Herself.

She’s afraid of herself.

That statement doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I can see it in her eyes that she means it with every single piece of who she is. I wonder what the fuck happened to her to make her think that she’s a bad person, because from what I’ve seen, she absolutely is not. She’s pure of heart, and very few people can say that about themselves.

I don’t ask if she wants it, or if she doesn’t, I just start stripping off my clothes until I’m in my jeans, and then I walk over to the bed, pulling the covers to the side and sliding in. Amalie stares at me, eyes wide. “Try and kick me out, darlin’, see what happens to you. I’m stayin’.”

“Why?” she whispers, looking into my eyes.

I roll closer to her, and fuck she smells amazing. I want so much more from her than she’s willing to give, but I’m also not going to push her for it. She’ll give it to me when she’s ready, but she will give it to me. No matter what I have to do. Felt a lot of fucking things in my life, but nothing on what Amalie does to me.

She’s mine.

Even if she refuses to accept that yet.

“Why am I stayin’?”

She nods.

“Because you make me a better fuckin’ man. And I want to stop whatever pain is in your eyes. So, I’m stayin’. So you know, that even if it’s just for a night, you’re fuckin’ safe. Because you are, Amalie. You’re always safe with me.”

She swallows and her bottom lip shakes, but she quickly recovers. She might think she’s fragile and broken, but she has a strength inside her too. A strength that I don’t think she yet realizes.

“We know nothing about each other. How can you be so sure I make you better?”

“That stuff comes, eventually. But if you want to know somethin’, ask me. Got nothin’ to hide from you. The way you make me feel is far more than a fuckin’ story, Amalie. It’s the whole god damned tale, and I feel it right here, harder than I’ve ever felt anythin’ in my life.” I slam a fist over my chest.

“I do want to know more about you, Malakai. Because you do make me feel different to anyone else in my life, I can’t really explain it. So, if I ask, will you answer?” she questions, shuffling a little closer.

“‘Course I will.”

“How did you become the President of a motorcycle club?”

I grin at her. “Goin’ straight for the big questions.”

“Yeah.” She smiles shyly, and fuck, I want to kiss her again.

All fucking night.

But instead, I answer her question.

“My dad was President, and his dad before that. It was either Maverick or I that it got passed down to. I wanted it. Maverick didn’t. Simple as that, really.”

“Is that what you wanted to do with your life?”

I nod. “Yeah, I knew it growin’ up. Club life was all I had. So I didn’t question if there was anythin’ else out there for me. I wanted it. I breathed it. I lived it.”

“It’s a dangerous life, isn’t it?”

I hold her eyes. “Anything in this world can be dangerous, darlin’. You gotta know that by now. I try to keep my hands out, and my club’s hands out, of anything illegal. Don’t mean I don’t do illegal things, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my club. But mostly we trade through, and work with, legal sources.”

“So the purpose of your club is to keep people from doing bad things around town? Like Treyton?”

“Yeah and no. It isn’t what I’m here to do. We buy shit, we sell shit, we make shit, we rid the town of scum when they get out of hand. We don’t like our name bein’ dragged into the mud. Treyton is scum, and his operation affects people very close to me, includin’ you, so I will rid this town of him.”

She stares at me, biting her lower lip for a second before finally asking the question that’s obviously playing over in her mind. “Are you going to kill him?”

I hold her eyes. “Does that scare you, Amalie? That I might take his life with my bare hands?”

Her eyes widen, and she looks at me, really looks at me. And I let her. I let her see it all. Because she needs to know I will not hesitate when it comes to protecting my club and my family. I will take life after life if it means I can sleep soundly at night knowing they’re okay.

“No,” she whispers. “Not with him. He’s a bad man, not just for what he’s doing in the town, but for what he did to Scarlett.”

“And to you.”

She flinches.

And that is all the more reason for me to find that little fucker and gut him slowly.

“And to me,” she agrees.

“I will make him pay for that. You can rest assured that I will make him scream for what he did to you, Amalie. And to Scarlett. He will wish he was never fuckin’ born.”

She swallows and then says in a soft, but strong voice, “You scare me, Malakai, but it’s the kind of scary I want in my life.”

“Then quit fuckin’ runnin’ away from me.”

She looks away, and before I can ask more, changes the subject. Smooth. Quick. Effortless.

“Have you ever been married?”

I shake my head, and her cheeks go pink. Can she feel that? Does she know how fucking sweet it makes her look?

“What about love? Have you ever been in love?”

I shake my head again, this time her eyes get wide.

“What’s so shockin’ about that?” I ask her, then give her a wolfish grin. “I know it’s surprisin’ with a man as fuckin’ good lookin’ as me, but it’s the truth.”

She giggles, and it fucking hits me right in the gut.

Perfection.

“There’s that,” she says softly, her voice happy and light. “And there’s the fact that you’re a man, and I figured most people had been in love at least once in their lives. Isn’t it how we learn?”

“Depends how you look at it. I figure if I haven’t been in love, it means I’m savin’ it all up for the right woman, for the woman who will own all of my heart, not just pieces of it.”

She smiles.

And it touches her eyes.

And it’s the prettiest damn thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s the woman I’m saving it for.

And she will get all of it.

Every, single, inch.