FOR A MOMENT, silence stretched between them, heavy but charged. She could see the effort it had taken him to temper his nature, to leash the side of himself that would rather feed on fear than offer patience. And the knowledge that he had done it—for her—made something twist deep inside her chest.
But she also knew this was only the beginning.
Grayson turned his gaze on her, that familiar mixture of exasperation and reluctant fascination darkening his expression. "Satisfied?"
Mailah tilted her chin. "Not quite. That was just one. You've got an entire day ahead of you."
His jaw flexed, a warning, but she pressed on, refusing to give him the opening to dismiss her. "So here's what's going to happen. I'm sitting in. Every meeting. Consider me your… human buffer."
His brows arched. "My what?"
"You heard me," she said, sliding into one of the guest chairs with disarming ease. "You lash out, I step in. Simple."
