Amery shook her head. Vehemently. “No way.”
“Which is fine, just as long as you’re aware that I will use other models in public venues and possibly in private when I need to practice.”
Jealousy stabbed her in the gut.
“I won’t fuck them, but I will touch them in a sexual manner.”
She noticed he didn’t ask her permission. The thought of him touching another woman . . . made her want to try out a few of the choke holds he’d taught in her self-defense class on said women. She had to act mature—even if she didn’t feel it. “I wish I had the guts to bare myself like that, but I don’t. It’s been enough of a challenge baring myself to you. I won’t give you false hope that I’ll ever ‘get over’ it either.”
“I’m not asking you to.” Ronin softly pressed his lips to hers.
“As long as we’re discussing expectations, there’s something I’d like to talk about.”
“Shoot.”
Amery rolled to face him, placing her palms on his smooth pectorals, secretly marveling at the perfection of his chest. “You’re at the dojo late most nights, which doesn’t allow us much time together during the week. So I’m fine with hanging out here or at my place in the evenings. But on the weekends, I want us to go out and enjoy the Denver area. That’s the only aspect of being part of a couple that I missed.”
“Doing couple things?”
“Yes. It isn’t like I’ve been sitting at home, letting life pass me by while I wait for that couplehood. It’s just some activities are more fun when you’re sharing them with another person.”
Ronin smiled. “I couldn’t agree more. So do you have things planned for us?”
She exhaled a quiet relieved breath. She hadn’t been sure how he’d take her suggestion. “Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park?”
“Cool. I haven’t been up there in a while. What else?”
“I’ve never been to the Coors Brewery Tour in Golden.”
“I’m always down with drinking beer right after it’s been tapped.” At the word tapped, he patted her ass. “These are great ideas. Keep going.”
Encouraged, Amery rattled off her next set of ideas, which included a visit to Tiny Town, Colorado, and attending an ice-skating extravaganza at the Pepsi Center. “I don’t want to overly plan so we have time for spontaneity.”
“Good. As a matter of fact, I’m feeling spontaneous right now.”
She squealed when he lifted her up, straddling her across his groin. “But you’ll be doing the work this time.”
“Yes, sir.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE sidewalk was wet when they exited the theater out the side door to avoid the crowd. The rain had left a chill in the night air. Amery snuggled into Ronin and he wrapped his arm more securely around her shoulder.
“So? What did you think?”
“Interesting. Never heard a Christian death metal band before.”
She laughed. “Most people haven’t.”
“How did you hear about them? And more important, how does this correlate to your upbringing? Because I took you to kabuki theater last weekend and you took me to a rock concert.”
They’d spent the last two weekends doing couple things. But it hadn’t cut into Ronin’s plans for her—just seemed to reinforce his constant desire for her. He’d bound her standing up, similar to the tree pose in yoga: her heel pressed into her thigh, her arms above her head, hooked to the ceiling. He’d made her come three times before he fucked her like that.
“See? You’re quiet because you can’t justify it.”
“I took you to a Christian rock concert,” she corrected. “And it correlates because the lead singer and I are from the same area in North Dakota. We attended some of the same church camps. He always wanted to kick up the youth worship services with contemporary music to make it more relatable. You can imagine how well that went over. Rick left town, moved to Minneapolis, and started this band. I’d lost track of him over the years, so when I saw how popular they’ve gotten in the Christian music scene and were playing in Denver, I thought it’d be fun to check it out.”
“I was surprised to see so many people there. Who knew the devil’s music wrapped in angel’s wings had such a strong following?”
Amery elbowed him. “Not funny.”
“Although I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or relieved there weren’t any animal sacrifices onstage.”
“Says the Buddhist with an altar in his practice room.”
“It’s not a Buddhist altar; it’s a Shinto shrine. And if you noticed, I didn’t buy a CD, but I was in the minority, so they are doing well, at least on the merchandising side.”
“I’m happy he’s successful doing what he loves. Not everyone is so lucky in their working lives.”
He kissed her temple. “We are.”
“For as long as it lasts for me.”
“Meaning what?” They cut across the street and walked past abandoned buildings that lined both sides of the block. Showing up late to the event meant all the prime parking spots close to the venue had been snapped up, so they’d parked several blocks away.
“Meaning I’ve been scrambling to find new business. With so many places taking their graphic needs in-house, not only have I lost clients, but it’s harder picking up new ones. I’ve tightened my belt as much as I can, but unless things pick up soon, I’ll have to let Molly go.”
Ronin stopped and faced her. “Amery. Why haven’t you told me this?”
“Because it’s hard to admit, especially to someone who’s running a successful business. I doubt you’ve got downward trends like in the line of work I’m in.”
“I’ve had some pretty lean years and done what I had to, to make ends meet.” He brushed a stray hair from her cheek. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Besides line me up a million-dollar client?” she joked. Then she kissed the frown on his mouth. “Kidding. One good thing is even if I have to close up shop and go to work for another company, I won’t lose my apartment because of the storefront rental income from Emmylou and Chaz. It’s just I feel guilty about Molly.”
A metal clank echoed and she spun around to see where the noise had come from. But there weren’t any streetlights and the area was completely deserted.
How could that be? For as many people who’d attended the show, there should be more people heading back to their cars. But the sidewalk was empty and no cars zipped by. She got a little creeped out in the eerie silence. “Are we going the right way?”
Ronin looked around. Frowned at the darkness. “This doesn’t look right. We must’ve gotten turned around and exited on the wrong side. My car is the other direction.”
They reversed course. Right after they crossed the street, two guys stepped out of the shadows.
Amery almost screamed, they’d slunk out of nowhere so fast.
“I see we got us some tourists in our neighborhood,” one guy said to the other.
“Know what we do to tourists who find themselves ‘lost’ in our neighborhood, bro?” the other guy said.
“We charge them a finder’s fee.”
“So pay up, motherfuckers.”
Fear slammed into her.
The two guys moved in uncomfortably close. She heard a noise and looked over her shoulder to see two more guys spread out behind them.
They were fucked.
Then Ronin put his mouth on her ear. “Stay behind me and out of the way.”
“I don’t like you whispering to your bitch, so knock that shit off and pay the fuck up.”