“I stopped opposite the counter and looked back up at him. “Have I told you you’re an asshole today?”“You just got up, so, no.”“You’re an asshole.”He grinned again.”

“You’re stuck,” I blurted, his grin died and he blinked.“Come again?”I swallowed, sucked in breath and forged ahead.“I was lost but you… Tate, you got stuck,” I told him.He stared at me and it took a lot but I braved his stare.Then he asked, “You up for the job of pullin’ me out?”“I…” I swallowed again. “No,” I answered truthfully.“No?” he asked, his eyebrows lifting, his face getting dark, his armsgrowing tighter.“I…” I pulled in breath then whispered, “I kinda like it here.”

“Baby,” another voice came into my ear and this was my man’s, “shut the fuck up, concentrate and don’t sit there muttering into your tits makin’ it look like you’re waitin’ to fuck over some asshole. He sees you doin’ that shit, these guys we’re hunting will take you out and tonight is not my night to lose you.”

“I think we should break up,” I told him.“Jesus, you’re a pain in the ass,” he muttered and went back to his book.“Seriously, Vance.”“Shut up, Jules,” he said without taking his eyes from his book.”

“You’re not gonna try and break up with me again, are you?”

“The first time I met you, you told me you grew up here, I’d call you a liar,” Tate informed me.I tipped my head to the side and asked, “Really?”“Really.”“Why?”“High-class,” he replied.“Sorry?”“You looked high-class,” he semi-repeated.“I’m not,” I stated.“No, Ace, you’re not. You’re a different kind of class.”“Farmer class.”“Pure class.”

“I am not him, Kia. Your dead husband... was an asshole. And now he's gone. You're in bed with me... I'm here because I wanna be here... and when we're done talkin' about that asshole and he's gone again, I'm gonna get you wet and hot for me and I'm gonna be in you because I wanna be in you...There are not many men who would not kill [to be here] and that man is now me and and he's gonna be me for a good long time.”