Page 46 of Savage Fire

“Fang, I want to believe you, but the fact of the matter is that you have five girlfriends. Five different women catering to you like some twisted 21stcentury harem. I cannot give myself to someone who devalues women like that. Who sees them only as a commodity he can buy with a house and luxury as long as they sign on the dotted line. I’m not a prude by any means, live how you want to live, be who you were born to be, but I cannot be a part of that. I wasn’t made that way.”

She watched his face as he visibly digested what she’d said. The longer the silence, the more her stomach churned.

“I spoke with the Bees today,” he began, and she held her breath, waiting for him to tell her he’d comforted them after she’d been a bitch to them. What he said instead, however, made her knees wobble. “I told them I want out of their contracts.”

Her breath left her chest in awhoosh. “What?”

Fang slid his hands up her arms, over her shoulders, and up her neck to cradle her head in his palms. Slowly, carefully, he leaned down, pressing his forehead against hers. His gaze never leaving hers, he continued, “I told them it was over. I cannot be that man with them…not when I want to be a different man for you,mi amor. I want to be the man that sat with you at dinner. The man who made love to you. Who laid beside you, touching you, holding you, waking up beside you. The man I was with you is the man I want to be. Always. But withyou.Onlywithyou, my Tessa. My fire. My heart.”

Breathless, dizziness enveloped her. Only Fang’s hold on her head kept from her toppling over.

“You-you can’t mean that. You love that life. You fucking lived and thrived in it for five years. You can’t be serious that you’re giving all of that up after we fucked once.” She was being crude, cruel, but she refused to believe, to hope that he was being real. That what he was saying was the truth.

Before Fang could open his mouth to reply, Tessa’s cellphone pinged from the bedside table. Unable to break his gaze, she left it. Until it pinged again. Drawing in a much-needed breath, Tessa pulled away, every ounce of her being screaming at her to remain there, in his hold, against his body, absorbing his heat. Fang dropped his hands from her face and took a step back, his gaze still pinned to her, his intensity a taste in the air. Bourbon and spice.

She reached for her cell and blinked down at the screen, not sure she was reading the words right.

UNKNOWN SENDER: YOU THINK YOUR SAFE WITH THOSE BIKER ASSHOLES? YOUR NOT SAFE ANYWHERE, BITCH. WE’LL GET YOU.

UNKNOWN SENDER: WHORES ALWAYS GET WHATS COMING TO THEM

Her first thought was“you’re”. Her second thought was,“shit, this has to be one of the guys who jumped me.” As if reading her mind, Fang moved to stand beside her, all up in her space. Instead of looking down at her cell screen, however, he was looking down into her face, reading her expressions. Her belly flipped at the concern written into his chocolate eyes.

“What’s wrong,mi corazon?” he asked, his voice a husky murmur far too close to her ear. She shuddered as his lips brushed against her neck, distracting her.

Uh…what did he ask? Oh, right!

“A text. I think it’s from one of the guys who thumped me in my driveway.”

He moved so quickly, she only had the time to shout, “Hey!”

Fang cursed, snatching her cell from her hand, brushing a quick kiss over her temple, and rushing from the room. If she knew club procedure, he was on his way to AFKs dark hidey hole to get a trace on who sent he message. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long, and Tessa hoped they got a name. Then, she could mete out some justice, work off all that sexual tension by beating Asshole One and Asshole Two’s asses, and finally get the hell out of the clubhouse. Once they got the name, they would deal with the Assholes, and she could get back to living her life.

Without Fang.

Without Fang?

“I want to be the man…who made love to you….”

His words on repeat in her head, she didn’t have the energy to worry about the texts or the threat. While the club brothers were jerks, they were still safer than whatever was waiting for her outside the compound walls.

“The man I was with you is the man I want to be. Always….”

God, she wanted that, too. So much.

And that kiss, the tenderness in his touch…it was addicting.

You know you love it. You want his hands on you,that horny bitch living in her vag drawled, completely ignoring the glare from the angry bitch living in her chest.

AFK clicked away at his keyboard, his strange hazel eyes scanning over this three 32-inch monitors. He was hacking Tessa’s cell to get info on the sender of the two threatening texts, but Fang was worried it was a burner.

“Burner,” AFK announced, verifying Fang’s assumption. “New. Bought three weeks ago. No GPS so can’t track it. Looks like someone wanted to get mouthy without getting caught.”

AFK was an MIT graduate, former NSA, and a patched brother of the Savage Raiders for seven years. Though he spent most of his day sitting at his desk, snacking on Doritos and Nutter Butters, the brother was cut like glass. And his mind was just as sharp.

“We’ll have to wait until they call before I can do my thing and find them.”

“Keep that,” Fang pointed at the cell, knowing Tessa wouldn’t be too happy about losing her one contact with the world outside the clubhouse. But she’d understand it was necessary to catch thehijos di putawho’d hurt her.

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