Chapter 5
Iwasn’t sure what I’d expected to happen when I arrived at the Silver Saints compound, but it wasn’t to be shown to a room and pass out before I had the chance to speak to their president…let alone to wake up with Cash wrapped around me.
Turning in his embrace, I stared at his gorgeous face. My fingers itched to trace every inch of his tanned skin. I wanted to rub my palm against the dark scruff of his beard. And to press my lips against his. Except he looked so peaceful in his sleep, I didn’t want to interrupt his rest. Not to mention I didn’t want my first kiss to be with a man who wasn’t awake to enjoy it. Especially not after he’d basically dragged me to his MC’s compound and abandoned me.
Instead, I slid out of his hold and crawled off the mattress to head into the bathroom. After washing up, I stared at my reflection in the mirror and whispered, “What the heck?”
I didn’t understand why my body had decided now was the perfect time for my libido to come roaring to life. My life was a mess, and I was being forced to hide so the guy who wanted revenge on my dad didn’t kill me. The last thing I needed was the complication of falling for the biker who’d been tasked with keeping me safe by his president. No matter how sexy he was. Or how often I’d spotted the heat of desire in his dark eyes when he looked at me.
After taking a few deep breaths, I pressed my thighs together in a futile attempt to squash the unfamiliar ache in my core caused by waking up with Cash’s arms around me, then I headed out of the bathroom. Now that I was fully awake and had cleared most of the sensual fog, I spotted something I’d missed earlier…Cash had brought me a snack when he’d come to the room last night.
While the plate of food could have come from someone else, I had no doubt it was him since there wasn’t a single item on it that I didn’t like. The only other person who knew my preferences so well was my mom, but there was no way it could’ve been her.
Even before I learned about my dad’s other family, he hadn’t modeled the male side of a healthy relationship for me. I had never doubted that he loved my mom—until now—but he was gone so often that she’d had to take care of herself. She was the one who handled everything—grocery shopping, house cleaning and repairs, car maintenance, lawn care, rolling the garbage cans out to the curb. She kept our lives running without any assistance from him except financial.
I’d never really seen a man care for a woman until Cash started doing it for me. Making sure I could stay at the cabin over the holiday even though he wanted us to come back here, where he was certain I’d be safe. Feeding me. Making hot chocolate.
As frustrated as I was over not having all of my questions answered—and still more than a little irritated over how Cash had given me no choice about leaving the cabin—I still appreciated everything he’d done for me. My reaction to him gave his actions deeper meaning. The snack he’d prepared for me tasted even sweeter because he’d gone out of his way to take care of me again.
As I was finishing a plump strawberry, my head jerked up at the rumble of a deep voice. “Morning, sunshine. Glad to see you found the food. I was worried that you were hungry last night, but you were passed the fuck out when I got up here, so I figured you could use the rest more than food.”
“I definitely woke up hungry.” And not just for food.
“What were you thinking about while you were eating?” The sheet dropped as he sat up, and my cheeks heated when I realized the only reason it didn’t move lower was because it snagged on the large bulge between his legs. “It looked like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
“It was so strange to think that I have my dad’s awful decisions to thank for bringing you into my life. Without them, we probably never would have met.” My reaction to his hard-on was to blame for my honesty, but I couldn’t regret what I’d said when I saw the gleam of happiness in his eyes.
He brushed away a lock of dark hair that fell over his eye as he shook his head. “You’re wrong. I have no doubt our paths would’ve crossed at some point.”
I quirked a brow. “Even though I live in a different state?”
“Yup.” He beckoned me over to him. “C’mere, sunshine. I wanna see how good those strawberries taste.”
Lifting one off the plate, I brought it over to him. But instead of taking it from me, he wrapped his hand around the back of my head to tug me closer. When my knees bumped against the side of the bed, I fell against his chest. Then he drew me against him and rolled over until my back was against the mattress, and he hovered over me. “I thought you said you wanted a strawberry?”
“There’s a better way for me to see how they taste.” His lips curved into a smile of pure, masculine satisfaction at my look of confusion. “From your lips since you just had one.”
“Oh,” I breathed.
He lowered his head slowly, letting me decide whether we were going to kiss now. Any doubts I might have had were wiped away in an instant over how careful he was being with me. Cash had been with me for all but the first few hours since my dad’s secrets had shattered my world. After feeling so helpless, having him give me the power at this moment meant…everything. “Yes, please.”
His mouth crashed down against mine, his tongue swiping against me, demanding entrance. My lips parted, and I moaned when it slid inside. My eyes drifted shut as he devoured me, tilted my head to the side so he could deepen the kiss that left me breathless and dazed when he finally pulled away.
“Wow,” I whispered, pressing my fingers to my tingling lips.
“Damn, I should’ve kissed you that first day instead of giving you time to come to terms with the shit your dad laid on you. We could’ve been doing this instead of watching all those sappy holiday movies. Bet it would’ve put you in a much better mood.”
I wished we could stay in this bed and ignore the outside world, just the two of us. I wanted to explore the magnetic pull I felt toward Cash—the man who’d just given me my first real kiss. Unfortunately, I had questions that needed answers. “I hate to say it, but we’re going to need to wait to do that again. I want to talk to Mac. Now.”