I opened my mouth, but shut it. “How can I listen to you unequivocally, without knowing your name?”
“I need to know you’ll agree first.” She fired back, before I finished saying ‘name’.
This sounded very close to the gray area I had mentioned earlier, but the drive to stay with her and protect her was far greater than my need to find out exactly what she meant. And I craved the knowledge of her name.
“Yes, I agree.” Unless it would harm you, then I absolutely do not agree, I added silently.
Nodding, she brushed a loose curl away from her face. We had just stopped at a red light when she faced me, her gaze locking onto mine, until I couldn’t see anything except her shimmering dark eyes, made brighter under the yellow glow of a nearby street lamp.
“Vienna.” Her voice lowered as a husky note wrapped around that single beautiful word.
“Vienna,” I breathed, letting it roll around my tongue. It was perfect. My already hard dick throbbed in my pants, forcing me to pick up my ass and adjust my sweats to avoid any more tenting than it already was.
“Why did you say it like that?” Vienna shot a curious, maybe even slightly confused glance my way, as we started rolling down the street.
Shrugging, I was glad we’d left the cover of the intersection as the darkness hid my rising flush. “It’s a beautiful name. It suits you.” I coughed to clear my throat as she huffed out a small laugh. “I promise to listen to you, and not to talk to strangers,” I said with a wry smile. That still seemed funny to me. “What else do you have?”
"What you did tonight," Vienna said and I swore there was almost a sigh beneath an element of amusement. "You mustn't do that again."
"Not save you?" I scoffed. "I'm sorry, that's not something I can agree to, no matter how important the rule is." I took a deep breath, prepared to make my argument, when she set her hand against my leg. It was the lightest of touches, barely there at all, and I swore all the words froze unspoken on my tongue.
"I was never in any danger," she cautioned me, in a tone that seemed entirely too sober, without an ounce of jest. "That man..."
"The one twice your size and slamming you against a wall?" Look, I'd melted the shackles freezing the words in place. "You can't expect that of me." I wouldn't let anyone harm her that way.
Her fingers tightened against my thigh and even with all the blood pounding in my cock, I didn't dare look down at how close she was to discovering that for herself. Instead, I kept my focus on her profile.
"Listen to me," she commanded and beckoned in equal measures. "That man was no threat to me."
I frowned. "He was hurting you."
"Only because I let him. He saw what you did. He saw someone vulnerable. Someone he could take advantage of, and he planned to drag me deeper into the alley to rape me."
"Still not selling me on this concept," I informed her and yeah, maybe I was taking a risk, but I covered her hand with mine. She didn't pull away, nor did she dig her fingers in. But her skin was every bit as soft as I'd imagined it would be.
"That was the point, Merrick," she murmured. "I wanted him to think he had the upper-hand. I wanted him to enjoy a false sense of security."
"And then what?" I asked.
She cast a glance at me and the lights of a passing car illuminated her. It left one half of her face in shadow and the other gleaming like an angel.
"And then I would have killed him."
Simple. Precise. Not even an element of humor. I didn't know her well enough to presume she would deadpan such a joke, but she hadn't pulled her hand away either. Absently, I stroked my fingers against the back of her hand. It hit me. Her pulse never wavered. Nor did her breathing. She continued driving the car as if we had merely been discussing what we might want to do with the rest of our evening.
I suppose we were.
Vienna said nothing more, allowing me to turn her words over in my head. Taking into account the aspect of what she described, I pictured the alley again. The lack of her struggle. The surprise on her face. The hint of irritation.
"I'm sorry," I said finally into the quiet as I threaded my fingers through hers to give her a gentle squeeze.
She held perfectly still, her fingers limp instead of curling around mine. If she thought I would condemn her for the very thing I did to protect her, she was wrong. That would have been hypocritical of me, and a step back from all therapy had taught me.
“What are you sorry for?” She asked, as if I had confounded her.
“That I hadn’t seen what you were trying to do.” Because looking back, how could I not? This woman was such a strong, steady force, even when under attack. The corners of my lips tried to curl at the thought of her putting a bad man in his place.
Not that I would have reacted differently with this knowledge. I still ached to protect her, and I doubted I could have watched him continue to hurt her, even knowing she wouldn’t have let him get too far…
Actually, how did I know that? She had a fierce calm about her that lent truth to what she said, but what if she thought she could take him, only to be overpowered? I didn’t like that at all.
She disentangled her hand from mine and smoothed cool fingers over my forehead. “It might be dark, but I can feel your scowl from here.”
I immediately relaxed my face. “Sorry.”
There was that husky soft laughter floating over me again. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. But why the face?”
With absolutely no reason to be untruthful, and I wouldn’t want to be anyway, I answered her. “At first, I was glad, comforted by the thought of you being able to take care of yourself. Now, I’m worried you might overestimate your chances or your target won’t underestimate you. Is this something you do often? Because if it is, we’re going to have to do some sessions together, spar. I need to be absolutely certain you aren’t going to get hurt.”
I wasn’t the greatest fighter. At least, I hadn’t been, but I didn’t have any issue saving Vienna when she needed it. That was all I needed to do, channel my desire to protect her, and I’d be able to help her self-defense technique.
Easy peasy as one of my earlier therapists liked to say.
“You’re not serious?” She cut her gaze in my direction before taking a sharp left turn. We were leaving town, the buildings more and more sparse with every traveled mile. I had to admit, I was curious to see where she lived, what kind of life this angel had built for herself.
“Merrick?”
“Hmm?” I jolted out of my musings to find her staring at me across the console.
“You don’t really want to spar with me?” The whites of her eyes glowed under the dim moonlight.
“I want to make sure you’re going to be safe in any situation, especially if for some reason I’m not there.” Not likely, but surely that didn’t surprise her so much?
Suddenly, she chortled with unbridled laughter as the car slowed. I wasn’t being funny, but I smiled, enjoying this new side of Vienna. I think I’d take great delight in discovering all the facets of who she was.
The warmth of her laughter accompanied us on the rest of the ride. She drove with a kind of careless ease, one elbow against the door as she propped her fingers over her mouth, as though she might keep the magical sound to herself. Then she'd cast a look at me and laugh again.