Chapter 10 Marty
Griffin’s touch felt like a brand on my skin. Firm. Hot. Solid. Filled with a confident ownership I was crazy enough to let him attempt.
“Time to fess up, sweetheart,” he repeated once he had me where he wanted me.
“But I didn’t—“
“My heart,” he cut me off, and mine started to skip a beat.
“What?”
“You’re fucking good, I’ll tell you that. Best little heart thief I’ve ever met in my damn life.”
“What?” I asked again, confused. Or not really confused, just… taken aback. Men, in my experience, didn’t lay their cards on the table like this. They played them close to the chest, but Griffin wasn’t. Because he’s different, my heart shouted at me, and I was finally listening.
“You stole my heart, Marty.” He rested his forehead against mine. “I’m not asking for it back. I’m just asking for you to handle it with care.”
“But…” His brow rose, and I shook my head. “Daddy’s this big, bad biker,” I pointed out. His lips twitched before his handsome face turned serious. His hand stroked the side of my face.
“I might be all that, but it doesn’t mean I’ve ever felt this.”
“This?”
“You and me,” he said. I opened my mouth to argue, to say there was no him and me, but I couldn’t get myself to deny what was clear as day.
“You and me,” I repeated, biting my lower lip. “You really think there can be a you and me?”
“Why not?”
“I mean… I work for your club.”
“So?” He stroked my hair, and I let more of my weight sink onto him.
“So… what if we don’t work out and—“
“Don’t do that,” he interrupted. “Don’t start thinking about all the ways this could go wrong.”
“Look, Griff, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had any luck at the whole relationship thing and—“
“I haven’t either. But maybe that’s because it wasn’t meant to be with those people because we were still waiting for our paths to cross.”
“Like soulmates?”
“Like soulmates,” he confirmed. “I mean, I’m pretty sure you can agree we fit pretty well together.
” That made me giggle and melt into him.
“Just give us a chance,” he requested, the vulnerability clear in his deep voice.
“Don’t push me away. I promise, whatever or whoever you think I am, I’m not that guy.
I’m not the douchebag that’s not going to call. ”
“You already didn’t call,” I pointed out like the brat I was. Jesus, I didn’t know how to keep my trap shut, blurting stupid things and messing up a sweet moment.
“I was just… surprised,” he explained, not shying away from the heaviness of the conversation.
“By?”
“By you. How I felt around you. Falling in love at first sight after not believing in love your whole life takes a minute to come to terms with.” I blinked as my brain tried to process what he’d just said. What he’d just admitted.
“Love at first sight?” My voice cracked as emotions I’d tried to keep at bay washed through me. Over me. Pounding me with this beautiful soul-shattering warmth.
“You telling me you didn’t feel that? That you don’t feel this?
” He pulled my hand up and rested it on his chest, right over his heart.
Griffin’s green eyes never wavered from mine as I sat there and stared at him.
My heart battled common sense. It was scary.
I felt vulnerable and exposed, and not just because I was sitting on his lap with my uniform unbuttoned in a place where anyone could walk in at any minute.
This felt big.
Monumental.
Life changing.
When you know, you know, a voice whispered, giving me the courage to be honest not just with him but with myself, too.
“I feel it.” My voice might have shaken as I admitted it, but it didn’t make it any less honest. “I love you, too.” I was to take a chance and risk my heart. It was a gamble, but at the end of the day, we were in Vegas after all.