“Baby, I could say the same thing,” I said, softly, more to myself than her, but she caught it and flashed me a smile before getting in the car. Velvet smiling was a sight I could see myself living for; a sight I would trip over myself to make sure I saw often.

***

Velvet

I watched as Nash pulled all the flat packed pieces out of the box and started assembling the cabinet I’d bought. We’d gone to buy a bookshelf and ended up with one of those plus this cabinet that looked tricky to put together. I grabbed the assembly instructions and passed them to him.

He frowned as he took it off me. “Why are you giving me that?”

I gave him a ‘you’re joking’ look. “So you can work out how to put it together.”

He shoved the instructions back at me. “I can work out how to put it together without those, sweetheart.”

Was he kidding me? I opened them and started reading to make sure what he was doing was actually right. It was a good thing I did because I noticed he was doing something wrong.

I tried to give him the instructions again. “You’ve got the wrong part there,” I insisted.

He stood up and scowled at me. “Velvet, I’m still working out how it goes together. Maybe you should go and do something else while I do this.”

“If you’d just read the instructions, you’d work it out faster,” I suggested. It annoyed me when men wouldn’t read instructions.

The instructions remained in my hands as he glared at me. “I’d work it out a lot fuckin’ faster if you’d just let me do it. Without the fuckin’ instructions.”

I took a deep breath. “Fine, I’m going to leave you to do it on your own.” Without waiting for his response, I stalked out of the room. He could really be an ass sometimes.

While he put the furniture together, I took the opportunity to get some study done. I had fallen behind lately due to all the time I’d been spending with Nash. There was only a couple of weeks left on my course so I really needed to buckle down and get it done. I’d have to cut down on my time with him for a little while. And even though I was annoyed at him at the moment, my heart dropped a little at that thought.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I heard Nash’s voice. Looking up from my books, I found him standing at the door to my study, watching me.

“Sorry, what did you say?” I asked.

He took a step toward me and jerked his head in the direction of my living room. “They’re both put together. Do you want to come and make sure I’ve got them in the right place?”

“Yeah.”

I followed him out and found that he had them exactly where I wanted them. “Perfect,” I said. “Thank you.”

I was still mad at him and there was a divide between us; one I couldn’t get past until he’d apologised. The problem was, I wanted him to say sorry without me having to tell him I needed that. And I knew that wasn’t going to happen. And that pissed me off even more.

“Okay, babe, spit it out,” he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Nash, the fact I have to spit it out really pisses me off.”

“I’m not a mind reader. You’re going to have to tell me what it is.”

“You don’t need to be a mind reader for this. You just need to realise that you were an ass to me.”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “Fuck, is this about me not taking the instructions off you?”

“Not so much, although that did annoy me. This is because of the way you spoke to me.”

He didn’t say anything, he just stood there looking confused about the whole thing. Good Lord, men needed it spelt out to them so I did that for him. “Nash, my ex treated me like shit. He didn’t hit me or anything like that, but he bullied and belittled me. I won’t even contemplate a relationship with a man who does that. Now, I’m not saying you did that at all, but from the start, I’m being upfront and telling you what I won’t put up with. And I won’t put up with being spoken to the way you spoke to me.”

I watched as he processed that. It didn’t take him long and then he moved towards me, lifted his hand to my face and gently rubbed his thumb across my cheek. His eyes were soft; kind. Totally not how I’d expected this to go at all. My tummy did somersaults while I waited for him to speak.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a relationship and I’m kinda rusty, babe. I’m sorry I spoke to you that way. And I’m real fuckin’ sorry your ex was such a dickhead.”

He’d managed to piss me off twice already today but each time, he hadn’t hesitated to fix it. That stunned the hell out of me. Especially after being married to a man who hardly ever apologised for anything.

“Thank you.”

The divide between us was gone and his arms circled my waist. His lips met mine in a soft kiss that was so unlike most of his kisses. When he ended it, he murmured, “Fuck, baby, you bring out good shit in me.”

This was the Nash I wanted, and the more time I spent with him, the more I wanted him.

Chapter 21

I’d Come For You ~ Nickelback

––––––––

Nash

The cold wind whipped around me and the chill from it settled in my bones. June wasn’t usually this cold in Brisbane, but this year we were having record low temperatures. I pulled my jacket tighter around me and made the short walk from my bike into Blade’s warehouse. He had information for me regarding Velvet’s ex and I hoped it would be enough to get the asshole to back off and put her mind at ease. After what she’d told me about her ex this morning, that he’d bullied her, I’d do anything to get him out of her life once and for all. I’d worked out her tough image was a mask she wore for the world. Underneath it, she was vulnerable; not nearly as hard as she projected. And I kinda fucking liked that. It meant she needed me, and I hadn’t been needed in a long time. And that felt really fucking good.