“Trix, how you doin’?” He stood there for a second, waiting for an answer I couldn’t hear over the roar of the shower. “I’m gonna help your mama take a shower. You stay in your room. I’ll be out in a minute!” Then, he shut the door and proceeded to undress.

His bruises had darkened overnight and looked even more painful, but I could tell he was less sore by the way he was moving. I stood there with my arms wrapped across my chest until he was completely naked and pushing me toward the shower.

“I took a shower last night! What the hell is your problem?” I griped at him as I climbed over the side of the tub.

“Yeah, Brenna, what the fuck is that about? I pass out, and you run off to wash me off your body? Is that what you were doin’? Puttin’ on your Stepford wife armor before crawling back into bed with me? Laying against me so damn tight I can barely take a fuckin’ breath without moving you, yet you look like Tony fuckin’ Richards’s bitch?”

I gasped at him calling me a bitch, but I didn’t want him thinking whatever it was he was thinking.

“It’s not like that. I just…I was feeling a little out of control. I just needed a little control,” I mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

He pulled me into the spray, and I relaxed into his arms, grateful he was holding me and we weren’t fighting.

“I know, baby. I know you needed control. But with me, you aren’t gonna get it.”

I stiffened, and he kept talking.

“You gotta let go. I’m in control here. Not you. You don’t need to be. I’m not gonna control you. Not gonna boss you around or tell you what to fuckin’ wear. But I am in control of the situation. Always. That’s not somethin’ you need to be worrying about. Yeah?”

“I’ll try,” I answered him, but I wasn’t convinced that his little scenario was going to work for me. I needed that control to keep from completely flying apart.

“That’s all you can do. And, Brenna?”

“Yeah?” I whispered, still trying to find some steady ground beneath my feet.

“You throw out all the shit he bought you.”

I started to shake my head, but he cut me off.

“I’ll replace it. You need clothes; I buy them. You need shoes; I buy those, too. You need fuckin’ perfume; I will buy it. You got me?”

“Yeah, I got you.”

I was starting to relax because the whole time he was talking, he’d been getting my hair wet and then began running shampoo through it. He startled me when he grabbed a tight hold of my hair and pulled my face within an inch of his.

“You do that shit to your hair again, I’ll blister your ass.” He waited a second then jerked my hair again before biting out, “You wear your hair fuckin’ curly for me.” Then, he slammed his mouth down on mine.

I should have known that he knew what was going through my head. Five years ago, he’d seen right through me. Trying to hide my reasons for anything would be almost impossible, and it really freaked me out that any of my secrets could be ferreted so easily. My second of insight was quickly overpowered by lust as he let go of my hair with one of his hands and started sliding his soapy hand down the side of my body. I slid my hands into his hair and pulled the ponytail out, dropping it into the tub, so I could grip his hair with both hands. I was about to wrap one of my legs around his and climb him like a tree when a pounding on the bathroom door caught my attention.

“Mama, I have to go potty!” I could hear Trix yelling from outside the door.

I looked at Dragon in horror. “Please tell me you locked the door.”

His eyes grew wide and panicked as he glanced down at his very impressive erection. “Shit!”

After our close call with Trix that morning, Dragon and I got dressed and ready for the day. It was weird for me, being out here in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do. I could only clean the house so many times without it turning into the compulsive cleaning that I was trying so hard to break myself from. I was going to bring Trix out back for a picnic, and I was hoping I could wear her out enough that she would take a nap that afternoon. I was so tired at the beginning of the day that I knew I’d be dragging ass by dinner time.

Dragon had things to do at the club, so Vera and one of the recruits were going to come over and hang out with Trix and me. I loved watching him get dressed and ready to go. I loved watching the way he moved. I’d read romance novels that described the men moving fluidly, but that was the opposite of Dragon. He moved quickly and with purpose. I watched in amusement as he pulled a brand new white undershirt out of a plastic package of three and slipped it on; it would be covered in grease by the time he got home tonight. It was so thin I could see hints of his tattoos through the fabric. Yum.

As I sat there, eyeing him from the edge of the bed, he noticed me watching, and he started to chuckle.

“Like what you see, baby?”

“What?” I was still in the fog I’d drifted into when he’d dropped his towel.

“You gonna get dressed, Brenna? Gotta say, baby, I like what you’re wearin’, but I won’t like it if Casper sees it when he gets here in ten minutes.”

I could hear the amusement in his voice, and it snapped me out of my daydreaming.

“Shit!” I started scrambling around the room, grabbing a bra and panties, while trying not to drop my towel.

Before I could get anything on, Dragon was in my space, kissing me and pulling the towel from around my body.