Page 30 of Eden's Joker

There’s nothing small about the lust and desire bubbling just beneath the surface.

With every second that passes, every touch of hislips and his tongue, every lick of his breath, I need him more. I needed him the moment we first spoke. All those weeks ago. Online. And I’m only just now starting to admit that to myself. Because it’s impossible to fall in love over the internet. Everyone knows that.

Well, everyone is wrong.

His palm glides down the side of my neck, the touch of his calloused fingers crackling like ignited gunpowder just beneath my skin. But he doesn’t undo the buttons of my dress like I was sure he would.

Instead, he breaks away from the kiss and pushes me away.

I feel like I’ve been thrown into the roiling dark sea in the middle of a storm and there’s no lifeboat.

He’s on his feet grabbing his jacket before I finally gain control of my shock.

“Where are you going?”

“This can’t happen,” he mutters and heads for the door.

The floor is unsteady under my feet as I hurry after him.

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

He stops in the open doorway and faces me, his eyes like melted pools of the clearest water inviting me in for a swim.

He reaches out and cups my cheek in his palm. I’m sure he’s about to change his mind and stay.

“Sorry,” he says. “You’re too amazingly perfect. I’ll just ruin you.”

Then he rushes out and jogs down the stairs in the dark, the blackness of the lower level swallowing him. And swallowing my yell of, “No, you won’t! I want you to.”

I don’t know if he heard me. But I sure heard the door slam behind him.

And I have no idea what just happened.

I hope I’ll wake up on the sofa and this night will only be starting. But I’m too awake and too fired up to actually believe that’s a possibility.

I don’t have to know a lot about guys to know what rejection feels like. And he’s done it to me twice now. Just run off after giving me the best kiss of my life.

So why do I want him even more than I did before?

18

Joker

Man, but she even tastes like all them good things she’s packed with. I have no idea how I managed to leave her there, unsated, practically begging for me to fuck her. Or at least kiss her some more. But I can’t do that. I can’t even touch her. Else the mission fails. All the way while I was sneaking out of Pleasantville the pull to go back was real. But a little taste is all I can give her. All I can let myself take.

She may be sweet, and she may be gorgeous, and I may want her more than I’ve wanted a woman in a good long while. But so are hundreds of other women. This one has a role to play, a purpose to fulfil and it’s not to get me off. How would my brothers feel if I just took her for myself and fuck our revenge? Theywouldn’t be too thrilled about it, that’s for sure. Hell, they’d probably cut me out and fuck her up themselves.

I suppose just taking her for myself would be some sort of revenge against the Devils in itself. But not nearly enough.

I was mostly back on track with the plan by the time I returned to the Inn. Back to seeing Eden just as a means of making the Devils pay, not a woman who makes my cock harder than any other I can remember. But that’s not saying a lot. I forget women easily. It’s never been my thing to want to settle down in marital bliss.

As always, the bar at the Inn is rowdy, smokey and packed with the lowest society has to offer. This now includes two additional Devils Nightmare MC brothers—Ruin and Edge. They have a reputation of being psycho killers, worse than even the rest of the Devils, and are reputed to be ready to kill someone for looking at them wrong. They’ve been around for the past couple of days, and I’ve yet to see that side of them. All they do is bitch and moan about how the Devils didn’t take them along on this latest ride they went on.

The other three Devils, the ones who have unwittingly been feeding me info on the Devils’ movements for the past year, are doing a pretty good job of pretending they don’t know me. So are the Forsaken Outlaws. And my guys are staying well-hidden. But it’sanyone’s guess how long that will take before it falls apart.

We’re playing poker which is all we seem to be doing day and night here. The smoke is making my eyes water and I’ve probably had one too many shots of whiskey trying to get the memory of Eden’s soft lips off my mind. My cock’s still throbbing for her and it’s been hours since I left her. The alcohol’s not taking the edge off either.

“You gonna make a bet, Joker?” Edge asks me pointedly. Edgily, even. Maybe this is how he got his name. Making snippy remarks when he’s down on his luck in poker.

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