wanted to hear my name come from those plump pink lips. Not some fucking fictional character in a novel.

“I lied because I had to. If I had told you my name, it would have gotten back to Merce—or worse, you’d have googled me. Neither of those things would have been good.”

She let out a sharp laugh that held no humor at all. “And that is supposed to make me feel better?”

I shrugged. “No. It’s just the truth.”

“How do you know Merce?”

“Our families are connected within many of the same circles.”

“So, your family is into politics?”

I shook my head. “No. My family is the Mafia.”

Her eyes went wide, and I realized I probably should have said that in a different way.

“Mafia.”

I nodded.

“This is getting worse,” she whispered. “And if I’d googled you, it would have told me that?”

I laughed and shook my head. “No. It would have told you my family owns a large thoroughbred ranch and we are known for our champions. The Southern Mafia isn’t something that is advertised. To many, it is a rumor, and to those with enough power, it is just a part of life.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared toward one of the front windows. “The Dancastles know who you are then because they have power.”

“Yes.”

She shifted her gaze back to meet mine. “Sebastian, why am I here?”

“Because Merce Dancastle and his father are funneling a laced drug that the Feds are going to step in and handle if we don’t shut it down. We keep that kind of thing out of our area, and it keeps the Feds out of our shit. They turn a blind eye, so to speak. Edward Dancastle is fucking with the wrong people. Merce got your father somewhat involved by having him do some drops for him. Because of that and you dating him, you are now on their radar.”

Her mouth fell slightly open, and her already-pale skin seemed to lose the little color it had left.

“What?” she asked. “What, my dad? Me?”

She shook her head, and those eyes told me all I needed to know. She didn’t know anything about the drugs.

“Your father left with money he had gotten from the Dancastles to disappear. He left you and your Grams alone with no protection. I had to get you both safe. No one is getting near you, and no one is taking you from me.”

Not the complete truth, but it was close enough. If it hadn’t been for Dancastle, I’d have never met her. I wouldn’t have witnessed the way her father treated her, and he’d not be in our underground right now.

“Whose radar am I on? The Feds? Merce’s father?” She looked like she was going to be sick.

I took a step toward her, and she shook her head, backing up again. Fuck, I wish she’d stop that. I wanted to hold her. Reassure her. Get some color back in her pretty face.

“Both,” I told her, which wasn’t true.

She was on my father’s radar, but seeing as she wouldn’t come near me, I didn’t think telling her I’d brought her here so he wouldn’t take her away from me would help the situation.

“I need to go back. I can tell them I didn’t know. The Feds. Running makes me look guilty.”

“No. They already know about your hustles. You’ve been investigated thoroughly. You claiming to be innocent means little, I’m afraid, and if Merce Dancastle has to, he’ll throw you under the goddamn bus. Then, I’ll have to kill him.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Kill him?”

“Yes.”

Her hands fell to her sides, and she moved farther away from me. “See, that right there. I don’t feel safe with you anymore. You’re someone I don’t know. Kill isn’t a threat sane people just toss around.”

My patience with this was done. I didn’t like hearing her say shit like she didn’t know me, and I sure as hell didn’t like her saying she didn’t feel safe. I stalked toward her as she spun around, wide-eyed, looking terrified.

Fuck! That wasn’t what I’d wanted to see.

She backed up until she hit the railing on the stairs, and I caged her in, grabbing the railing on each side of her.

The pulse point on her neck beat frantically, and her body trembled, but I knew it wasn’t from arousal. She was scared. I was the last person on earth she ever had to fear. Why couldn’t she see that? I’d lied about my name, but I’d told her the truth—or most of it—just now.

“What I am and what I do—it’s nothing for you to ever feel threatened by. I will never let anyone hurt you. That’s why we are here. I’m going to fix this. All of it. Then, you can go home, and you’ll be safe.”

She licked her lips as she stared up at me. “I don’t know you.”

I smirked. “You know me, Ace. I’m the same guy with a different name.”

She stiffened. “Not the same guy. The guy I thought I knew wasn’t in the Mafia. He was a nice guy with too much money to toss around, but I liked him. I trusted him.”

I bent my head and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I am a nice guy. Compared to my older brother, I’m a goddamn saint,” I told her, then moved to kiss the other cheek. There was a slight pink flush in them now, and that eased me some. I moved to kiss the corner of her mouth. “I’m nice, I swear it,” I whispered, shifting my attention to the other corner.

I wanted her naked and under me in the king-size bed upstairs. I’d wanted to fuck her since the moment I laid eyes on her, but nothing had prepared me for how incredible it would feel. That she would feel. It had been different in ways I hadn’t known existed. It had also seemed to meld my rational mind with the savage, unhinged beast pacing inside. I’d become both, and for the first time in my life, I understood Thatcher. I wasn’t on his level of psycho, but if pushed, I would snap. I could feel it just under my skin.

I wanted the small shiver I felt as I trailed kisses from her mouth to her neck to be because she was enjoying this. Thinking about what we’d done on the plane and wanting it again. But she was still uncertain of me. I’d have to give her time. This was only highlighting her fear.

“I’m sorry I had to do it this way,” I whispered in her ear, then dropped my hands and stepped back.

She swallowed hard, staring at the floor instead of me. “How long do I have to stay here? Can I call and check on Grams? Is there any way we can find out if my father is safe? Alive?”

I’d left both our phones on the plane. She didn’t know that yet though. She would as soon as she went to get hers from her pocket. After I’d woken her up, she’d been too dazed to look for her phone before leaving the plane. It had worked to my advantage. Wilder could trace them. I had set both to Airplane Mode, giving me some time.

The man I’d hired to take us here was going to Mexico next to do an illegal drug pickup. I’d told him to take our phones with him and drop them in the first trash can he came to. I couldn’t have the others following me. Not until I knew the Dancastle situation was handled and I could keep Royal.

“Your Grams is being well taken care of by the best mind-care professionals in the southeast. We will stay here until you’re safe to return. As for your dad, he made a choice. He made the wrong one. He didn’t choose you.”

She lifted her head, and the unshed tears in her eyes made my chest ache.

“Merce has been texting and calling me,” she told me.

I’d already known that, but I didn’t tell her so. She’d had enough truth for one day.

“I haven’t responded, but was that why? Was he trying to … to blame something on me?”

No. He’d realized what he’d lost, and he was trying to get her back.

She reached into her pocket then, as if just remembering she had a phone, and found nothing. The flash of panic on her face as she scanned the area, as if it had fallen out, was brief. “My phone.”

“It’s gone, along with mine. They can be traced.”

Her shoulders dropped defeatedly.

If she’d just let me hold her …

She took a deep breath and let it out. “Why go to all this trouble to protect me?”

Because you’re mine .

I stilled, as surprised by the words that had immediately run through my head.

The possessiveness she’d drawn out of me had morphed into this. Me claiming her.

“Like I said, I’m the same guy, just a different name. The guy who made sure you got your money the first night he saw you, the guy who protected you from the professor, the guy who took you to the apple orchard. The one who kept showing up because he couldn’t stay away. Even the one who lost his shit when your father laid a hand on you. You’ve had my attention from day one. The more I was around you, the more I wanted to be. Until you were all I wanted.”