“Give me the words, Katie.”
“I hate you,” I tell him, even though I don’t, even though I’m pretty fucking sure I’m utterly and completely in love with him.
His fingers still inside of me, I tighten my muscles on them, nudging him with my hips to try and get more. I squirm, twisting and trying to get him to move. Nothing works.
“The words, sweetness, or this is all you get.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“I know.”
His easy acceptance trips me up. I wasn’t expecting it.
“You hurt me.”
“I know that too, Katie, and I’m so fucking sorry.”
Something else I wasn’t expecting from him. It annoys me that he’s being this way. I don’t want it. It would be easy to walk away from him if he remained an ass and all of this just boiled down to sex. With that, I might be able to forget what we shared the night before I left. The night before his words… destroyed me.
“Are we going to have a heart-to-heart with your fingers inside me?”
“If that’s what it takes,” he mutters.
“I’d rather you fuck me.”
“That’s going to happen too, eventually.”
“You let Skull hear things I told you. Just you. You betrayed me.”
“I was just trying to reach Skull, sweetness. I thought, if he could hear the reasons behind Beth’s choices, then… Fuck! I don’t know what I was thinking. I was trying to help. I needed for Skull and Beth to be okay, because—”
“Because?” I prompt, knowing that what he says matters. What happens between us hinges on what happens here in this elevator.
“I’m not giving you up, Katie. I’m not letting you go. If I have to keep you chained to me for the next twenty years, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
“What does that have to do with Skull and Beth? We aren’t them!”
“Exactly! You would give the world hell and face anything head-on with me. Beth didn’t do that. That’s on her. Her choices destroyed Skull, and the shit he’s pulling, that’s on him! They’re tearing each other apart and I wanted to try and fix it because I knew!”
“Knew what?” I ask, softer this time.
I’m confused and wondering how in the hell we are having this conversation with his fingers still inside of me and my pants down around my knees.
“I knew you would choose her,” he finally answers. “I wanted to try and fix it so I could still be part of your plan. I knew you’d be just like Beth. You’d choose her over me. Hell, I gave you my all that night in the hotel and you still wouldn’t tell me you loved me. You still wouldn’t hold onto me. You ran. Maybe I’m wrong,” he says, taking his hands away.
My body instantly misses his fingers, but I try to concentrate on his words. I need to hear them.
“Maybe we are just like them,” he goes on, “because you ran, just like her…”
He drops his hands, letting go of my free one. He unlatches the handcuffs, then stuffs them in his back pocket. I stare at him a minute, rubbing my wrist. Then I look at him, really look at him. My cocky biker with the horrible t-shirts and the easy smile. The eyes with wicked promises glowing in their depths. All of that is gone and, in its place, is just a man. A man who, even though his brother has what he wanted, is still trying to be with me. A man who claims he loves me, even when his side has won. A man who claims to love me when he’s seen me at my weakest.
A man who… I love.
He reaches over to start the elevator back. Now is decision time. Do I keep running? Do I repeat the mistakes that my sister made?
My hand goes to the elevator and I stop it again.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
My hands go to his belt, undoing it and unlatching the button and zipper on his pants. I push them out of the way, thanking the stars my man is a free-baller.
“Claiming you,” I answer, my eyes watching his as I stroke his cock.
It might be my imagination but I thought I saw a tremor run through his body.
“Get off your knees, sweetness. You’ll hurt your leg.”
“Stop worrying. My leg is fine. I’m loving on my man.”
“Am I your man?” he asks.
I keep stroking him, but I angle my head under him so I can run my tongue over his balls and suck on them, toying with them. His balls are already hard and the heated skin sends waves of need through my body. “Katie?” he asks, his voice quiet and full of desire, of need, of something else… something more tangible.
I release him from my mouth with a pop, then use my hand to rub his balls one last time before I lick my way up his cock. My eyes are on his the entire time. When I reach the head of his cock, I slide my tongue around it, gathering his pre-cum.
“Katie,” he prompts.