Unknown #2
Pearl finished her drink in one swallow and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I’m an independent woman, ladies, but I do come running when my sexy biker calls me.”
I burst out laughing. Pearl hopped off the bed and practically skipped from the room yelling, “Coming, babe!”
Prime looked exhausted. Shay stood next and smoothed down her shirt before Prime crooked two fingers at her.
“C’mere.”
She grinned immediately.
Yep, that was definitely her problem.
Shay did a little shimmy toward him while I gagged dramatically. “You two are disgusting.”
“Jealous,” Shay sang.
Prime wrapped an arm around her waist and started leading her down the hallway.
“Goodnight!” I called.
“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!” Shay shouted back.
“That leaves very little,” Prime muttered.
The hallway quieted after they disappeared.
I stared around the suddenly empty room for a second before sighing and started to clean up the glasses and chip bag.
The room swayed slightly when I stood. “Oh,” I muttered. “There’s the tequila.” I grabbed the empty pitcher carefully and turned toward the doorway.
Then froze because Push stood there watching me. My stomach immediately did a slow little flip.
He leaned one shoulder against the frame casually, but his eyes moved over me in a way that made my skin warm.
“How you feeling?” he asked.
“Amazing,” I answered.
“Liar.”
“Maybe a little margarita’d.”
His mouth twitched.
I stepped toward him carefully and almost tripped over absolutely nothing.
Push caught my arm instantly. “Smooth.”
“I’m mysterious.”
“You’re tipsy.”
“That too.”
His hand stayed on my arm longer than necessary, not that I minded. “So,” I said lightly, “how mad is Anchor?”
Push huffed a laugh. “Not mad enough that Pearl can’t handle him.”
I grinned. “We were just blowing off steam.”
“Mmhm.”
“I’m serious.”
“I know.”
I pointed dramatically toward the hallway. “I’m gonna go tell him to knock it off.” I moved to squeeze around Push, but he planted one arm against the doorway immediately, blocking me. Completely effortlessly.
I stopped short against him. “Push.”
“You might wanna rethink that plan.”
“I can take Anchor.”
His eyes dropped briefly to my mouth before coming back up. “Pearl’s got him handled.”
We were standing very close again. Close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him. Close enough that my pulse kicked harder.
His gaze moved slowly down my body and back up again.
A shiver rolled through me instantly, and I whispered his name before I could stop myself. “Push…”
His expression darkened immediately, and then he moved.
One second, I was standing in the doorway; the next, he’d guided me backward into my room and shut the door behind him.
The click sounded loud, and I glanced up at him.
He looked huge in my room. All muscle, tattoos, dark eyes, and control. And somehow every bit of that control felt focused directly on me.
My heart pounded hard enough that I could feel it in my throat. I swallowed. “You gonna revisit what happened on the trail?” I asked softly.
His hands settled on my waist. “Only if you want me to.”
I blinked slowly. “I thought you were a guy who just took what he wanted.”
His eyes held mine steadily. “I am.”
The heat in my stomach deepened instantly.
“But with you,” he continued rougher now, “I want you to want me too.”
Oh boy. That did things to me. Big things. Dangerous things. I looked up at him and finally admitted the truth. “I want you.”
Something flashed across his face then.
Not smugness or victory. Something deeper. Hungrier.
His hands tightened on my waist before he pulled me flush against him. Every inch of him felt solid and hot and overwhelming.
Then he kissed me.
Harder this time with no hesitation. No testing. His mouth claimed mine completely while one hand slid into my hair and the other gripped my hip tight enough to make me gasp.
I moaned softly against his mouth and felt him growl low in his throat at the sound.
God.
The man could kiss.
Really kiss.
Like he wanted to consume me slowly.
I tugged his shirt upward impatiently. Push broke the kiss long enough for me to yank it over his head before I tossed it somewhere behind us.
Then my hands were on him. I dragged my fingers over the ink covering his chest and stomach while staring up at him slightly breathless. “Jesus,” I whispered.
Push’s hands slid beneath my shirt slowly and my breath caught. Then he pulled it over my head and tossed it aside too.
The way he studied me afterward made my entire body heat.
Like he liked what he saw way too much. Good, because same.
I reached for the button of his jeans and popped it open while his mouth moved down my neck.
His beard scraped lightly against my skin, sending shivers straight through me. “Push…”
He kissed beneath my jaw and bit lightly at my throat. My knees nearly gave out and I shoved at his jeans impatiently. Then suddenly he caught both my wrists gently and pushed me backward.
I landed on the bed with a soft bounce and looked up at him.
Dear God, the man was gorgeous.
All tattoos and muscle and rough edges standing at the end of my bed looking down at me like I was something dangerous.
He shoved his jeans down slowly but left his boxer briefs on. Which might’ve been hotter.
Then he reached over and turned off the light.
The room softened into shadows lit only by the small bedside lamp before he climbed onto the bed with me again.
The mattress dipped beneath his weight and then his mouth was on mine again.
Slow.
Deep.
Hot.
His hands moved over my body carefully but possessively while I tangled myself against him completely. I could feel how hard he was against me, and every time he shifted closer my brain stopped functioning a little more.
I kissed him harder.
Wanted more.
Needed more.
But Push stayed in control even when I wasn’t.
Eventually, the kissing slowed enough that I managed to look up at him, dazed and breathless. “More,” I whispered.
Push shook his head slightly. “You’re killing me. You’ve been drinking.”
“I’m fine.”
“I know.” He brushed his thumb along my jaw gently. “Still not happening tonight.”
I frowned slightly.
He smiled faintly at that. “We’ve got all the time in the world, Firecracker.”
The words wrapped strangely warm around my chest.
All the time in the world.
I should’ve argued.
Instead, I just watched him lying beside me in the dim light and realized something terrifying.
I trusted him.
Completely.
“Stay?” I asked softly.
Push looked at me for one long second before nodding once. “Yeah.”
Relief hit me instantly.
Not because of sex. Not because of attraction, but because when Push was near me, I felt safe. And that was a whole different kind of dangerous feeling I definitely did not want to unpack tonight.
So instead, I curled closer to him beneath the blankets while his arm wrapped around my waist automatically.
The kissing had already been enough to leave my head spinning. The fact that he stopped things before they went too far made me want him even more.
Respect from a biker shouldn’t have been sexy, yet somehow it was.
Exhaustion finally started pulling at me while I tucked myself against his chest.
I should’ve felt guilty.
My sister was still missing. People were still dying. A killer was still out there somewhere. But lying there beside Push in the dark clubhouse room… It was the first time in a very long time that I felt safe.
And somewhere between one heartbeat and the next, I fell asleep in his arms.