Page 67 of Cross To Bear

“You…” I didn’t know what she meant by that, as Maddie turned to look up at me. “You tattooed me with a symbol of you.”

“It wasn’t my intent. You didn’t let me know you seriously wanted a tattoo. If you’d given me time, I’d have designed something properly for you. Something you wanted.”

Or I’d show her the design I’d drawn not long after I first met her, amending it and tweaking the design as I got to know her better. Her mating mark made into art, that’s what it was, but it stayed locked up safe in that drawer.

“Why?” Her question was asked much more softly than before. “It’s perfect. I love it.”

All I could hear was my rapid heartbeat, my shuddering breaths. Did she…? I struggled to finish that sentence. Did she mean she wanted to wear a mark that symbolised me on her body? And would that mean she’d be open to others? I wanted to know the answer to that so fucking badly, but once I asked it, I’d know. Good or bad, I’d known where I stood and so I swallowed it down.

“I’m glad, because it’s pretty fucking permanent.” She laughed at that, which helped me take a full breath. “Like, tattoo removal works, though it’s not perfect. And anyway”—I slid my hand up her throat and thumbed her pulse, feeling it beating just as rapidly as mine, before kissing her—“I like you walking around with a little secret between your thighs. My little secret.”

My cock thickened in my pants, but what he had in mind, I couldn’t do. Bending her over the bench and fucking into her with long strokes, listening to her scream again, feeling every one of my piercings, right before I locked down inside her. I wasn’t going to do that, I wasn’t. Instead, I was going to cancel my reservation at the brunch place, take her back to my house and make sure she drank a bunch of water and had something to eat, so her mood didn’t come crashing down.

Yeah, that.

“I’m going to take you home now and get you cleaned up, yeah?” She nodded then, all smiles, and I hoped she knew that I’d do anything to keep her smiling. Her hand slid into mine when I set her down, and I flicked off all the lights, locking the front door of the shop behind us. I couldn’t stop myself from kissing her when we got to my car. “This wasn’t the day I had planned for us, but… I can’t bring myself to regret it.”

“Me either.” She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me down. “Better than any kind of overpriced brunch, though I have a sudden craving for bacon.”

“Bacon I can do.” I kissed her nose. “And sausages and fresh baked bread and scrambled eggs so fluffy they’ll almost float off the plate.”

“Be still my heart,” she said. “Take me home and feed me all the delicious things, bear boy.”

Crisis averted, my heart rate started to slow, luring me into a false sense of security. The guys looked up when we walked in, Hawk moving instantly to the kitchen, shoving me aside when I tried to help with breakfast. But he delivered everything I promised and more, because that’s how it worked. Together we’d meet every one of her needs, and as we lingered over brunch, I stared at her, thinking of better and better ways to look after our girl.

I thought we’d turned a corner. I thought the tattoo meant something. But assumptions were a dangerous thing, as I was about to find out.

Chapter 39

Razor

“Well, well, look at this…”

I walked in from a hard day of working on the piles of paperwork Mal demanded of us to find the rest of my sleuth sitting with my girl in the lounge room. By the look of it, they were watching an old movie, but Crash? He was sitting between Maddie’s thighs as she worked on his hair. My brother’s eyes were half closed with pleasure as she plaited his long white locks into some kind of elaborate Viking looking hair style and the prick just grinned up at me when he saw this had my attention.

“I’ve been working hard all day and what’ve you slackers been up to?” I asked.

“Looking after our girl,” Hawk replied, grabbing a wash basket full of neatly folded laundry and then shoving it into my arms. “Doing your stinking washing.”

“I said I’d get to it,” I told him, looking down at the contents. “If it’s not washing night tonight, then…” Maddie looked my way as my focus shifted to her. “Maybe you’d like to come out with me?”

“OK.”

Just like that, without even an explanation of where we’d go and what we’d do. I searched Bjorn’s face, looking for cues, but just saw the stupid blissed out look on his face. It told me everything I needed to know.

“Then we need to get you dressed.” I looked her up and down, because right now she looked like she was wearing someone’s t-shirt over a rolled up pair of borrowed sweats. “Maybe something like what you wore the other night to the bar?”

“Are we going drinking?” she asked, leaving off Crash’s hair, much to his disappointment, and coming over to me. I grabbed her hands as they landed on my chest, wanting to just hold them there.

“We are now.” I nodded to the ‘spare room’. “There’s some clothes like that hanging up in the wardrobe in there.”

I loved that easy smile. It felt like a weight had lifted off Maddie, and I’d do whatever it took to ensure it stayed off. As I watched those gorgeous hips sway as she went to do that, I turned to Bjorn.

“So what happened?”

He told me in a whole lot of words, but I cut to the chase quickly. She’d let him tattoo her? It meant she was dangerously close to where we needed her to be. Being marked by the tattoo gun was halfway to accepting a mating mark, and I just needed her to take that final step.

“So we’re going to the bar tonight?” Crash asked, getting to his feet to join me.

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