Ronin stroked her cheek. “Brooding man didn’t scare you away this time.”

“No. This time I was prepared. This time I came to you.”

He murmured, “And so you did.” She had no idea how happy that made him.

“We need to talk, but not without coffee.”

He let her do her thing in his kitchen. She’d added homey touches, including a grain silo–shaped cookie jar and new oven mitts. He’d tamped down his impatience to have her in his home and in his bed as soon as possible. If it was easier for her to get here piece by piece, then he’d let it happen her way. “I was surprised to see you last night.”

“I figured you weren’t expecting company when I watched you swimming laps as if you were racing Michael Phelps.”

“How long did you watch?”

“Long enough to know to leave you alone.”

“So you just sensed my cosmic distress?”

She shook her head. “Shiori came by. It freaked me out because I worried something bad had happened to you. Then, after talking to her, I realized something bad had happened to you, just not what I’d expected.”

“Not what I’d expected either.”

Amery poured two mugs and slid one across the counter. “What was it like seeing Naomi?”

The hot coffee scalded his tongue. “No different from the last time I saw her. She talked shit, made threats. Trying to rile me and to get people to notice her.” He watched the steam rising from her cup. “What did Shiori tell you?”

“She didn’t say anything about what went on last night because she didn’t know.”

“But she did fill you in on how it played out three and a half years ago between Naomi and me,” he said curtly.

When Amery didn’t respond right away, his gut clenched at the thought of digging up this mess again. Of Amery knowing. “Did Shiori divulge all the dirty details?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I thought we needed to talk about it.”

Ronin glanced up. “You know that Naomi was a plant from my grandfather to align her family’s business interests with ours. You know that I spent two goddamn years of my life with her, believing we had something . . . when it was all a lie. Everything was a lie.”

“That’s not what you initially told me,” she said softly. “Why?”

“Do you think I wanted you to know that my family paid a woman to be with me? To love me? And that I was so stupid and so goddamn desperate for it that I believed it was real? It appeared that Naomi accepted everything about me, and she never cared about my financial status. Surely a gold digger would’ve asked for money or support, but she never broached the subject. Which made it so fucking . . . humiliating when she told me that my grandfather had been giving her money every month as an incentive to stay with me.”

Amery moved in behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Don’t let her back in your head. She doesn’t get to fuck up your life again. I won’t let that happen. It’s my life now too.”

He closed his eyes.

“And fuck the negative train of thought that women would only love you because you’re a billion-dollar baby.” She kissed his ear. “Baby, I fell in love with you before I knew you had billions.”

Shocked, Ronin slowly turned around on the barstool. “What did you say?”

“I said I love you. And you were right; I’ve been holding back on telling you. I don’t know why. I fell in love with you months ago. That night I gave you the picture of me bound? I’d planned to confess all, but I chickened out. I believed I had plenty of time, and I wanted the moment to be perfect.”

“Then, the next day, you walked out after you discovered—”

She put her fingers over his lips. “That you’d withheld so much from me that I felt like I didn’t even know the man I’d fallen in love with.”

“So you fell out of love with me?”

“No. But I did hold back from telling you all this time. Not out of spite, but out of fear.” Amery pressed her lips to his in a lingering kiss. “Because loving you is a scary thing, Ronin Black.”

“Amery. I’m . . .” Speechless. Instead of trying to find the words to fit the moment, he fit his mouth to hers, pouring everything in his heart and soul into the kiss.

When they finally ended the lip-lock, Amery said, “Wow.”

He nuzzled her neck. “Say it again.”

“Wow.”

He smacked her ass. “Say it again.”

“I love you.”

“I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”

“I’m sorry you ever doubted how I feel about you, Ronin.” She tipped his head back and brushed his hair out of his eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about taking the Okada job. But I promise it wasn’t because I wanted to hurt you. Or that I don’t value you or your opinion. I fucked up by not telling you. It won’t happen again. And I’d planned to come over last night and apologize before I found out about Naomi.”

“Thank you. Apology accepted.”

“Now. Don’t you have something else to say to me?”

Ronin twined a section of her hair around his finger. “I’m the luckiest man on earth because you love me.”

“Not that.” She placed her palms on his cheeks and tilted his face back. “You know it scares me that you won’t discuss what the doctor said at your follow-up appointment.”

Her fingertips brushed the tops of his ears, and he discreetly ducked his head to free himself from her touch. After years of fighting, his slightly disfigured cauliflower ears were a source of embarrassment for him and the main reason he wore his hair long—to cover them up.

“Ronin, I’m not letting this go.”

“The neurologist is being overly cautious. He insisted no contact sports and no practice with contact sports for six months. Then in the next breath he said—” He stopped. He didn’t want to tell her this.

Because you don’t want to believe it.

“Come on. Your life is an open book to me. No secrets, remember?”

Ronin couldn’t look at her. “He said that medical science was only now starting to understand the effects of repetitive brain trauma, and hopefully by the time some of those symptoms showed in me—because it was a given that they would—there’d be better drugs and medical options to treat it.”

“So you’re worried about long-term effects?”

“I wasn’t until he brought it up,” he said dryly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I hate the thought of you walking away from me now because of how I might be in the future. Jesus, Amery, I realize how goddamn selfish that sounds.”

Amery curled her hands around his face. “Let’s focus on the short term for now, okay? Just getting you through the next six months without you stepping into the ring or sneaking into underground clubs to prove you’re the biggest badass in town, okay?”

He pressed his lips to her forehead. “Okay.”

“And if you’re worried that I’ll think you less than a man because you’re temporarily sidelined? Think again. You’ll always be more man than I can possibly handle.”

Ronin was stunned by the depth of her acceptance.

“I take it you haven’t mentioned your doctor’s suggestions to your instructors or your sister?”

“No.” A soft chuckle rumbled out. “I had this plan to continue to throw myself into Black and Blue Promotions, leave the training schedule as is, with me focusing on working with the lower-belt classes, thinking maybe no one would notice.”

“They’ll notice. Whether anyone would mention it is another matter. I won’t meddle in your business decisions, but when it comes to your health and happiness? I have a personal stake in it, and I expect full disclosure. Even if it scares you.”

Ronin wanted to turn the tables and demand full disclosure from her on whether they’d be permanently sharing living space during those six months.

“So now tell me the rest of it.”

“The rest of what?”

“What Naomi said last night. Her threats to you.”

“Psycho fucking broad wiped her red lipstick off on my shirt.”

“Shiori did see that much. She worried Naomi might’ve gotten violent with you.” Amery studied him for a beat and said, “But that isn’t what worries you—that I’ll find lipstick on your collar.”

“No. Evidently Naomi visited Twisted. She talked to the manager, and he mentioned I hadn’t done a rope demo in a while.” He watched her face carefully. “Naomi said if you weren’t willing to be my rope model at the club then she’d volunteer.”

Amery paled but rallied with, “What else did she say?”

“Baby, it’s not important.”

“Yes, it is. So tell me.”

Ronin jammed his hand through his hair. “She said your unwillingness to be publicly bound speaks of your shame and undermines my expertise. She reminded me of something I’d said to her on more than one occasion—that teachers don’t let students dictate the lessons.”

She paled further, if that were possible.

“Do you see why I didn’t want to tell you?” When he reached for her, she backed up.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t let her get inside your head either,” he said curtly. “What happens between us—”

“It sounds like what doesn’t happen between us is an issue.” Amery rounded the end of the counter and snagged her coffee cup. Then she walked to the windows at the far side of the dining room and stared out.

Was he supposed to go to her? Or leave her be?

How would you want her to act toward you in this situation?

He’d want her to give him some time to think. So he gave it to her.

Ronin had finished two cups of coffee by the time she wandered back into the kitchen. He waited for her to speak.

“Do you remember when you told me about being a rope master, you said that you are also a teacher? And part of who you are is teaching people who are interested in the art the right way to do things?”